Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1013747 times)

Auntie Helen · « **Reply #4175 on:** 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am »

Yesterday as I was driving my car on the Kempener Außenring I looked out of the window to see a buzzard flying alongside me, perhaps four metres away, pretty much at my head height. It kept pace with me for about 3 seconds. I could see its face really clearly. Wonderful.

Common as mud here, as well as buzzards we see herons regularly and hares all the time. Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.

Ham · « **Reply #4176 on:** 30 October, 2015, 09:06:30 am »

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am

Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.

They're only trying to pronounce it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejuK8_12Fmg

Pingu · « **Reply #4177 on:** 30 October, 2015, 09:01:05 pm »

Quote from: Ham on 30 October, 2015, 09:06:30 am

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am
Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.

They're only trying to pronounce it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejuK8_12Fmg

Eichhörnchen - easy peasy

Bledlow · « **Reply #4178 on:** 30 October, 2015, 10:28:23 pm »

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am

Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.

Really? Is this recent?

I recall seeing old ladies (one at a time) with carrier bags of squirrel food making 'come here' noises in the Englischer Garten in Munich, & hordes of Sciurus vulgaris descending from the trees & surrounding them, a little sea of fluffy-tailed reddish fur eagerly anticipating the feast to come. But that was 35 years ago, & perhaps purely local.

billplumtree · « **Reply #4179 on:** 02 November, 2015, 07:13:47 pm »

Seen yesterday, but server upgrade...

Roe deer stuck in a gryke II

Roe deer stuck in a gryke III

A young roe deer, stuck fast having fallen between the limestone pavement clints. I thought it was dead until it coughed ~~politely~~. It was obviously exhausted, and had probably been there all night. I didn't know if I could get it out without any further damage, or what I'd do with it if I did, so I flagged down a gamekeeper who happened to be passing nearby on a quad bike - he did, on both counts. He pulled it out unceremoniously by its hind legs, declared that nowt seemed to be broken, and we left it hidden in a bush for, hopefully, its mother to return for it.

Nuncio · « **Reply #4180 on:** 03 November, 2015, 01:25:36 pm »

It looks a little uncomfortable like that, but at least there was a happy(ish) ending.

I saw an otter last night, never having seen one in the wild before. I stopped on a bridge over the Tawe to take a photo - it was flowing towards a setting sun - when I noticed the little chap frolicking in the river about 60 yards away. It was 5 minutes of sheer delight watching it, though I wish I could have got a little closer.

Auntie Helen · « **Reply #4181 on:** 03 November, 2015, 01:28:09 pm »

Quote from: Bledlow on 30 October, 2015, 10:28:23 pm

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am
Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.
Really? Is this recent?

I recall seeing old ladies (one at a time) with carrier bags of squirrel food making 'come here' noises in the Englischer Garten in Munich, & hordes of Sciurus vulgaris descending from the trees & surrounding them, a little sea of fluffy-tailed reddish fur eagerly anticipating the feast to come. But that was 35 years ago, & perhaps purely local.

well my bit of Germany is a long way from Munich, but I've only seen a couple of very shy squirrels here whereas the bold and brave UK greys were a surprise to my friends here.

woollypigs · « **Reply #4182 on:** 06 November, 2015, 05:06:05 pm »

A Chrysolophus Pictus aka Golden pheasant, never seen one before or known that they exist. I was thinking first that it was one of the hens from the allotments, then what have happened to it as it. As it looked very skinny compared to the chickens, well fed they are by owner and walkers by, on the allotments and also more colourful. Before I could get the camera out, it wandered into the undergrowth where I could see it now and again, but way too dark for a phone camera. It looked healthy, minding its own business didn't care that mutt wanted desperately to get tru' fence to have a closer look.

From wiki

Bledlow · « **Reply #4183 on:** 06 November, 2015, 11:31:23 pm »

My grandfather kept a few in an aviary in the back garden.

jamesld8 · « **Reply #4184 on:** 09 November, 2015, 06:51:53 pm »

slightly wooden but a sort of (very good carvings ) wildlife

20151109_145618 by jamesld8, on Flickr

and

20151109_145631 by jamesld8, on Flickr

fashioned from felled cypressus trees

pcolbeck · « **Reply #4185 on:** 16 November, 2015, 01:19:36 pm »

That reminds me Tilly flushed a hare on our walk yesterday. The hare shot passed me swiftly followed by a labradoodle at full pelt. Hairs are much faster than labradoodles though Tllly is still convinced she can catch one.

Unfortunately we have had a rash of lurchermen down from Middlesbrough and they have killed a fare few of the local hares, deer and badgers recently

Pingu · « **Reply #4186 on:** 19 November, 2015, 08:51:18 am »

Otter viewed in the harbour from my office window

Kim · « **Reply #4187 on:** 19 November, 2015, 07:24:10 pm »

Squirrel with what to my untrained eye was probably at least a broken pelvis, presumably due to being in collision with a motor vehicle. It was dragging itself up the verge mostly by its front legs.

In the time it took me to stop, dismount and consider possible courses of action, it managed to crest the verge and with a bit of gravitational assistance, embed itself in an impenetrable hedge. Which is just as well: I'm not fboab, and I'd left my torque wrench at home. I got back on my bike and carried on.

