Author Topic: Seen today  (Read 999874 times)

Re: Seen today
« Reply #800 on: 27 September, 2009, 08:17:24 pm »
Several people have been taken out by them on audaxs - as you can imagine, whizzing along rural lanes at night in summer you see quite a few
I've had a near miss with a young one that really, really had to cross the road in between two cyclists one Wednesday evening near Sonning Common, but never an actual collision.
"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

Wowbagger

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Re: Seen today
« Reply #801 on: 28 September, 2009, 12:53:20 am »


I decided to take the dog out a bit earlier than usual and then waited where I'd seen the badgers. I waited some time - over half an hour - during which time the church clock struck 12 and a police car trundled up the road. The officers failed to spot me. I was dressed in prowler's navy blue and concealed behind a telegraph pole. Then, shortly after midnight, this chap appeared. That's about the best photo I took. Soon afterwards a young lady opened the door in her nightie and introduced herself as Michèle. It is she that feeds the badgers. She invited me to come and take photos of them any time I wanted.

This fellow was eating bread that Michèle had put out, and although he was wary of me, he was clearly not sufficiently worried to bolt. Apparently there are four badgers that come along and have a midnight feast outside Michèle's house. Superb!
Quote from: Dez
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Re: Seen today
« Reply #802 on: 28 September, 2009, 07:34:51 am »
If you speak to Michelle, apparently they eat cat food but really love raisins. Obviously like just about everything else I have been told in my life this could all be bollocks.
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Re: Seen today
« Reply #803 on: 28 September, 2009, 09:24:11 am »
My first post on this thread for a very long time.
Seen this weekend at my parents' holiday place in W Sussex, a pair of rotund little quail, pecking around just outside the conservatory window early one morning.

Not stunningly exciting to those that see them all the time, but rather nice for a wildlife-starved Lunnener.    :)

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Seen today
« Reply #804 on: 28 September, 2009, 09:30:59 am »
...a young lady opened the door in her nightie ...

What an odd place to have a door!

Good pic, though - old Brock sauntering down the street.
Getting there...

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: Seen today
« Reply #805 on: 28 September, 2009, 10:58:15 am »
Soon afterwards a young lady opened the door in her nightie and introduced herself as Michèle.  She invited me to come and take photos of them any time I wanted.

Do you think that if I loiter around the streets late at night with a camera I might get an offer like that?
There's no vibrations, but wait.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #806 on: 28 September, 2009, 11:16:52 am »
Soon afterwards a young lady opened the door in her nightie and introduced herself as Michèle.  She invited me to come and take photos of them any time I wanted.

Do you think that if I loiter around the streets late at night with a camera I might get an offer like that?
Either that, or the attentions of Fuzzy's ilk.   :P

Back to critters: why do all the birds turn up at once? None for an hour, then a robin, two blue tits, & a goldfinch, queuing up to eat.
"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

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Seen today
« Reply #807 on: 29 September, 2009, 05:48:01 pm »
When cycling home from Walton-on-the-Naze and having just had a short diversion through Wix to buy some bread, I cycled past the following beastie.

So what is he/she? I think it's an adder but I'm not sure. He/she was about two and a half feet long.





My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


border-rider

Re: Seen today
« Reply #808 on: 29 September, 2009, 05:51:05 pm »
Adder - not much else it can be.

There was a huuuge one just outside Newbury a few years ago that had gone a strange dark blue colour after death.  It looked really exotic...

Re: Seen today
« Reply #809 on: 29 September, 2009, 06:01:53 pm »
Well, I'd say grass snake, with those distinctive markings on the "neck" and the lack of zigzags.  But I've never seen a grass snake that big.

border-rider

Re: Seen today
« Reply #810 on: 29 September, 2009, 06:04:33 pm »
I'd tend to agree - markings are not typically as an adder, but at that size I'd discounted a grass snake...

Re: Seen today
« Reply #811 on: 29 September, 2009, 06:58:52 pm »
It's a grass snake, apart from looking 100% like a grass snake  ;D

The best way to tell is to look at the pupils

grass = round pupils
adder = vertical slits

Grass snakes can grow way over 3ft, we have lots in a nature reserve at the bottom of my street. Lovely creatures and remind me of nice warm days, not seen many this year  :(
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alan

Re: Seen today
« Reply #812 on: 29 September, 2009, 07:02:54 pm »
There was a grey squirrel on the lawn this morning for quite a while.He busied himself burying stuff & eating other things before scuttling away via the framework of the gazebo on the bottom patio.

