Friday 17 February 2012

Deux Chevreuils

heading east
We often see animals just at the edge of our land where there's a very clear wildlife trod (path). The other morning we saw a lovely fox with a magnificent brush busily sniffing the trod as it went along. It was quite large, so we guess it was a dog fox and not a vixen.

a quick mouthful



Our most frequent sightings are of roe deer: chevreuil. We don't see them every day but they are regular visitors.  If we spot them from the bathroom window in the mornings they tend to be moving from the right [east] to the left [west]. When we see them in the evenings they come from the left and move towards the right.

Most of the time, the camera is nowhere to hand or the light is too poor. Earlier this evening, at about 6:20pm, we struck lucky.

a good scratch

Two does came ambling very slowly out of the woods to the west and the camera was to hand. Happily they didn't bound off and we were able to get some shots from Antoinette's study. They aren't brilliant as it was already dusk and getting darker by the minute. We had to use the low light setting on the camera and as they moved slowly along there is a bit of blurring.
what's that noise!






However we managed to take two shots where they stood still. In one, one of the does is having a good scratch of her withers. In the other the doe is looking straight at the house in reaction to the sound of the water being pumped from the immersion heater in the barn


They are wary; hardly surprizing with all the hunters, and every sound or movement from the house is carefully evaluated for threat.

16 comments:

Diane said...

You are so lucky. I often see them out cycling but not near home. Diane

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Diane - it is a real joy to see them. Sometimes there's a young buck as well.

the fly in the web said...

They are lovely.
I'm so glad you had the camera to hand!
We used to see them in the back field in the winter, coming for the hay we left out.

GaynorB said...

Lovely post!
You are both so lucky to live in such a lovely place and you really make the most of it.
Bon weekend ...

My name is Riet said...

You are so lucky to live there with that beautiful sight.

ladybird said...

You are so lucky to live in such a beautiful region. Everything is so natural and untouched. The closest I can ever came to a 'wild' animal where I live was a dead stoat, that had been run over by a car.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@fly - we've thought about putting a salt lick out next winter to attract them. But then again the locals hunt in the two woods either side so perhaps staying skittish is better.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Gaynor - definitely lucky :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Martine - until we moved here it wasn't much different for us. The odd urban fox was the big highlight.
Now we are spoilt rotten :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Riet - je even wat anders dan de randstad! :-)

Perpetua said...

How lovely to see them so close to your home. Great photos, especially given the time of day.

We see red deer on the hills when we'e in Scotland, but though there are deer in Mid-Wales, we've never been lucky enough to see any. However, last weekend, using his brand-new video camera, DH did manage to film a fox sniffing around in the field below our house. :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - we have red deer too -- friends have seen them; but they don't seem to come near our house :-(

MorningAJ said...

That's what you see from your bathroom window... And I'm overjoyed to spot a blackbird or two! Gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing with those of us who live a bit further from wildlife.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@AJ - You are welcome :-) we were so glad to finally catch them on camera.

Jean said...

How wonderful and great photos.
I love your new header photo too - it's nice to see the snow but it's even better when it's gone !!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Jean - just for once camera and I [A] were in the right place :-)
Météo has sunny skies predicted for the whole of this week!