Y.E.T.I : Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Seals on the Rocks.

The YETI mammal list is shaping up well, however far greater challenges await the group. Red Fox are common across the region.

Regardless of whether you love them or hate them the red fox is without doubt one of Britain's most charismatic mammals. There can be few species which are as embedded into our culture, through fairytales, fables, songs and folklore, as Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. Often portrayed as the sly, evil, trickster the red fox is simply doing what it has to do to survive. The very notion that animals can be good or bad is perhaps best left in the books. The red fox is essentially an opportunistic predator, but one which can at times be largely omnivorous. It's not gingerbread men, small children or chickens that form the majority of foxes diets but principally small mammals, birds, invertebrates, food scraps and fruit. In fact this is so true of invertebrates, that in wet years like 2012 we see very good recruitment of young foxes, primarily due to the availability of earthworms, an important food source, once they have left their parents territories. We see similar trends in other earthworm feeders too such as thrushes and badgers.

Red Fox, taking a breather from munching earthworms. Earthworms make the fox world go round.

This addition to the Y.E.T.I list was more interested in feeding on teal but definitely had more success with the earthworms today. This fine specimen of an animal is a male or "dog" as they are known, a quick check between the legs can help sex foxes but like in this case it is not always possible. Males show a relatively large flat forehead with a finer looking muzzle, females have a more evenly "petit" triangular face, with less of a large forehead tapering to a mousy nose. This is not always possible, but with a bit of experience can be done in a lot of cases. Interestingly due to the role that male foxes play in fox society females give birth to litters with a male bias slightly later than ones containing more females, to enable them to gain additional weight for independence, (females have less pressures on them at the post weaning age). This is so the critical growth period coincides with an increase in small mammal and bird breeding productivity. We are now getting towards the end of the mating period with many females likely to now be gravid.

Teal look tasty but are difficult to catch, especially for a land based predator.

Many foxes continually tread on thin ice, due to persecution, but the British population remains strong due to the opportunistic nature of the species.

For one reason or another (. . . invertebrates) I have not had much time to visit the coast yet this year, so whilst both common and grey seal have already been ticked off by other members (I think). I decided to take some shots for the blogs cause. The entire Yorkshire coastline is a relatively easy part of Britain to search for our two resident species of seal. These are of course the grey seal and the common (or harbour) seal. As everyone knows seals are essentially a marine mammal, albeit ones which need terrestrial habitats in which to breed, moult and "haul out" (rest). The less disturbed areas of rocks close to sheltered fishing sites, along this coast, are typically the best places to look for them. Neither species breeds (frequently at least) along this stretch of coastline, primarily due to the lack of undisturbed areas above the high water mark. Grey and common seals can occasionally be confused, although if ever in doubt check the nostrils. Grey have parallel ( II ) common have ( v ) v shaped, not to mention common are smaller, have larger eyes and a smaller nose.

Female grey seal hauled out on the rocks, having a stretch. Note the devide between the base of the nostrils.

A distant view of a common seal, unfortunately common seals tend to be less frequently found hauled out in this region.

The most awe inspiring and inspirational species of the day however was this Lichen . . . . well not quite! Lichen does need some love too though and in a strange YETI kind of way, is equal to a fox, seal or for that matter a Siberian Rubythroat, I just don't look at it that way. Regardless lichen is an important component in of the natural world in which we live. This (below) is Xanthoria parietina a common species within the region. The yellow colouration is produced by a chemical known as Xanthorin as a protection against UV radiation, so unsurprisingly when this species grows in the shade it is green as Xanthorin production ceases.