Wildlife spotting

[bgmnts]

I have come to the conclusion that otters don't actually exist.

Watched the parental pigeons have a shift change to sit on the nest in the tree opposite. The one clocked off and fucked off to hedge somewhere and the other jumped down onto it and settled in for a good few hours. It was staring at me for a good twenty minutes as well.

[AliasTheCat]

I have come to the conclusion that otters don't actually exist.

I'm convinced that I saw an otter on the river Exe once when I went to visit my parents but no one believed me at the time. It was not a fucking dog mum, do you think I don't know what a dog looks like?

[BlodwynPig]

Me and my sister once saw a bear emerge from a woodland in Devon during a night drive with my parents.

[Spoon of Ploff]

This f**king thing:

[Blue Jam]

Today I learned: moths' eyes glow:

[BlodwynPig]

your photos? that's cool

[BlodwynPig]

Friend got bitten by this Fake Widow in Durham



She stupidly killed it afterwards.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

How stupidly?

[BlodwynPig]

How stupidly?

it one of God's own creations. Or are you all for extraordinary rendition and state sanctioned murder now ;) *

Saw a Sedge Warbler just now. Didn't kill it **

* in case of confusion, this smiley is meant in good humour **

** I am poking fun at myself ***

*** this is not sarcastic either

[bgmnts]

Anyone who needlessly kills an animal I hope get's pointlessly killed.

Anyway, this pigeon is still in the nest, sitting there, even the heavy wind isn't budging it. They know how to build a nest, fair play to them. If I tried to build a nest in a tree I reckon a slight breeze would collapse it in seconds.

[BlodwynPig]

Anyone who needlessly kills an animal I hope get's pointlessly killed.

Anyway, this pigeon is still in the nest, sitting there, even the heavy wind isn't budging it. They know how to build a nest, fair play to them. If I tried to build a nest in a tree I reckon a slight breeze would collapse it in seconds.

are you sure it's not a collared dove?

[bgmnts]

are you sure it's not a collared dove?

Not at all, could well be. I just see wood pigeons around here all the time. I can't quite see it now but I think it's pure grey with a little white ring around its neck, a yellow beak and dark around it's eyes I think. I can't see the colour of the head though, it's subsumed by green leaves.

Update: shift change! Yeah its a light grey all over with white around the front and side of its neck, tapering at the back, something you'd pay around £12 quid for at the barbers. The tip of its tail feathers look like they've been dipped in tar, jet black.

[ZoyzaSorris]

This f**king thing:

It's a bloody great lovely ichneumon wasp, going about its innocent parasitoid business of body-snatchin'

Possibly an Ichneumon xanthorius in which case its a male, which means it doesn't do much other than peacefully eat pollen and possibly fertilize a female who does all the horrifying yet fascinating Xenomorph type stuff.

Edit: actually I'm leaning towards Callajoppa sp, poss cirrogaster , up there with the UKs largest Ichneumons, parasitoids of hawk moths.

https://www.naturespot.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/british-ichneumonid-wasps-id-guide.pdf

[BlodwynPig]

Not at all, could well be. I just see wood pigeons around here all the time. I can't quite see it now but I think it's pure grey with a little white ring around its neck, a yellow beak and dark around it's eyes I think. I can't see the colour of the head though, it's subsumed by green leaves.

Update: shift change! Yeah its a light grey all over with white around the front and side of its neck, tapering at the back, something you'd pay around £12 quid for at the barbers. The tip of its tail feathers look like they've been dipped in tar, jet black.

wood pigeon then. The inverted collared dove.

[Beagle 2]

Impossible to not sound like a middle aged middle class wank by posting this but fuck it.

