The Inevitable Muntjac plus a Pheasant, Cat and Squirrel
Video: 29 March - 3 April 2021
Text: 22 January 2025
It's been another week of mainly Muntjac deer activity. Though I have included a pheasant, a cat and squirrel in this set of clips that our wildlife camera captured.
0:00 - Monday 19:36
We open the compilation with a Muntjac deer approaching our bridge and crossing from the Poor's Allotment to the grounds of Ruston House.
0:30 - Tuesday 08:42
The following morning we seen what you may be forgiven for thinking is a still you are watching and not a video. We don't find out what might have caught the deer's interest and made it freeze at the point the camera started recording.
1:28 - Tuesday 10:45
The sun moves round and the camera is next triggered by a female pheasant that slowly makes its way across our field of view. Every now and then it stops to brush the ground with its foot or pck at the soil.
2:19 - Tuesday 19:35
Now it's evening and another female Muntjac is caught as it crosses the field of view. As it starts across the bridge we wait 10 seconds for a following male to appear that also makes its way slow to the bridge and out of sight.
3:18 - Wednesday 19:29
Just short of 24 hours later another female Muntjac makes its way across the field of view. This one makes its way quicker than the previously.
3:35 - Wednesday 19:41
Twelve minutes later, as in the day before, a male follows. However, in that time the camera has switched to night mode and this clip is under infra-red lighting.
3:54 - Thursday 03:30
The next clip is interesting, not for it's content, but because, for the first time this week the Muntjac captured transits from Ruston House rather than towards it.
4:05 - Friday 02:50
The next clip is another crossing from Ruston House but this time the Muntjac turns towards the camera. The animal is distinctive as has a number of lumps on its body. Over the months we see other sighting of this animal.
4:24 - Friday 03:51
Then comes another entrance from the bridge by a Muntjac. This time it's a male. It's not a case of deliberately selecting the clips to show movement in opposite directions at the beginning and end of the week.
4:37 - Friday 09:44
Now it's daylight. The fact that the camera starts recording with the deer mid screen suggests that is has approached from the south, that is, from behind the camera.
5:18 - Friday 20:11
Yes again the Muntjac that is captured crosses the bridge from the grounds of Ruston House.
5:57 - Saturday 04:05
It's not unheard of for cats to be seen on the bridge, but perhaps what is more interesting is that the camera was not triggered by the cat's departure. We see it arrive, sit down and stare about the place, but the camera then appears to fail to detect further movement and shuts down after 20 seconds, its normal behaviour when in infra-red mode.
6:15 - Saturday 06:46
Finally, I do include one clip of a squirrel. There were a couple of other captures made during the week, but they are high speed transits that took only a couple of seconds. It's another case where a smaller animal uses the bridge as a high perch with a good view of the surrounding ground.
