Stories from the Tufa Field No.6: In the Night Garden

It is slightly unfortunate for us as viewers that some of the best activity in  the Tufa Field is at night.

But for the natural world, night time often equates to safe time – predators have more difficulty finding food, and for small mammals, invertebrates like moths and insets, and amphibians, the cover of darkness affords their best feeding and breeding opportunities. It’s worth remembering too that by comparison with many animals, we have very poor night vision. The ability to see in parts of the spectrum such as ultra-violet and /or infra-red often means that some animals see as in dark as well as we do in bright sunshine.

Also for those without this advantage, hearing, smell and taste may be enhanced to a point where these senses are as effective as sight.

So night time at the Tufa Field is a hive of activity all the year round, and especially in Summer.

Capturing this action is difficult without specialist equipment, so we are lucky to sometimes get images and sounds on our cameras and microphones. Here are some of the best.

Fallow Stag

Bliss!

And as night finishes and dawn breaks, put on the headphones and listen to the Dawn Chorus.