Not many of them – yet – but they are beautiful.
Cracked leaves, dusty footpaths, yellowed fields: they’re all waiting.
There are always winners and losers with weather. Week after week of exceptionally high temperatures and almost no rainfall have boosted butterfly numbers, but everything that depends on earthworms is having a tough time finding them in iron-hard earth.
Badgers thrive on earthworms, but they are omnivorous and will take insects, bee nests and carrion too. This one was visiting a water dish that I’ve had out in the woods for the last week. (Ignore the date – camera was not set correctly.)
Potentially, foxes may be impacted more than badgers – earthworms are a big part of the diet of cubs.
Shrews are surviving at high speed, as they always do. Pygmy shrews need to eat up to 125% of their body weight each day. That’s 125% of not very much, admittedly; at 2 to 6 grams, they’re our smallest terrestrial mammal.
One of the most frequent of my thirsty visitors is the bank vole. The trail camera caught one drinking for a full twenty seconds without a pause.
They’re clinging on. The rest of us are watching the sky in hope.
A Walk with Wildlife 
Adele, it seems that weather extremes are becoming the norm. I’m afraid I am not a big fan of the hot weather and I like the rain! We’ve had a lot of the first and non of the second this month. Apparently we’re due for another four days of it and then maybe a bit cooler. That would suit me!
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Hi Robin, sorry for the late reply! Yes, I prefer the cooler seasons too. Hope you’re having a nice autumn over on the west coast 🙂
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I really love your photography and writing. Beautiful job!
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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We are in Newfoundland for about a week now, we had rain almost every day (everything is so beautifully green) but temperatures are too high so it rather feels like a Vancouver on a warm day. Very strong winds, though.
I like the video of that thirsty vole that you posted on FB 🙂
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Hi Darko, I’m glad you had a great trip to Newfoundland. I enjoyed the photos that you and San posted on FB.
I’m glad to see the back of summer – it was too long and too hot this year. Looking forward to autumn 🙂
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