Seen today

[hellymedic]

Golders Hill Park had/has guinea fowl in their 'zoo' but this is a long distance from pcolbeck...

[ElyDave]

Several dragonflies this evening
1 x immature common darter
2 x either Brown hawker or Norfolk hawker - the first is much more likely
1 other big job that moved too quick for me to get a look

and a buzzard stooging around, always out of camera range

[SteveC]

A family of at least eight long-tailed tits on our bird feeders at lunchtime.

[pcolbeck]

A wood pigeon nest in our hedge. It seems to have a one way route in and out. In through next doors garden and out through ours.

[cycleman]

Swans,ducks, Canada geese, a buzzard and a Jay on my mornings ride Windsor and Eton wick way 

[ElyDave]

A wood pigeon nest in our hedge. It seems to have a one way route in and out. In through next doors garden and out through ours.

WE have collared doves nesting on the bracket of the satellite dish.

In my case tonight, a kestrel hovering, and a suicidal magpie landing about 2ft in front of my bike.

[andrew_s]

On the ride back from the pub last night, 3 badgers.

One straight across the road 30 m in front.
One about a quarter mile later, running down the road in front, dived into the hedge when I got within about 20 m.
One a mile or so later, also running down the road, that didn't dive for the hedge until just after I caught it up (on the other side of the road).

And a comet, not nearly as good as last Thursday.

[Sergeant Pluck]

What seems like only 2 weeks ago, wood pigeons built a nest in the monkey puzzle tree just outside the flat window. I see today that the two chicks have fledged and are more or less the same size as the adults. The last time I looked, their heads only just came into view over the edge of the nest. Yet they appear to have been fed rarely throughout, with no sign of the parents for much of the time*. They are very quiet, even as chicks they made no noise.

Nevertheless, astonishing growth rate or not, I really hope they don’t make a habit of breeding repeatedly in that nest.

*Have just learned, or perhaps learned all over again, that pigeons feed their young a disgusting sounding milk produced in their gizzards.

[L CC]

KINGFISHER!!!!!!

3 herons in quick succession and a white egret, couple of hares and some over-friendly tups.

But all that pales into insignificance against the second-time-in-my-life awesome flash of bright metallic blue heading upstream. Glorious.

[ElyDave]

heard, but never yet seen

[nicknack]

What's this plant called? It's a weed/wildflower (depending on your POV)

Some sort of hawkbit or hawkweed?

Seeing his thread reminds me. A few days ago we were sitting outside idly watching the view with added birdlife. The usual ones in the sky round here at this time of year are gulls (Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed), swifts and woodpigeons. The swifts do what swifts do. The pigeons are always going somewhere in a hurry. The gulls generally just soar about unless someone throws out something tasty. There's plenty of other sorts but not actually in the sky, IYSWIM. Anyway, so it's easy to see interlopers. This one looked immediately like a raptor. Fairly large but not a buzzard or one of the harriers we get down on the marsh. It gave itself away though. Whilst we were pondering on what it could be, it stooped. AFAIK there's only one round here that might do that. I've never seen one before - definitely a "Bloody hell!" moment. With a bit of luck it got one of the damn pigeons.

[Jurek]

KINGFISHER!!!!!!

3 herons in quick succession and a white egret, couple of hares and some over-friendly tups.

But all that pales into insignificance against the second-time-in-my-life awesome flash of bright metallic blue heading upstream. Glorious.

*Kingfisherspottingenvy*

[Wowbagger]

What's this plant called? It's a weed/wildflower (depending on your POV)

Some sort of hawkbit or hawkweed?

Seeing his thread reminds me. A few days ago we were sitting outside idly watching the view with added birdlife. The usual ones in the sky round here at this time of year are gulls (Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed), swifts and woodpigeons. The swifts do what swifts do. The pigeons are always going somewhere in a hurry. The gulls generally just soar about unless someone throws out something tasty. There's plenty of other sorts but not actually in the sky, IYSWIM. Anyway, so it's easy to see interlopers. This one looked immediately like a raptor. Fairly large but not a buzzard or one of the harriers we get down on the marsh. It gave itself away though. Whilst we were pondering on what it could be, it stooped. AFAIK there's only one round here that might do that. I've never seen one before - definitely a "Bloody hell!" moment. With a bit of luck it got one of the damn pigeons.

Your'e on Sheppey, aren't you?

Three or four years ago our Maidstone daughter bought us a Christmas present in the form of a day's raptor-watching on Sheppey. It was early December when we went, and cold. In fact, I've just googled the advert for the 2020 version. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birds-of-prey-of-the-north-kent-marshes-tickets-91627252579?aff=erelexpmlt

In the afternoon we went to Shellness to watch well over a dozen marsh harriers coming in to roost. On the way, we stopped to look at two dark shapes roosting on the ground in a field, a few hundred yards apart. Our guide, Tony Swanlake, pointed them out as peregrine falcons. As we watched, they took off as one, zoomed out towards the sea wall, scattered a whole load of wading birds and gulls that were there, and then came back. It was a wonderful sight.

