Seen today

[border-rider]

A stoat in the garden

Since Big Cat died the voles & woodmice populations have exploded; they used to be confined to the undergrowth and shrubberies, but now their holes are all over the grass.

[TimO]

Since Big Cat died the voles & woodmice populations have exploded; they used to be confined to the undergrowth and shrubberies, but now their holes are all over the grass.

Once the junior team are allowed out, that unconcerned bunch of rodents will become a rapid training exercise in tracking and hunting.

[Pingu]

Last week in Germany (Düsseldorf) I think I saw a Nuthatch - is that likely?

Don't see why not. The only one I've ever seen was in Bamberg.

[border-rider]

We get them on our seed feeders.  Lovely.

[Crumbling Nick]

Yesterday, while I was descending N. towards Shipton under Wychwood, a roe deer shot across the road about 2m in front of me. There was a memorable crunch of hooves on  loose stones as it kicked off from the roadside. I was mightily relieved that I hadn't arrived half a second earlier. I don't know much about deer, but it had the start of antlers about the size of its ears.

I'd had a similar encounter, but at a more comfortable 10m distance, around Basingstoke, riding S. last Monday.

Are roe deer common in those areas?

[Wowbagger]

I think nuthatches are more common in West England 7 Wales than they are in the south-east although I have seen them in Hockley Woods, about 5 miles form Southend.

A pal of mine who lives in mid-Wales showed me his old post box, the slot of which had been sealed up with mud, except for a small hole. He quizzed me as to what it was, and I think he was quite surprised when I identified it as a nuthatch's nest.

[Crumbling Nick]

Last week in Germany (Düsseldorf) I think I saw a Nuthatch - is that likely?

They're not uncommon around here - West Midlands suburbia. We have had them on our feeders, though not observed in the last couple of years. I've identified more by sound than sight.

[Tourist Tony]

They're very common round here as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. I think of their call as sounding a bit electronic.

[Bledlow]

.. Shipton under Wychwood, a roe deer ...

I'd had a similar encounter, but at a more comfortable 10m distance, around Basingstoke, riding S. last Monday.

Are roe deer common in those areas?

Yes. They're common over the whole region. When commuting by train from Reading to Basingstoke, Newbury, & Oxford, at various times, I saw them very frequently, sometimes multiple sightings in one trip.

I've often seen them when out on the bike, sometimes crossing the road, & I once had a near miss as close as yours, when one roe deer leapt across the road in front of Adrian Lawson, & another between Adrian & me, near Beenham (a bit west of Reading). Luckily, my bowels were already empty.

Several witnesses to that near miss. It was a Reading CTC Wednesday evening ride, a few years ago.

[Snakehips]

Out today I saw this poor chap with 'angel wings' , for details see wikipedia or similar.



Snake

My Library

[red marley]

Not quite in the wild, but I made friends with a European Eagle Owl during this weekend's cycling tour of the Cotswolds.

[border-rider]

Ace

I love Eagle Owls

Damn big feet

Where was that ? Cotswold Wildlife Park ?

[red marley]

It was the Batsford Falconry Centre (beware atrocious web site design).

[RJ]

Ace

I love Eagle Owls

Damn big feet

Where was that ? Cotswold Wildlife Park ?

They are devvil birdz    (according to some, anyway ...)

[PaulR]

Not today I'm afraid but I've only just uploaded from the camera: a pair of keas by the entrance to the Homer Tunnel near Milford Sound

and a pesky turkey outside my sister-in-law's house

[Nuncio]

Quite a lot of dead frogs this morning on the cummute. Not in the same numbers as springtime froggy-goes-a-courtin'-getting-run-over numbers.  It may be the start of a compressed plague season because last night we had the flooding.  Or maybe that was somehow the cause of the frog slaughter.  Most were fat, rather than flat, so had not been run over.

[Chris S]

I had forgotten the Secondary Slaughter that is late summer.

It was a warm, humid and wet morning here. By the time I went out at 9am, the roads were a froggy carnage  .

[Bledlow]

A flock of long-tailed tits, foraging in bushes beside the path we were walking along this morning. We stopped to watch them, & once we'd been standing still for a couple of minutes they ignored us, perching within feet of us making soft churring noises, & flying past very close.

Mrs B thinks they're cute.

[toekneep]

These two were in an orchard belonging to a B&B. They were wild but not too scared to run away. The foal was bouncing around like Tigger most of the time.

[Pingu]

This:





Edited to add:



 

[red marley]

Shield bug?

[Wowbagger]

I had one of those on my arm in Wales last week. Pretty alarming when you don't actually feel it there but just look down and see it.

[Pingu]

Shield bug?

Indeed, possibly the Forest bug.

[Wowbagger]

Last Saturday week actually: Charlotte and I were looking at some corvids near Mwnt and I couldn't be sure whether they were jackdaws or the rarer orange-billed coast-dwelling variety.

Charlotte's remark?

(click to show/hide)

"I do like looking up at a chough!"

Shocked, I was.

[Cudzoziemiec]

An hour or less ago, camouflaged in the vine: