Seen today

[Crumbling Nick]

At long long last … Swifts. Only half a dozen, but they finally made it.

They'd arrived here by last night. I dined outside and was rewarded with the sight & sound of a dozen or more, flying high, screaming, and clearly happy(relieved?) to get a square meal.

[Crumbling Nick]

We have damselflies.
I had a double-take when crossing the Blythe after lunch and had to return to confirm that daisies don't grow in the middle of a river. At that point a banded demoiselle fluttered past, followed by another before there was time to take a proper look at the flowers.

[Wascally Weasel]

A multitude of rabbits in Richmond Park.  They are all over the park in reality but I see them most often either early or late, especially on the track near Petersham Gate.

I was through there just after 4.20 am this morning and they were all over the place - one small one attempted suicide* under my front wheel but I managed to stop in time as I didn't have Kathy in tow to skin it for me.


*I'm not sure exactly what sort of Elil bicycles are classified as.

[David Martin]

Never seen or heard so many wrens. Flocks of fledglings buzzing around like slightly oversized bees.

Here is one that stayes still enough long enough and close enough for me to catch it with a 70mm lens.

DSC_2117 by davidmamartin, on Flickr

[clarion]

Today I saw a magpie.  Not very unusual, but this one had such iridescence that it appeared to be blue and white rather than black.  I haven't seen one like that before.

[Wascally Weasel]

Today I saw a magpie.  Not very unusual, but this one had such iridescence that it appeared to be blue and white rather than black.  I haven't seen one like that before.

The iridescence varies quite a bit but depends to an extent on the angle of light but mainly the feathers themselves; as I understand it it's the structure of the feathers which creates the effect so may be altered by grooming.

[Wascally Weasel]

At Ham Dip this morning, a tiny, very new looking Roe Deer fawn with its mum.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A burst of alarmed bird noise then a pigeon flew at high speed across in front of me from behind a wall on my right. As it did so, it shed a lot of feathers - into the talons of a sparrowhawk. They disappeared behind a hedge and it seems the pigeon escaped, as a few seconds later the sparrowhawk reappeared, sitting on top of a stump in the hedge before flying away empty-clawed.

[sg37409]

A tawny owl on my doorstep. Opened the front door this morning to this fellow.  He wouldnt fly away. Put a box over him and a screen to give some shade, and SSPCA came out to collect. The lady said no visible injuries, and no tell tale imprints on the windows.  Dont know why he was there, though there was a shitload murder of crows going mad on my roof too, so hope he was happier under the box.

Flickr

[Bledlow]

We have damselflies. ...

And I have a baby one in my pond. Seen this afternoon. Plenty of smaller invertebrates for it to feed on.

[Snakehips]

Got to the holiday home and found this delightful sight awaiting us in the covered area just outside our back window.

[Mrs Pingu]

A tawny owl on my doorstep. Opened the front door this morning to this fellow.  He wouldnt fly away. Put a box over him and a screen to give some shade, and SSPCA came out to collect. The lady said no visible injuries, and no tell tale imprints on the windows.  Dont know why he was there, though there was a shitload murder of crows going mad on my roof too, so hope he was happier under the box.

Flickr

Awwh!

[bumper]

A mink ran out in front of me today carrying a still wriggling stoat!

Mink are lovely to look at, shame they get a bad press. It's not their fault they were all released when the local mink farm was stormed by knobs with bolt cutters.

[Chris S]

A mink ran out in front of me today carrying a still wriggling stoat!

Mink are lovely to look at, shame they get a bad press. It's not their fault they were all released when the local mink farm was stormed by knobs with bolt cutters.

Quite. And now the water vole is on the verge of extinction as a result of those hungry minks. Oh the irony.

[bumper]

Irony is exactly right. Another do good human intervention that fooked things up. I remember people hunting the mink when they were released and then showing photos of rows of them shot.

They didn't get many, they're everywhere around here. I once watched one fishing like an otter, it caught a fish too! It's a great shame they're such perfect killing machines.

[LindaG]

Lots of gorgeous blue dragonflies on the Mole under Downside Road Bridge.

[Butterfly]

Yesterday I saw some wagtails by the Wandle in Wandsworth. Are they grey or yellow ones?

[RJ]

Yesterday I saw some wagtails by the Wandle in Wandsworth. Are they grey or yellow ones?

Almost certainly "grey" (though they have some very bright yellow bits).  Yellow wagtails are not common, and I think of them more as birds of wet meadows than riversides

[Butterfly]

Yesterday I saw some wagtails by the Wandle in Wandsworth. Are they grey or yellow ones?

Almost certainly "grey" (though they have some very bright yellow bits).  Yellow wagtails are not common, and I think of them more as birds of wet meadows than riversides

Thank you .

[bumper]

Saw a barn owl at the end of my street when I returned from my ride last night/this morning

I've been spotting them in the fields getting closer to where I live but they've finally made it here. I'm hoping to spot it hunting in the field across from me, the camera is ready!

[Bledlow]

Not wild, but country.

Mrs B & I saw a dead cow next to the Devil's Highway on Sunday morning. It was under a tree in a field next to the track. Fairly fresh. Probably died the night before, or earlier that morning. No external signs. Told a local passer-by, who had an idea who owned that field & said he'd pass the word on.

Looked heavily pregnant. Mrs B wondered if it might have gone into labour & had fatal complications.

[Wowbagger]

Yesterday, a pair of buzzards wheeling around above Sutton Hall Farm.

That is the closest to Southend I have ever seen a pair, whom I presume to have a nest somewhere. It wasn't more than about 15 years ago that I first saw a buzzard in Essex, and now I see them regularly throughout the county.

Toady I saw a sparrow hawk near Great Wakering.

[tiermat]

Two news ones to tick off in my eye-spy book of Nature.

An egret
2 red squggles.

The usual suspects were there, too
Swans
Ducks
moor hens (some of these might be cheating as we have a couple of pairs that live on the lake at work)
runny babbits
Didn't see any swans today, but did see a load of swan feathers in their usual grooming site.
Daisy, marigold et al gave me the evil eye as I rode through thier field too, then they obviously decided I was no threat and went on eating their grass.

[Wowbagger]

Where did you see red squirrels?

[Morrisette]

In the bath: a giant spider. It's too early for those horrible things, surely? Mr M got it in a glass and threw it outside, nearly threw it AT someone walking past, they would not have been happy to have that horrible scuttling thing land on them!!