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Post by Yakram on Jan 15, 2007 16:48:25 GMT
Saw the most amazing sight today - a male kestrel standing on the roof of the bird table.  It was there a good few minutes, but not long enough to get a camera. The small birds were shouting defiance from the safety of the shrubbery! Last year we had a pheasant strolling through the garden - must have been a 'pet' as we are very suburban. Anyone had any unusual wildlife visit? |
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Post by sleepysunday on Jan 15, 2007 16:51:02 GMT
The best I've had is a green woodpecker and a heron
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 15, 2007 16:55:22 GMT
Heron and a fox for me. Oh, and grass snakes. And a jay.
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Post by sweetleaf on Jan 15, 2007 17:00:04 GMT
Slow worms, I love `em OH doesnt ;D
Oh and of course foxes, and rabbits, and squirrels from the park.
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Post by Plocket on Jan 15, 2007 17:06:05 GMT
We see buzzards and other BOPS but I haven't actually seen them in the garden. There's evidence that they've killed in the garden though!! We had a couple of pheasants land once which was very funny - they looked kinda claustrophobic when they landed. No we just get the usual birds: blue tits, coal tits, great tits, robins, wrens, blackbirds, pigeons, goldfinches and green finches. We've got a few mice as evidenced by holes around the garden. And we had a bees nest a couple of years ago in my agapanthus pot. We can hear woodpeckers and owls but have never seen them actually in our garden.
Which reminds me, as we were driving home in the dark from M&Ds last night, OH and I saw a barn owl sitting by the edge of the road. The first thing that occurred to me was "my isn't he big!" and the second thing was "what on earth is he doing?". He certainly wasn't injured but didn't seem to bothered about flying away when we passed - I think he must have just caught something and was determined to eat it. I hope that was the case anyway.
Oh and we had a baby crow in the front garden. He wasn't bothered by me being only a couple of feet from him and even sat around letting me take photographs. Eventually he flopped onto the drive and tried to scramble up OH's car. He had a good go at the windscreen wipers when he finally got up onto the bonnet and eventually he hopped over the road to where all the crows nest. I think he must have had his first flight and knackered himself.
Fingers crossed we'll get something really unusual this year!
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Jan 15, 2007 18:58:41 GMT
We found a weasel in the garden one summer's night a few years back, we think that the cats killed it (there wasn't a mark on it so it MIGHT have been natural causes!). I'd never seen one close up and was astonished how beautiful it was....
We get the odd fox, never seen a hedgehog but I'm sure they're about (droppings)...we used to see woodmice and voles darting about but they've vanished since our cat Priya arrived on the scene.
A few weeks ago we had a sparrowhawk crash onto next door's garage roof (after a collared dove)...technically not IN the garden...but within spitting distance ;D
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Post by Dutchy on Jan 15, 2007 19:35:24 GMT
..... and back to topic...
Kingfisher
Where did Yakrams thread go then?
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Post by Plocket on Jan 15, 2007 19:42:39 GMT
Oh COOL!!!! Mind you, you've got a river or canal at the bottom of your garden haven't you Dutchy?
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Post by blackrose on Jan 15, 2007 21:38:10 GMT
We moved into a new house which was farmland and much of the surrounding area is still countryside, so I'm hoping that some of the wildlife will return when all the building has finished.
We had a mole but it has now vanished and we have a regular robin coming to the bird house for nuts and seeds. Plenty of crows in the area.
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Post by Chuckles on Jan 15, 2007 23:27:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2007 0:15:00 GMT
The frog is brill BB! I must remember it for tomorrow evening, to show my junior gardeners! Wildlife....in my garden...I have history on this. I have a lot. Mostly destructive. The giraffe I showed on the Beeb a while back was a particular pest  Deer, badgers, country foxes, toads, frogs (variegatae jumpalotus), tree rats, land rats, mice, hedgies, hippos (or was that Mrs C sunbathing?) etc. Buzzards and kites provide a lot of entertainment. My favourite regular is the green woodpecker though - he's cute and eats ants. I still say you can't beat a basic Robin though to keep you company! |
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Post by 4pygmies on Jan 16, 2007 7:13:12 GMT
We have noticed more instances of birds of prey visiting the garden over the last couple of years - sad for the little birds but amazing to see. There are buzzards round here now and they are wonderful to see and hear. Still over the garden rather than in it - 2 nights ago I looked up in the dusk and had a Bill Oddie moment as there were huge numbers of birds wheeling and swirling round in the sky above me. They settled in the field opposite me after a few minutes but what a fantastic sight.
I'm sort of hoping for some cold weather as we haven't seen any fieldfares yet - still lots of fallen apples for them in my garden.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 16, 2007 8:20:19 GMT
Love the frog picture BB. Mine are always hiding in the pot plants on the patio and get drenched when I water.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2007 19:30:37 GMT
hippos (or was that Mrs C sunbathing?) Careful CC - she's a member here now don't forget......... We get plenty of wildlife, although my cats eat most of it. I was digging the other day and found a couple of what looked like stag beetle larvae. They can take up to 7 years to mature so I'm hoping that I might see some one day !! FA x |
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Post by Yakram on Jan 16, 2007 20:36:47 GMT
Lovely pics BusyBee. Members will have to picture in their imagination any of my sightings - camera operating is not one of my skills. (Not too bad on 'find the thread' though!)  Today, over the garden, I saw a heron being mobbed by rooks. If you see a rook on its own, it's a crow, so the country folk say. |
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Post by Plocket on Jan 16, 2007 20:58:06 GMT
Tell that to the Rook Yakram!!!
