Wildlife Observation Camera
September / October 2021
The most amazing sighting to report in the last 10 weeks on the camera is a Spotted Genet using the property as part of its range. They are solitary animals with a range that will overlap other Genets for when Spring breeding begins, but other than that, the mother will raise any kittens herself. The Genet is similar to a small polecat with retractable cat-like claws used for climbing trees to hunt.
We have 2 sightings during October at the same spot and travelling in the same direction, but no more information to give at this time.
Dancing Pine Martens
In my hope to get more sightings of the Genet, what I actually got is a long agile dance of Pine Martens running each night passed the camera with one scenting the same spot in front of the camera several times. I’m unsure if the scent is territorial for one or a competition between two males since they have no clear markings to tell them apart, but it’s really nice to see them at home on this particular area of the land. There’s also some footage of 2 Pine Martens wrestling over food.
Pine Martens typically have large territorial areas so it's probably just a single pair that use the property. They probably have a nest in the river bank where they use tree or rock cavities (plenty of those on the river banks). As they are omnivorous, they'll take whatever they can get; in summer and autumn their diet will mainly be vegetarian (berries, fruits, nuts and small mammals), while for the rest of the year they will hunt for toads, small birds, bird's eggs or small rabbits.
Yet another highlight is an appearance of a field mouse. They should always get a place if they appear, in my opinion. A field mouse is everyone’s lunch and dinner snack, so it’s not exactly easy out there for these poor guys.
A pair of red foxes have been sighted together, so this would be a clear sign they are breeding close by. Individual foxes also make healthy looking appearances with a good looking weight and healthy looking fur. They look very ready for the winter months.
And of course, badgers everywhere
It is so nice to see some details of one of the badger groups on the property. They all look extremely fat and healthy, which is ideal for this time of year in preparation for heavy winter, if necessary. Very nice to see long, healthy, shiny fur on all of them. I can’t imagine there being better examples of fat, healthy, swaggering badgers anywhere. Truly awesome beings to see.
At the moment I count 6 tunnel openings on the one badger sett. These are easy to keep track of because of the huge amount of earth they throw out of the tunnels and through the entrance. These guys love to dig, and there’s some good sightings of them excavating at one tunnel entrance. So far, I haven’t been able to find which entrance is closest to the chamber that keeps this year’s pups. They will definitely be playing around the closest entrance to their chamber by now, but I still can’t work out exactly where I need to place the camera. I’ve only come back to this sett a couple of weeks ago after some weeks of SD card problems, so I’m hoping to give that more time in November.