Seen today

[tiermat]

Interesting but dead animals

Badgers, two, on the A64. Biggish ones, too.

Rather rarer, a very large weasel. So large I wondered if it was a small stoat at first.

There is a dead badger, nicely bloated, on the A14 eastbound sliproad from the Milton roundabout.

I am waiting to see what happens, if a car clips it or it just goes off by itself...

[Bledlow]

Yesterday . . .

A toad, on the allotment. This is not the same as any previously seen amphibians. It was definitely a toad (fat & warty), & smaller & much darker than the last seen one. It was at the other end of the plot from the pond, where the other one was.

I moved an old carpet tile sitting beside the compost bin, & my foot was descending on what looked like a lump of earth under it when the lump moved. I hope I didn't injure it. It looked pretty sprightly as it wriggled through the planks of the bin & hid in the compost, so perhaps not. I'll have to be careful digging out the compost when the time comes. Best leave it to spring, when toad hibernation is over.

On our ride last night:
a hare or very large rabbit, hopping along the road ahead of us at the limit of our lights
an owl (looked quite big: pale coloured) flying low overhead
bats

[Steph]

Over the last four days...

One Egyptian vulture
100+ eagles (short-toed, booted and Bonelli's)
One honey bizzard
One peregrine
Four Sardinian warblers
multiple spotless starlings
Lotsa yellow-legged gulls.

[Deano]

A heron, on the Tees at Whorlton.

Also two different packs of alpaca, an emu, roe deer, and a sad-looking donkey (is there any other kind?). Sadly the Bactrian camels at Mainsgill Farm weren't around today.

[Wowbagger]

An enormous flock of brent geese, presumably just arrived from Siberia, on the mud flats and in the air around Two Tree Island and Old Leigh. They probably numbered into the thousands.

[David Martin]

An 'ermit crab. Actually several, but this one made it's way in front of my lens.

hermit crab

And some more crabs:
Another hermit crab
more crabs

Edit: Wonder why the links aren't working? They don't like query strings in them. Use URL shorteners

[PaulR]

Today as I was locking my bike up I looked up and saw an edgy urban peregrine over my place of work. So often I glance up and see tiny things (birds, satellites, balloons etc) in a way that makes me wonder what made me look up at precisely that moment, but I guess there are often interesting things in the sky so it doesn't really matter when I look up.

[Riggers]

Still seeing (actually on Sunday) … Swallows. Hurrah!

[Bledlow]

Yet Another Allotment Anuran.

I disturbed a very small toad while digging up potatoes. That's one large frog, one good-sized toad & one dinky little toad seen on our allotment in just over a month.

[Wowbagger]

A sizeable flock of swallows and house martins over Keyhaven at about 10am

[Auntie Helen]

A snake crossing our path - not sure if it was a grass snake or adder but it was quite big.

We just wanted to make sure the dog didn't spot it (she didn't).

[Pingu]

Another dead badger 

Fotie:

(click to show/hide)

IMG_2379 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Wowbagger]

A snake crossing our path - not sure if it was a grass snake or adder but it was quite big.

We just wanted to make sure the dog didn't spot it (she didn't).

Grass snakes usually grow to a larger size than do adders. Very late in the year though - climate change and warm Octobers!

[RJ]

Over the last four days...

One Egyptian vulture
100+ eagles (short-toed, booted and Bonelli's)
One honey bizzard
One peregrine
Four Sardinian warblers
multiple spotless starlings
Lotsa yellow-legged gulls.

Spain?

[pcolbeck]

Last night between Buttercrambe and Malton a barn owl and then a couple of lurchers stood in the road by themselves. Bad news for wildlife (and anyone who crosses them) if the lurcher men are out.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Friday night, about 9:30, a badger - live and not ambushing cyclists, on the railway path.

[Andrij]

Yesterday:
* 5 deer crossing the road near my parents' house (seen quite a few this trip)
* geese, in formation, flying south for the winter

[Pingu]

Dolphins and a seal right outside the office today.

[Ruth]

I heard it before I seen it - like a pair of squeaky old bellows.  A swan, flying over my house.  Beautiful, like something you've dreamed, because something so strange, so impractical, but alive, couldn't possibly be real, could it? 

It must have been made up.  Maybe we're all living in a Monty Python cartoon.

[Wombat]

There's a big pond full of 'em just across the road from my office.  Magnificent in flight, and quite characterful creatures.  I do have rather a lot of swan pictures taken since I've been working there....

[Jaded]

Two pods of dolphins.

Here's one.

[Pingu]

I think they could be porpoise.

[Wowbagger]

I was thinking that they looked more like harbour porpoises.

[clarion]

As I started out up the street this morning, our local heron flapped lazily across the morning sky.

[Bledlow]

A Peacock flutterby frantically trying to get out of a sash window through the glass, presumably having come in through the open section.

I opened the window fully & gently helped it out. I hope there's still food for it out there, so it's not wasting body fat flying around in the sun instead of hibernating.