My explorations both yesterday and this morning have given me more insight in to the activities of the otters locally. I discovered several new "sprainting" sites as well as evidence of an otter meal in the shape of numerous fish scales. Also I have noted that last evening an otter came out and sprainted in a place that I will be able to put the infrared camera tonight and see what I can capture. 

My Kingfisher session this morning was not productive so back at home I watched the garden in the hope of getting some nice bird shots. We had Chaffinch, Goldfinch,Blackbird, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon and Blackbird. However the real surprise was some photos of a Field Mouse- Apodymus sylvaticus. I have been aware since way before Christmas  that a Field mouse was eating from a fat ball close to the house but I had only seen it briefly, and in the dark, last November.  Suddenly today I saw it out of the corner of my eye and I just happened to be trying to photograph Wood Pigeons from an upstairs window at the time.  It was interesting to watch it acrobatically climbing down a very thin branch, head first, to the food. It was as quick as lightening and I found this natural behaviour very interesting, you may not, perhaps treating a mouse as a mouse and imagining it to be worthy only of a trap or poison.
Readers of the Blog will know that being the odd-ball that I am, I thought it a great addition to the garden!

An update from this afternoons Kingfisher encounter. After 4 I was back to the brook for another look for "my" Kingfisher, as I hadn't seen him this morning I just needed to check that he was  OK, yes I am obsessed with this bird. I needn't have worried because he was waiting for me…….. perched on my hide in fact! He saw me and didn't get too excited or worried, he just flew past me up stream and perched amongst the dead foliage and  carried on fishing, returning with a nice little fish a few minutes later. Then he flew up on to my hide just an inch above my head. After a short while there was a loud splash and he took his new fish back to the perch to kill and eat. (Reminder to myself…………. don't take these amazing encounters for granted, they won't last for ever).