Polecat Kits of 2014

Polecat, Mustela putorius, Kit

Mags has had a litter of eight kits this year. She has got her work cut out, but is a great mum. This is her third litter, and she has really done well on learning from her previous two.

Mags is currently in the double polecat pen opposite our main polecat enclosure, along with her kits. The kits are at that age now where they are confident on their feet, and exploring their surroundings. Mum keeps trying to take them back to the nest, but soon gives up and leaves them to it knowing that they are safe.

Peeking from Den

It really is like a "Whack a Mole" fair ground game watching them... you never know which hole they are going to pop out of next, and similar to the stoats it is often best to just be patient and wait by one of them until inevitably one of them has a look out.

Polecat Kit

All these photographs are taken from outside the enclosure, and in the evening. Mags is very protective of her babies, as you can imagine, and if I tried to sneak in she would soon come over and ask me in her own way (biting!!!) to leave.

Mags and Three Kits

Cassisus, the father, is currently off-display. With our main pair, and pairs we have had in the past, we have always left the male in with the female and never had any trouble.

With Mags and Cassius, we always separate Cassisus out while Mags has young. He has never shown an interest or threat in the youngster, but Mags starts to bully him a little to keep him away. So to save him from all the nagging, we think it best to give him a bit of rest from her.

Polecat Kit

This years kits have already been a great attraction for many of our visitors. Being in our weasel pen, it means there is the lower viewing angle through the glass too which allows children to see them up close.

Polecat Kit

We will keep them here for the summer holidays, and then in the autumn they will join up with other polecats bred this year to be released in to the wild.

All Eight plus Mum

The other night I spent half an hour with them. At one point mum and all eight kits were out and together, I was cursing having my longer lens on so changed to a wide angle and tried to get all nine in one photo. Needless to say, they didn't all group up together again... but if you look very closely mum and all eight kits are int he photo above!

Proud Mum

Mags really is doing a great job, and you can see that the kits are about half her size already. It won't be long until they have outgrown her... she is quite small for a female herself.

Playful

The kits are playing around, good exercise for them, but also learning skills that they will need in the future when they are eventually out in the wild, and having to fend for themselves.

The kits are active on and off throughout the day, no best time to see them really, but I would suggest the afternoon if you are just wanting to come for half a day and particularly wanting to see the polecat kits.

Thanks for looking

Dance of the Adders: 2014

"Dance of the Adders" - 2014

Today I am posting some dancing adder photos. The majority of these are from this year, with a few old favourites at the bottom.

If you are a follower of the BWC Blog, you will already know that the "Dance of the Adders" is one of my most anticipated animal behaviours to see every year. I just can't get enough of it, and always make sure I have some free time to spend with the adders during this time.

This year our adders put on a real good show. Not the best I have seen, but then I am just being picky... it certainly was still a spectacle to see and lasted for a while giving many visitors a chance to witness this beautiful behaviour.

Adder, Vipera berus

I will try not to bore you too much about adders and the "dance here. If you want to learn more about why they do it etc, then look through the archives on the BWC Blog to see past posts and video clips too.

Adder Dance Close-up

These close up photos really show them putting their all in to it, trying to force each other to the ground.

Rising Up

Perhaps at it's most spectacular is when they lift up to the first half of their body off the ground before trying to wrestle the each other back down.

Dancing through the Fisheye

I am lucky enough to have some photos I am very happy with from previous years. This allows me to experiment a bit more now with different angles and lenses etc. A lot of these photos from this year were taken with a macro lens, the first time I have really used it properly... and I quite like the results.

Of course, if I am experimenting, I had to bring out my ol' favourite... the fisheye lens. You can see above one of the better ones. Yep, I know... didn't really work did it... but you have to try these things. I will definitely give this lens another go next year though, as I think I know how to improve the photos with the angle of the lens.

Adder Dance

I love the shapes they create while dancing, so beautiful. When you see it in motion it is quite mesmerising and hypnotic. A lot of the time I just lay there and watch it, leaving the camera to one side.

Adder Dance, 2014

This is the type of shot I try to get each year for Liza in the main office. A straight forward side shot, low angle, of them rearing up. Once I have this I am happy to explore the other options.

Adder Dance

The adders have no fear of me being in there, they are quite used to it, and so happily continue to dance straight towards me when they need to. This is one of the better ones from this year of just this.

Entwined 

They really do twist and tangle themselves together to try and out wrestle each other.

Adder Dance

They never bite each other though, it is purely a test of strength and stamina to see who gets to mate with the female.

Adder Dance

Trying to Impress

You can see from these two, that on occasion they may even dance right on top of the female...

Not Impressed

... not that she looks too impressed!

Matt with Dancing Adders - by Mark McElligott

I always like souvenirs of myself with the animals. And I was lucky enough to have this photo sent to me taken by Mark McElligott.

