Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1012759 times)

Pingu · « **Reply #5450 on:** 31 October, 2019, 08:27:58 pm »

Dead sparrowhawk at work this morning

(click to show/hide)

ElyDave · « **Reply #5451 on:** 05 November, 2019, 07:07:18 pm »

Bloody massive fruitbat/flying fox settling into a palm tree over my head this evening while having dinner outside. Didn't have my camera of course.

T42 · « **Reply #5452 on:** 06 November, 2019, 09:15:43 am »

Yesterday, a buzzard in its winter overcoat - very fancy. Sundry herons hunting in the fields, which are soggy enough to serve as down-market waterways.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #5453 on:** 10 November, 2019, 02:40:04 pm »

A very fine sighting of a buzzard as I was driving along the A2 near the Dreaded Bluewater this afternoon.

T42 · « **Reply #5454 on:** 11 November, 2019, 04:00:35 pm »

Yesterday, a red kite diving on size 3 roadkill - fox/hare/stray dog - and nearly getting creamed by a car while its mate circled about 10 metres up. The driver must have got a right shock - it missed his windscreen by less than a metre.

ElyDave · « **Reply #5455 on:** 11 November, 2019, 09:26:35 pm »

A couple of buzzards yesterday, east Cambridgeshire is not Brisbane

Salvatore · « **Reply #5456 on:** 16 November, 2019, 04:00:11 pm »

https://youtu.be/SoJaAN82fQA

Basil · « **Reply #5457 on:** 16 November, 2019, 07:02:05 pm »

A cormorant perched high on a bough. Took me a while to work out what it was not where you'd expect to see one. In fact I waited for it to fly off in order to confirm. (No. I didn't buzz a brick at it)

pcolbeck · « **Reply #5458 on:** 16 November, 2019, 09:24:56 pm »

Quote from: Basil on 16 November, 2019, 07:02:05 pm

A cormorant perched high on a bough. Took me a while to work out what it was not where you'd expect to see one. In fact I waited for it to fly off in order to confirm. (No. I didn't buzz a brick at it)

We used to have a pair every year on the Derwent at Kirkham Abbey (about a mile form here), that's about 20 miles from the sea. Haven't been any for about ten years though

Wowbagger · « **Reply #5459 on:** 17 November, 2019, 10:38:35 am »

A fairly quiet day at Minsmere yesterday. Nothing more exciting than assorted ducks. Some of them are quite hard to distinguish from Quite a Long Way Away.

Definites: shelduck, mallard, shoveler.

Probable/possibles: pochard, wigeon, teal, gadwall.

We drove back to Woodbridge by the scenic route and I drove through the deepest flood water of my experience. It must have been above sill level. None got into the car, and of course since it's leccy there's no exhaust pipe to get filled up, and all the electrics are well sealed. But it crossed my mind afterwards that that is quite a narrow road with ditches/ponds either side. You wouldn't have deviate much to find yourself getting more than you bargained for.

But, fortunately, Nothing didn't Happen.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #5460 on:** 18 November, 2019, 11:54:09 am »

A stoat bounding across the road yesterday afternoon.

Salvatore · « **Reply #5461 on:** 19 November, 2019, 08:35:16 am »

What I haven't seen rather than what I have seen.

3 nights in a row without any hedgehog activity in my garden. It seems hibernation has begun even for the hardiest of the spiny visitors/residents.

But I did catch some video of a mouse briefly sitting on the ice in the water bowl.

T42 · « **Reply #5462 on:** 16 December, 2019, 01:44:35 pm »

A couple of Great Egrets in a local field. They usually pass through around this time of year, then again in February. Wonderful birds.

Steph · « **Reply #5463 on:** 28 December, 2019, 01:55:20 pm »

Quote from: Basil on 16 November, 2019, 07:02:05 pm

A cormorant perched high on a bough. Took me a while to work out what it was not where you'd expect to see one. In fact I waited for it to fly off in order to confirm. (No. I didn't buzz a brick at it)

We have two subspecies of cormorant in the UK, sinensis and carbo. Carbo is bigger, with different facial markings, and it is sinensis that is more likely to nest in a tree. Carbo is our 'standard' while sinensis is the continental version.

Rowan · « **Reply #5464 on:** 28 December, 2019, 04:04:11 pm »

seen a few bats when out on the bike last night, don't think I have ever seen them at this time of year before, very strange. There was plenty of those little white winter moths about so I guess the bats were getting a meal.

Rowan · « **Reply #5465 on:** 07 January, 2020, 11:29:58 am »

STOP PRESS

Waxwings, North Northumberland - not something we see every year and they will be heading south so keep an eye out

mattc · « **Reply #5466 on:** 07 January, 2020, 07:37:22 pm »

There's a Barn Owl on my morning commute! Well, today and Monday - but this has tripled my lifetime sightings of them, so I'm v happy.

Saw him in exactly the same spot while it was still dark - in my lights - yesterday, then I was a bit later today so I saw him in (dim) daylight. I know lots of audax/night-rider types that have had them fly alongside all night, but I've never had the pleasure before

Does their colour vary much? He looked very much white with a few pale brown bits, but officially they're "brown with white underparts" or summat.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #5467 on:** 08 January, 2020, 02:19:20 pm »

There is quite a bit of variation in barn wols' colour.

That's the palest I have ever seen.

That's more normal.

I have a picture on the cover of my diary, a present from a former pupil, and the wings are so dark they are almost black.

Here:

mattc · « **Reply #5468 on:** 11 January, 2020, 02:52:21 pm »

Aha, yes. I'd say ours is much more like your first one. Pretty

hellymedic · « **Reply #5469 on:** 11 January, 2020, 08:45:14 pm »

That first one appears albino rather than just pale but I don't know if owls get albinism.

ETA Seems albinism can occur in many species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism

Wowbagger · « **Reply #5470 on:** 05 February, 2020, 04:59:14 am »

Whilst I was nattering with Pal Penelope over a pot or two of tea, a sparrow hawk alighted on her fence post to consume the small bird it had just caught - a great tit I think. We watched through her patio doors as the hawk plucked the feathers out before tearing it limb from limb.

Ham · « **Reply #5471 on:** 21 February, 2020, 10:02:39 am »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 05 February, 2020, 04:59:14 am

Whilst I was nattering with Pal Penelope over a pot or two of tea, a sparrow hawk alighted on her fence post to consume the small bird it had just caught - a great tit I think. We watched through her patio doors as the hawk plucked the feathers out before tearing it limb from limb.

Paging Mr Cummings, Mr Cummings to the new employee engagement hotline please.

rafletcher · « **Reply #5472 on:** 23 February, 2020, 02:46:03 pm »

A group of 8 hares in the field down the road. A lovely colour in the sunshine.

ElyDave · « **Reply #5473 on:** 26 February, 2020, 02:48:56 pm »

a jay has take up using my large blue spruce in the driveway as a perch, don't they make a bloomin' racket

As for barn wols, we used to have one flying around our lane, but not seen him for a while now. They seem to have fallen back here unfortunately.

Steph · « **Reply #5474 on:** 27 February, 2020, 12:45:57 pm »

Quote from: ElyDave on 26 February, 2020, 02:48:56 pm

a jay has take up using my large blue spruce in the driveway as a perch, don't they make a bloomin' racket

As for barn wols, we used to have one flying around our lane, but not seen him for a while now. They seem to have fallen back here unfortunately.

If you don't know the 'Latin' name for a jay, it will amuse you. I always translate it as "gobby nutter"