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Getting close to wildlife - literally


Guest 34008Padstow
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Unintended passenger this morning:

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Possibly got too close whilst reading the notice next to him about not riding on the outside of the train. His mate was firmly lodged in the coupling socket!!!

 

Had a Gatwick 73 explode a pigeon right next to me in Clapham cutting one Sunday am - at least the blood & brains only ended up on my HVV gear and thank goodness for hard hats..............

 

There are some photos knocking about within the railway industry (can't find my copy) of an unfortunate cow with a Class 153 stuck up its a**e...........

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We have a pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers who are regular visitors to the peanut feeder in our garden. Pictured is Mr. Woodpecker - Mrs. looks very much the same except that she doesn't have the red patch on the back of her head.

 

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The frogs are seasonal visitors to the pond. I hope that this picture is suitable viewing for this forum :blush: - the end result of the activity pictured was a lot of tadpoles, although they were sadly largely eaten by the fish, which themselves were eaten by a heron not long afterwards.

 

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DT

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Nice picture, Tony - very pretty! I note you're in Essex and assume that the picture was not taken there as I understand that there are now no red squirrels in Essex?

 

DT

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Nice picture, Tony - very pretty! I note you're in Essex and assume that the picture was not taken there as I understand that there are now no red squirrels in Essex?

 

DT

Taken last week at Dodd Wood osprey view point during our Lake District Holiday.

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This 'thing' gave me a start, the other day, at work.

It was quite big too! About 1.5cm across by 2.5cm long – and that was just the body. Yes, those are fangs you can see!!

 

I don't know what kind of spider it was but when I'm abroad I am ALWAYS respectful to the things.

If it's a new species then I get to name it! So I think i'll call it “Horriblous Hairious Keepawayiousâ€!

 

Kev.

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^

That's nothing compared to what you can find in Australia.....

 

It certainly wasn't as big as the 'Hairy Huntsman' I took a photo of in Melbourne one year. The Huntsman was a lot more aggressive/angry too.

 

In 1972, again in Melbourne, I was bitten by something that made my arm swell up for two days and was shear agony!

 

I'm interested, in passing, in creepy crawlies but I can't help keeping a respectful distance between us!

 

Kev.

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Watendlath Cafe, Lake District, last week.

Something less scary than Australian poisonous creatures.

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The blue tit does look a bit weighed down by the cake crumbs but it did successfully take off!

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This visitor took a fancy to the pear tree yesterday, and then decided that ground level was more fun...

 

That was probably because the main diet of the Green Woodpecker is ants.

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Apparently, out of the ten deadliest creatures in the world, all are Australian :O

 

Q: What's the shortest book in the world?

A: The "Australian Book of Things That Can't Kill You"

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This is a picture of a kea, taken in Arthur’s Pass in New Zealand.

 

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Keas are parrots which live in the alpine regions of New Zealand’s south island. Their habitat is pretty tough, so they are very inquisitive, looking for food and anything else they can make use of. There are notices posted warning you not to leave clothes lying around because they will steal them, and that they can open zips on bags etc. This one is one of a group of three that descended on our car before we’d even got out of it at a viewpoint. As you can see, it’s pecking at the rubber window surround.

 

We walked away from the car to see the view, and when we came back, the aerial was off the car and lying about 10 metres away. The keas had actually unscrewed it! It was metal, and screwed into a metal socket on the car roof – they could not have just pulled it out. It took about 6 complete turns to get it back on firmly. Amazing birds!

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I got a bit too close, for comfort, to these poor fellows the other day.

At first I thought I knew why there were no starlings in China but, apparentely, these used to send messages!

 

Kev.

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Although I was in Chichester to photograph buses this morning, I did take a moment to swing my camera upwards, check out how good the zoom was on it and caught the famous Chichester Periguines:

 

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Two of what I believe is either three or four chicks they have had this year.

 

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One of the parents - I think!!

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Has anyone encountered anything more exotic than a few birds and the odd native mammal?

 

Surely with a worldwide community there might be the occasional man/maneater event to cheer us after the Italian drubbing or maybe an escapee from Isla Nublar*.

 

 

Tim

 

*Look it up

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Has anyone encountered anything more exotic than a few birds and the odd native mammal?

 

Surely with a worldwide community there might be the occasional man/maneater event....

 

Well, apparently a tiger prowls around Weymouth at about this time of year.....

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