Birds, wildlife and travel
Having had the day’s exercise, I was scoping out of the window and I noticed some movement on the down. It turned out to be three Hares, not new for the house, but scarce enough to be interesting. It turned out very interesting, as they started boxing. It turns out that Mad March Hares are also out of sync this year. Here’s a terrible digiscoped picture of them. The female is on the bottom, with her partner between her and the interloper.
Now that the Japan photos are done here’s a few pictures from the garden and the walks around the locality from the last couple of weeks. We’re incredibly lucky to have the Downs on our doorstep, although this weekend’s stupidity in Brighton might result in us losing even that freedom.
We’ve had some good luck with migrants, although terrible luck with either available camera equipment or the bird sitting in the worst possible place.
One last post from Japan, this time from our extension, which started with a day in the Tokyo area, followed by an overnight ferry to the Izu Islands in the hope of albatrosses from the boat.
One last lot from Hokkaido, starting with a return to Notsuke, the Fish Owl and Sable at the magnificent Yoroushi Onsen, a visit to Lake Kussharo, some volcanic springs and a return to Tsurui for some more cranes.
If you don’t like eagles look away now. This post is very edited highlights of our boat trip from Rausu to see the Steller’s and White-tailed Eagles being fed.
One of the few benefits of the lockdown is that I have more time to spend on my photos. I need it: there’s not that many species on Hokkaido, but they are superb, so I shot more than half my of photos in the few days we spent there. Here’s a sample from the first few days, starting in Tsurui for the cranes, moving on to Nemuro for some seabirds and then to our night in Rausu.
Down south this time, where spring is springing, with two nights at the cranes in Arasaki and two nights near Miike.
Here’s the first batch of pictures from Japan, covering the first section of the trip on Honshu, starting in Tokyo, spending three nights in Karuizawa and a couple of nights in Kaga.
Foxes on Hokkaido are great. Not only do they look fantastic in their fluffy winter coats, but they’re also very friendly, actively seeking out humans in case there’s a sandwich or fish going spare. This one had gone for a more traditional route, though, having caught a shrew and taken it off to eat in peace. Things didn’t quite go to plan though…
After much more pouncing and digging, the fox gave up and looked sad at us until it was thrown some food.