Today's Wildlife Encounter

[luverlyjuberly]

IMG_4117.jpgIMG_4127.jpg
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.

[cyclops]

Running up Doctors Gate got to within 6ft of a kestrel hovering at eye level, stunning.

[luverlyjuberly]

Running up Doctors Gate got to within 6ft of a kestrel hovering at eye level, stunning.

Wow that's close!

[Splatcher]

Running up Doctors Gate got to within 6ft of a kestrel hovering at eye level, stunning.

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.

[DazTheSlug]

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?

[noel]

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.

[Stolly]

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?

Treecreeper?

[wharfeego]

Treecreeper?

Treecreepers are tiny, and they don't 'tap'. I can only think it was a nuthatch.

[Rollerblader]

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?

[DazTheSlug]

Treecreepers are tiny, and they don't 'tap'. I can only think it was a nuthatch.

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'
Nuthatch does seem most likely, but I couldn't see any lighter belly plumage