Seen today

[Pingu]

Crime? Critters gotta eat!

I think next doors' cat (assumption) is pretty well fed!

Do cats pluck like that?  My first reaction was "sparrowhawk".

There was a sparrowhawk about last year, I don't know if its still around. I've only seen it once & that was a few months ago.

[RJ]

Crime? Critters gotta eat!

I think next doors' cat (assumption) is pretty well fed!

Do cats pluck like that?  My first reaction was "sparrowhawk".

There was a sparrowhawk about last year, I don't know if its still around. I've only seen it once & that was a few months ago.

Sprawks can keep a very low profile:  http://edinburghhawkwatch.org.uk/sparrowhawk

[Bledlow]

A wren, darting about by the Kennet. The usual kites, two kestrels, lots of jackdaws, robins . . .

[Bledlow]

A badger, on last night's Reading CTC ride.

Imagine the scene: eleven cyclists cruising along a rural road, they come across a badger crossing it. Brock stops, glares at them for a moment, then slowly, reluctantly, turns round & trudges back into the undergrowth. One could almost hear it thinking 'bloody cyclists'.

[Snakehips]

50 + Waxwing , Victoria Road , Surbiton.

[Juan Martín]

This afternoon cycling near Biddenden a buzzard flew across the road in front of me. This is the first positive sighting of one that I have had in this area although I have seen large raptor-like shapes in the distance, and widespread panic of smaller birds on several occasions in the last couple of years. These birds certainly seem to have made quite a comeback in recent years; I remember perhaps 20 years ago there being some buzzard conservancy programme being run in Cornwall near where my brother lives, and they were an unusual sight even there. They seem much more common now.

And later in the ride a large falcon. Unable to positively indentify it, but perhaps a peregrine.

[CrinklyLion]

Granny Annie's friendly 'dalmatian' blackbird.  More white than black, but a bit flighty and scarpered before I could get a snap.

[Littlesox]

Evidence of global warming ?

Gorse bush in flower on the Shropshire Union canal side.

Bonkers !

p.s I don't think it's been much mre than 4 degrees all week !

[RJ]

But gorse flowers pretty much year round (depending on the species): http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/plant_species/gorse/

[Pingu]

2 deer. 1st ran across the road in front of me, 2nd ran onto the road, did  a comedy skid & ran back.

[Bledlow]

But gorse flowers pretty much year round (depending on the species): http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/plant_species/gorse/

Kissing's in season when the furze is in flower. 

[JStone]

A great profusion of pied wagtails (100+) this afternoon in the shopping centre car parks (Cribbs Causeway, N Bristol), busily exploring the gaps between the block paviors. Seen them often in twos & threes, but never before in such abundance.

[cycleman]

a couple of buzzards in windsor park this afternoon

[Ham]

Finally after many years, the word about the avian catering chez Ham  (Fill yer beak, any day of the week) has been passed onto a flock of long tailed tits.

[Wascally Weasel]

A huge rat (of a size that is a tale for which the world is almost not ready) sauntering across the depot walkway earlier on.

[RJ]

Either you or the rat are a long way from home, WW 

[clarion]

Sure it wasn't a loose capybara?

[Mrs Pingu]

I saw a hooded crow today.
No, really. It was wearing a grey tabard and everyfink.

Or at least some sort of NE hybrid.

[RJ]

There is a zone where hoodies and carrion crows hybridise; Aberdeen would probably be towards the southeastern edge.  There are simlar zones in Germany/Denmark and northern Italy.

[Pingu]

A small mustelid. I'm claiming it as a weasel 'cos it was tiny & I didn't see a black tip to its tail*. It scuttled across the road in front of me then turned round and ran back.






*Don't even think about it Wowbagger

[Pingu]

Buzzards 

Kestrel 

Red kite 

First time I've seen a red kite on South Deeside.

[Feanor]

First time I've seen a red kite on South Deeside.[/color]

Ah, they are not so uncommon there.

I do like the acrobatics of the kites.

As you probably know, there's a nesting site out near us, on the North of the Dee, just outside Peterculter.
They come out to play fairly often here.
We've had them swooping about over the house a few times, and a couple of years ago they were having a major battle with local crows at the football pitch whilst Junior 2 was playing a game.   No-one was watching the football, as the airborne action was spectacular.   The kites were swooping down to near-ground level over the football pitch.

[Salvatore]

On my way to the start of the Kennet Valley 200 yesterday morning, just as it was getting light, an owl about 70 metres ahead of me, flying above the roadside ditch. I got a bit closer to it over the next 200 m or so, then he was attacked by a magpie, shortly joined by a second. After a lengthy episode of avian animosity, the owl darted across the road and took refuge in a hole in the bottom of the hedge, followed by the magpies, which both stood guard in front of the hole as if waiting for the owl to emerge. As I got nearer, however, they sensed my presence and flew off across the field, pursued by the owl.

[SteveC]

Coming home from a gig last night, about 11.30, a barn owl perched on a post by the side of the road.

[clarion]

Turnstones.  Loads of 'em.  On the wharf at Whitstable.  I do love their backs in flight.