19 - A year through our kitchen windows

Episode 19 “A year through our kitchen window” What an odd subject for a podcast you may think. But we will take you through our kitchen windows and into the woods beyond, which are full of wildlife. The wildlife we are privileged to be able to watch day to day. To witness, dramas life and death struggles, going on just outside our kitchen windows. This episode contains a full year of extracts from our wildlife diary where we record the comings and goings in our garden.

There has been a wee bit of a break in the regularity of publishing episodes in 2022. We hope that you will stick with us as we have started to overcome the circumstances that have made it impossible for us to publish as many episodes as we would wish. Fingers crossed we are now getting back on track and will be able to publish more in 2023.


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Transcript

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Welcome. You're listening to Mark and Jacky's Wildlife and Photography podcast. Explore and learn about the natural world and how to take pictures. This episode is all about wildlife and nature. Understanding the natural world is important. It's what makes life on this planet possible. Our podcast gives you insights into just how complicated and fascinating that world is. Episode 19 A year through our Kitchen Windows. First off, we'd like to apologize to our regular listeners. We've just not been able to publish new episodes as regularly as we wanted to. This has been due to personal circumstance since it's just not been possible for us to write and record new episodes since earlier this year. We are now trying to find ways to get back to publishing episodes on a regular basis. We have this episode and others in production. We ask for your understanding. If we can't publish regularly as we want to, we are trying to get back to some semblance of a schedule. So without further time wasting let's get on with this episode. We’re recording this podcast a few days before December the 22nd, the mid-winter solstice and the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Before the upcoming festivities of Christmas, New Year and Hogmanay, as it is in Scotland. The long days of winter were a good time to look back over the past year to reflect what has happened in our lives and our country and the wider world. Also, for us, it's a time to look back at our wildlife year, the long evenings, the dark days of winter, are a good time to look back, read our diaries and reminisce about what we've witnessed. Memories of fine summer days are a great antidote to the cold and dark of winter. When we started thinking about a wildlife year. An idea came to us. It might make a good podcast, and having had one good idea, another one soon came along. Why not give the podcast a bit of a twist? Why not make it about the wildlife? We see from our kitchen windows? It sounds a bit boring, I know, but if you listen on, I think you could well be in for a few surprises. First, let's set the scene, get you familiar with our kitchen windows. We live in the highlands of Scotland, near the world famous Loch Ness. Woods surround our house and we own a very small bit of what is a much bigger woodland ecosystem, covering many hectares. A mile or so to the south. As land rises, Woodland gives way to the moorlands of the glen up on the moors. There are very few natural trees, only a few plantations of fir and pines. Our kitchen has two windows, one facing south, the other west. Through the windows are the southern forest and the Westwood. Rather grand names for the trees that form most of our garden. Directly outside each window is a narrow strip of grass bordered by gorse and broom bushes. Beyond is the start of the trees. Our woodland is a mixture of mature oak, beech birch and rowan trees, the oaks being the oldest, some of which are perhaps 200 years old. Hopefully that's giving you a good idea of what's outside our kitchen windows. Enough waffle for me this time to start a year through our kitchen windows. January. It's the start of a new year. Time to start a new wildlife diary. January at these latitudes is a dark month. We get just six and three quarter hours of daylight the short cold days and even colder winter nights make it hard for the local wildlife. Finding the small amounts of food that are available in such a short day will take its toll on the populations in the coming months. Heavy rain at the start of the year also has made it a lot harder, but even worse is yet to come. Snow is forecast in the next few days, but for now only time will tell. The rain of the first few days soon turned to snow. 100 millimeters falling overnight. Snow is wonderful if you are interested in wildlife. Get up early. Get out and look at the tracks left by nightly visitors. Badgers despite the snow paid us a visit. The European badger, Meles meles, is native to almost all of Europe. The short legged mammals of the mustelid family. They're omnivores, meaning they have a wide range of foods that they will eat. Quite a few have come to us overnight, judging by the number of tracks. Normally when we get any snow. The