Seen today

[Mrs Pingu]

We are just up the coast from Benidorm.

[Steph]

Three days ago, as I stood in my back garden, a red kite at about 15 feet above me. Today, from the bus, another over Riverside, where the FNRTTC approaches the airport.

[Auntie Helen]

A convoy of marching caterpillars, must have been over 60, quite cool. Hopefully this link to video works
https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/52715324960/in/datetaken/

We have oak processionary caterpillars in Germany and their hairs make you terribly itchy. There are warning signs on a lot of the trees around here.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Grey Wagtail in Eastrop Park, noticeable, ironically because of its yellow underside

[Peter]

Grey Wagtail in Eastrop Park, noticeable, ironically because of its yellow underside

Ha!  I always think that.  (Watch out for the yellow ones - they're green!)

[Peter]

Nuthatch at the feeder - and this is urban Rochdale.  Also the usual suspects, dunnocks, robin, doves and pigeons and tits, though mercifully not 30p Lee.  Last week a rare but beautiful glimpse of bullfinches.  Obviously squirrels and rats, all trying to make a living.  Oh, and a thrush, which was a bit of a bonus.  They sing in the season and we see one perched on a tree, a lot, but it's rare to see one ground feeding here.  It's lovely to think that things like nuthatches and bullfinches are around all the time in such an urban setting but you need to be lucky to see them!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Grey Wagtail in Eastrop Park, noticeable, ironically because of its yellow underside

Ha!  I always think that.  (Watch out for the yellow ones - they're green!)

For the colour thread?

And sticking with colours, a robin's breast isn't red, it's orange. At least to my eyes. Including the one I saw dead but perfectly intact on the pavement yesterday.

[Wowbagger]

Not seen by me, and not seen today, but last night a fellow bass at choir told me that when he visited Wallasea island nature reserve at the weekend, he saw a stoat in full ermine livery. That must be pretty unusual this far south, I would have thought.

[Peter]

possibly a polecat ferret?  They can be white.

[JonBuoy]

This morning a pair of long-tailed tits visited my garden.  I was on a work call with a colleague - I hope he understood my excitement as I rushed to the window to double check that they really were long-tailed tits and not the usual blue tits/sparrows/etc.

[Snakehips]

This morning a pair of long-tailed tits visited my garden.  I was on a work call with a colleague - I hope he understood my excitement as I rushed to the window to double check that they really were long-tailed tits and not the usual blue tits/sparrows/etc.

Last weekend  we visited some friends in Dorset. As we walked in to their back room I saw half a dozen Long Tails on their feeders. They(the friends, not the tits) were somewhat surprised by my exited reaction.

[PaulR]

Yesterday, admittedly: the sun came out, I wandered down to the tractor field and there was a owl again.
by PaulRide, on Flickr
by PaulRide, on Flickr

[Jurek]

Some excellent photography going on there, Paul 
Focal length, shutter speed, aperture pls?

[PaulR]

Thanks Jurek! I was using Mike's old magic drainpipe, an 80-200mm canon lens at full extension, with a canon 7d2 hanging off the back.  I also used a 1.4x teleconverter.  And for good measure, a 2x teleconverter as well.  So roughly 560mm focal length, 1/1000s and somewhere around f9.5 at iso800.

[pcolbeck]

A lovely huge barn owl flying down the lane just outside our front gate when I was walking Tilly yesterday teatime. There are several barn owls round the village but that's the first time I have seen one in the lane since the field was set aside for about ten years (these days its wheat).

[rafletcher]

In recent days, we've see a variety of birds on our feeders, the usual throngs of goldfich, blue and great tits, some sparrows and chaffinches.  Less regularly, but far more often in past years, long tailed tits, and the occasional wagtail (scavenging), greenfinch and black cap.

This morning, on the fence about 3m from the back door, and 2 m from the feeders, a sparrowhawk. Lovely.

[Flite]

After several sparse years due to disease, the greenfinches are making a re-appearance.
Fingers crossed.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It seems to be barn owl season judging by recent posts. Great photos too.

[Wowbagger]

possibly a polecat ferret?  They can be white.

No, he mentioned the black tail. And ferret tend to be albino. Also, this is an island nature reserve with hardly any human habitation. I think it's less likely that a ferret would be there than a stoat in winter coat.

[rafletcher]

Two hares hunkered down in the big field down the road.

[rr]

An owl flying alongside the lane in broad daylight.

Sent from my motorola edge 20 using Tapatalk

[hellymedic]

Ms Vixen Fox paid another visit to my residence at 1215 today, getting right up to the kitchen patio door.

Suspect she might grok the cat flap soon…

Cat flap is big enough for 7kg of Big Tom and she seems slim enough to get through…

Ms Fox reappeared at 13.45 and was witnessed by D.

[Peter]

possibly a polecat ferret?  They can be white.

No, he mentioned the black tail. And ferret tend to be albino. Also, this is an island nature reserve with hardly any human habitation. I think it's less likely that a ferret would be there than a stoat in winter coat.

Ah, fair enough!  I was in the dark about the black tail - if you see what I mean!

[Wowbagger]

https://mastodon.social/@wowbagger@c.im/110038396881791894



What I'm told is a turkey tail fungus, on an old pear stump in My Good Friend Penelope's garden.

[Mr Larrington]

A healthy-looking Rattus norvegicus scampering along the bike path under the Crooked Billet roundabout on Monday.