You can see how close the adders came to me, great for the macro lens. Me being in there did not disturb them at all. They are so used to me being in there, and so wrapped up in what they are doing with each other, that they are almost oblivious.

Other are just curious. And on several occasions I had an adder crawling right by me, under me and even a couple of times in the macro lens and once over the camera!

It is a great experience being this close to an animal you love. Adders are fairly docile, not at all aggressive, and only really strike out in defense, say if you were to step on one for example. But then I think most wild animals would do that.

Still... I know and have worked with these adders for ten years. I probably wouldn't have got this close with wild ones, or ones I didn't know.

Adder Dance, 2013

These are a few of my older favourite ones. Above is a simple portrait of their dance from last year. 

Dance of the Adders

One of them coming towards me, and probably my favourite of this. I actually entered this one in to the BWPA this year, but unfortunately it wasn't short-listed.

Three Adders Dancing

The first year I ever saw them dance while I had a camera was incredible. Even more so was the fact that all three males got involved at once. This is the only record shot I got of it, but still a favourite because of how rare this is to see.

Folie a Trois - by Derek Bennet

But check out this one above taken by Derek Bennet. This really is a fantastic photo, I love it. Taken of our adders this year in a brief fleeting moment of all three males getting in on the action. Derek kindly sent this in to show me and allowed me to share it on the BWC Blog back in April.

Dance of the Adders

One of my earliest "adder dance" photos, and very much still one of my favourites. 

Adders

And then this one shows the event form a slightly different angle and setting. Quite different, but then I like it because of that.

Oh what the hell, forget what I said above... this is such an amazing thing to see I want those that haven't had the pleasure just to see what it is like in action. Below is a video clip from the dance a couple of years ago, with information on how/why they do it etc.

Thanks for looking.

Harvest Mice

Harvest Mouse, Micromys minutus 

Firstly, thanks to all of you who came up to me over the weekend and said how much you are enjoying this new blog. It seems you are happy for lots of photos, and so with that in mind here is another plethora of pictures for your perusing pleasure!

Izzy found some fresh green corn in my old kennels last week, so I jumped on the chance of a bit of harvest mouse photography. I had something definite in mind... I won't say what, but I will say one of these got pretty close. Unfortunately the corn has now been tattered by the birds (yep, I didn't store it very well), but if I get the chance in the future, and get the shot I wanted, I will post it up.

Close up in the Corn

Harvest mice are great, and as I always tell people... even if you have an aversion to mice you can't help but think these little ones are adorable. They have the latin name Micromys  minutus, very apt for a mouse so small. Harvest mice weigh around the same amount as a two pence coin!

Harvest Mouse in the Corn

I took a few with a small bunch of the corn, and tried with a couple of mice at once too. It worked okay, but I preferred what I was getting with just one mouse... and although it is more obviously a set, preferred also the ones with a single stem of corn.

Placement of the Mouse

I had Tom on hand one evening, and Lucy one afternoon to help with the set up. It is possible for me to do it alone, and the way we do it minimises the risk of losing the mouse to negligible levels, but it is nicer and easier for me if I know I don't have to worry about keeping an eye on the mouse while setting up etc.

Harvest Mouse Washing

We always use more than one mouse which we can rotate if necessary, and at any signs of upset or discomfort on the mouses part we swap them... and if needs be call the shoot to an end. But when they just settle in and wash themselves as above, you know it will be a good shoot. This is one of my favourites of the first evening. Just a simple portrait.

Harvest Mouse on Corn

And I like this one showing of the prehensile tail so well...

Exploring the Corn

... as does this one too. They really make the use of this extra "limb" to the full.

Pole Dancing

While climbing up and down the stalk, when they suddenly turn to change direction they create some great shapes. It is almost as if they are pole dancing.

Pole Dancing

Great skills, and they do it with such ease.

Harvest Mouse Adaptations

Another of my favourites, showing off their adaptations. The tail once again, but also the feet. They have opposable thumbs on their hind feet that make it easier for them to grip on to the stalks.

Pole Dancing

And another showing the tail. The harvest mouse is the only mammal in Europe to have an prehensile tail. This means they can use it like an extra limb to grip on to things, they can even hang just from their tail and take their full weight if needed!

Harvest Mouse

Another of my favourites... yep, sorry, the fisheye was out again.

Below are a couple of old favourites...

About to Pop

A very old one above, showing a pregnant harvest mouse days... possibly even hours before giving birth. Being so small to start with, they really do blow up in size. This one had a particularly large litter and was almost the size of a golf ball!

Secret Keeper

Possibly still my favourite harvest mouse photo I have taken. The mouse is actually washing her face while delicately balancing between the stalks of corn, but it looks like she may be holding in a secret desperately trying to get out. This photo was commended in the BWPA 2012 (Collection 3).

Thanks for looking.