Wildlife challenges

[Bushwhacker]

Does anybody else set themself goals for spotting wildlife or wildlife phenomena?
I've got a small list of things to do this year. Some may not be possible, but there's no harm in trying.

See a red squirrel - Done.
Find some gloworms.
Six reptiles in one day.
Find the Wild Service tree that's supposed to grow in the woods near me.

What's on your list?

 

[Stringmaker]

Nice idea for a thread.

I'd love to see/hear:

Red Squirrel
Badger
Nightingale
Nightjar
Rutting Deer

With the possible exception of the squirrel, the others are all possible in my locality but I just need to actively go and find them.

 

[Harvestman]

Oh yes,

I'm currently in a 'first to get a photograph of a butterfly this year' race with a mate. I've seen one, twice, but not managed a photo.
Want to see adder (again)
Want to beat last year's orchid species total
Want to see a wild boar, a waxwing, a stoat
Would love to find the spider species Aculepeira ceropegia as the only UK record ever was near me, albeit back in 1857. Still, I can dream...
Find the clubmoss that grows up on the moorlands north of me

So many things...

 

[Stringmaker]

I saw waxwings a couple of weeks ago.

They were giving the berries on a couple of trees a good seeing to; watched by three guys with cameras.

 

[shaggystu]

Cracking idea for a thread

The last time I updated my list was when I moved house a couple of years ago:

Watch a sparrowhawk kill at really close range - Done (It was roughly 12 feet away)
Photograph "our" housemartins feeding their chicks - Done, well, SWMBO got the photo's but that'll do for me
Find the sett where a particular family of badgers live - Maybe done, I'm not 100% certain yet though
Photograph the mouse that lives under the shed
See an osprey (again)
Learn a little bit about all the birds that come onto the garden - getting there
Learn all the local plants - getting there

Cheers,

Stuart.

 

[Harvestman]

Stuart,

The great thing about 'Learn all the local plants' is that just when you think you've managed it, you start noticing ones you had overlooked previously. Then you notce things that weren't there last year. Then you start to wonder about the different grasses, and the ferns, and the mosses...

Lifetime's work, but good fun.

 

[shaggystu]

Stuart,

The great thing about 'Learn all the local plants' is that just when you think you've managed it, you start noticing ones you had overlooked previously. Then you notce things that weren't there last year. Then you start to wonder about the different grasses, and the ferns, and the mosses...

Lifetime's work, but good fun.

It's funny you should say that, I very nearly bought a book on mosses and lichens yesterday but managed to resist. I think you'd approve of the alternative purchase though, Collins' "insects of Britain and Europe", I though it was about time I started learning about our creepy crawly cousins

And you're completely right about it being a never ending task, there's something new coming up right by the front gate that hasn't been there in previous years, no idea what it is at the moment either, and that's the fun bit

All the best,

Stuart.

 

[Shewie]

See a pine marten
See a Scottish Wildcat
Watch the Starling mumuration at Gretna again
Photograph Otters on Mull

 

[Harvestman]

I though it was about time I started learning about our creepy crawly cousins

You might have creepy crawly cousins, but my relatives aren't so bad.




Actually, now I come to think of it, you could be on to something there...

 

[Stringmaker]

See a pine marten
See a Scottish Wildcat
Watch the Starling mumuration at Gretna again
Photograph Otters on Mull

Starling murmuration; I forgot to put that on my list, we have great places to see that.

Thanks!

 

[Elen Sentier]

great idea Mine are ...

See a pine marten in the wild ???
See a Scottish Wildcat in the wild ???
See a red squirrels again - Exeter park now has them if I get down there, or Isle of Wight/Scotland for wild ones
Visit our peregrines again at Symonds Yat
Visit the badger sett on our local hillfort
Visit the kites at Gigrin farm
Find where the ancient enormous oak tree was in our local deer park

 

[Bartooon]

See a Pine Marten in the New Forest (apparently a small colony is now established here)
See badger cubs at the sett that I watch
Find (perhaps that should be "re-find") & photograph wild gladiolus. The only plants I knew of have disappeared in recent years

 

[Bushwhacker]

See a Pine Marten in the New Forest (apparently a small colony is now established here)

Now that's interesting, it's not so far as I thought I'd need to go to see one.
My UK mustelid list would be complete and I could really hit into seeing a Wolverine in Europe then.

 

[Skaukraft]

The big four is kind of a goal.
Bear - Not visual, only very fresh tracks and killed prey (couple of hours old).
Wolf - Not visual, only fresh killed prey, fresh tracks (less than an hour old) and heard howling in the winter night.
Wolverine - Not visual - but some day old tracks around a dead reindeer, and some older tracks on a few occations.
Lynx - Seen on two occations. Once very close up from my car on a forest road and once from some distance. Also heard the roar of the male in the mating season a couple of times.

 

[shaggystu]

....Wolf....howling in the winter night......

For a long time that was my entire list, absolutely magical experience when it finally happened. Being high in the mountains, surrounded by thick forest, in the middle of winter (it was new years eve), in a totally foreign country; hearing wolves howling was a little bit like nature speaking to me directly, "not so cocky now are you?" is what she said

Cheers,

Stuart.

 

[Skaukraft]

Raises your neck hairs, doesen't it?

 

[shaggystu]

Raises your neck hairs, doesen't it?

Very much so, I was ever so slightly hypothermic at the time too which I think may have added to the ethereal feel of the whole experience

 

[Arvensis]

Does anybody else set themself goals for spotting wildlife or wildlife phenomena?
I've got a small list of things to do this year. Some may not be possible, but there's no harm in trying.
Six reptiles in one day.

Since you're in Dorset, you can see 8 species of reptile in 1 day, granted 2 are non-native but it can be done.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Since you're in Dorset, you can see 8 species of reptile in 1 day, granted 2 are non-native but it can be done.

True, there is the green and wall lizards too, 8 in a day would be the ultimate!

 

[Harvestman]

Here's a surprisingly easy one - find 100 different species in a day. Plants, animals, fungi, whatever.

Then try it in smaller and smaller locations. Amazing what you learn to see.