Poor heron - I hope he was ok. The crows even have a go at the buzzards here if there are enough of them - I almost feel sorry for the buzzard!!!
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Post by Chuckles on Jan 16, 2007 21:06:39 GMT
Glad you liked them Yakram. I have loads of photo failures  and never seem to have the camera to hand when there is something a little different about like the Sparrow Hawk. OH says you are right about the Rook being a Crow |
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Post by JennyWrenn on Jan 16, 2007 21:32:57 GMT
This morning around 6am I was woken by what I thought magpies having an argument At 7am it hadnt stopped so I thought better check to see if anything in distress Looking over the fence into the field next door I saw two very large foxes - assumed they were playing but I never knew they made noises like birds  Too dark to take a photo but if I hear them again 2moro I will do my best with special effects - jenny |
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Post by Juliet on Jan 16, 2007 22:59:29 GMT
My favourite regular is the green woodpecker though - he's cute and eats ants. Send him over here, CC! Or failing that, an anteater! We haven't had anything unusual, but get lots of the usual birds, frogs, insects, & hedgehogs. We've seen a goldfinch for the first time in the last few weeks though, which was quite exciting . At least, the first time it was quite traumatic, as it flew into the French windows with a loud thwack & fell stunned on the patio - I scooped it up & put it in a cardboard box for a couple of hours (the RSPB site says to do this & adds - by which time it will either have recovered or died from its injuries ) - was terrified it would have died, but when we opened the box it was sitting up & after a couple of minutes it flew away  . Saw it again (or another one) a couple of weeks later - hoping we'll get them visiting more often now (& we've put something on the window to stop them flying into it again). |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2007 23:45:38 GMT
My favourite regular is the green woodpecker though - he's cute and eats ants. Send him over here, CC! Or failing that, an anteater! Jules they are sooo ace, graceful and beautiful, much more so that the spotted woodpecker that lives in M-in-L's garden in Cambridgeshire. However, we have so many ants nests here (I think we recorded 76 on a single day in July, but I'll have to consult young Monty on the precise numbers) they are probably very contented. |
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Post by Juliet on Jan 17, 2007 16:49:57 GMT
I want one!  <greenwithenvysmiley> We think our entire house & patio are built on ants' nests - friendly neighbour a few doors down thinks our entire street is built on ants' nests - they are impossible to count as we can't tell where one stops & the next one starts  |
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Post by Dutchy on Jan 17, 2007 18:29:10 GMT
Frogs eat ants too. Maybe it is easier to attract them. Our spotted woodpecker only pecks the willow tree. Ie the black beetles that live in there. We have a huge colony of small shiny black beetles in every willow we have. The Kingfisher is a wanderer from a nature preserve nearby. It breeds there and is often seen in winter foraging in our ditch. I had a rarer guest which in Dutch is called a "water ral" (Rallus Aquaticus) www.birdguides.com/html/vidlib/species/Rallus_aquaticus.htmAs for ants I have a nest with ambitions next to the path. Every summer they build sky wards using the stems of plants. Just like termites only when you kick it ants come rushing. |
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Post by Juliet on Jan 17, 2007 18:32:52 GMT
We've got frogs - but they don't eat enough  Maybe we need more frogs |
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Post by Plocket on Jan 17, 2007 18:40:12 GMT
Yuck! I don't like ants at all. Borrow an anteater or something Juliet.
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Post by oldmoleskins on Jan 17, 2007 18:59:07 GMT
not exactly in it, but over it - marsh harrier. Lovely big swoopy sort of thing, flight like an owl, looks like an untidy buzzard...
OM.
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Post by Juliet on Jan 17, 2007 21:15:25 GMT
Yuck! I don't like ants at all. Borrow an anteater or something Juliet. Great plan!  Anyone got a spare anteater? |
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Post by Plocket on Jan 18, 2007 10:16:39 GMT
Erm.... I knew you'd find fault with it!!! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2007 10:45:21 GMT
fab pics c i have the usual suspects but i've also had a badger visit twice <squealsofdelight> |
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Post by Rosefriend on Jan 20, 2007 15:52:02 GMT
I don't think that we have anything too exotic - certainly the normal things like tits and the long tailed tits which I love, Nuthatches, Tree-creepers, Yellow hammers, Buntings, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, and the Hawfinch comes fairly often. Woodpeckers - green and spotted and all the usual birds.
Sparrowhawks, Jays, Magpies, Jackdaw, Rooks, Crows and the occasional Kestrel and Buzzards, Owls and Cuckoo's - never see them - just hear them. Flying over - storks, cormorants, herons, swans, geese, ducks etc.
Then the Red Squirrels and hedgehogs, mice, - the rabbits and moles stay on the other side of the road for some reason.
Rosefriend
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Post by Dutchy on Jan 21, 2007 15:30:42 GMT
As if they are not special  |
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It was there a good few minutes, but not long enough to get a camera. 
and never seem to have the camera to hand when there is something a little different about like the Sparrow Hawk.
. Saw it again (or another one) a couple of weeks later - hoping we'll get them visiting more often now (& we've put something on the window to stop them flying into it again).
Anyone got a spare anteater?
