Getting close to wildlife - literally

[Jeff Smith]

In a YouTube video I saw recently discussing the dangerous, for pedestrians, design of F150 and similar sized trucks (pedestrians tend to get thrown underneath rather than over the bonnet) tests were observed using rubber turtles and tortoises in the road.  Some drivers, of predominantly large trucks, deliberately steered to run them over......

[mow]

Twelve days ago I almost stepped on this adder at Arne. I saw another sleepy adder on Ballard Down the day before.

 

 

 

[jbqfc]

I went to go to bed last night and found this chap in the bathroom he must of got in when i was feeling up the feeders 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Getting him out had to be fun!

[Chris M]

It’s got a lot of red on it. I think it’s more likely to be Hughes than Stanier.

[jbqfc]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Getting him out had to be fun!

not really i just chucked a towel over him picked him up and took him outside 

 

John  

[monkeysarefun]

There's a bunch of wood ducks that hang out in the grounds of the place I  work. Recently there's been a few hatchings, here is a family of 12 ducklings, there is another pair  wandering around the place with 18.

 

 

 

[tigerburnie]

On 18/09/2023 at 20:13, mow said:

Twelve days ago I almost stepped on this adder at Arne. I saw another sleepy adder on Ballard Down the day before.

 

 

 

That's a female and they will be looking for a place to give berth this time of year.

[tigerburnie]

Taken at our local bird hide just click on the link there's no sound on it

Winday day at Montrose by tigerburnie, on Flickr

Edited September 29, 2023 by tigerburnie

[Martino]

Four white tailed deer, including a fawn that is beginning to loose its spots.  There were two additional does just over to the right.  Caught on one of our cameras in the garden this afternoon.

[mow]

I have had a great deal of fun with a small waterproof camera trying to photograph fish. This group was at Menton on 30th September.

 

 

[melmerby]

Spotted this butterfly having a feed on Ivy blossom, a couple of days ago:

 

 

 

 

[5944]

 

 

Couple of photos taken this afternoon of the black squirrel that has been feasting on the seeds from the sunflowers in our garden.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, 5944 said:

 

 

Couple of photos taken this afternoon of the black squirrel that has been feasting on the seeds from the sunflowers in our garden.

I'm not sure if black squirrels should be reported but they do carry a virus which is deadly to our native red squirrel.

[5944]

12 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I'm not sure if black squirrels should be reported but they do carry a virus which is deadly to our native red squirrel.

Bit late now, they've been in Letchworth for over a hundred years. Greys are relatively rare around here.

[03060]

1 hour ago, 5944 said:

Bit late now, they've been in Letchworth for over a hundred years. Greys are relatively rare around here.

I've never heard of black squirrels before ! Learn something new everyday.

[tigerburnie]

The Black Squirrel is the same species as the grey, but with a mutation of the gene that controls coat pigmentation – giving rise to their black colouring. The black squirrel was first recorded in the UK in 1912, but is restricted to the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridge.

[melmerby]

Even the reds can have a fair bit of colour variety, from an almost orange colour to a dark chestnut.

Most are in the middle of the range.

Noticed that in a park in Austria.

[Dave Searle]

An unusual albino squirrel in Dorking earlier this year

 

Cheers,

Dave

[03060]

I've just had a couple of nights on Filey Brigg which is quite a good spot for wildlife, usual assortment of gulls, a few red admirals, a couple of large white butterflies and even a possible peregrine sighting which typically had moved on by the time I got my glass out, all seen from my van on the campsite there. I also took the time to watch a magpie sat on the fence but studying something higher up in a tree, it made me realise just how 'strong' the black, white and blue colours are on these common birds, quite stunning really.

 

Highlight of the trip was an early morning walk up onto the Brigg itself to watch a non event sunrise but which at least yielded a flypast by 4 cormorants which then wheeled around and down in a large arc before landing in the bay and a good 15 mins watching a small ground feeding bird (there were several of them around) which I didn't really recognise so memorised the main features of sparrow like size and plumage but with black and white feathers at the wing edges, fairly obvious light coloured eyebrows and yellow bill noticable even in the poor pre-dawn light, nervous movements but calmer the longer I remained still and watched .... looked it up whilst having breakfast to find out that they were Snow Buntings which I'm not sure that I've ever seen before. There was also a small warbler flitting about in the undergrowth but I'm still not very good at identifying these.

 

I think that I'll have to try and get back there before the campsite shuts for the winter and maybe try and photograph the Snow Buntings if they are still there.

[DaveyH]

 

 

On the Welsh coast this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

[hmrspaul]

Saturday 14 October is World Migratory Bird Day and millions of birds are on the move all across the globe.

 

I was fortunate to see some of  north Europes migratory species in their winter home in Senegal at the end of February.

 

These House Martins were on the roof of the lodge room, huddled together. Unlike other birds which all get up at the crack of dawn they - and there were lots of them - stayed a bed for hours longer. Perhaps this was because insects also took some time to become active and become a meal. 

 

Paul

 

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by hmrspaul

[hmrspaul]

Another iconic migratory bird is the Osprey. This one has a readable ring which was put on it somewhere in Germany. 

 

 

Paul

[J. S. Bach]

On 05/10/2023 at 09:38, 5944 said:

 

Couple of photos taken this afternoon of the black squirrel that has been feasting on the seeds from the sunflowers in our garden.

 

On 06/10/2023 at 12:52, Dave Searle said:

An unusual albino squirrel in Dorking earlier this year

 

Cheers,

Dave

Hmmm, if those two were to mate!

[Martino]

Edited October 15, 2023 by Martino
Couldn’t add text! Caught this guy today in our garden.