Pheasants, Squirrels, Muntjac and more
Video: 11-17 April 2021
Text: 5 June 2025
It's been a very busy week. with probably more to show than normal. It's difficult to know whether to include long clips with little actual action. Equally, should I be including those blink and you miss it one and two second clips. For this week, we start with what appears to be Pheasant courtship ritual.
0:00 - Monday 10:17
Probably you'll notice the swaying shadows of the twin trunks of a tree which stands behind the one the camera is mounted on before you notice the male pheasant on the bridge. After packing at the ground he makes his way to the top of a pile of drying duckweed. After a minute we fade to a clip captured moments later when two females arrive. The sun comes and goes and the females also move on.
1:52 - Tuesday 08:34
An hour earlier this clip there was twice as much snow around, so it seems to be melting fast. We see a Muntjac moving north past the two piles of broken reed and birch tree clippings. As she disappears you notice something approaching along the patch from the north. I haven't been able to identify it, eventually going out of sight behind the large tree beside the bridge. After 15 seconds the Muntjac then appears from behind the tree at a point close to where the mystery creature was first spotted.
2:50 - Tuesday 08:40
We fade to a further clip captured six minutes later. We see another Muntjac following the same route as the previous one. You may then notice that what was probably the first deer is now visible again almost out of frame on the path. She crosses the path to become hidden by the large tree. After a while both deer then come into view
3:50 - Wednesday 07:20
You'll have to be quick to focus your eye in the middle of the frame as we switch Wednesday morning. You'll notice the snow is much reduced but miss the couple of seconds that a squirrel is in view near the pile of duck weed.
3:58 - Wednesday 13:10
Now it's lunch time. The snow has gone completely and a male pheasant passes through the frame and, as before, goes to stand on top of the pile of duckweed. And he stands there for a full minute, not doing much at all but occasionally squawk.
4:59 - Wednesday 18:56
Now it's the early evening and a male Muntjac appears from the left. He makes his way across the frame and on to the bridge taking a few pauses as if checking for possible dangers.
5:22 - Wednesday 20:01
It's beginning to get dark. The camera has switched to its night time monochrome. Two moorhen chase their way through the frame.
5:31 - Thursday 19:35
In an almost exact copy of the previous day, but 30 minutes later, a male Muntjac makes his way from left to right and across the bridge to our grounds. Almost exactly three minutes later a female deer follows, constantly sniffing the ground as if following the male's scent.
6:10 - Friday 03:08
Now the reverse! A female Muntjac enters the frame from the bridge and turns right to head north up the path beside the dyke.
6:21 - Friday 05:50
It's the male pheasant back again. Once more he climbs the pile of duckweed but, within a minute, the camera is triggered again as he makes his way back towards the bridge.
6:47 - Friday 10:19
Daylight again and once more the camera is triggered by a squirrel. As before, this one has come across the bridge and goes out of shot in the pile of old reeds.
7:12 - Saturday 19:47
Once more it's the familiar traverse of a female Muntjac from left to right and over the bridge. It's a little more leisured trip this time and closes this week's captures by the camera.
