Author Topic: Seen today  (Read 999667 times)

Re: Seen today
« Reply #25 on: 15 April, 2008, 10:49:33 am »
I thought you said
a great big cow


Now that would be a good spot in Richmond park  ;D

Re: Seen today
« Reply #26 on: 15 April, 2008, 11:08:10 am »
Hehe, now that would have been notable!

simonali

Re: Seen today
« Reply #27 on: 16 April, 2008, 03:48:13 pm »
I'm gradually learning a few of our British birds by spotting them out walking the dog, trying to remember what they look like and then looking them up when I get back home. I saw a pair of goldfinches today, which was a nice spot for me as I knew what they were already and didn't have to ge the book out! ;D

I see a lot of tits about (steady!) and still can't distinguish between some of them yet. Saw a grey one a while back which turned out to be a coal tit, something I'd not seen before.

We seem to have a proliferation of robins at the moment and I usually see 2 or 3 every walk. My house has steps up to the front door with handrails and as I got my bike out to ride to work the other morning there were 2 sitting on either side staring one another out. Oh to have had a decent camera in my hand at that moment!

Get a lot of house martins round here in the summer, which the dog likes to chase, as they fly low to the ground. Got a feeling there might not be so many this year, though, as I think they used to live in an old farm building nearby, which they've now torn down. :(

Re: Seen today
« Reply #28 on: 16 April, 2008, 03:56:29 pm »
Partial bird list from Sunday's ride in Ladysmith, Virginia (see Gallery for pics)--mostly birding by ear, since if I stopped to look, I got left behind!

Northern Parula
Pine Warbler
a swallow of some sort
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
two ducks of some sort
White-eyed Vireo
Carolina Wren
scottclark.photoshelter.com

simonali

Re: Seen today
« Reply #29 on: 17 April, 2008, 06:19:10 pm »
I saw a blackbird today that had 2 big white patches on his back

Re: Seen today
« Reply #30 on: 17 April, 2008, 06:31:42 pm »
I saw a blackbird today that had 2 big white patches on his back

It should learn not to sit under other blackbirds.
scottclark.photoshelter.com

Re: Seen today
« Reply #31 on: 17 April, 2008, 07:39:56 pm »
On my commute I pass a rare breeds farm.  A couple of weeks ago there appeared 10 or so piglets.  Now there's a sight to gladden the heart.  I'm not too sure of pig breeds.  I assumed the parents were saddlebacks - dark body with light band round the belly.  But the little ones are as piggy pink as pink piggies can get.

In the next field are 4 or 5 llamas (or maybe alpacas?).  Yesterday morning they were huddled together in the corner with a dusting of frost on their fur.

simonali

Re: Seen today
« Reply #32 on: 18 April, 2008, 12:13:36 am »
Ooh, that reminds me, I saw some alpacas the other day on my Wylye valley ride. I know these were alpacas coz it said so on the gate!

Rollo

Re: Seen today
« Reply #33 on: 18 April, 2008, 11:31:35 am »
Ms Rollo saw what she described as
Quote
an eagle!  An actual real one! It was huge!'
at Whiteshill on the way to Gloucester this morning.
She spoke to a friend who works at Slimbridge and they excitedly despatched a team of RSPB types to go and look.  Apparently, it's a White Tailed Eagle which has been blown over here recently from Norway on the north-easterly winds.

Rollo

Re: Seen today
« Reply #34 on: 18 April, 2008, 01:10:15 pm »
Update:  Turns out it wasn't the recently-spotted-at-Slimbridge White Tailed Eagle after all.

It was an American Bald Eagle :o

An escapee from somewhere that's known to be around the area.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #35 on: 18 April, 2008, 07:43:20 pm »
Apparently it escaped from the Cotswold Falconry Centre at Batsford last Thursday

Treewheeler

Re: froggy did awooing go
« Reply #36 on: 18 April, 2008, 08:55:08 pm »
#


Our little garden pond is seething with randy frogs
Oh, froggy went a courting he did ride ahum...
Oh, froggy went a courting he did ride ahum...
Oh, froggy went a courting he did ride, a sword and pistol by his side ahum...ahum..ahum

 

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Seen today
« Reply #37 on: 18 April, 2008, 08:57:27 pm »
I'm sure the moral of that rhyme is "never leave home or do anything", since they all get eaten.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Seen today
« Reply #38 on: 18 April, 2008, 09:07:37 pm »
Wooing? That's more like an orgy!
Abnormal for Norfolk

border-rider

Re: Seen today
« Reply #39 on: 18 April, 2008, 09:23:18 pm »
Result: 3 dead*, and a lot of frogspawn**.  The rest have vanished now

*the day after this photo there were so many that they were spilling out onto the grass and scrapping around the garden

**sadly, I suspect that the buyers of our house will fill in the pond.  They do have two very small children.

Treewheeler

Re: Seen today
« Reply #40 on: 18 April, 2008, 09:29:31 pm »
**sadly, I suspect that the buyers of our house will fill in the pond.  They do have two very small children.
That should shut the little shits up.
 Being turned into landfill...

bobajobrob

Re: Seen today
« Reply #41 on: 22 April, 2008, 02:31:21 pm »
A couple of pairs of very hairy bullocks on Cleeve Hill common.


Re: Seen today
« Reply #42 on: 23 April, 2008, 10:28:22 pm »
A couple of pairs of very hairy bullocks on Cleeve Hill common.

Yikes, I never saw any cattle on Cleeve Hill, no end of sheep, but cattle's a novelty!  Those certainly look like big beasts.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Seen today
« Reply #43 on: 25 April, 2008, 12:14:46 pm »
Amongst the normal vermin at Priory Park, there is a rat which is almost white in colour. I saw it again this morning. It may well be albino, but I haven't been close enough to see the colour if its eyes. We also saw a one-eyed rat.

In addition we saw the usual stuff and the first blackcap of the year. I have heard others singing but this was the first one I tracked down and have actually seen.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Seen today
« Reply #44 on: 26 April, 2008, 12:36:53 am »
Mojo was shouting at this:


Re: Seen today
« Reply #45 on: 26 April, 2008, 12:41:58 am »
A couple of pairs of very hairy bullocks on Cleeve Hill common.



They look like Highland cattle....

onb

  • Between jobs at present
Re: Seen today
« Reply #46 on: 26 April, 2008, 08:58:42 pm »
Quite large bird of prey very v shaped tail.Red kite?
.

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Seen today
« Reply #47 on: 27 April, 2008, 06:26:07 pm »
Sparrowhawk chasing chaffinches.

Osprey. I got some pics but even with the mirror lens they were a long way away.
Chap in the hide had a 600/f4 with 1.4x on teh back, on a very solid tripod (on a wooden floor - he cursed every time someone walked across the floor.) He got some reasonable pics.

<Father Ted>
This one is small but very close.


This one is big but a very long way away (about 200m).

"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Re: Seen today
« Reply #48 on: 27 April, 2008, 07:51:56 pm »

Either I was riding with my eyes shut on Friday or all the bluebells have flowered in the last 48  hours.  And I heard my first cuckoo this year.  It must be Spring

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Seen today
« Reply #49 on: 27 April, 2008, 09:25:26 pm »
Mrs. Wow and I went to Two Tree Island today to improve our chances of hearing a cuckoo. We didn't hear one, but we saw one flying fast and low to the ground.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.