Wowbagger

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Re: Seen today
« Reply #813 on: 29 September, 2009, 10:43:34 pm »
Except it's a grass snake.

Edit: overlooked several posts on page change.

Grass snakes tend to grow considerably larger that adders. ISTR someone recording a grass snake over 5' in length somewhere in Hampshire once.

Grass Snake: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article
Quote from: Dez
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robbo6

Re: Seen today
« Reply #814 on: 30 September, 2009, 10:17:49 am »
It's a grass snake, the round pupils give it away even if the snake has odd colouring. Adders (and asp vipers in France) have slit pupils, like a cat in bright light.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #815 on: 30 September, 2009, 12:13:53 pm »
Grass snake -



Adder -

"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

Wowbagger

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Re: Seen today
« Reply #816 on: 30 September, 2009, 02:17:49 pm »
When you catch them, grass snakes have a very malodorous defence mechanism. I know this from personal experience.
Quote from: Dez
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FatBloke

  • I come from a land up over!
Re: Seen today
« Reply #817 on: 30 September, 2009, 06:42:28 pm »
When you catch them, grass snakes have a very malodorous defence mechanism. I know this from personal experience.
You can always retaliate by getting Morph to breathe on 'em!!   ;D
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.

Wowbagger

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Re: Seen today
« Reply #818 on: 30 September, 2009, 08:44:03 pm »
When you catch them, grass snakes have a very malodorous defence mechanism. I know this from personal experience.
You can always retaliate by getting Morph to breathe on 'em!!   ;D

He's better now - better being relative. You can no longer smell him from the other side of the room, unless he farts.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

alan

Re: Seen today
« Reply #819 on: 02 October, 2009, 09:28:39 am »
There was a grey squirrel on the lawn this morning for quite a while.He busied himself burying stuff & eating other things before scuttling away via the framework of the gazebo on the bottom patio.

We had an action replay earlier this morning even using the same exit route.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Seen today
« Reply #820 on: 02 October, 2009, 09:50:05 am »
Yesterday, near Elephant & Castle, I saw a black squirrel.  Yes, black ???

It was a tiny thing that ran across the road in front of me.  And it had a bushy tail, so it wasn't a rat. 

Getting there...

Re: Seen today
« Reply #821 on: 02 October, 2009, 06:07:58 pm »
I was at Center Parc in Elveden Forest this week for a Workshop, and saw no end of squirrels and small deer.  I'm not sure what the deer species was, they were a lot smaller than the larger deer you see wandering around places like Richmond Park, probably only about the size of a medium sized dog.  I'll post a photo next week, since I've just had to power the server down for the weekend (electrical safety testing).

The squirrels are incredibly tame and cheeky, checking around the chalets for anything they can find to eat.  You come across them all the time when walking around the site, but on a bike you catch them even more unaware.  The entire site must have tens of thousands of them at least.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Seen today
« Reply #822 on: 02 October, 2009, 06:09:56 pm »
Not today - last Sunday - a grey wagtail at our woods.  This was the first time ever it's been seen there (we have records going back to the 1960's from a local naturalist).  It was probably attracted by one of our ponds that is drying out a bit so there is plenty of mud.  Really pleased about that sighting.
Spinning, but not cycling...

Re: Seen today
« Reply #823 on: 02 October, 2009, 06:37:38 pm »
I was at Center Parc in Elveden Forest this week for a Workshop, and saw no end of squirrels and small deer.  I'm not sure what the deer species was, they were a lot smaller than the larger deer you see wandering around places like Richmond Park, probably only about the size of a medium sized dog.  I'll post a photo next week, since I've just had to power the server down for the weekend (electrical safety testing).


Would they be muntjac?
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Re: Seen today
« Reply #824 on: 02 October, 2009, 08:48:51 pm »
Would they be muntjac?

Yes. Vermin of the Norfolk/Suffolk woods (among other places, doubtless).

If I had a garden (rather than a clearing) I'd not be happy- they root up plants. As it is, I am devising traps....