Ruthie · « **Reply #4188 on:** 19 November, 2015, 07:28:53 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 19 November, 2015, 07:24:10 pm

Squirrel with what to my untrained eye was probably at least a broken pelvis, presumably due to being in collision with a motor vehicle. It was dragging itself up the verge mostly by its front legs.

In the time it took me to stop, dismount and consider possible courses of action, it managed to crest the verge and with a bit of gravitational assistance, embed itself in an impenetrable hedge. Which is just as well: I'm not fboab, and I'd left my torque wrench at home. I got back on my bike and carried on.

Ah, that's sad

Don't suppose the poor little thing will have lasted long.

Peter · « **Reply #4189 on:** 19 November, 2015, 09:30:38 pm »

Yes, that is upsetting.

We have a very communicative robin living in ~~our~~ its garden. Yesterday, I was sorting out some holed tubes, which entailed taking the top off the water butt to test for bubbles. This meant I had removed the lid, which is concave and fills with water which the birds bathe in. The robin came and instructed me to replace the lid immediately. Today Jean was in the yard when it came and perched on a box very close. The bath was back in operation so it didn't seem to be that. She knew she had only recently filled the feeder, so it was unlikely to be that. By stages the robin led her round the corner of the house so that a squirrel was revealed on the feeder. Amazing bird and a luckier squirrel than Kim's.

Bledlow · « **Reply #4190 on:** 20 November, 2015, 11:23:04 pm »

Allotment fox is looking healthy. The huge bald patch of a couple of months ago now has thick fur. Field mice nesting under a plastic sheet put down to suppress weeds.

runsoncake · « **Reply #4191 on:** 20 November, 2015, 11:36:37 pm »

3 Redwings and a Blackbird lunching on hawthorn berries opposite our house.

fuzzy · « **Reply #4192 on:** 21 November, 2015, 04:00:43 pm »

Just had 16 Red Kite doing circuits above the garden and yesterday, at school, I saw a Kite arguing with a Crow. The Kite kept dropping something from its beak but also kept catching it as it fell.

Bledlow · « **Reply #4193 on:** 21 November, 2015, 10:53:00 pm »

A young gull ineffectually rummaging in seaweed, then pestering an adult (presumably mum), who firstly backed off, then gave it a marine snail, followed by something regurgitated, then found some bivalves which she dropped from a height on a concrete slipway & left for the youngster. She didn't check to see if they'd cracked open, but the young one obviously recognised the action & went for 'em.

DDCyclist · « **Reply #4194 on:** 22 November, 2015, 09:49:53 am »

Hazelnut, dropped from a great height by birds, on my head.

Good job it was very light
Good job it was just a hazelnut and not something from t'other end.

essexian · « **Reply #4195 on:** 28 November, 2015, 07:10:47 am »

At 8pm last evening whilst locking the gates to our drive I saw a hedgehog eating the cat food we leave out for the strays which live in our outhouses.

Whilst its not strange to see hogs, normally by now they are away sleeping for the winter: indeed it must be a month since I saw the last one. I wonder why this one was awake?

Anyway, after a good feed and a poo..... why do they always poo right by their food...it headed back off down the garden. If its back tonight, I might start to worry something is wrong with it.

menthel · « **Reply #4196 on:** 28 November, 2015, 11:24:01 am »

Yesterday afternoon had a sparrowhawk patrolling the gardens along the terrace looking for tasty morsels on the many feeders in the gardens.

Bledlow · « **Reply #4197 on:** 29 November, 2015, 08:10:06 pm »

Quote from: essexian on 28 November, 2015, 07:10:47 am

Whilst its not strange to see hogs, normally by now they are away sleeping for the winter: indeed it must be a month since I saw the last one. I wonder why this one was awake?

Anyway, after a good feed and a poo..... why do they always poo right by their food...

1. Mild weather & plenty around to eat?
2. To deter other hedgehogs. Territory marking.

ElyDave · « **Reply #4198 on:** 29 November, 2015, 10:56:23 pm »

Quote from: Auntie Helen on 30 October, 2015, 06:45:45 am

Yesterday as I was driving my car on the Kempener Außenring I looked out of the window to see a buzzard flying alongside me, perhaps four metres away, pretty much at my head height. It kept pace with me for about 3 seconds. I could see its face really clearly. Wonderful.

Common as mud here, as well as buzzards we see herons regularly and hares all the time. Squirrels are a rarity which get Germans very excited.

I once almost rode into a ditch as a barn owl kept pace with me for about half a mile and I was mesmerised into forgetting about the left hander rapidly approaching.

Herons and hares also plentiful in the fens; herons can really put the wid up you when out running and they jump out of a bush two yards away

Auntie Helen · « **Reply #4199 on:** 30 November, 2015, 02:25:25 pm »

On Saturday I visited Museum Insel Hombroich in Neuss near Düsseldorf. It's an interesting place with lots of modern art exhibition space (which is entirely lost on me) and some nice nature. I and some other visitors were very surprised to see a nutria wandering around snuffling in the grass minding his own business not 1 metre from where we were standing. He was entirely unbothered by us. Seeing a ratty thing that big (cat size) is quite interesting.

On the way back I saw another, equally unafraid of humans. It seems they have no natural predators here in this bit of Germany and so are entirely phlegmatic about other mammals.

Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1013747 times)

fuzzy

essexian