Your day's wildlife

[Donger]

Sorry. Not up to the standard of some of the photo's in this thread. Three storks in a field outside Sint Jansklooster, in the Overijssel region of the Netherlands:

They were amazingly nonchalant, stepping casually to either side of a pair of tractors that were mowing the field at the time. One tractor was just out of shot to the left at the time of this picture. Saw another stork just down the lane later in the day. Also saw one in marshes near Boulogne earlier in the year, but have never seen one in Britain.

 

[Donger]

Loads more storks today, so I got a second chance to take a decent picture:

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

No photo because it was dark but a brush tailed possum which was very ' tame ' and allowed us within 2-3m of it before it ran off up the tree. Inner city Canberra so someone has a possum problem!

 

[coffeejo]

I found a juvenile slow worm in the garden yesterday evening! By found, I mean it was drizzling so I picked up my sandals from where I'd left them on the patio and it fell out of them. I called my friend over to see it, which got the dog all excited and she nearly stomped on the poor thing as she barged past without looking (I call her Idiot Dog for a reason). I grabbed the dog and my friend picked up the slow worm to rescue it. It thanked her by pooing on her hands!

I hope it's here to stay as it can help the hedgehogs deal with the slugs. I'll see if I can make a few areas of the garden a bit more slow worm friendly.

 

[Maverick Goose]

A Thrush right outside my kitchen window.

 

[summerdays]

I found a juvenile slow worm in the garden yesterday evening! By found, I mean it was drizzling so I picked up my sandals from where I'd left them on the patio and it fell out of them. I called my friend over to see it, which got the dog all excited and she nearly stomped on the poor thing as she barged past without looking (I call her Idiot Dog for a reason). I grabbed the dog and my friend picked up the slow worm to rescue it. It thanked her by pooing on her hands!

I hope it's here to stay as it can help the hedgehogs deal with the slugs. I'll see if I can make a few areas of the garden a bit more slow worm friendly.

They like a bit of metal that is in a bit of sunny long grass I think. That understanding is only based on how they collected the slow worms from an area before they built houses on and I used to pass as the gentleman was checking the site each day. And if he found any he would hold up them for the kids to see before popping them in a bag to take to a safer location. They had lots of collection points dotted around, which were all corrugated metal sheeting in long grass.

 

[sheddy]

Couple of stoats ran across the road in front of me the other day. They move very fast out in the open.

Stoatally wonderful footage from Springwatch (FF to 2 mins in)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07fdd8r/springwatch-2016-episode-5

 

[bonsaibilly]

Um, yesterday not today (late to the party), but some kind of pretty snail in my backyard...

 

[Maverick Goose]

Lots of Ravens (all with the usual number of eyes as far as I could tell).

 

[robjh]

Riding along a bridleway a few miles outside Cambridge on Thursday I came across this standing in the path. It was bold enough to stand and wait while I got the phone out and took a picture

 

[Glow worm]

One of my favourite little chums I saw on a night ride last night at Wicken Fen, Cambs.

 

[Mireystock]

Six fallow deer and a muntjac this morning, early doors. The fallow deer are ten a penny here, the muntjac more of a rarity.

 

[coffeejo]

My landlords say we've got a roe deer who visits most days though I'm yet to see her.

 

[Fnaar]

This is a question... I've googled a bit and considered a couple of possibilities, and I have no picture...
I was cycling yesterday on road with farmland on one side (just grass in the fields) and moorland (rising higher) on the other. A bird flew over towards the moor, very fast, no call that I heard, and it was silhouetted.
Best description is that it looked like a very large swift (i.e. it wasn't, but it was swift-shaped, but much bigger).
Any ideas? My googling suggests hobby or nightjar, but I'm not sure the shape of either was what I saw. It was early afternoon, too.

 

[Poacher]

This is a question... I've googled a bit and considered a couple of possibilities, and I have no picture...
I was cycling yesterday on road with farmland on one side (just grass in the fields) and moorland (rising higher) on the other. A bird flew over towards the moor, very fast, no call that I heard, and it was silhouetted.
Best description is that it looked like a very large swift (i.e. it wasn't, but it was swift-shaped, but much bigger).
Any ideas? My googling suggests hobby or nightjar, but I'm not sure the shape of either was what I saw. It was early afternoon, too.

Was it too big to have been a Merlin?