Your day's wildlife

[Poacher]

Male Great Tit giving the schwegler nest box a thorough inspection, inside and out. A bit early to be claiming territory, I thought!

 

[philk56]

I have been trying to catch a shot of one of these daily visitors to our garden and my patience finally paid off

It is a Singing Honeyeater and they enjoy the grevillea flowers.

 

[albal]

A quick film shot on my phone yesterday in Poole bay


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u75AWcZJJ-U&feature=share

Looks like Baiter

 

[Dave 123]

A quick film shot on my phone yesterday in Poole bay


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u75AWcZJJ-U&feature=share

Those sandpipers are Turnstones....

 

[Poacher]

Those sandpipers are Turnstones....

Ruddy Turnstones!

(For the benefit of our transatlantic friends, who need to qualify the name to distinguish them from Black Turnstones. This statement may contain an element of truth.)

 

[biggs682]

Those sandpipers are Turnstones....

I stand corrected

 

[nickyboy]

I stand corrected

To be fair, Turnstones are part of the broader Sandpiper "family"....as are most small birds you see at the seaside probing in the mud

 

[nickyboy]

Glossop isn't the most interesting place from a wildlife perspective. But there is a phenomenon that happens every year, which , if you keep your eyes peeled, is quite a spectacle

Pink Footed Geese breed in places like Iceland and winter in UK. They arrive on the Fylde coast in late Autumn. But as Winter progresses, a lot of them relocate to Norfolk, then returning to Fylde before going back to Iceland in the Spring. It just happens that Glossop is on the flightline from Fylde to Norfolk. They have to get over the Pennines and the Snake Pass is as good a place as any

So they wait for a day with clear skies (check) and a NW wind (check) and off they go

Looked out this morning and saw a skein of about 300 heading over the Snake Pass. Set off on the bike and in the first few minutes saw two more skeins. Must have been 500 in total. Honking away

 

[philk56]

I'm not sure what this swamphen had done to annoy the wagtail but it was getting a lot of grief! Willie Wagtails can be very territorial and pesky little birds as I can personally verify, having been buzzed by one on more than one occasion . The swamphen eventually shuffled away.

 

[Poacher]

Very belated post. Last Sunday, at about 12:30, there were two Blackcaps, a male and female, around Mahonia flowers in our garden. We get one or two overwintering about every other year, and mostly notice them around these flowers, probably picking off the few unfortunate insects which are attracted to them for scarce nectar. Can't call them a pair - they were competing strongly for food. Hopefully they'll find the fat peckers as in previous years, and make it through to Spring.
We're now in Madeira (which is why I hadn't posted previously, busy packing for a flight early on Monday), and surrounded by noisy Blackcaps and Canaries. Will post pics of an unidentified moth, Ruddy Turnstones and the darkest, fattest Madeiran lizard I've ever seen when we return next year - can't find how to download pics from a still unfamiliar camera to a still unfamiliar tablet.

 

[potsy]

Just as I pulled up today, saw a grey wagtail near the garden gate.

Not seen any for a while.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

I have just been fishing for an hour hoping for a pike. Nothing doing there but, we saw two ducklings. They were well past the yellow stage but we're still very small.

Unusual at this time of year?

 

[Dirk]

First Primroses spotted today in North Devon.
First Daffodils spotted last week.

 

[Asa Post]

I know it's been very mild for the last few days, but I didn't expect to find a hedgehog feeding in the garden on New Year's Eve.

 

[Dirk]

Daffodils in Perranporth today.