[Aunt Maud]

What's this plant called? It's a weed/wildflower (depending on your POV)

It's Nipplewort.

[nicknack]

Seeing his thread reminds me. A few days ago we were sitting outside idly watching the view with added birdlife. The usual ones in the sky round here at this time of year are gulls (Herring, Black-headed, Great Black-backed), swifts and woodpigeons. The swifts do what swifts do. The pigeons are always going somewhere in a hurry. The gulls generally just soar about unless someone throws out something tasty. There's plenty of other sorts but not actually in the sky, IYSWIM. Anyway, so it's easy to see interlopers. This one looked immediately like a raptor. Fairly large but not a buzzard or one of the harriers we get down on the marsh. It gave itself away though. Whilst we were pondering on what it could be, it stooped. AFAIK there's only one round here that might do that. I've never seen one before - definitely a "Bloody hell!" moment. With a bit of luck it got one of the damn pigeons.

Your'e on Sheppey, aren't you?

Three or four years ago our Maidstone daughter bought us a Christmas present in the form of a day's raptor-watching on Sheppey. It was early December when we went, and cold. In fact, I've just googled the advert for the 2020 version. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birds-of-prey-of-the-north-kent-marshes-tickets-91627252579?aff=erelexpmlt

In the afternoon we went to Shellness to watch well over a dozen marsh harriers coming in to roost. On the way, we stopped to look at two dark shapes roosting on the ground in a field, a few hundred yards apart. Our guide, Tony Swanlake, pointed them out as peregrine falcons. As we watched, they took off as one, zoomed out towards the sea wall, scattered a whole load of wading birds and gulls that were there, and then came back. It was a wonderful sight.

Indeed, on Sheppey. Only 3 or 4 years ago, so it might well have been one of the very same 2.
Bit of nom. det. there - Swanlake.

[Wowbagger]

Yes, I thought that at the time re Swanlake. The day started off very well when we saw a pair of mute swans that had teamed up with an African crane that had been blown off course.

My recent observations were 3 or possibly 4 sparrowhawks yesterday afternoon, flying high over the park. A couple of them started off lower, but by the end they were having a great time about 500' up - at least, that's my guess for how high a sparrowhawk has to be before you aren't sure if you can still see it, and then a tiny dot appears again.

This morning, I saw 8 swifts at rooftop level, so they are still here. I expect they will be around for another week or so; another sparrowhawk, this time at tree top level, and a greater spotted woodpecker. I was just thinking that it was quite some time since I'd seen a green woodpecker in the park when one appeared from some gardens to my left and flew into the park.  This was all on my pre-breakfast walk - I got 3 miles in before 8.45.

[ElyDave]

What's this plant called? It's a weed/wildflower (depending on your POV)

It's Nipplewort.

Thanks,  I think this is it looking that up on the web.  Leaves and flower match, hawkbit was close but not quite

[benborp]

Two kingfishers for me today and an inquisitive otter stalking my canoe from the bank.

[Wowbagger]

A buzzard this morning at about 8.45, in the Barling area.

[Wowbagger]

I spent a couple of hours in my pal Penelope's garden this afternoon and we neither saw nor heard any swifts. That's probably it for another 9 months.

[Basil]

I spent a couple of hours in my pal Penelope's garden this afternoon and we neither saw nor heard any swifts. That's probably it for another 9 months.

Very sudden, wasn't it? 
The usual screaming on Saturday morning.  Saturday evening, gone.

The swallows will be around for a while.

[Wowbagger]

I just saw a couple wheeling high overhead whilst I was watering my garden. There are normally lots.

Swallows and martins sometimes hang around as late as October. My personal record for the latest sightings was for a couple of house martins on 20th November 1976, on Westcliff sea front. It had been an uncommonly warm and sunny day.

A solitary swallow was seen by two reliable reporters on New Year's Day this year at an Essex Wildlife Trust site in North Essex.

[Wowbagger]

From the same garden as yesterday, when we saw none and we were constantly on the lookout for them - this morning there were at least 6 swifts wheeling high overhead. I wonder whether they were en route rom somewhere further north and had found a nice cloud of insects to use as a refuelling stop.

[hellymedic]

A biggish spider scuttling on my kitchen floor just now.

It is EARLY August.

I think of spiders and daddly-long-legs as autumn companions...

[Pingu]

Loads of dolphins on today's 'commute'