What wildlife did you spot today?
- Thread starter demented dale
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
A wonderful flock of about 15 long tailed tits visited my bird feeders today. Little fluffy ping pong balls with lolly stick tails. Just wonderful. I was so busy watching them I didn't dare move and try to take a photo. So I just sat and watched.
A sea eagle flew above the house this morning. All the geese scarpered and I expected the eagle to move on since there was nothing to interest it, I was so sure it was about to leave that I stubbornly didn't go inside to get binoculars. In fact it circled and glided for 15 minutes, the sun catching its white tail. After 5 minutes my neck became cricked and I got pins and needles in the hand shading my eyes so I lay on the picnic table to enjoy luxury viewing. With the sound of waves breaking to my left and a wren proclaiming ownership of everything to my right it was a marvellous start to the day!
Heard first, but then saw, a grasshopper warbler a warbling just outside our back door.
The usual afternoon soap opera above our house - a pair of Red Kites cruising the fields, two ravens come from nowhere to chase them away so two crows come from the opposite direction to hassle the ravens - it really is entertainment 
Saw this while walking the dog, I think it is a buzzard, but I might be wrong. No idea what it was eating.
In that setting you have to hope it was another bird or small mammal, as the alternative is less pleasant.
As posted in another thread…
For some reason we get between three and five Mallard ducks in our garden each year. Usually two drakes and one hen. We don’t have any open water to speak of, apart from some bird waterers - upturned dustbin/recycling bin lids set in the ground. We do feed the songbirds and so of course the ducks feed here, and we do so reliably, so perhaps that explains their presence.
Most years the hen makes a nest in differing sites in the garden. This year it’s a repeat use of our osteospermum bed under the lounge window. The flower bed is south facing and a warm corner. We have noticed that the hen bird will stay on the nest, only leaving it perhaps once a day to feed. Once the ducklings are starting to hatch she will shorten her outings for food and stay on the nest until all of the viable eggs are hatched, and the ducklings are big enough. Then she will march them off across the garden, fending off the magpies, crows and the like, and disappear into the hedge, and presumably the field beyond. That’s our last chance for photos if we catch them leaving. My wife is setting up a trail cam to see if we will get any better record this year.
For some reason we get between three and five Mallard ducks in our garden each year. Usually two drakes and one hen. We don’t have any open water to speak of, apart from some bird waterers - upturned dustbin/recycling bin lids set in the ground. We do feed the songbirds and so of course the ducks feed here, and we do so reliably, so perhaps that explains their presence.
Most years the hen makes a nest in differing sites in the garden. This year it’s a repeat use of our osteospermum bed under the lounge window. The flower bed is south facing and a warm corner. We have noticed that the hen bird will stay on the nest, only leaving it perhaps once a day to feed. Once the ducklings are starting to hatch she will shorten her outings for food and stay on the nest until all of the viable eggs are hatched, and the ducklings are big enough. Then she will march them off across the garden, fending off the magpies, crows and the like, and disappear into the hedge, and presumably the field beyond. That’s our last chance for photos if we catch them leaving. My wife is setting up a trail cam to see if we will get any better record this year.
Well, it turns out there were twelve ducklings! My wife noticed them through the lounge door as the hen bird came out for some food. She has now led them into the neighbour’s garden where there is a pond and some safety from land-based predators. I haven’t checked the trail cam yet (hope I got it setup right!), but we’ll see.
…And finally - The Great Escape video. Trail cam worked fine. The last minutes of their escape into the wilds of our garden.
Really nice shot. Tough life from the get-go.
Can I ask, what trail cam do you use?
Amusing. And stressful for me as the viewer: "Go on my son. Go on my son..."
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