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Wildlife spotting

Started by Twit 2, August 06, 2018, 12:59:58 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

ZoyzaSorris

Quote from: Buelligan on September 09, 2019, 11:28:50 AM
I'm very jealous.  Lovely dolphins and of course, I love a lovely fossil.  Got any pics (of either)?

Whilst we are pushing the definition of wildlife pics to the absolute limit (385 million year old dead wildlife) I glued a Dipterus lungfish I excavated at Achanarass back together (I had to split some very fragile mudstone to get it):



The head (to the left) is still obscured by some matrix and the tip of the head and tail are missing, but it's beautifully preserved, you see can all of the rays on the fins in great detail and everything.

Would have looked something like this before being flattened under hundreds of metres of rock:


Dex Sawash




Saw this on my patio earlier. Not sure what it is but it was about the size of a Jack Russell terrier if that helps anyone identify it.

Dex Sawash


Dex Sawash

Falconer friend says that's a Red Shouldered Hawk with unusually light colored head.^^

Edit- no, maybe a Cooper's Hawk

BlodwynPig


Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I had a few wildlife sightings while kayaking on the river the other day.

First was a huge looking bird of prey hovering fairly close by. I'm a crap judge of distance and whatnot, but it looked like its wingspan was about four feet.

Later on, some sort of snake swam past my boat. I assume it was a grass snake, as I've seen them about before, but I had no idea they could swim - not least because of being cold blooded. It wasn't a particularly warm day, much less in the water, but that little snek pelted from one bank to the other like nobody's business.

ZoyzaSorris

Where are you? Could have been a marsh harrier maybe? Size and behaviour seems about right (and as the name suggests they frequent aquatic habitats).
Grass snakes are water-loving animals, very much semi-aquatic (as you might expect from an amphibian eating specialist). Though I think pretty much all snakes are good swimmers if they need to be. Cold-blood shouldn't be an issue - fish are cold-blooded after all!

Ray Travez

Been meaning to post this for a while. There's a rookery up the road, and they're often having to see off a predatory buzzard, divebombing it in flight



NJ Uncut

Last week at Big Oil I was mournfully striding out of the site as the work day ended.

Saw this little white.. Can't be. Aww! Here kitty kitty!

Bang, fuckin scarpers. Asked about and the oil site has feral cats. Loads of em. But there's fields nearby n all that, maybe they love oil too?

ZoyzaSorris

Can we have a blanket ban on future mentions of cats in this thread? Sorry NJ, nothing against you.

Dex Sawash


Brian Freeze

We had a close encounter with a heron a couple of weeks ago. Just a common or garden grey one but we were pootling through the clough, not being particularly quiet or anything and spotted one about fifteen feet away trying to be inconspicuous while doing a spot of fishing. It didnt seem overly bothered by our gawping.

We had a great spotted woodpecker on a birdfeeder this week. Fat balls. Not seen one before in our garden.

Then a lovely grey wagtail yesterday on the muck heap at the allotment.

phes

#524
Finally managed to start attracting birds to my windowsill. Not sure if it took them a couple of months to find the food, or whether they're just not arsed mate cigs until the depths of winter. They hear the sash open in the morning now and are there within 30 seconds of it closing, having our breakfast together















Friend goes ringing and sends pics. Look how beautiful a brambling is up close



And, answers on a postcard...


Neville Chamberlain


Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: phes on January 09, 2020, 01:09:38 PM


What in Christ's knackers has happened to your back garden?!?!? Fucking state of it!

phes

Bit of a sad story really. Until recently the entire area, about the last 10ft of that drive had been an overgrown thicket that had climbed up in a blanket to meet the trees, covering the width of the yard. A jungle that must have been decades of growth and incredible roosting, nesting and feeding ground for the birds, mammals and critters. Then the landlord decided to rip it all up, just because. Took two guys 3 days with a jcb and power tools and now he has an additional several feet of drive. 

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: phes on January 09, 2020, 01:20:58 PM
Bit of a sad story really. Until recently the entire area, about the last 10ft of that drive had been an overgrown thicket that had climbed up in a blanket to meet the trees, covering the width of the yard. A jungle that must have been decades of growth and incredible roosting, nesting and feeding ground for the birds, mammals and critters. Then the landlord decided to rip it all up, just because. Took two guys 3 days with a jcb and power tools and now he has an additional several feet of drive.

That's a ruddy scandal! All too common behaviour, though :-(

Spoon of Ploff

Lovely pics phes. Glad to see this thread revived.

phes

Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on January 09, 2020, 01:26:31 PM
That's a ruddy scandal! All too common behaviour, though :-(

Really was. Was devastated when I came home to see it happening. This was it about halfway through the work

edit: for size adjustment





Quote from: phes on January 09, 2020, 01:20:58 PMroosting, nesting and feeding ground for the birds, mammals and critters. 
Still, your bottom sash frame/sill looks like it would offer ample accommodation for termites, bats, rats and quite possibly, hens.

king_tubby

I saw an urban fox this morning on a quiet side street, stood there in the middle of the road bold as brass until I biked within a couple of metres of it. Big bushy tail and that. Foxy.

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: phes on January 09, 2020, 01:34:58 PM
Really was. Was devastated when I came home to see it happening. This was it about halfway through the work

edit: for size adjustment





I agree things needed trimming back a bit, but that could have been made into a really nice green space. I think your landlord's a twat - and you can tell him that Neville Chamberlain off the internet says so!

jobotic

Who is that last one then phes?

Dirty female blackcap?

gib

Quote from: jobotic on January 09, 2020, 02:22:56 PM
Who is that last one then phes?

Dirty female blackcap?

It looks halfway between that and a wren.

BlodwynPig


phes

Quote from: jobotic on January 09, 2020, 02:22:56 PM
Who is that last one then phes?

Dirty female blackcap?

Correct! A fat, pre-migration, female blackcap!

phes



Play it cool, Trig. Play it cool

jobotic

Quote from: phes on January 09, 2020, 04:30:22 PM
Correct! A fat, pre-migration, female blackcap!

Fucking get in! Gills!