Today's Wildlife Encounter

[IanDarkpeak]

In winter female ptarmigan & Scandinavian female willow grouse look very similar (to me anyway, in all the books I've got) & grouse are a bit bigger than ptarmigan. Neither should be anywhere near Strines, so get photographing, Ian! A quick Google didn't turn up any references to white grouse in the Peak. I suppose any bird species can have albinos, but you'd expect to see only one if it was an albino.

saw a couple of twitchers today that had heard about a "white grouse" they'd not seen them yet. but they were going out tomorrow. Needle in a haystack? How far do they travel? the bird not the twitchers

[daz h]

4 rabbits , badger didnt get any of them

[noel]

I forgot to post this, so it's actually last Thursday's wildlife encounter - but there's no thread for that, so...

Two red deer in the road trying to get run over. On the Wildboarclough-Sutton road about 1/2 a mile out of Sutton. I've never seen them there before. They looked thoroughly confused and probably would have stayed there longer had I not driven slowly towards them to help them make their minds up.

[Splatcher]

saw a couple of twitchers today that had heard about a "white grouse" they'd not seen them yet. but they were going out tomorrow. Needle in a haystack? How far do they travel? the bird not the twitchers

To quote my favourite field guide (Rob Hume's "Birds of Britain & Europe"): "...rarely moving from breeding areas even in hard winter weather" - that's the willow/red grouse. The ptarmigan doesn't travel either.

[dominion]

Geese feeding time at Branston Water Park...



Taken by my friends 10 year old...

We also took 500 others. Oh the joy of an 8fps camera and a small child!! :thumbup:

[swift]

Geese feeding time at Branston Water Park...



Taken by my friends 10 year old...







We also took 500 others. Oh the joy of an 8fps camera and a small child!! :thumbup:

That's cute. The duck, not the eight year old.

A swan chased me on the weir last week. it can't be nesting yet surely?

[Hes]

I watched a barn owl hunting for about 5mins at dusk on the common near Masham on Monday. It made my very cold bike ride well worth the effort.

[molehill]

Pelicans and dolphins.

[Hes]

Are you on holiday or do you live somewhere exotic?

Pelicans and dolphins.

[IanDarkpeak]

Are you on holiday or do you live somewhere exotic?

read Moleys other thread Todays down under temp garden thread thingy He's in Aus