What animals (wildlife) have you seen today?

[Turnstone]

Today I was driving to work when a weasel crossed the street in front of me. A wonderful moment on a busy day. As there seems no place for those short encounters, maybe we can just post here whenever we spot wildlife and it's not worth it's own thread.

Besides the weasel I saw white storks, several lapwings, a roe deer and a dead hare (roadkill).

And the usual guests at our bird feeder, great tit, blue tit, pigeon (there are more, but I haven't seen them today). The common swifts race around the house and the jackdaws fly over to the public swimming pool to see what they can find for dinner.

It's amazing how many wild animals one can see on an ordinary day when you are just a little bit aware!

 

[Harvestman]

Excellent post. I counted 6 species of grass between the main gate at work on the building I work in. previously I've counted 30+ bird species just walking to work.

Eyes (and ears) open is the key thing. That and remembering to look up anything you can't identify.

 

[Elen Sentier]

At the Bushcraft Show ...
Blackbirds
thrush
spotted woodpecker
raven (heard call)
crow
heard rooks
ducks in the camping field
great tits,
bluetit
robin
bats
weasel
herons nesting
squirrels
heard mice rustling under the hammock
Lots of different trees
bluebells
campions
archangel
buttercups
wood anenomes (almost gone over)
elder flowers scenting the air

and I wasn't really looking and trying . It's just wonderful all the life we share the planet with

And I agree, excellent thread, thanks for starting it.

 

[Niels]

I saw greylag geese from the bus to school. Loads of fat chicks too. (Goose chicks that is) And a buzzard. And 4 canadian geese flew right over my bus stop this morning. And also some barnacle geese on the way back. Oh and swans.

 

[Robbi]

my little mate from todays fishing trip ( just enlarge the photo ) cute little guy that stuck around all day as i was feeding him bread crumbs.

 

[Biker]

Saw two red squirrels today both at different locations so I know there wasn't just the one seen twice. Red Squirrels are rather common here in Normandy but for an Ex-pat I find them a pleasant surprise having seen only greys in the UK. The French don't think twice about seeing them here though, but mention that the UK has grey ones and they suddenly get interesting saying that must be a lovely sight. Funny how a thing we take for granted can alter the perception when viewed through different eyes.

Saw a big ol' buzzard today as well, they too seem quite a common sight here.

On a sad note. I had to clear a dead cat out the woodshed this evening though. I saw it there on Sunday but it was breathing at the time (I checked) I watched it for a moment and assumed it was snoozing in the sun and left it alone. For some bizarre reason something told me to check there again tonight and there it was quite dead, I can only guess it had been hit by a car and crawled there to eventually die of its injuries. Poor thing. Someone's missing their cat now.

 

[Bowlander]

my little mate from todays fishing trip ( just enlarge the photo ) cute little guy that stuck around all day as i was feeding him bread crumbs.

Could've whipped a treble onto him and gone Piking!

 

[Turnstone]

Cold and rainy today, let's see....
- jackdaw
- magpie
- blackbird
- pigeon
- common swift
- great tit
- blue tit
- robin
- pheasant
- egyptian goose
- green finch
- starling
- grey heron
- crow
- hare (this time alive!)
And several other small birds I couldn't identify while driving through the rain...!

 

[crosslandkelly]

Driving on the M4 today I saw two dead Foxes, two Kestrels and many Crows.

 

[munkiboi182]

im extremely fortunate to be a canoeing coach and bushcraft instructor on the norfolk broads. on an almost daily basis i see at least one of the following

otter
kingfisher
roe deer
red deer
muntjac
chinese water deer
egret
marsh harrier
red kite
cetys warbler
heron
trout (rainbow/brown)
pike
dragonflies
damselflies

just to name a few

 

[Bushwhacker]

Driving on the M4 today I saw two dead Foxes, two Kestrels and many Crows.

Which one of 'em was at the wheel?

 

[crosslandkelly]

Which one of 'em was at the wheel?

Why the Crows of course, who do you think ran over the Foxes.

 

[fishfish]

what a great idea for a thread! saw a dozen rabbits and 10 or more fladgers,buzzards and all manner of small birds as well as a tern or two.

 

[joewalton1989]

A buzzard,
a kestrel,
a pair of great tits,
countless magpies and pigeons,
a starling in the garden at work,
a fox in the middle of a country road it didn't even make a hasty retreat,
a coot,
3 mallards, one male was dead


The other week I was fortunate enough to witness a kestrel hunt and eat a slow worm. It was pretty much the most incredible thing I've seen all year sadly I didn't have a camera capable of a decent photo

 

[Elen Sentier]

The usual suspects at the bird feeders ...
Robin
Great tits
bluetits
Sparrows
Goldfinches
a dunnock
A wren
Several blackbirds
Heard a woodpecker in the ash tree but didn't see her/him.

Several pigeons and rooks in the farm, and a nice glossy young crow. The buzzard pair who live here were up too along with curlews in the field and one tumbling peewit. Rabbits in the lane. Smelt a fox in the garden this morning too, the cats were rolling like crazy in the scent!

Oh and the Queen Anne's Lace is everywhere, making the hedges glorious.

behind every creative woman there's usually a very talented cat ...

 

[Harvestman]

Having been today in first an upland bog in low cloud, and then later a reed bed, I've seen much less than I've heard

Skylark
Meadow pipit
Curlew
Sheep
Stonechat
Reed bunting
Reed warbler
Cetti's warbler
Little grebe (watched a pair feeding their two chicks)
Moorhen
Coot
Mallard
Crow
Wood pigeon
Herring gull
Blackbird
Honeybee
Ants
Great black slug Arion ater
Carabid beetle
2 sorts of woodlice
At least 2 sorts of Cranefly
Robber fly
Damselfly
Various other flies
Daddy longlegs spider Pholcus phalangioides
Incheumon wasp

I was photographing flowers and the weather was rainy, or I'd have done better.

 

[Turnstone]

Today was a holiday in parts of Germany, and we went out to do some birdwatching. The area was unknown for us, but in the end we spotted 44 different bird species (including partridge, hobby and lapwing chicks), hare, rabbit, roe deer, a dead hedgehog and bushes full of little caterpillar. We saw some more birds, but I am still not good with those small brown birds, so I leave the unidentified out. Some butterflies and other insects. Great day!

 

[fishfish]

saw a nicely antlered fallow today near sixpennyhandly.

 

[Elen Sentier]

saw a nicely antlered fallow today near sixpennyhandly.

Be nice if he came some 20 miles NW on Saturday ...

 

[Barn Owl]

Watched an Otter for a good 10 mins tonight.