March 2025

Some great videos this month, including the absolute best ‘badger falling into a pond’ video. I promise you that you will laugh out loud. It is worthy of You’ve Been Framed. Let’s start with this one of a Buzzard eating some left over sausages. I put these deep in the wood and positioned the camera to see what it would attract.

Staying with the buzzard, here it is again at the pond. Look at its right claw. I think that’s a frog it has just caught (either that or it’s a big clump of weed). Looks pretty frog like to me though.

Staying with the pond, here are some ducks getting frisky. At first it looks like three mallards fighting but look carefully and you can see a poor female underneath them.

Mandarin ducks have returned to the pond. Although only at night time it seems.

Love these next two videos of a young badger being spooked by the IR light on the camera. Badgers are not known for speed but look at him run when he gets spooked. The second video is just 9 minutes later so it clearly wasn’t too frightened!

Weasels and Stoats are my favourite woodland animals and that last video, with a fleeting shot of a weasel, provides the perfect excuse to share our new Aspect Nature Reserve logo, designed by one of my sons.

We also have a Crayfish logo, although until the question of whether we have the rare UK White Claw crayfish or just the normal invasive species I am loathe to use it. Talking of which this month we have captured 4 different Crayfish. One was definitely a Signal Crayfish (nasty invasive), but the other three are pretty ambiguous. I am no Crayfish Expert but I have now read enough to have a dangerous level of ignorance on the topic. I now obsessively measure their dimensions, study their carapaces, analyse the claws and try (and fail) to sex them. Its an odd obsession for a 55 year old man but it keeps me off the streets.

This is a shot of a crayfish poking out of our Artificial Refuge Trap. They are called White Claws for a reason and just look at this. It HAS to be a White Claw, surely!

The only definitive way of knowing the specie will be to cull one and freeze it/send it for analysis. I know this is what I need to do but I have not yet mustered up the courage to actually do this. What if they ARE White Claws and I am killing off one of the precious UK rarities? I could become the crustacean equivalent of the man who ate the last Dodo! So far I have released every one I have captured. My hope is to persuade the EA’s resident Crayfish expert to come and do the identification in situ.

In other news, you might recall at the end of last year we took some eDNA samples at both ANR and Mount Wood. Sadly the samples all came back negative which, bearing in mind we had just found some crayfish in the river, was clearly not very encouraging. We are now trying a new set of samples with a new supplier of eDNA analysis.

We have also just today (April 1st) culled a couple of deer with a deer stalker. If you fancy some venison let me know (send a private message)

We have also been busy getting the site ready to host visits from schoolchildren/forest schools. We now have working toilets and our classroom/office is now adored with swift boxes (note the slightly different markings on each box, to help the birds know which box is theirs). We have a 12mx6m marque which we can put up to provide protection from the sunshine. If you are a teacher (or know one) and want to talk about how to make use of these facilities let me know (again message privately). For the avoidance of doubt, there will be no fee charged to use the site.

Our roundels and orchard are now protected with brash fences, ready for the influx of lambs due in the middle of April. 

Finally, I promised the funniest video ever. You might remember this video of a young fox falling into the pond last September, well as this months last video shows young badgers have the same problem with balance.  I challenge you to not laugh out loud. See you next month.