This is the first year we've had a garden of our own and, with the lockdown and all, it's really been amazing to observe all the drama that plays out there. The best bit has been having a couple of blackbirds nesting - they've raised three sets of fledglings and we've seen the whole process, from seeing them nest building to ferrying food back and forth and hearing the little excited chirps, to the parents coaching them out of the nest and teaching them to fly around the garden. We feel part of the team at this stage, recognising the danger call and having a super soaker ready to blast the cats that are constantly trying to eat the younguns. It was properly devastating finding one of them dead on the step with its guts hanging out and the dad by its side distraught, bastard mog. Felt like we had failed. Still, we're pretty sure all the others survived, which is apparently very good going. They seem to regard us as friends now, if we're out in the garden they'll just hop around us. It looks stressful as fuck being a blackbird and I now regard them as a great bunch of birds.

[Twonty Gostelow]

Nice one, Beagly. I search the plants and bushes two or three times a day for cats hiding and ready to pounce, but unfortunately some young birds aren't quick enough to get away.
Generally speaking, cat owners around here don't give a shit and won't fit their cats with bell collars, for what that's worth.

Here's a blackbird feeding her baby, apparently bigger than her, in our garden 3 days ago.

[BlodwynPig]

Yes, the blackbirds have been great. Once dismissed as just another boring British bird, when you get to "know" them, you really see their character and they SEE you too. Lovely.

[Blue Jam]

I swear Edinburgh has had three Flying Ant Days this year. That's not allowed, is it? Who can I complain to?

Today looks the biggie though, loads of the bastards all over the shop. Perhaps the first two were just rehearsals.

[phes]

Love blackbirds, maybe even my favourite of the garden birds. Always entertained by their funny combination of hopping and running. Right little scamps. They drive fastidious garden groomers nuts in spring and summer littering lawns and patio edges with the detritus from gathering nest building material. Seeing the occasional dead blackbird is always heartbreaking because you know there's probably another hopping about nearby at a loss. I saw a leucistic blackbird a few weeks ago but haven't seen it in the same spot since

Absolute bloody racket outside the window in my old place though. 8pm on the dot they'd start up up and screech like fuck for an hour

[Spoon of Ploff]

Given their diminutive size Jenny Wrens are surprisingly loud and gobby birds:

[Clatty McCutcheon]

Haven't been able to get out as much as I'd like lately, but I did at least spot another roe deer in the woods.



Also, a juvenile wheatear perched on a rock (fun fact: wheatear is a bowdlerised version of the bird's original name 'whitearse')

[ollyboro]

Sat in the dark, listening to Metallica, round our mam's house, and a wee frog turned up and sat with us for a bit. Appeared from nowhere; fucked off when it suited him (I assume)....kooool Kermit kunt

[phes]

Given their diminutive size Jenny Wrens are surprisingly loud and gobby birds:

I held a wren a couple of weeks back after a friend wanted to drop by and catch up with some bird ringing friends of hers. Even knowing how much these birds weigh, it was a shock how little there is to them. You know those little oval plum tomatoes supermarkets sell in punnets, well imagine a plucked chicken the size of one of those. If you gently blow back the feathers to reveal the chest, that's what they look like. Nothing to them. The Wren's syrinx, found just superior to the bifurcation of its trachea is capable of using almost all the air it breathes to produce sound and its resonant cavity is very powerful, allowing it to produce such an unusually loud song for a feathered plum tomato.

[Spoon of Ploff]

Feathered plum tomato is a lovely expression.

[BlodwynPig]

Excellent info, thanks Phes. Sadly death is all about in my wildlife wanders. The squished sparrowhawk, now a squashed hedgehog (still not seen a living hedgehog in all my years). I did manage to use the powerful binoculars to get a good view of a buzzard riding the updrafts, wonderful.

[bgmnts]

Loving these pictures, I am quite envious of you all.

Percy and Patricia are still on their nest, taking turns dutifully. I'm rather excited to see what happens. I would love to see pigeon chicks being fed, and they surely will be hatching soon.

[Blue Jam]

your photos? that's cool

Yes, and cheers.

And yes, I know I need to clean the windows.

Found a big moth lounging on the sofa this morning. Fair play to the lazy fucker.

[Spoon of Ploff]

So I knew about Brimstone Butterflies, but here is a Brimstone moth.

[Pdine]

[kalowski]

Currently taking a short break in the Peaks. Seen a few buzzards, kestrels, a dipper and a lovely pair of grey wagtails.