Wildlife spotting

[Brian Freeze]

And again with the slugs up me pipe. I put them six foot away yesterday and they've come back.

[Buelligan]

Heheh, you're lucky.  You know I live in a cave, in a hot (in summer) place?  I think, because of this, because it's cool and dark, slugs come in out of the dry baking heat and find really dangerous homes, frequently killing the poor things accidentally in terrible ways and I find it extremely disturbing, should get a house hedgehog (like a living roomba for those afflicted with slugs) but not sure a hedgehog would be happy in that work.  At least the terrible deaths would not be on my karma.

[Brian Freeze]

A beer/cider trap for them and then they die happy? Or at least you feel that they did?

Just seen my first froglet. Totally made my weekend. Tiny thing just capable of climbing around the margins.

Anywhere you could create a small wildife pond for frogs as slug munchers? They reckon you don't need an actual pond, even an old washing up bowl can be big enough.

[Buelligan]

It's a thought but my slug issue is in the house.  I'm not sure squashing frogs would be a step up from squashing slugs.  Maybe I should get a house snake.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

On Friday I was coming out of the NCT centre and towards a roundabout when a grey squirrel scampered across the road. Luckily I was going slowly and she made it safely to the other side.

[Buelligan]

Walked down the river to check out the paddling conditions before dinner. Heron there.

Forgot to say, nice rudbeckia you have there.

[purlieu]

Looks a bit more like a crane than a heron based on beak and body shape but I'm sure someone with actual knowledge will confirm.

Absolute 100% heron. Cranes are quite different:


On the topic of slugs, found this cute chap in the street the other day:

[The Mollusk]

there's a fly in my living room right now, was two in here earlier. cat ate one of them

[Endicott]

At Rainham RSPB centre yesterday.

Kestrel (I think)




Coot




Juvenile coots




Juvenile moorhen (probably)




Couple of little egrets.

[purlieu]

Kestrel (I think)

Yes indeed, a female. Glorious photo!

Your juvenile moorhen looks more like a juvenile little grebe, so might be worth double checking.

[Endicott]

Probably right about the grebe! Cheers.

[Poobum]

Love goslings, not as much as cootlings as they make the adorable noises.



This bun truly did not give a shit.



Everyday I have a new spider web on my wing mirror, but this big bastard was definitely a novelty. Felt bad wrecking its web, but managed to spideherd it to some bushes.

[AzureSky]

I took this at Pensthorpe last week, apologies for the quality, but I took it by holding up my phone to a pair of binoculars as it was very far away. It was from the Wetland Hide at the top of the trees opposite. I saw a few Red Kites flying around before this and then spotted the 2 of them in the trees. I think it's a Red Kite, but might possibly be a Marsh Harrier?

EDIT: I don't know how put pictures in here, sorry. The link is https://ibb.co/M7r89Nn

I've clicked the Mona Lisa icon and pasted the URL in it the middle but it didn't work... trying again...  Nope! Useless.

[Dex Sawash]

If you right click (pc) or long click (mobile) on your image and select "open image in new tab" you will get a page with just the image and not all the BS text and ads from your hosting site.
https://i.ibb.co/Rcfh7H2/62538-A66-A1-C5-4-BFB-8339-79-D273469373.jpg

That's tbe link you want

[Dex Sawash]

Tomorrow's lesson; de-embiggening

[AzureSky]

If you right click (pc) or long click (mobile) on your image and select "open image in new tab" you will get a page with just the image and not all the BS text and ads from your hosting site.
https://i.ibb.co/Rcfh7H2/62538-A66-A1-C5-4-BFB-8339-79-D273469373.jpg

That's tbe link you want

Thanks!

[bgmnts]

How in god's name did you get that close to goslings without getting rekt?

Geese/swans/ducks are vicious cunts.

[ZoyzaSorris]

Just catching up, lovely photos all.

