Fiz Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Great photo but eww! Snakes horripilate me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Red Squirrel in Nether Wasdale. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Six roe deer (only the snout of the sixth) on Grange Fell when climbing Ether Knott, high above Watendlath. First time on Ether Knott - well away from the main Grange Fell summits and normally very wet under foot but the Lake District is still incredibly dry so very little risk of wet boots today. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Robin on Castle Crag, Borrowdale. If the robin turned round ... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 Spring still feels somewhat distant, and so was this cuckoo this morning! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 6, 2021 Author Share Posted May 6, 2021 Ooh - I'm going to have to start listening out for them round here now then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Squirrel in Burtness Woods, Buttermere busy collecting and burying nuts yesterday lunchtime - kept me entertained. Yellowhammer on the lower fell side above Crummock Water. Proper snow on Skiddaw earlier in the week - even better with blue sky and sunshine. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 What a wonderful part of the country to live in! Marvellous photos. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 It’s years since I’ve seen a yellowhammer! When I first moved here just outside Brighton over 20 years ago now 😳 we used to see quite a few skylarks yellowhammers and linnets up on the Downs (about 4 mins walk from our house) in the days when we walked across the Downs to Lewes ( with a very nice pub at the end of the steep descent into Kingston) But sadly there has been a decline in these birds in recent years though a neighbour told us she had heard skylarks back up there last week! If I hear any I will try and record and send here. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 One swallow doesn't make a summer - how about two and a sand martin? And a three bits of avocet fluff with their mum, who was defending vigorously against all comers, including a huge goose! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 I was gardening this afternoon and I think I briefly heard a cuckoo. It was something of a "whawassat?" moment, so I'm not sure if I imagined it or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 (edited) We have this extraordinarily tame robin at the moment and he is the first robin to come right onto my hand to take these tiny kitten biscuits he seems to like ❤️ He was just coming to the back bedroom window every morning and staring in if there were none in the dish outside but now has got bolder. When we are in the garden he comes right over to demand pots being moved to get the insects underneath. Now he’s worked out if he comes to the front lounge window on the other side of the house he can get us to go to the back to give him food ...he flies over the roof and there he is waiting by the back window! I say it’s a “he” because I’ve seen him fly up into our tallest tree and start singing and I’m not sure if the females sing? The other day we were sitting in the front room in the early evening watching the TV when who should fly in from the back bedroom but Robbin/bobbin (what we call him) He flew around the room already with a biscuit in beak and as we started to open windows for him to get out etc ...he just went back out the way he had come in! I swear he had just come in to see what we were up to! I will try to get a piccie of him ...he’s definitely got us wrapped around his little claw that’s for sure. Edited June 9, 2021 by LinMM 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Red squirrel at Nether Wasdale when rhodo-bashing the other day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Does bashing the wretched things actually work? I'd have thought the bashing tool might be at risk of bouncing back off and hitting the basher! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 7 hours ago, alison said: Does bashing the wretched things actually work? I'd have thought the bashing tool might be at risk of bouncing back off and hitting the basher! I think ‘rhodo bashing’ just means clearing the rhododendrons using loppers and saw when the rhodos are too thick. National Trust and other conservation groups publicise ‘rhodo bashing’ events for volunteers but I don’t think it’s supposed to be taken literally. The only bashing I do would be to shake the water off but I find I’m as likely to get drenched in one go rather than by gentler if incessant dripping. There is something very satisfying in seeing an area cleared of rhodos, the rhodos in neat piles drying out for a couple of years, native trees liberated from the grip of 40+ foot invasive species, and the ground quickly regenerating. And even better when some bashing opens up views of Wastwater and the Wasdale valley, with Great Gable and the Scafells at the head. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 19, 2021 Author Share Posted June 19, 2021 The second brood of wrens in our garden should be fledging any day now. And in other news, there's a great toad living in our shed. I tried to catch it and usher it outside earlier, but it resisted all my attempts. They can't half move fast when they want to! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 We didn't get any swallows in our stables this year, but an enterprising wren has converted one of their mud nests and extended it with moss. We won't tell the planning officer.. I got lucky visiting Minsmere the other week on a day when they were running a bittern survey, radioing sightings and movements between wardens in the hides. I'd never managed to spot one before, but eavesdropping the wardens that day I managed to see five! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 We never see any bitterns at Minsmere 😢but do hear them so some compensation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 23 hours ago, LinMM said: We never see any bitterns at Minsmere 😢but do hear them so some compensation! Those booms carry for miles.. Here are some fairly distant pics 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 We had a trip to Bempton Cliffs near Bridlington today and were stunned by the seabirds - puffins, guillemots, fulmars, razorbills, and the gannets below. We've had Swan Lake - isn't it time for Gannet Cliff? I see the corps as herrings, with scaly tutus. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 As the trend is for “immersive experience “ these days the auditorium could also be sprayed with a certain smell you get where hundreds of sea birds congregate 😉 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) Last night we watched Winterwatch, and it prompted me to check the trailcam I'd put in a stable to try and locate a rogue mouse. We were thrilled to find it had captured this clip of a stoat, just after watching the same beastie on TV! I had it kindly confirmed as a stoat rather than a weasel on Twitter by queen of the beanie, Megan McCubbin. stoat clip on youtube Edited January 28, 2022 by Quintus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted January 28, 2022 Share Posted January 28, 2022 A stoat's weasily identified: a weasel's stotally different... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Watching a nuthatch on the birdfeeder - it's been there for several minutes. A rare sighting for me which has made me smile. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I saw my first jack snipe yesterday at Minsmere. Phenomenally well camouflaged - took me (and others) several minutes to see it even when it was pointed out. It did bob very briefly, but clearly you need to be a Springwatch presenter to get the full display! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 I have a hedgehog in the garden whom I feed. I hope he’s taking shelter from the storm🦔 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 I've been surprised and impressed to see so many birds on my feeders which are currently swinging wildly and often sitting horizontally in the gale. ..some very remarkable bird acrobatics from my sparrows, goldfinches and greenfinches - perhaps they've been watching the Olympics. But, the smaller birds like blue tits and great tits seem to be hiding. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 wizzing overhead, the gulls seem to be amongst the few enjoying the windy conditions at the moment 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarriott Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 56 minutes ago, Mary said: I've been surprised and impressed to see so many birds on my feeders which are currently swinging wildly and often sitting horizontally in the gale. ..some very remarkable bird acrobatics from my sparrows, goldfinches and greenfinches - perhaps they've been watching the Olympics. But, the smaller birds like blue tits and great tits seem to be hiding. Your blue tits and great tits are all in my garden! I've never seen so many at one time, all jockeying for position on the feeders which are swinging wildly, like yours. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 We had numerous tits either determined to hang onto feeders or couldn’t actually leave because of wind. Blackbirds and robins missing yesterday but back noisily this morning. We watched our local buzzards trying desperately to get across field to their nesting area, they eventually gave up and went back into cover of trees. Haven’t seen them yet today so hoping they survived. Our hedgehog feeding stations were visited overnight, hope your visitor was ok @shade We had a power cut and the overwintering juvenile hog that is still indoors was out very early to fed and rampage. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 Thanks Jane - I am assuming so as the food is disappearing. Great to hear about your juvenile hog - ours is a bit of a bruiser! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 Look who I met today. No sign of Baldric though. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon2 Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 1 hour ago, Quintus said: Look who I met today. No sign of Baldric though. That’s fantastic. We’ve seen newts last few days, it seems so cold still but sun must be strong enough to warm them into action. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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