Author Topic: Seen today  (Read 999453 times)

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5875 on: 26 July, 2021, 11:56:02 pm »
Br Mrs B, not me, on the allotment.

A young-looking robin which firstly gobbled a small worm, & was then spotted munching a grasshopper. Looks as if it's learned some basic survival skills.  :thumbsup:
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

ppg

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5876 on: 29 July, 2021, 09:03:23 am »
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8JALN744VC9myYmN9

We thought the birds were hungrier than usual  ???

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5877 on: 29 July, 2021, 09:08:04 am »
Point of order: that is not Squirrel Nutkin, rather his Usanian cousin Rattus Arboreum.

ppg

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5878 on: 29 July, 2021, 09:11:28 am »
No wonder he didn't answer when I called him (her)  :facepalm:

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5879 on: 29 July, 2021, 09:24:18 am »
Drawing the curtains last night to see a fox calmly walking along the road fronting the house.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5880 on: 29 July, 2021, 01:12:04 pm »
We had a new fox turn up a few nights ago with one of our usual grown cubs.
It is very black, it has a very thin brush and is taller than our other foxes. When it first appeared on the security video I thought it was a small Alsatian.

Seeing it at 0520 this morning in daylight confirms it has a lot of black hair.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5881 on: 29 July, 2021, 01:53:02 pm »
Just watched a spider with yellow dots on its back (possibly a so-called cupboard spider? it's not in a cupboard) wrap and overcome a house fly. Whatever type of spider it is, it's a puny European species and so the fly took a long time to die, quite noisily.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5882 on: 31 July, 2021, 10:53:54 am »
Yesterday's garden visitor. Don't see them too often in daylight.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5883 on: 31 July, 2021, 01:11:55 pm »
Lovely. I haven't seen one in our garden for years.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5884 on: 31 July, 2021, 01:19:23 pm »
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8JALN744VC9myYmN9

We thought the birds were hungrier than usual  ???

Nice pictures but a bit anodyne - our squirrels eat the seeds out of the tubular feeder - then they eat the feeder (true).

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5885 on: 01 August, 2021, 10:12:30 pm »
Two or three nights ago, by torchlight: at least 3 eels in pools in the park.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5886 on: 02 August, 2021, 02:02:18 pm »
On my bike ride this morning, a big flock of lapwings, swooping and circling above the reservoirs at Hurworth (County Durham).  I've seen film of starlings doing this murmuration thing, didn't realise lapwings do it as well.  At one point they swooped low over the water, and I could hear the sound of their wingbeats and calls being reflected back off the water.  Fantastic.
Sunshine approaching from the South.

First time in 1,000 years.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5887 on: 02 August, 2021, 03:34:52 pm »
Socks, that's quite probably the National Collection of Lapwings.  I see one or two very occasionally over here in Lancashire.  They used to be common but so many old ponds and mill flashes have been filled in and built on.  They are fabulous birds.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5888 on: 02 August, 2021, 08:57:44 pm »
Utterly otterly.


IMG_4250_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5889 on: 02 August, 2021, 09:33:50 pm »
 :thumbsup:

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5890 on: 02 August, 2021, 09:37:19 pm »
Good photo Pingu.

As for starlings, they used to fill Paddington station and presumably other large stations. I don't know what's happened to them there; presumably the pigeon-control spikes are more effective against starlings than pigeons. I didn't know lapwings did murmurations though, in fact I don't think I've seen flocks of lapwings.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: Seen today
« Reply #5891 on: 02 August, 2021, 09:49:01 pm »
There used to be masses of starlings in Brum city centre at sundown..  They've not been there for years now.  I hadn't thought of the pigeon spikes.
Here in Llandysul, the jackdaws do a murmuration thing at sundown.  Not as good as starlings,  but a good effort.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5892 on: 03 August, 2021, 02:45:42 pm »
Last Saturday, as I was taking coffee in Ingwiller:



Quite a few storks around in the fields, too.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5893 on: 03 August, 2021, 08:59:36 pm »
House martin chicks.


IMG_4297_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5894 on: 05 August, 2021, 02:52:17 pm »
There used to be masses of starlings in Brum city centre at sundown..  They've not been there for years now.  I hadn't thought of the pigeon spikes.
Here in Llandysul, the jackdaws do a murmuration thing at sundown.  Not as good as starlings,  but a good effort.

I remember Brum's starlings impressing my Mum, when she paid me a visit in 1984. They were quite a sight!

Re: Seen today
« Reply #5895 on: 05 August, 2021, 04:12:21 pm »
I don't remember Starlings sitting on buildings but always using trees and telephone lines.
It is good they are making a comeback.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5896 on: 13 August, 2021, 09:47:34 pm »
Many years ago I attended an FA Cup match at Roots Hall - Southend Utd v AP Leamington. IIRC Southend won 4 - 1. I had a feeling that had the score not been so decisively in Southend's favour, that the referee might have abandoned the match because of the fog.

At one point an enormous murmuration of starlings descended on the ground. It was a mid-week evening kick-off so completely dark and presumably the birds were attracted by the floodlights. The noise of their wings was much louder than the noise of the crowd. (But there were only a few of us).

A google has revealed that the match was played on 19th December 1977.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5897 on: 13 August, 2021, 09:53:12 pm »
Yesterday, Jan and I took our lives into our hands and went out for the day. We headed for Minsmere where we saw avocets and a few other things, but we were reluctant to spend much time in crowded bird hides. I had a natter to a couple of chaps with spotting scopes who had had a brilliant day: many different types of water, a bittern or two, and two juvenile cuckoos sitting together on a fence.

I had a swim at Dunwich and we had a meal outside the Ship Inn with our good pals Jon & Anita Fuller. The trip was at Jon's suggestion as he's very keen on looking at the clear night sky. Pre-brexit, he had a lovely place in rural Brittany and all he had to do was walk out the door after dark for a wonderful view of stars. We went to Westleton Heath around sunset and stayed there until about 11pm. To my utter delight, we heard several nightjars whirring away to each other, and I saw one silhouetted against the last glow of the sunset as it zoomed around for a bit.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5898 on: 14 August, 2021, 04:56:50 pm »
Badgers! Two of them, a big one and a little one. I was cycling back from a night out. It was 01:30. The big one ran alongside me for a moment before crossing my path and charging into the undergrowth on the left. A few moments later I saw the white stripe of a little badger's nose coming towards me on the same path before it too ducked into the foliage on my left.

What a treat.
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Seen today
« Reply #5899 on: 14 August, 2021, 06:43:32 pm »
A dipper.  I've seen a pair by the river some time ago, but this one was doing it properly.  Dipping busily in the shallows. First time I've seen that. The name is so fitting.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.