Badgers may or may not bother to come up from their set. A covering of snow and frozen ground make it very difficult for them to find their favorite food earthworms. The advantage of the snow for us is it allows us to track where the Badgers have been and where they went. They eat the peanuts and then went off into the wood through the wood where the snow will not be so deep. They come out on to the track, which runs east to west. They headed west along the track. Their tracks leave the track at a well-defined Badger path, disappearing over the stone wall, then down the hill towards their sett. We have several types of feeders, all visible from our kitchen windows. This is what attracts the birds and animals to the garden, especially during the harsh times of winter. The Pine Martin has visited one such feeder. Pine Martin's Martes martes are another mustelid. Much smaller than a Badger and widespread in Europe. They are relatives of the Beech, American, Japanese and Yellow throated martins and the Sable found in Russia. The’re found throughout most of the areas in the Northern hemisphere. His track show iot jumped from the feeder to the ground and then disappeared into the southern forest. Once in the southern forest, the Pine Mountain has used one of the badger tracks to move about the wood. To make navigation easier in the dark Badgers form paths in woods. Each Badger leaves a little scent trail for others to follow, and as they very often stick to the same route night after night. Over time, well defined paths form in the undergrowth. These paths are clear of anything that grows more than a few millimeters high. And over time, not only the Badgers use them, but lots of other animals. It's impossible to distinguish the tiny pine marten paw prints from the larger and heavier badgers. We'll never know which way the marten went after its visit. But enough tracking it’s time to fill up the feeders for the flocks of hungry birds. Later in the day. Red squirrels come to visit the specialist feeders. Red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris are tree squirrels, found over much of Europe and Asia. They are an arboreal rodent. Each feeder contains hazelnuts, providing either a snack or at certain times of the year, food to cash. The caching normally starts as the weather turns to autumn. They take a nuts and go off to find somewhere to bury it. A buried nut will last a year before the out to seed coat starts to degrade. This cache provides the squirrels with food through the winter. Normally they are gone for four or 5 minutes before returning. However, after several trips, individuals start to look for an easier option. We witness nuts being buried at the bottom of the tree where the feeder is hanging. To confuse squirrels who might be watching several false buries are performed. Each in elaborate deception to try and confuse the rivals. Finally, with head down and bottom up, they bury the nut. Remarkably, red squirrels remember the location of about 70 to 80% of the nuts they bury in a season. Not all bury sites are ideal. Hazelnuts turn up in our flower pots quite regularly. Sometimes we catch a squirrel head down in a pot checking on its cached nuts. Snow is still on the ground, but the warmer days allow the snow to melt a little. Then freezing nights, then turn it back into ice. The ground is now covered in a layer of ice and snow. We don't see the Badges for a few nights. Hard ground makes it difficult for them to find other foods. They'll be snug in their sett, sleeping most of the time, relying on fat reserves put on last autumn. We miss the Badgers visiting. Almost every night we watch the Badgers appear from the wood, wander around looking for apple and peanuts. When we don't see them, we start to feel concerned. Are they going to be all right? Is the winter going to be hard on them? Winter can be a very hard time for Badgers. Shortages of food inevitably mean many badgers will not survive winter. Old and young, who were for one reason or another, unable to put on enough fat reserves, will starve to death. Fingers crossed. All our badgers will come through this winter. But we do have another treat. A Roe deer. Capreolus capreolus. A small, reddish brown deer found all over Europe and here in Scotland. It's a buck from last year, coming in under the cover of darkness. He's hungry. Most of the vegetation he normally eats is covered in snow, but he learned from his mother. Birds don't always eat all the food in the ground feeders. The leftovers make a good snack, helping you through the cold. She passed this knowledge on to her kids. She may even have mentioned the kind humans who now top up the feeders at night, especially for her and brush off all the snow and ice to make it easier. January seems to drag on and on and on. It's February. The winter is getting harder for the wildlife. This February, we see over a foot of snow in the course of the month. By day, we're being treated to masses of small birds making use of the free food, as well as the local population of Blue, Coal and Great tits. We have Chaffinches, Goldfinches. We have other winter visitors Brambling. Winter migrants escaping the cold of Northern