Your wildlife encounters....

[Alex H]

We'd been living here about 2 months and had a family of Barn Owls living in a niche on the outside of our main barn. You can just see the young in this picture.

After a month or so my wife went out one morning and found one of the young hanging by it's wing on the garden gate.

All signs were it was dead, so I went and got some thick gloves, just in case it was fooling and picked it up. As I did so it woke up, so I put in it the garden for it to recover. After a few dazed minutes it flew off (no doubt to return to the nest later)

Here it is, in all it's glory

 

[nappadang]

I suspect there's good stuff to see wherever you are- it's just a case of knowing where to look. One of the most inspirational naturalists I've come across is a guy called David Lindo, also known as the 'urban birder'. His local patch is Wormwood Scrubs Common in London and it's astonishing what he sees there - see http://www.theurbanbirder.com/

I do know of a kittiwake colony near you I'd love to see- under one of the bridges over the Tyne (forget which one) and on the Baltic Centre. You'll have to wait until spring now though as they'll probably be out at sea by now.

If you visit, give me a shout, I'll get our Kittiwake expert (I'm secretary for local conservation group and one of our members tracks the colonies) to give you the guided tour. The Tyne Bridge and the Baltic, as you correctly point out are the two main structures used by the inland colony.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Nothing major to report today but I did count the number of cormorants on a pier opposite the O2. There were 35. I can remember - not all that long ago - when you'd never see any at all but a bit of a clean up and what do you know?. 35 together means there's a lot of food for them in that stretch of the river.

 

[wait4me]

Plenty of assorted birds (feathered) on the fens but two different animals on consecutive days in exactly the same place made me chuckle. First, coming out of a field gate was a young fox with some small animal in its mouth (it did an about turn when it saw me). The following day a young rabbit in the same gateway. I thought you better hide mate.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Had a snake slither across the cycle path in front of me a couple of weeks ago.

In the floods last week saw a couple of herons looking for fish in a flooded field, don't think they will have had much luck.

Not much of a bird watcher but have had them flying alongside me for a few seconds on early mornings, even had one come along the left side of my front wheel, then fly in front of it and into the hedgerow on my right.

Rabbits, hares and foxes are a regular sight on the the morning commute

 

[Kies]

A few years ago, when the youngest had a goal set complete with net, we found a hawk of some description entangled, with a pigeon in it's claws (neck broken). We watched from the patio for some 20 minutes hoping it would free itself, but alas no.
Left to muggings to help the hawk get loose (how i have no idea), so i stepped out into the back garden, and the hawk starts to get agitated, as i get closer, makes a frantic effort and flies away ...... Leaving me with a dead pigeon in the middle of our football pitch to dispose of!!!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I was cycling on a rural stretch of road about 2 miles from home when I saw 5 coyote pups in the road. They ran over to me, then, after investigating my bicycle, they left, probably directed by their parents from a nearby hide. I also saw a hen turkey fly up from a wood near my bus route, right in front of a friend of mine riding to work on his bicycle. He had no idea that had happened, when I asked him later. Watching the road.

 

[slowmotion]

I met a baby river otter halfway up a cliff when riding an MTB in Canada last summer. As I stopped to take a picture, his mother came screaming out of the bushes, grabbed him in her jaws by the scruff of the neck, and they both fell downwards into the undergrowth, and were gone.....

 

[srw]

We always see red kites when we're out. On Saturday we were almost taken out by a female roe deer bounding across the road just in front of us. A couple of seconds quicker and we'd have been side-swiped. No road-sense, these large mammals - someone really ought to teach them the green cross code.

 

[Skipper]

Seen a few penguins (cycling past Whipsnade Zoo). Llamas (some farmer keeps a few in a field). Badgers (normally splattered but have seen, and dodged a couple of live ones) ........ and finally ........ a few very wild drivers!

 

[Crankarm]

The best birds I see are the moorland specialists; Ring Ouzel, Merlin, Red Grouse, Golden Plover and the upland woodland specialists; Tree Pipit, Redstart, Pied Flycatcher.
But now the tops are getting very quiet. Just the Red Grouse sit tight through the winter

A beautiful bird indeed.

 

[Crankarm]

I was crapped on twice last year as I rode home on the GBW, by the same duck.

 

[booze and cake]

On long rides in the country I'm always a bit dismayed at the sheer volume of roadkill I see, bloody cars.

Rabbits and pheasants must be killed in their millions but also seen plenty of dead foxes and badgers (some of these are 'dumped' by the side of the road to make it look like roadkill but have actually been killed by badger baiting).

I've seen dead a dead otter and a few owls which made me much more sad, the otter for its rareness and general coolness, and the owls, because I still think of them as wise and losing one is like losing a grandparent.

Of the living things on my last trip to Wales I saw about 8-9 red kites at one location which was pretty impressive.

And I almost ran over a hedgehog at night once, which would have been a puncture first, but thankfully for both of us my awesome evasive skills meant we both just laugh about it now.

Oh and I've been chased after and bitten in the calf by a dog which was an encounter I did'nt enjoy.

 

[nappadang]

[quote="booze and cake, post: 2748684, member: 27586"
And I almost ran over a hedgehog at night once, which would have been a puncture first, but thankfully for both of us my awesome evasive skills meant we both just laugh about it now.[/quote]
It's sad to see that hedgehogs aren't mentioned in your road kill list. Obviously I don't want to see hedgehogs (or any fauna) killed but they are so uncommon now that even dead ones are a rarity.
If nothing is done to halt the decline, hedgehogs will be extinct in Britain in less than 20 years. Our grand and great grandchildren will not have the opportunity to see hedgehogs in the wild.
A sobering thought.

 

[RedFeend]

I too keep a record of the wild life I see on my Cyclemeter App. I see the usual suspects for the Fens; hares, owls, snakes (in summer), birds in the air and on the River Welland. When it's calm I can see various fish like roach & bream (not sure of spelling) from the foot bridge. Best sighting was an albino pheasant. Never saw it again. Probably got eaten as it had no camaflage. Impressed at other people's records.