Fox and Pipistelle Bat

Just before 9.00am I noticed a fox hunting in the track. It traveled nose to the ground crossing the track and looking in the vegetation, slowly making its way towards our house. I quickly went inside to get my camera.

I knew the flash would probably cause the fox to head back up teh track so I waited until it was near enough to take a photo. 

The flash caused the fox to freeze and it looked in my direction, but not sure if it could see me as I kept myself in front of our brick wall. It turned slowly and trotted back up the track.

Foxes were quite common around our way and in previous years I have watched a couple of foxes on their nightly rounds, but I have not seen them for a couple of years, so great to see this fox.

Just after the fox had gone, I noticed the pipistrelle bats were also now on the wing. Again, I have been watching these bats hunting along the track for the last few years. There are lots of insects in the track and the bats may hunt for a 20 minutes or more before moving on. I watched them for a while then went inside.  

A short while later I went back out to check and as I suspected, the fox was back hunting again. I knew that my presence would only cause it to go away temporarily

More bat observations

Apologies for lack of entries lately, due to workload and holidays. I am delighted to say the bats are just as active as ever in the track next to my house. I watched them yesterday evening, they now appear about 8.00pm

As our house is at a point where the track bends away, the bats fly straight up the track towards me, loop and head back down the track at about head height.

Some time they also circle the tree overhanging the left (opposite) side of the track, right next to our house.

Its great to watch them flying back and forth, which goes on for about 25 minutes before they move on. I had been hoping borrow a bat detector to determine species, but no luck I think they are pipistrelle, but its quite dark. But I managed to get a few reasonable pics this time. There at least two bats that were visible at the same time.