Europe. Long tailed tits come to the hanging feeders in their family flocks. A flock of 10 to 15 individuals suddenly appear. Smaller than most of the birds, using the feeders sheer numbers push off the competition. You end up with a wonderful sight of a feeder covered in long tail tits. They stay for a few minutes, then move on looking for more food. Another winter visier are Tree Creepers. Most days we see them moving up the tree trunks, searching for insects that are sheltering in the crevices formed by the bark. The ground feeders, the variety of customers, Chaffinch being the most numerous, along with several male and female Blackbirds. And they all use the feeders regularly. Refugees from the local sporting shoot in the form of a couple of male Pheasants also pay us a regular visit. Again, the ground feeders are providing a popular stopping off point in a day's hunt for food. As night falls Crows gather in large flocks above our house during the winter. Some species of crow form commune roosts. Roosting on the same perch gives the birds benefit, keeping them warmer during the cold Scottish nights. The trees they roosting are a few hundred meters to the west of the house. Look out of the kitchen window. On still clear nights just before the last light goes on, you're treated to a spectacular sight. Many hundreds of crows whirling and dancing in the sky. Individual crows travel from all over the surrounding countryside to join the communal roost before settling in for the night. The birds swirl and dance. They have no leader but react to the birds all around them. Then something triggers the birds. They swoop down and settle in the trees. One second the sky is alive with black shapes and sound of crows. The next sky is empty. It goes a bit quieter. But you still hear the chatter of crows. Perhaps they're just arguing about the amount of room a neighbor is giving them or discussing the day where they should go and find food tomorrow. Way into the evening. You still hear them when if you go outside. Badgers, Pine, Martins and Roe visit the garden under the cover of darkness. Three new badgers have appeared over the last ten days. Badgers are territorial, so it seems logical they're sharing the local sett with our resident badgers. One badger is easy to identify as it's got an injured front left paw, the others take a bit of time to find marks and differences to identify them. These extra mouths mean we're now feeding up to nine badgers a night. March. The first week in March a pine marten is in the garden at 10:30am in the morning. Perhaps more exciting than seeing a marten in the daylight is the fact that it's an unknown individual. It's only a fleeting glimpse. It's unusual to see a Pine Marten in daylight in this part of Scotland. We're used to seeing them on the feeding station after dark. They visit for honey and egg and peanuts we put out. We know both the male and female who regularly visit. They were last year's kits from the old female, we'd been watching for many years. We haven't seen her for many months. Presumably old age has caught up with her, but her genetically legacy lives on with the two youngsters who appear to have taken over her old territory. The red squirrels are still busy writing the feeders by day. We do start to notice that the males are starting to chase the females. A sure sign spring is on the way. Minds are turning to reproduction. The coming of the spring is also having an influence on the birds. Up until now, the only interest has been getting enough food. As the days lengthen and warm. Finding a potential mate is becoming more important, male Chaffinches Start chasing flights. High speed chases, weaving in and out of the trees with the female leading the way. Everything is making preparations for the coming breeding season. Come the middle of the month. We get a big surprise. A Pine Marten, on the squirrel feeder in broad daylight. It's such an unfamiliar sight to see martens during the day. Perhaps in the past you would have seen them regularly during the day. After all, they were at one time the second most numerous carnivore in the UK. But reductions in woodland habitats. Human nature being what it is and the need to slaughter anything that has teeth and claws. Meant that by 1915, Pine martens were confined to remote parts of Scotland and England. They became predominantly nocturnal, so avoiding human contact. Even today, with the population in recovery. Daylight sighting is rare, except perhaps on the remote west coast of Scotland. Now the marten spends quite a long time on the feeder eating peanuts. You can see it's not comfortable out in the daylight, the slightest noise, and it puts it’s head up and out of the box to look around. Looking through the binoculars, we see it's not one of the two adults we know and watch during the evenings. Then in a flash of brown, it's gone. Jumping in a meter and a half to the ground and running into the cover of the woodland. We're in shock. What a privilege. We've just seen a martin in daylight for the longest time ever. Up until now, we've seen the resident female showing her kits the territory a couple of times in the past six years, perhaps a minute