Seen today

[sg37409]

Curlews mobbing a buzzard.

We were at David gray at ovo hydro this week and he was collecting for curlews.  Nice wee video of them before and during intermission

[orienteer]

At a BBQ on the River Wye in High Wycombe this afternoon, a heron landed in the river beside us, but surprised by the unusual number of people flew off again a few seconds later.

[ElyDave]

Several of herons, deer and kestrels whilst wrangling my way through several km of nettles and thistles

[cycleman]

A badger which scuttled into the bushes on my approach near Wigginton at about 0230 this morning 😀

[Mrs Pingu]

Not sure if this video will work but some bumblebees seem quite keen to move in with us
MVI_1033 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Catching up on this thread after being away.   5 or 6 golden eagles where the wind rose up on the crest of the Pyrenees at Errozate.  Aigle Royale indeed.

[rafletcher]

Every year for the last 20 years we’ve seen pied wagtails on our neighbours roof. This year, we didn’t, but this evening we saw a single wagtail chick being fed by a parent on our back patio.

[rafletcher]

Not sure if this video will work but some bumblebees seem quite keen to move in with us
MVI_1033 by The Pingus, on Flickr

We’ve got some bees nesting in our roof, no idea what sort. A small colony, varied sizes.

[Mr Larrington]

A couple of $CORVIDS giving a small birb of prey a hard time next to the M25 near South Mimms.

[Wowbagger]

When I was 5 or 6, the bees kept by some neighbours (a couple of houses and one street away) swarmed in a tree in our garden. I wasn't scared of the bee swarm but I was terrified when the neighbours came round in their beekeeping suits, smooth shiny white from head to toe with apparently no faces. It only made it worse when they spoke to me in human voices and claimed to be my neighbours. "Don't be scared, it's Mrs Apperley." I think the suits looked to me like spacesuits and as I knew actual astronauts wouldn't be in our garden, they must be some sort of space alien. And no faces!

I had a few hives on a very fine farm (which is all prepared to be built on it seems) in Rochford. The farmer, one Dan Squier, showed me round the old farmhouse once and it had sort of just been added to over several hundred years. In the centre was the remains, still standing and part of the house, of a very small cottage which he reckoned dated from the 14th or 15th century. The main house was 17th century. Amazing place.

But I digress. As befitted someone occupying such a fine house, he sent his issue to posh schools locally. One evening in midsummer I had been tending my hives and just as it was getting dark I knocked on the farmhouse door for some reason or other, still dressed in my overall and veil. A teenage boy answered the door and almost fell over in shock. I said something to him and he replied in a very plummy voice "Oh truly! I thought you were headless!"

Alas, poor Yorick...

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's a bit of a jolt when people who might be expected to sound like the Wurzels (whatever the Essex equivalent is) sound like Eton. And vice versa!

[rafletcher]

Rec Kites, lots of them. They're cutting the hayage in front of the house. I exect they'll cut the back field tomorrow.  Mousaggeddon!

ETA anna fox sniffing around after the kites had gone. I think the first we’ve seen in that field in the 20 years we’ve lived here. Did once find a rabbits head in the garden tho, so knew they were around.

[cycleman]

 Riding along a bridleway near moss end garden Village a young roebuck crossed ahead of  me and bjorn notp 😀

[orienteer]

In a Metropolitan Line train waiting to enter Uxbridge terminus, a fox sunning and preening itself on the embankment opposite

We are currently suffering holes being dug and other people's rubbish in our garden, I suspect foxes as often see them daytimes.

[ravenbait]

A very tired tree bumblebee, who did well on some honey and water. She did wave her legs at me quite a lot, even though I tried explaining that the stone was to stop her leaf being blown away, and the drink would make her feel better.





She flew off to investigate the campanulas after a bit of recovery time.



Sam

[ravenbait]

Also an Early bumble bee and a common carder bee. Couldn't get photos, though, they were too fast. Especially the carder. It zoomed!

Sam

[Wowbagger]

Around sunset yesterday evening, a wonderful flock of screaming Shrewsbury swifts zooming around our accommodation at not much higher than rooftop level.

[ravenbait]

The sound of swifts at dusk is honestly one of my favourite things in the world. It just makes my heart happy.

Sam

[Pingu]

On the subject of bees, here's what I found in our living room:


IMG_1301_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

A tree bumblebee wandering around with another bee attached to its back.

[cycleman]

A swallow and a green finch near Selby 

[ravenbait]

On the subject of bees, here's what I found in our living room:


IMG_1301_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

A tree bumblebee wandering around with another bee attached to its back.

Mating?

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/bees-wasps-and-ants/tree-bumblebee/

Sam

[JellyLegs]

On the subject of bees, here's what I found in our living room:


IMG_1301_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

A tree bumblebee wandering around with another bee attached to its back.

Mating?

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/bees-wasps-and-ants/tree-bumblebee/

Sam

Thanks for that.  I now know what was nesting in my blue tit box last year.  I knew it was bumblebees but not which kind.  They filled the nest box to the gunwales and I think it was the same that built overspill accommodation in the log store a few feet away unless I was blessed with two bumblebee nests in the one summer.

[PaulR]

I went out at about 4 this morning and was just watching some reed warblers by the river when I heard footsteps on the footbridge behind me.  Lo and behold, a wowbadger was making its way towards me.  I was a bit slow to react but managed a few photos.
PDR75498 by PaulRide, on Flickr
PDR75500 by PaulRide, on Flickr

[benborp]

IMG_1425 by benborp, on Flickr

IMG_1421 by benborp, on Flickr

IMG_1413 by benborp, on Flickr

The parents were making regular tours of the kitchen and front room in search of food.

[JellyLegs]

Several kestrels, many buzzards, two red kites being mobbed by a crow, a yellowhammer*, a barn owl and a fallow deer - the last two unfortunately deceased road kill.

* I thought yellowhammers were winter visitors but I am 90% sure the bird that took flight from the field verge as I approached was a yellowhammer.