Haven't seen a red underwing since I was a kid, lovely things.
Yes, that's def a heron, dex, a great blue heron to be precise (I think) - the equivalent to our grey heron over on here, albeit with a more regal bearing.
Cranes are quite a different affair as already stated - generally  a fair bit bigger, straight-ish necks and much more terrestrial. And much more endangered as a rule.
Agree with the little grebe diagnosis. Those guys make some pretty cool weird noises (might be a breeding season thing only though).

Would love to see a bittern. Was trying to think about what the rarest UK bird I've seen is but couldn't think of much impressive off-hand. My dad and uncle were both into it so probably took me to see some little brown job blown over from Siberia or something at some point. I have seen a harpy eagle in Peru from about twenty metres which was pretty lucky though.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

How in god's name did you get that close to goslings without getting rekt?

Geese/swans/ducks are vicious cunts.

CS Gas

[Blue Jam]

Went Soprano Pipistrelle spotting again last night. Saw two of 'em. Super cute:

http://www.youtubemultiplier.com/61387cd51c5fe-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.php

[Buelligan]

Bats in the house almost every night these last two weeks or so.  Am wondering, are they young ones[nb]they seem larger than normal though[/nb], flying and hunting at last and trying to fatten up for the winter sleep?  Or are there less prey creatures about so they're reduced to entering places they normally leave alone?  Or maybe, there are more mozzies (I certainly have more bites) and they're indulging in some sort of feeding frenzy.  Whatever the case, its fantastic to have these tiny leather stealth spitfires sheering through the room with ferocious regularity.  They have such charming teeth too.

[Buelligan]

Just been up in the boilers, seen one of my absolute top tiny passerines in the kinglet family, only a fucking goldcrest!  It was perfect, just wobbling about in a small young pine, about eye level and four metres away at most.  Saw all its bits.  One of the absolute things I love about them, apart from their everything, is that green.  It's the green that haunts the underside of an Orange Tip.  A colour non pareil.  Interesting (to me) that nature puts that green with the orange on both.

After that, two separate praying mantis sightings, both vivid green and thumb-length at least.  Ate hot grapes and tiny honey-sweet golden figs from a wild tree I know.  Bloody perfect.

[purlieu]

Goldcrests are wonderful. My partner and I were walking along once and came across a family of them, and when we stopped to look they came down to the lowest branch of the tree so were maybe only a foot or so away from us. They're usually very approachable - my dad always says you can tickle them under the chin and they won't care - possibly because, being our smallest birds, they don't have any natural predators our size.


Here's a migrating wheatear my dad and I found this afternoon. His photograph. He also had a whinchat and, happily, 12 yellow wagtails the day before, although sadly they'd gone today.

[Buelligan]

Lovely wheatear, beauty photo.  My brother and I always had a soft spot for wheatears (we call them sweetears).

[Twit 2]

Saw these seals this morning, swimming near the shore, Waxham, Norfolk:

https://streamable.com/fp2mkg

[Buelligan]

Great stuff - I'm sure you go up by Blakeney, smashing seals there too.  Or used to be.

[Twit 2]

Yeah, plenty of seals there still. Blakeney and Horsey are the two big hotspots, especially during winter breeding when there are hundreds on the sands, but you can spot them in the sea most of the way round the coast all year.

I camped out on the dunes last night, smoking weed and seal watching. Beautiful warm, still night, gorgeous sunset. Paradise:

https://streamable.com/nujvzf

[bgmnts]

Somehow, SOMEHOW, a slug appeared under the sofa in my second floor flat...

The only explanation that makes sense in my head is that maybe a bird dropped it onto the balcony and it either crawled in through the seam of the door, or the cat picked it up for a play in the living room, where he got distracted by food or some string and sluggy made a very slow mad dash under the sofa.

I was considering keeping it in my room in a box and feeding it leaves or some shit but I decided to put it outside. Probably got eaten by a bird the poor fuck but what can you do?

[Dex Sawash]

[Buelligan]

You disgust me.