of the maximum, with them moving about the garden investigating. And then they're gone. Over the next few days, we see the same marten, again and again, coming to the squirrel feeder for peanuts. With this individual, we a complete loss to explain why she's visiting. Over the next few nights, we keep special watch out to see if the resident male and female Martens are still about. And sure enough, almost every night we see them, we start to doubt her I.D., But it's definitely another female, not one of those two. Over the next few days, we managed to work out what's going on. After the peanuts, she visits the birdbath for a quick drink, then heads west through the wood. She passes the old oak tree on the left side before finally going into the fields beyond where we lose sight of her. Why she broken with convention and started coming in during the day and perhaps more important, trespassing on somebody else's territory. After a bit of reading and research, we think we may have a possible answer. Maybe the heavier than normal rains during February have caused food shortages. We are seeing a female who has young kids to feed, so she's willing to take these risks to feed them. Hunting in daylight is a big risk as is trespassing on somebody else's territory. During the daylight, the chances are she's going to meet another marten would be greatly reduced. April. Still enjoying seeing the marten in daylight and either one or two of the others at night. The Roe deer doe is getting very round. She's obviously carrying more kids this year. Her son from last year is now sporting a small but very noticeable set of antlers. It will not be long before he'll be leaving his mother's side to make his own way in the world. More and more we see them one at a time rather than together. Then another treat early in the month. A badger we've known for more than five years suddenly appears again. It's been months since we last saw him. He's not in bad Nick, considering his age and the winter we've just had. His habit of going absent for weeks, if not months at a time. Leads us to believe old age has taken him. Then one night, turns up again, this time with six other badgers. Still, his old self demanded peanuts to be thrown in a suitable spot for him to feed on. Just as if he'd been coming in every night. By the middle of the month the weather has warmed sufficiently for the Soprano pipistrelle bats to emerge from hibernation and start flying over the garden again. These tiny bats hibernate over winter. They can't find enough flying insects to feed themselves. Luckily for us, the Pipistrelles sometimes use our house as a winter hibernation roost. Very occasionally, normally, on mild nights you hear them moving in the roof space above our sunroom. Spring is underway. By the middle of the month. The leaf birds appear on the Rowen trees. Rowen or Mountain Ash Sorbus aucuparia are one of the first to show signs of flushing into leaf. Such a welcome sight after the wet and cold of the winter, Summer is now just around the corner and a week later the birch trees show signs of leaf opening. By the end of April, the first Bank Voles Myodes glareolus appear from the edge of the wood rushing out from the undergrowth. They cross the grass to get to the bird feeders. All summer long, they'll be busy running between cover and bird feeder. Then come the autumn. Suddenly they disappear. Even though the food is still available, we don't know what happens to the population living at the edge of the grass. Maybe they move deep into the wood. Who knows? May. The Bullfinches Pyrrhula pyrrhula are back. They've been occasional visitors for some years, but this year we see both male and female regularly visiting the garden. Fingers crossed they'll be looking for nesting sites locally. We live near the top of a hill, so you get a kind of bird migration during the year. Bird species move up and down the hill. Normally in spring, birds are moving to higher ground, looking to find suitable nesting sites come winter. Having bred in the high moors of the glen, they come back down the hill where it's going to be a bit warmer. We are used to catching brief glimpses of birds who are on the way, either up or down the hill, depending on the time of year. It would be great in the Bullfinches stayed around. The males jwith their bright red fronts are such a showy bird. The Beech trees are starting to unfurl their leaves, leaving only the Aspen and the Oak to come into leaf. About this time, the House Sparrows return to the garden. They are one of the species which have moved to lower levels in the winter. Now as the weather warms they return to spend the summer with us. Although we've lost some bird species. Having spent the winter in and around the garden, they're making their way higher into the glen to find nesting sites out on the moors. And hopefully the Long Tailed tits and Tree Creepers will be back in late autumn. For now, the summer visitors are starting to fill the garden and the woodland beyond. New visitors, old friends who year round regulars are busy with the upcoming nesting season. June. The long days of summer are upon us.

It stays light until nearly 11: 24:22

00 p.m.

