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seen a few of these this last month or so on my morning run along the coast in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar.
Please click on pic to expand it.
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Attachment 8227Attachment 8228
seen a few of these this last month or so on my morning run along the coast in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar.
Please click on pic to expand it.
Running up Doctors Gate got to within 6ft of a kestrel hovering at eye level, stunning.
Wow that's close!Quote:
Originally Posted by cyclops
I got that close to a perched peregrine near the top of Helm Crag in thick cloud 4 or 5 years ago. Don't know which was more surprised, me or the peregrine.Quote:
Originally Posted by cyclops
bird pecking wood
NOT a woodpecker
intermittent tap, tap, tapping
in a hollow on a willow tree trunk - guess may've been after beetles/grubs, but went on for while (I had to leave to continue run!) so seemed to be enlarging the hole rather than foraging
dark plumage, starling size, quite "squat" though
tinterweb suggests nuthatch, but didn't look like that either
any ideas?
Interesting. I would have gone for nuthatch. Jackdaw? They often use old woodpecker holes.Quote:
Originally Posted by DazTheSlug
Treecreeper?Quote:
Originally Posted by DazTheSlug
Treecreepers are tiny, and they don't 'tap'. I can only think it was a nuthatch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
I was quite close to a Raven yesterday evening near Shelf Benches, Glossop. Just after that I also saw a medium sized raptor. Initially thought it was a Buzzard but its plumage and head seemed lighter and it did a wheeling / swooping dive at one point. Any thoughts?
Jackdaw is a possibility - do they tap? but I'd've thought it would've appeared more upright - what I saw was more 'hunkered down'Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
Nuthatch does seem most likely, but I couldn't see any lighter belly plumage
Spotted a red kite over the lower Usk valley.
Only question is....has it spread 'up' from the M4 corridor colony or 'down' from the Brecon Beacons??
Not seen any in my neck of the woods in between the two.
Threw some old bread and a chicken carcass in to the field this evening.
Security light just came on to see the Shire horse eating the bread and next to him was the fox eating the chicken.
Both happy with each others company.
Sparrowhawk? Have a look at some google images.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollerblader
Kestrel?
My youngest found a shed red deer antler yesterday with 10 spikes on it. I think that means the deer was a 20 point stag, which according to the internet makes it an "imperial stag". Apparently English deer can have more points than Scottish deer and can grow larger antlers. I'm guessing that's related to the milder climate.
we've loads of kestrels around Shelf Benches but also peregrines have been seen around the moors there tooQuote:
Originally Posted by Rollerblader
Wow, where did she find that, I'm very jealous!:)
I've got a roe deer antler, a fallow and a reindeer antler (that a friend brought me back from his time stationed in South Georgia) and I have a red deer skull found in a lay-by in Scotland but I've never managed to find a red deer antler.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
It was quite a bit bigger than a kestrel or peregrine.Quote:
Originally Posted by cyclops
It was lying near a river bed along the valley in Wildboarclough. We wondered how old it was, but it must have been pretty new as it was still leaking small bits of blood from the base. We're considering making a hat rack. Any other ideas?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hes
That's such a good 'find' :) My antlers are just propped up about the place as I sometimes take them to my workshops for people to draw and I like handling them but you could probably find some good craft ideas for it on pinterest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Would it be ok to hang a buff from a hat rack?Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
We certainly have a lot more buffs than hats.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffB
A friend & I did a 24 mile walk yesterday; from Bullpot Farm in Easegill, over Casterton Fell to Devil's Bridge, the Limestone Link to Blackdyke Road in Arnside then over Arnside Knott to New Barns Bay and along the foreshore to Arnside promenade ( I call it "The Dales to The Seaside" ). Plenty of moorhen on the canal at Holme and lots of jays in Copridding Wood when descending off Arnside Knott.
Yesterday morning I heard a rustle in a hedge and a massive hare ran 3 feet in front of me. It was that big it was mildly intimidating!
A barn owl last night between Ilkley and Otley. A first in 11 years plus
Fuerteventura was fantastic for wildlife. Routinely saw wild goats, some of them in the remote areas were pretty big, one reared up at me and it was over 6ft tall when on it's hind legs.
Camels, numerous dog attacks, and an Egyptian vulture, plus some fair sized sea-birds which I would have no chance of identifying.
Back in Cov now, no wildlife, just idiots in the gym and dogshit all over the pavements.
Sounds about right for modern Britain.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
Driving back from the Alps we saw hundreds of Buzzards, virtually every 200m there was one sat on a fence next to the motorway, the occasional kite and kestrel but there were more buzzards than crows....
Why go to all the effort of killing an animal for dinner yourself, when there are hundreds of cars around to do the butchering for you?Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
roads were quiet but the fields massive....I think the fence was the only place to rest for miles...;)Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
Don't usually post here as it's not so much fun knowing no-one is going to say "One in my back garden too" or "Not reached my area yet" but this is so beautiful I thought I'd put it up anyway. Wish I had a good tele-photo lens. I think it's a pygmy kngfisher - but don't kingfishers usually live near water?
.Attachment 8351
(Wasn't quite so enthusiastic about the snake in my kitchen the following morning, not all the wildlife in Gabon is so appealing!)
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How about this Latege. A Brown Hooded Kingfisher.
I seem to remember a question on a recent QI that had something to do with Kingfishers not necessarily living near water. I think it's just the English name that confuses us, but I can't really remember. Glad I cleared that one up, anyway!Quote:
Originally Posted by Latege
Oh yes, I flushed a Snipe yesterday on the Kinder Trial. And another one last Sunday on the Mercia Trial, and one last Thursday night halfway down Dimpus Clough (below Mount Famine). They seem to be following me around at the moment.
Thank you. That looks like him.Quote:
Originally Posted by William Clough
Running along a very minor road in Castle Carrock (north pennines)when I looked up and almost stopped in my tracks. A few of seconds later I realised the Penguin was a light coloured Guinea Fowl. Had me going for a while though.
On a HPM reccie saw about 15 mountain Hares, not hard to miss being snow white against the peat.
we later disturbed a buzzard which was on the ground beneath us.
This is a wildlife encounter of the wrong kind.
I do not understand the mentality of this type of human behaviour.
The smiles on some of the blokes' faces makes one wonder what we're all about?
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wo...e-angus-glens/
"We're"? I would have said "they're". Raving primitives.
I had my first ever multiple sightings of mountain hares last Saturday on a High Peak Marathon recce. Shooting them wouldn't even enter my educated mind.
goldcrest in our back garden about 10days ago, saw another (same one?) about a mile from home a few days ago.
I'm speechless.Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego