Your day's wildlife

[Soltydog]

25 mile ride today & my highlight was a little owl sat on a wall, had to laugh when it tried to hide from me, by dropping 'his' head down into his body Also saw a white pheasant

 

[vernon]

Today's wild life was the senior management team storming around my department demanding that the head of department finds the missing fifty completed but unmarked mock exam papers that disappeared over the half term break.

It's a problem that's way above my pay scale for me to worry about.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

To anyone who's interested, I can heartily recommend "How to be a bad bird watcher" by Simon Barnes. Very funny, with tales about birds and his relationships with his father and wife.

Wildlife seen today so far is a pair of bullfinches on the feeder. I like bullfinches (and especially goldfinches) because they have the decency to stand on the feeder for a long time so I can watch them, whereas the likes of coal tits are off and away in a flash.

 

[biggs682]

Found this and its mate in a bucket we keep on the patio to put our clean waste water in before tipping it in to the water butts

they seemed quite happy in there

 

[Fnaar]

Not my own wildlife experience, but I thought I'd share... it's not every day you see a weasel attacking a woodpecker, and hitching a ride on its back (plus I heard some woodpeckers in the woods this morning)

http://www.boredpanda.com/weasel-riding-woodpecker-wildlife-photography-martin-le-may/

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Not my own wildlife experience, but I thought I'd share... it's not every day you see a weasel attacking a woodpecker, and hitching a ride on its back (plus I heard some woodpeckers in the woods this morning)

http://www.boredpanda.com/weasel-riding-woodpecker-wildlife-photography-martin-le-may/

 

[Fnaar]

@Flying_Monkey might have something to say about that!

 

[nickyboy]

To anyone who's interested, I can heartily recommend "How to be a bad bird watcher" by Simon Barnes. Very funny, with tales about birds and his relationships with his father and wife.

Wildlife seen today so far is a pair of bullfinches on the feeder. I like bullfinches (and especially goldfinches) because they have the decency to stand on the feeder for a long time so I can watch them, whereas the likes of coal tits are off and away in a flash.

It's interesting how much of a difference putting different food out makes. I used to stock the feeder with unshelled sunflower seeds. In the autumn they were almost untouched. Then at Christmas I bought a 25kg sack of sunflower hearts. Huge change. We're about 600ft above sea level so birds are a bit scarce in the winter. But in the past few weeks there have been plenty of the usual Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits. But also half a dozen Goldfinches, 3 Bullfinches, 4 Lesser Redpolls and a couple of Greenfinches. Despite the snowy weather they seem to be coping OK

 

[AndyRM]

They're not outside, but my cats are currently going wild over part of a wicker basket they've managed to detach. They really need to get a life.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

A willow tit

 

[nickyboy]

A willow tit

Pretty rare. I've only ever seen one, years ago. They're long since extinct in the places I've lived. I'll have to keep my ears open on my Cheshire rides.

 

[gbb]

If you think back 20 years, the difference particually in raptor numbers is striking.
Dad was a keen countryside man who loved bird watching and that rubbed off on me...and onto my son as well.
Round these ere parts (bordering the fens) it was unusual to see a buzzard, very rarely. Red Kite were birds of folklore, Osprey had been introduced to Rutland but you had to go there to see one. Marsh Harrier...again, you had to know specifically where to look...now look at it
Buzzard, saw one this afternoon on the way home, often see I assume the same one in the same place but theyre quite a common sight now.
Red Kite..pah, whats the big deal..(only joking, truly lovely birds) Two a penny round here.
Osprey..look very high in a summers sky, we see them occasionally headed from the fens toward Rutland. i saw one 4 years ago on a ride, he was perched in a tree maybe 300 yards away..near Peterborough.
Marsh Harrier...seen them a few times now, spreading out perhaps from the Nene washes east of Whittlesea.
Dad lost his sight at 60...he never ever saw a Red Kite, despite all the years he'd spent in the countryside.
Raptors, birds of prey have done very well it seems.

 

[vernon]

If that's a pukka photo, it's brilliant

I'm so glad that you came to the woodpecker's rescue.

 

[slowmotion]

One of the tits, early last Sunday morning, four metres up our cherry tree.

View: https://vimeo.com/121204017

 

[summerdays]

I've taken a slightly different route on one part of my commute the last two days as my normal shortcut is very muddy, and I keep spotting a blackbird with lots of white patches on his feathers (I used to have one in my garden with one white patch but this is quite a few patches).