at night and sunrise is at 4: 24:24

20 a.m.. Badgers must now compact a nights feeding into just a few short hours. So just after sunset. Up to six badgers pop in for a quick snack of peanuts for setting out on the nights foraging. Conflict has broken out in the Badger clan. The young boar badger boar is a term for a male badger. Has been trying to impress the ladies for the last couple of months. Has a rival. It started out with a chase, then developed into a vicious fight. Lots of lunging with bared teeth, at necks, spinning around, trying to use their rumps as a defense. It ended as quickly as it began with yet more chasing. The next night, the young boar was sporting a heavy limp. We witnessed this one fight, but from the way the Badgers reacted over the next few nights, there must have been lots more aggression out of our sight. Badger clans are never stable. New badgers appear and disappear quite regularly. Perhaps it was a young boar looking for a new sett. Having been pushed out of his natal scent when he reached breeding age. Our young boar has been in this for a number of years and always deferred to the dominant boar. Things seem to swing in his favor over the last few months, with the old dominant boar taking a backseat role, leaving it to the younger animal. One of our regular Roe deer visitors. Is coming in very regularly, which is unusual at this time of year as food is normally so plentiful our feeders are no reason to visit. We've known this individual for four years and seen three sets of her kids grow up. She’s looking very round, though, leaving us to believe with a lot of luck we'll be seeing more kids this summer. It's Midsummer's day, the middle of the year, and from now on the days will be shortening. July. In the first few days of July, we catch a glimpse of two rodeo kids. This pair are too old to be our regular doe’s offspring. After all, it's only a few days since we saw her last. With no sign of adult supervision. The two male kids make the most of the freedom by having a good look around. Then finally making off through the wood. Early in the month we have a visit from a Red Deer Cervus elaphus doe. We've seen Red Deer before during the winters. This is a first seeing them during the summer. On the badger front, we have a noticeable new visitor. It looks like another boar. Its broad head tends to make us think it's a boar, but it's very difficult to sex badges just by casual observation. The bits you need to see for sexing are well hidden by large broad tail and short legs. He if indeed it is a he, he seems to be well accepted by everyone in the clan. He's feeding with all the other members a week or so passes and the new badger is becoming a regular. We notice the young boar who's been around for the last two years is no longer a visitor. A lot of our badgers have large bites on their rear ends, a sure sign tensions are high in the clan. Badger aggression tends to result in bites to their rear end. A natural adaption of thick layers of fat and skin means bites to this area don't do as much damage as bites to other part of the animal. It's one reason why when fighting they try and use their bum as a defensive strategy. Under our artificial lights, the bites look oh so bad, oozing and bloody. It always amazes us how such horrific bites can and do heal up over time. The effected individuals just carry on as normal finding food. But it must be sore. The Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus must have nested close by again. Almost every day we see an adult making a hunting flight over the garden. Sparrowhawks are birds of prey, a member of the Hawk family. Their specialty is hunting birds. So a well-stocked garden makes a good hunting ground. Using the house as cover. They come from behind the house round the corner, making a surprise hunting pass at the feeders. Most hunting sorties are unsuccessful. The small birds scatter into the bushes. We positioned the feeders with the hawks in mind. Always positioning them close to cover. After most hunting flights the hawks just fly off and into the wood. Occasionally they will land on the ground or in a branch and go hunting in the bushes. They wait a few moments to see if a bird will make a mistake and try and move to a better position. If their strategy fails, the next one is to try and flush a small bird from their hiding place. Flying into the bush, they jump from branch to branch looking for a victim. After a few minutes, if the strategy isn't working, they give up and move on. It is this hunting behavior that gives us wonderful opportunities to observe these birds really close up. Because of the lack of rain. The Birch trees are starting to turn color. This is a whole lot earlier than normal. And by the end of the month, most of the trees are starting to lose leaves. Then towards the end of the month, just after lunch, the Siuka deer hind Cervus nippon appears in the garden. These deer, originally from East Asia, are a non-native species. Here in the UK, they were introduced in the 1860s and Scotland now has a very healthy population. Our Glen has tens, if not hundreds, of Sika. At dusk it's possible to get an idea just how many are living in the area as they come out of cover of the wood and into farmer's fields to grase. Occasionally we see Sika, normally during hard winters. It's unusual to see individuals during the day, and at this time of year. This hind end looks as though she's about to calve. Which could explain what she's doing here. She may be trying to find enough food for herself and unborn offspring. It's funny, we've not seen Badger cubs this year. Normally, by this time, we would expect to see this year's cubs visiting on a regular basis. It's been that way ever since we started watching Badgers in the Garden. But this year, not a single cub. We wondered why?. What's going on in the sett? Along with a lack of cubs, the numbers are very down. Only four or five individuals visit each night and there visiting separately. Unlike previous years, where we've seen two or three or more badgers coming in together, maybe in time we'll find out why these changes have taken place this year. Then again, perhaps not. Such is the complex lives of these animals. News on other visitors and inhabitants is wonderful. Our old friend, the Roe deer doe has produced another male kid. She's reared five bucks over the past five years we've known her. She's bringing him to the garden with her to feed. Looking at her, he's not fully weaned yet. He keeps making carefully time lunges to see if she’ll allow him to suckle. Looks like she's not going to allow him, though. Not while there’s good browse for him. A day or so later, another family comes visiting. This time it's the pine marten’s in broad daylight. The mother and two young kids appear out of the wood. Mum is a marten we know very well. She's easy to ID by her very recognisable bib pattern. We've known her since she was about the same age as her two young kits. She's now holding her mother's old territory and has successfully raised two kits this year. As we watch, Mum goes up onto the feeding station, checking out the food situation. Both kits remain on the ground playing, exploring this new part of their world. After a few minutes, the kits suddenly realize Mum is missing. Panic sets in. They call and call, but no answer comes back. They start looking around on the ground, unaware, she's just above their heads. When she finally comes down two grateful kits greet and make a fuss over over her return. August. August is the start of the mushroom season. Because we have lots of birch trees. We normally get lots of Chanterelle mushrooms. This year because of the dry weather, the bright yellow patches of mushrooms are nowhere to be seen. Early August sees more sightings of the Sika hind. She's becoming a regular visitor. We are also in for another surprise on the deer front. One day in the middle of a month a Roe doe wanders in during the day with two male kids in tow. It’s not the doe we normally see, this is a different individual. She and her two young bucks were intent on trimming the broom and Gorse bushes and fresh leaves. She must be another female, using the woods beyond the garden to have and raise a family. The Pine Martens visit almost every night, although we seldom get to see them. Evidence of there passing is an empty feeding station each morning. One evening we catch sight of the Roe Deer buck, who's a few years old. He’s sporting a fine set of antlers. It’s time for rut the annual breeding season when the next generation is going to be conceived. Bucks range far and wide at this time of year looking for suitable mates. September. We know winter is on its way, but the weather certainly doesn't feel like it. We've been getting a bit more rain, which is starting to slow the leaf loss on the trees. Along with the Birch, the Rowan and Aspen leaves are starting to turn their autumn color. We see our first Long Tail Tits flocking on to the feeders. We haven't seen them since early spring. They disappear in early spring and reappear at the onset of winter. They must breed somewhere nearby. But we're yet to find out where. It's a season for change in the garden. House Sparrows, who arrived in the spring, raised Several clutches of eggs are gone. With a bit of luck, they'll be back again next year. The nights are drawing in. The shorter days of winter will soon be here. The only good thing about the darker evenings is we get to see more of the Pine Martens. Over the last few months, using observations and video footage, we're now able to identify the two young Martens. They normally come in one at a time over the course of the evening, but on special occasions they both appear. We've not seen the adult female for some time, but we do know she's coming in during the night. It seems to be a regular pattern with Pine Marten mothers. They share their territory with the youngsters for the latter half of the year. Come the harsh weather of winter. Youngsters will be pushed off, leaving mum with a large territory, again to find food in. Yet again in the middle of the month. Everything seems to be happening in the middle of the month this year. We get an amazing sight browsing on the grass and broom in the middle of the afternoon. The Sika hind and calf. It’s something we've never seen before in the garden. The calf is staying very close to Mum from its behavior and size. It's not that old. For perhaps 10 minutes. We're transfixed, afraid to move in case we scare them. A few days later, we get a second treat the hind calf are in again. This time first thing in the morning. Again, spending a fair amount of time feeding and moving about the garden before both moving off into the wood. Red squirrels are back. During the summer