Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1025569 times)

Sergeant Pluck · « **Reply #2700 on:** 21 June, 2012, 02:47:11 pm »

Googling a few pictures of them in flight, that is quite possible, Fuzzy

The Googling also reveals that they are to be found in Richmond Park, which is not far away from me.

SteveC · « **Reply #2701 on:** 23 June, 2012, 07:35:34 am »

Last weekend (sorry, I've been busy).
The first great white egret chick ever to have been hatched in this country!
Down on the English Nature Westhay reserve on the Somerset levels.
No pics, I'm afraid, but it will be on the One Show after the Euro-footie is over.

S

Juan Martín · « **Reply #2702 on:** 23 June, 2012, 07:33:56 pm »

Sparrowhawk, Jay, Green Woodpecker (+ 2 off heard), Heron.

(thanks for the note re Ospreys Wow, interesting)

De Sisti · « **Reply #2703 on:** 23 June, 2012, 07:56:20 pm »

A dead badger.

Crumbling Nick · « **Reply #2704 on:** 24 June, 2012, 09:25:18 pm »

A live badger, that trotted (though that's definitely not the right description of its gait) across the road about half a km from Tysoe, going towards Oxhill. It was about 100m ahead of me & I was unsure about identification, but the riders ahead had a much closer view & confirmed my suspicions.

This was around 1150 a.m. , i.e. before opening time. It seemed to have forgotten that badgers are supposed to be nocturnal.

Plug1n · « **Reply #2705 on:** 24 June, 2012, 10:35:22 pm »

A deer belting across the road about 15m in front of me (about dusk in Herts).

Also 2 deer on different roads the day before but earlier ~5 or 6 PM.

I think the deer must be as confused by this strange summer as we are - this seems more like September/October behaviour to me.

clarion · « **Reply #2706 on:** 24 June, 2012, 10:41:44 pm »

Loads of bats as we left Naburn returning from the Velovisionaries ride.

Two owls - one with large white underwings; one with a brown back - west of York in a rainy night.

A vole running across the road in front of us near Colton.

fuzzy · « **Reply #2707 on:** 25 June, 2012, 11:41:08 am »

Not today but over the weekend, our birdbath/ avian hydration station saw it's first ever visit by a Goldfinch.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #2708 on:** 25 June, 2012, 01:59:14 pm »

A small pigeon, must have been a juvenile, chasing a magpie larger than itself away from - something, don't know what. All happened on the ground. Odd I thought.

why1040 · « **Reply #2709 on:** 25 June, 2012, 07:17:10 pm »

We have baby swifts!

Manotea · « **Reply #2710 on:** 26 June, 2012, 06:58:47 pm »

Lying on my sofa admiring a flock of parrakeets in the tree at the front of our house.

marcusjb · « **Reply #2711 on:** 26 June, 2012, 07:20:01 pm »

Quote from: Manotea on 26 June, 2012, 06:58:47 pm

Lying on my sofa admiring a flock of parrakeets in the tree at the front of our house.

Don't send them over the A4 please - noisy buggers!

No - still amazes me to see a bright green flash and it's a parakeet. One of West London's more surreal sights.

why1040 · « **Reply #2712 on:** 28 June, 2012, 01:20:20 pm »

The swifts have hatched in one of the stables! We all spend way too much time watching them-from the stable door, so the parents still have enough space not to get too worried.

Bledlow · « **Reply #2713 on:** 28 June, 2012, 05:33:27 pm »

An otter!

My first ever in the wild, in the river Stour at Blandford Forum. Several people were standing on a bridge looking at something, so I stopped to see what it was, & saw the otter. Little bugger skedaddled underwater before I could get a picture, though, & surfaced too far away.

And a kingfisher, a hundred yards or so up the river.

JStone · « **Reply #2714 on:** 28 June, 2012, 09:08:56 pm »

For the last few days we've had lots of Scarlet Tiger moths - often up to eight at a time - flittering around this small urban Bristol back garden. This is the first time we've ever seen more than the occasional butterfly here, so something local must have triggered a population explosion.

Tim Hall · « **Reply #2715 on:** 28 June, 2012, 11:02:51 pm »

Roman Snails.

Manky mobile phone shot. They're on a construction site and a protected species, so not that welcome to the people doing the work.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #2716 on:** 03 July, 2012, 11:04:00 am »

Two dead eels in Priory Park lake.

I've only ever seen one dead one there before, and no live ones. Two at once makes me suspicious that something is going on. The water does look particularly revolting at the moment: turbid milky appearance with green tinge and a fair bit of surface scum. I think it's a combination of the chemicals they put in to keep the weed down (the anglers don't like the challenge of a large carp burying itself in a big weedbed, the big girls' blouses) and the large quantity of biodegradeable groundbait they shove in the water.

Having said that, I'd expect eels to be more tolerant of filth than most fish species. There didn't seem to be a lot of surface breathing by the fish, which is a good sign that the oxygen levels are low.

matthew · « **Reply #2717 on:** 03 July, 2012, 12:24:50 pm »

From memory Eels and particularly the young (elva SP?) are one of the indicators of good water quality and sensible river management e.g. fish passes on the weirs.

Pingu · « **Reply #2718 on:** 03 July, 2012, 12:27:25 pm »

Could be an algal bloom.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #2719 on:** 03 July, 2012, 02:40:07 pm »

There's a dearth of eels around at the moment.

Before my brother retired from the Essex Water Co., which was about two years ago I think, he went to a conference on this. I'm not sure that any light was thrown on the reason, but what seemed to me like a pretty obvious candidate was the reduced flow of the Atlantic Conveyor as a result of climate change. I think my bro told me that this wasn't even discussed.

clarion · « **Reply #2720 on:** 08 July, 2012, 06:26:22 pm »

This fellow was in a bucket of water by the back door

hellymedic · « **Reply #2721 on:** 08 July, 2012, 06:32:46 pm »

You haz a very lot of midge larvae there, clarrers!

clarion · « **Reply #2722 on:** 08 July, 2012, 06:37:54 pm »

Now gone

Bledlow · « **Reply #2723 on:** 08 July, 2012, 07:32:34 pm »

A toad. Spotted by my next-door neighbour while clearing part of the allotment we're going to share. She called me & Mrs B over. Mrs B was delighted. Nice to see.

It wandered off to part of the allotment we hadn't started clearing. It'll be OK. There's enough wild stuff round the fringes, & plenty of cover even on the cultivated allotments, as well as the two which I was surprised to see have been given over to brambles.

Crumbling Nick · « **Reply #2724 on:** 08 July, 2012, 11:10:23 pm »

Lots of swallows (I think) perched on telephone wires. They didn't have the usual long tail streamers, so I assume they're fledglings. The numbers puzzle me. This year has been too wet & cool for insects: insectivores would surely have suffered. Do young swallows socialise outside their immediate family this early?

Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1025569 times)

fuzzy