Author Topic: Seen today (Read 1018389 times)

Pingu · « **Reply #4700 on:** 28 October, 2016, 06:54:27 pm »

A bunch of whooper swans over our house heading south this evening.

andyoxon · « **Reply #4701 on:** 29 October, 2016, 03:41:35 pm »

Robin - looking for worms, following me around the garden doing a tidy-up.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #4702 on:** 29 October, 2016, 05:19:31 pm »

I saw a grey wagtail this morning when taking the dog for a walk.

On Wednesday we went to Minsmere and spent a few hours wandering about. There were lots of teal and wigeon, a few black-tailed godwits, a marsh tit, a fleeting view of a pair of bearded tits (this prompted My Pal Janet Who Art In Sibton to suggest that Mrs. Wow take a photograph of My Mate Terry Who Art In Sibton and myself, to commemorate the occasion) a few geese of different sorts, and a Bewick's swan.

Ruthie · « **Reply #4703 on:** 29 October, 2016, 09:28:45 pm »

A roe deer bounding through the field beside us as we rode along. A proper bambi! Whenever I ride my bike with Suzanne I get a spectacular wildlife moment. Last time it was a herd of white horses racing beside us, manes and tails flowing in the wind - beautiful.

Peter · « **Reply #4704 on:** 29 October, 2016, 11:44:19 pm »

"The horse-hair, my friend, is flowing in the wind, the horse-hair is flowing in the wind."

pcolbeck · « **Reply #4705 on:** 04 November, 2016, 08:34:11 am »

A heron flying over the village then standing in the field near the church. Also Buster some sort of staffie/bulldog type dog (but very friendly) that was wandering by himself near the church. Me and Tilly took him back to his (huge - put it this way I handed him over to the housekeeper) house about half a mile away where they hadn't even realised he had got out of the ~~garden~~ grounds.

PeteB99 · « **Reply #4706 on:** 04 November, 2016, 10:13:02 am »

Yesterday at twilight half a dozen large flights of geese ( I'd estimate 600 to 800 total) heading roughly westward.

Noisy buggers.

Pingu · « **Reply #4707 on:** 05 November, 2016, 07:12:08 pm »

Don't see these very often in FurryBootToon.

IMG_4938_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

David Martin · « **Reply #4708 on:** 05 November, 2016, 10:28:12 pm »

DSC_7537 by David Martin, on Flickr
Couple of Soprano pipistrelles

matthew · « **Reply #4709 on:** 06 November, 2016, 02:11:07 pm »

As I walked to church one of the local Buzzards was being harried by an unidentified Gull.

As I came home later there was again a Buzzard low over the estate.

orienteer · « **Reply #4710 on:** 06 November, 2016, 03:50:18 pm »

Strange behaviour by a goldfinch today. We have a niger seed feeder which attracts them, but today one was squatting on our patio and barely moving; normally they are very nervous birds. It turned its head occasionally, but didn't move when approached. I placed an upturned lid of water right in front of it, but it still didn't move.

Later, just as it started to rain, I noticed it had gone.

Basil · « **Reply #4711 on:** 07 November, 2016, 01:47:25 pm »

A pair of Dippers on a partly submerged log in the river Teifi this morning.

Peter · « **Reply #4712 on:** 08 November, 2016, 10:34:43 am »

Quote from: orienteer on 06 November, 2016, 03:50:18 pm

Strange behaviour by a goldfinch today. We have a niger seed feeder which attracts them, but today one was squatting on our patio and barely moving; normally they are very nervous birds. It turned its head occasionally, but didn't move when approached. I placed an upturned lid of water right in front of it, but it still didn't move.

Later, just as it started to rain, I noticed it had gone.

Recovering from flying into the patio door, perhaps?

orienteer · « **Reply #4713 on:** 08 November, 2016, 10:55:37 am »

Did occur to me, most likely explanation I think.

Feanor · « **Reply #4714 on:** 14 November, 2016, 09:25:55 pm »

Moar bats on the ride home. Seems to be a good bat spotting route when you are riding in the twilight.

Pingu · « **Reply #4715 on:** 20 November, 2016, 01:43:05 pm »

Buzzard being mobbed by crows over our garden.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #4716 on:** 25 November, 2016, 07:26:13 pm »

Yesterday - grey wagtail in Priory Park.

Ruthie · « **Reply #4717 on:** 25 November, 2016, 07:30:08 pm »

This morning - a dunnock in Darlington.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #4718 on:** 02 December, 2016, 11:26:02 pm »

Loads of stuff on the Isle of Sheppey. Our daughter paid for a day's guided raptor watching with the nominatively-deterministic Tony Swandale. It was magnificent.

Species seen:

kestrels * lots
marsh harriers * lots (about 20 at once when they started to roost in the last afternoon)
2 * peregrines (they were standing a few yards apart in a field and when one took off, the other followed and they went to the shore to bully a load of waders)
1 or 2 "ringtail" hen harriers (probably the same bird twice)
common buzzards
merlin
short-eared owl

Also, chief amongst the non-raptors was a common crane. I took a really bad photo of it flying, from a long way away.

None of these birds was tame or in captivity - all of them were out over the marshes of Sheppey, near Capel Fleet or Shellness Point.

To be honest, most of these species I was already familiar with but Tony hammered home the distinguishing marks. Also, he was first-rate at knowing where to look. I wouldn't have given those two lumps in the field a quarter of a mile away a second glance, but they were both peregrines. When he first pointed them out they had their backs to us and I thought they might have been carrion crows.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #4719 on:** 03 December, 2016, 07:23:15 pm »

A badger. A real, live badger, snuffling through a small, scappy woodland in broad daylight – about 2:30. Big, and not at all concerned about humans.

Steph · « **Reply #4720 on:** 05 December, 2016, 12:25:49 am »

On Thursday the RSPB had a stand outside my local bank, so I stopped for a chat and to point out the white wagtail in the car park.

Pingu · « **Reply #4721 on:** 05 December, 2016, 09:22:28 pm »

Waxwings

IMG_5064_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

noisycrank · « **Reply #4722 on:** 06 December, 2016, 10:25:48 am »

Bottlenose Dolphin in the harbour

Wowbagger · « **Reply #4723 on:** 06 December, 2016, 11:31:46 pm »

Yesterday - grey wagtail in Priory park.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #4724 on:** 09 December, 2016, 10:39:01 pm »

Assorted stuff around Hanningfield Reservoir.

Most interesting ducks: wigeon, although there were quite a few tufted ducks as well. There were reports that there were some gadwall about, but my duck-fu isn't that great and the level of teh water was so low that nothing was within 100 yards of us in any case.

Lapwings doing lots of aerobatics which I initially thought was raptor-avoidance, and mobbing a not-lapwing which was flying nearby. My impression was that the not-lapwing was a curlew, but I wasn't certain, or why they would want to mob something so clearly harmless to lapwings.

Geese, mostly Canada geese.

Silhouettes in a Scots pine, one of which I feel confident was a goldcrest, and the other I think was a treecreeper, judging by its behaviour and turned-down tail.