A gorgeous pine marten turned up on the trail cam footage yesterday but, as a robin had been feeding her baby on that very log a few hours before, I think we know why it was there… Good news for the robin family is that the baby turned up on today’s footage but not such good news, I guess, for the pine marten’s family…

Well, nobody guessed what the mystery tail was in my last post but here’s the answer anyway… a beautiful beaver!

I’ve been setting trail cameras for the last couple of months down by the river, in the hope of catching these animals. And, at last, in the last week or two, I’ve been getting them on video. There’s a strange object down in the bottom left of the screen - can you guess what rather exciting creature it belongs to?

Caught on one of my trail cams 😆

The wildlife was hiding yesterday when I biked along one of my favourite trails but I did spot this gorgeous old fence post, and it’s hosting a fair bit of lichen and mosses.

This is one of my favourite places to walk and bike. Good coffee and shopping nearby but true wilderness on the doorstep, with crested tits and ospreys and capercaillies!

I couldn’t believe my eyes today when I was taking a break from my bike ride at the side of a quiet road and saw this beautiful reptile snuggled down at the base of a tree. I think it’s a slow worm but if anyone can tell me differently I’d be more than happy to be corrected.

I’ve never seen either a snake or a slow worm before in my life. I’m so happy to have stumbled across one today.

I think this lovely badger comes through my garden every night…but I’m usually fast asleep! Nice to get a picture of him or her…

I’ve started placing a couple of trail cameras down by my local river since I discovered there are beavers there. Got a lovely shot of a pine marten posing beautifully for the camera as he passed by.

Hair ice is an amazing and quite rare phenomenon. It only develops on a certain kind of deciduous dead twig that has a particular fungus growing on it. I am lucky enough to have a colony of twigs like this near to where I walk so I always keep an eye out for this amazing bit of nature on cold days like this.

Hair ice is an amazing phenomenon and quite rare. Not only do temperature conditions have to be right (just below freezing and moist air) but it only appears on rotting broadwood branches and twigs that have a particular fungus growing on them. Wonderful silky strands of ice are produced and they are quite long-lasting - sometimes, as in this picture, the only bit of ice in an otherwise snow and ice-free area. Also, it’s just a beautiful thing to see!