Your day's wildlife

[biggs682]

Had to evict this spider before the other half saw it.

 

[Maverick Goose]

Had to evict this spider before the other half saw it.

View attachment 149286

Game over man game over!


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsx2vdn7gpY

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I've recently come across a grey heron (one of the big ones) that has taken to sitting on the cycle path but on the wrong side of the bushes for it to see the river.

Today I found out why when it took off with what looked like a water vole in its bill. Must be easier than catching fish.

 

[Cubist]

Real treat yesterday. We were on a short break up in the Dales, and we're stood watching g a pair of buzzards riding the thermals in the morning sun. Mrs Cube was enjoying using my new binos, when a fellow dog walker asked whether we were locals. He then told us if we went up to Cotterdale we had a good chance of seeing a red squirrel. After our walk we duly drove to the spot he mentioned, and within five minutes saw one running along a drystone wall with a pinecone in his mouth. He crossed a small bridge in front of us, about twenty yards away, then after a pause long enough to get a really good look, he came even closer and climbed a tree just a few feet from us. Magical.

 

[Asa Post]

I've just been in the garden to put some food out for the creatures of the night.
As I triggered the security light, I saw a badger standing further up the path and looking at me. Knowing that their eyesight isn't great, and that I'd be a silhouette with the light behind me, I stopped dead, and started counting. With the light bright enough to show every detail, it looked magnificent.
It continued to stare at me, raising and lowering the head a few times. Then, after 14 seconds, it turned and scuttled away.
I got a tape out to measure how far away it had been. 27 feet.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

For sure!
A Grey Wagtail on the summit of Helm Crag.

I've never seen (or heard) them away from water. Lovely name in French - bergeronnette des ruisseaux (ruisseaux = streams). I wonder what it was doing up there.

 

[gbb]

Quite a few raptor types out on today's ride..
One nice Red Kite, no big deal round here nowadays.
Two Buzzard, one large, floating over a rolled field, one smallish one atop a tree I passed under, not sure who was more surprised as we eyed each other.
One possible Marsh Harrier in a field, maybe a hundred yards away. Large and seemingly slim, Buzzard tend to be a bit squat and heavy, Harriers tend not to have a bulky body. Maybe, maybe not...a good sized raptor anyway.
One possible falcon, seen in silhouette near Morborne transmitters, a very high and quite remote pair of masts.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

A Wedge Tailed Eagle - that other little black spot is a bird just smaller than a blackbird which was mobbing it (just for size reference). It is Australia's largest raptor. Its a crap photo, but I only have a 200mm lens and like all of the others here it was taken through a very dirty window...

A crimson rosella (which are everywhere and a pain in the neck tbh)

Mr & Mrs Red-Browed Finches. That grass is not actually that long...

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Something a little different... An echidna came wandering through our garden and I was lucky enough to be entering the bedroom at the time to get my 2pm meds, so I got to see it.

View attachment 143127

View attachment 143128

Nice. Where's the garden?

 

[Cubist]

I've just been in the garden to put some food out for the creatures of the night.
As I triggered the security light, I saw a badger standing further up the path and looking at me. Knowing that their eyesight isn't great, and that I'd be a silhouette with the light behind me, I stopped dead, and started counting. With the light bright enough to show every detail, it looked magnificent.
It continued to stare at me, raising and lowering the head a few times. Then, after 14 seconds, it turned and scuttled away.
I got a tape out to measure how far away it had been. 27 feet.

They can be pretty fearless. Back in 1976 during the drought my mum went to throw some stuff on the compost heap. She called to me to come and look, and there was a badger munching eggshells and the chop bones we'd had the night before. I stood no more than six feet from him shining a torch at him. He didn't pause. The sight of his jaws going through those bones like butter gave me a healthy respect for their power. He was obviously desperate...... the drought meant the soil was devoid of his usual diet.....but clearly not bothered by us.

 

[biggs682]

A couple of cygnet's from our walk earlier this afternoon.

 

[Mireystock]

A single antlered Fallow stag yesterday afternoon. I guess the other one had come off in the rutt, or had fallen off after its end.

 

[Cubist]

A single antlered Fallow stag yesterday afternoon. I guess the other one had come off in the rutt, or had fallen off after its end.

I expect you're right. They normally shed them in spring so it'll have lost it accidentally.

 

[rich p]

They can be pretty fearless. Back in 1976 during the drought my mum went to throw some stuff on the compost heap. She called to me to come and look, and there was a badger munching eggshells and the chop bones we'd had the night before. I stood no more than six feet from him shining a torch at him. He didn't pause. The sight of his jaws going through those bones like butter gave me a healthy respect for their power. He was obviously desperate...... the drought meant the soil was devoid of his usual diet.....but clearly not bothered by us.

You put bones in the compost?

 

[Cubist]

You put bones in the compost?

We lived miles from anywhere surrounded by farmland. Every bit of food waste went onto the compost heap. What wasn't eaten or taken by wildlife made good compost.