they visit, take a nut from the feeding box, sit and eat it and carry on. But come the cooler weather and shortening days they need to bury nuts. On wet or cold days, we now see squirrels busily taking nuts from the boxes, going to ground and then running off to bury the selected nut. They're, of course, building up a story for winter. At this time of year, one squirrel can empty three boxes in a day. We now limit the number of nuts we put in the boxes each day. Otherwise, our garden would be awash with buried hazelnuts. Evidence of just how busy the squirrels have been comes when we're tidying up some plant pots. Each pot contains a carefully buried nut. After removing the old plants. We carefully rebury the nut. October. Right on cue. On the first day of October, we see pink footed geese flying in a large skeins above the house. They must just arrive from Iceland or Greenland. The weather in the far north is getting colder. Tens of thousands of individuals will overwinter in the Beauly and Cromarty firths. Roosting on the mudflats overnight, which provide a safe place to rest away from predators. Come first light. They fly off the mudflats in vast numbers, making their way into the surrounding countryside where they feed all day before returning to the mudflats at sunset. We often see these skeins of geese in the skies above our kitchen window, making their way to the fields. Carrion crows and starting to communal roost again. Summer sees these roosts break up. But at the start of the cold weather hundreds of crows will come together just after sunset. They fly in large, numbers wheeling across the sky, calling to each other. Then in moments they disappear from the sky. The roosting site is just to the west of the house. Huddled together. They'll spend the night, each benefiting from the warmth of the group. Evenings are now full of visitors. The Roe deer doe with the two kids is still visiting our garden. The kids are growing up and starting to form antlers. Last year's kid from our regular Doe is coming back into the garden, and this year he's sporting a fine, if somewhat small pair of antlers. This year's kid is also making appearances along with his and the older Buck's mother. Badger activitiy is not what it used to be. We see the same the same number of individuals. But visiting one at the time. On the pine marten front, three martens visiting almost every night. Mum and the two kits from this year. The female kit who is quite a bit smaller than either mum or her brother, has difficulty in picking up the egg we leave out. We use eggs because they're a natural food Martens, could normally find and because some research points to the fact that if you supply eggs, it reduces the instances of wild bird predation. The same research has shown that marten domestic chicken interaction is also reduced. As our neighbor keeps chickens. Hopefully it keeps the Martens out of trouble. Normally, an adult marten can pick up a small chicken egg. Either by jumping down or normally running along the ramp. They make off with their prize into the wood. The female marten, however, is small when you compare it to the other two. She's having problems picking up the egg in her mouth. We try and select only the smallest egg, but sometimes it isn't possible for the eggs we can get. But she's worked out her own method of getting an egg. It pushes it off the feeder onto the grass, jumps down after the egg. With luck, if it survives the fall, she proceeds to try and pick it up by using the grass to get a better hold to get the egg in her mouth. Occasions the egg breaks, she then laps up, what has spilled. Before making off with the remains. One wet night, when what must have been a larger than normal egg and slippery grass. We witness her chasing the egg up and down the bank. She then proceeded to push the egg with the nose, trying to find a purchase point to allow her to pick it up. After much frustrated pouncing, she won out, made off with her prize. Must do better on the egg selection. Here in the UK at the end of October, we alter our clocks back to Greenwich Mean Time. In other words, the clocks go back by an hour. We currently have about 9 hours of daylight just before Christmas. That will be down to a meagre six and a half hours of daylight. Cold temperatures, snow and ice and very short days will make life hard for the all wildlife. November. We're seeing masses of Roe deer and pine martens every night. The adult doe and her kids from this and last year a regular visitors. The two buck kids each visit two or three times a night looking for bird food. When they've emptied these, they resort to eating the peanuts put out for the Badgers. Now, according to all the books that we've read, peanuts are not good for them and they don't eat peanuts. Perhaps our deer are not reading the right type of books. All the deer and pine marten activity is great, but we're hardly seeing any badgers. If we are lucky, we see perhaps one or two individuals each night. Contrast this with a year ago. We would have expected to see five or six badgers every night, perhaps in two or threes. They would visit early on in the evening, go off, then come back for a peanut top up before making off back into the wood. Badger activity has not been this low for years. It reminds us when we first saw a badger in the garden. Then it was one individual who would visit the garden once a night. He was then joined by another boar, the older badger I told you about who was our longest visiting badger. We don't understand the dynamics of what has happened at the sett to the clan. It seems to stem from the fight we witnessed back in the summer and the arrival of the new boar. Only time will tell if things return to normal. For now, we'll take every opportunity to watch the Badgers that do make a visit. December. One evening, at the beginning of the month, we get a visit from this year's Roe deer buck kid. He's on his own nose down in the ground feeders. As we watch, it's obvious. He can hear something in the wood. He's nervous. He keeps lifting his head and staring. There's something in the wood that he can hear. A few minutes later, we find out what it was. The head of a pine marten peeped through the undergrowth. What now follows is a Roe deer chasing a pine marten through the wood. The deer may be 20 or 30 times bigger, but it's never going to catch a marten. The buck comes out of the wood and starts to eat again. The Marten reappears, runs past buck up onto the feeding station. There is no way the buck is going to be able to mount an attack. We built the feeding station high enough to be out of the reach of badgers and foxes and as it turns out, upset Roe deer. Much stamping and staring takes place while the marten, calmly eats her peanuts when she's had her fill, she jumps down and heads back into the wood. Leaving a very confused young buck. Later the same night, we have more Roe deer action. The new adult Roe derr doe comes in accompanied by one of her bucks. Last year's buck then appears from out of the wood. This is payback. After all the times he was chased by his mum. Picking on the small kid, with head down he starts to chase. It's all too much for the youngster. He disappears into the wood. Mum is, however, very unimpressed by all this. Wanders quietly away into the wood. Snow has arrived at the start of the month. This is driving the deer to visit very regularly to get extra food. We now see three, four even up to five individuals in an evening. Some days they're visiting two or three times. The one thing we're not seeing is badgers. We know they're about from the tracks in the snow, but they're not visiting the garden for peanuts. It's an odd feeling after watching them almost every night to not now be seeing any badgers. Something has changed radically in their world. Something we know nothing about. When they were so regular, you could almost become blasé about seeing a badger. All we can do for the moment is keep watch and remember times past. The 22nd December is tomorrow. The shortest day. That is the year from our kitchen window. We have completed a full revolution and around our sun. The view from our kitchen window is constantly changing. Each day it brings the wonder of nature into our lives and hopefully into yours as well. The impression you may have formed is we spend the whole time looking out the window. In part of course it’s true. Watching and photographing wildlife is, after all, what we do. Our neighbors have remarked they didn't see so much wildlife until we moved in. They now see the deer and squirrels passing their doors on the way to our garden. They don't know how we managed to see so much. I can let you into our secret, food. Without putting out food to attract birds and mammals. You won't see much, the old saying, if you feed them, they will come. Holds true with all creatures. Without a regular supply of food. We will see a whole lot less. I'm sure it was here before. Perhaps not just on a regular basis. We also make sure we see as much as possible. Alarms are set up at night to alert us if anything moves. The alarms go off when we get up and take a look to see what's happening. Sometimes it's a neighbor's cat. Other times something more interesting. Without the alarms, we would have to sit by the window the whole time. As it is, we end up getting up and going to the window about ten or 20 times a night after a long day. And it's the 19th time you've got up out of the chair. It can be tempting just to sit there, but we don't. The excitement, and privilege of seeing such wild creatures just outside our window is always a bigger draw than just sitting there. My suspicion, knowing us, it will never become boring. We've learned so much and still have massive amount more to learn. Observation, after all, is one of the best ways of gaining knowledge. We have tried in this episode to give you a feeling about what we see. It can only be the briefest of glimpses. We've had to miss out so many other happenings. If you've got this far, I hope you feel that your time has been well spent. We have surprised you with the diversity of wildlife we view from our kitchen window. I hope you've enjoyed listening and perhaps we have encouraged you to look out of your windows to watch the wildlife. On behalf of Jacky and myself, we hope you enjoyed this episode. Both of us would like to thank everybody who listens to our podcast and wish you the best of the season. My name is Mark Bloomfield. Thank you for listening. You've been listening to a wildlife and photography podcast produced by M&J Bloomfield. For more information, details about us and our work, visit our website and enjoy mandjbloomfield dot com. Thank you for listening and we hope you join us again soon. Chun an sin, mar sin leat.