Don't know if this has been done before. I vaguely remember a thread about birds. But the animal kingdom is not just birds you know. There are mammals and things.

Anyway, want to jot down interesting observations and thoughts about the natural world?

Today I saw a deer leap about in the oil seed rape, and I felt a bit sorry for it as that seems no place for a deer, and a hare, which hared off when it noticed me, appropriately enough.

Heart on for this sorta stuffs. Today dug bonesome frogs in the garden pond, partridges n pheasants in the countrysomeside and an awful lotsa koi carp in a rural lake we came across. Gerald Durrell eat yr naturalistic heart out. Deep Joy.

The mammals I've seen on my property over the years are: deer, groundhog, flying squirrel, gray & red squirrel, rabbit, possum, raccoon, bobcat, coyote, bear. Plenty of birds which I like to watch with my binocs including wild turkey.
I really like to sky watch using 15 or 20 power binoculars and look forward to meteor showers. I also have heard 4 species of owls.
I spent my worklife outdoors and since my wife & I own 10 acres joining a national park, I still am outside a lot.

Well, unlike Duckpin - no bears, just beers. Have seen the following in back garden though...

Badgers
Weasels - in the snow, jumping around - this was ace!
Various birds... including a Kingfisher which was pretty cool
Hedgehogs
Squirrells
Bats
Mice (probably Rats :o )

2 species of weasel are in the area but haven't seen one on the property. Oh: skunk is a weasel, one usually works the yard over at night this time of year looking for grubs but I haven't seen a sign of it this year. There are both red and gray foxes in the area but again, I've not seen one on the property.
I don't think there are badgers in the eastern USA but we sure saw plenty when we lived in Colorado.

visits from possum, not always welcome.
lots of foxes in the area (def. not welcome) and birds birds birds.
The area has lost of rabbits too.

And the sea is full of fish.

Sea is not so full of fish, allegedly - hence the price now!

Lots of rabbits / hares around.

Quite often see a deer early morning or late evening - they make a mess of your car if you hit one inadvertantly!

Loads of seagulls too. They also make a mess of your car, even without colliding with them! :lol:

plenty of flathead being caught by recreational anglers at present.
But that is small fry..

our creek is teeming with poddy mullet.

So all the fish are up the creek then? :lol:

Mouse x 1, eating seeds and stuff that had dropped from the bird feeder. V large ears and long tail.

Snail up the front door

Bats sometimes

Pheasants aplenty, and grouse, partridge up on t'moors!

Distinct lack of racoon / coyote / bobcat / bear! :lol:

Them 'coons, possums, & bears kin be plumb sneakie - you'uns may hav-um & not be knowin' it...be keerful is all ah kin say....on the adjacent Stewarts Creek preserve[adjacent on the SW] are mink and otter...no moose; no wolves; only uncorroborated sightings of mountain lions....we do have ruffed grouse which are always nice to encouter because they are so tame....if you've viewed the Hasil Atkins short documentary on youtube you'll realize that many natives are best classified as mega-fauna....

...and meet your curious neighbours! :lol:

Squirrels. And Pigeons.
The occasional fox.

"curious" in the sense of peculiar; not "curious" in the sense of thirst for knowledge. My daughter's third grade teacher, in response to a question from my daughter, said "fossils are tricks of the devil"...The Primitive Baptist sect hereabouts wants its preachers to be illiterate so that all their preaching "comes straight from god"....no shortage of candidates either...of course up in Hasil Atkins country[two hour drive] you get the church snake handlers and strichnine drinkers...I recommend both to Joe Ratzinger...

I've not encountered any wildlife today apart from this weird, new to our household species called the 13 year old boy << he sleeps in a cave down the hallway here and has a few v demanding wails which sound like "make me a sandwich, Mum" "Where's my socks, Mum" & most often "MUUUUMMMM" with some garble after it...
If you catch it naked it screams "pervert" at the top of its sweet little lungs or "Fuck off you perv" we have tried to have it humanely removed but it just keeps comin back so I guess we'll have to put up with it until it evolves into umm what do they call it - Oh yeah "Man"

Don't see much wildlife in the middle of the town.... seagulls, pigeons that's about it. We've got peregrine falcons on our roof though - with chicks. Camera.

Falcons would be cool what do they feed on, & do they take other birds out mid flight & shit like that Bradx..
That camera is so cool those baby are huge :o Thanx Bradx

Yes - they attack other birds, principally pigeons. They also train their offspring to fly. There is a tower block opposite us and they fly between the 2. They also play a lot... flying at reckless speeds... and diving really fast. They catch pigeons. Sometimes bits of uneaten pigeon ... like wings and other bits are found on the ground outside our flat.
The peregrine is the fastest creature in the world - it can reach speeds of over 200 mph. They are quite amazing. Mrsx is fascinated by them and will dote on them, I want them to land on our balcony but as yet they haven't.
Feeding video.

Pretty cool!
They should force all big cities to build aviaries for birds of prey to keep the numbers of pigeons and gulls down.


Over here at my folks' home we get every kind of yardbird, a family of red squirrels, a ton of mice and lots of overweight cats.

I live in a flat, so no garden for me.

See dozens of Gulls, Magpies, Crows here, though.

Hedgehogs, and the occasional Fox skulking around in the wee hours.

Used to be loads of Bats at night but not seen one for about 4 years.

Just spent a week at a beautiful campsite in Doddington, Kent. I've never seen so many varied butterflies and dragonflies. Apparently there's a also healthy stoat population, although the local farm cat preys on them.

Massive horsefly also seen in Faversham's Tesco car park.

At the Swale estuary nature reserve, there have been 160 different bird types spotted this year already. A man who looked like Bill Oddie was urinating in the small car park there, but I'm not convinced it was him.

That would have been worth seeing.

It was probably one of those European Bill Oddies that driving the native British Bill Oddie to extinction. I believe you are encouraged to kill them as vermin.

The other night, while driving out of Whitby quite late, I spotted a badger trotting round the street. It quickly darted away as I approached, but (call me thick) I was surprised to find one in town. I thought they were mainly natives of woods and forests. :o

Went for my daily bike ride in the country this afternoon- Vultures circling over a vacant field, investigation found a dying deer probably hit by a car.
Went up to the Missouri River bridge and saw a Nebraskan (denizen of Nebraska) fishing on the far shore. We eyed each other warily until he got up and left.

Don't you get on with Nebraskans?

Since my recent move to London, i now have a garden, overgrown.

Spotted a scrawny Fox, many Squirells, the odd Rat.

No worries with any of them, but dreading the spider season soon, i hate the fuckers and wish that this stinking planet was clear of the bastards.

First purchase here was a giant can of bug killer - those are the only cunts earmarked for death.

Last couple of days i have spotted a pair of birds pecking about but not sure what they are.

They look like Pigeons but are quite small and slim, long necked, pretty faced, grey and tawny.

Anyone got a clue what they could be?

They are certainly not city/wood Pigeons.

Hope they stick around.

I went out cycling today. It feels like autumn, as opposed to feeling like a shit summer.

Quite a lot of road kill this time of year. Saw a dead badger and some sort of of mouse or shrew.

And, excitingly, some small rodent ran out into the road in front of me and crossed to the other side. I suppose they find this time of year difficult, now all the fields have been harvested.

Also saw a brilliant dragon fly.

Wasps aplenty.

Very low flying.

Last night there a beautiful moth on my bathroom ceiling, so in order to help it escape the smell, I grabbed the nearest glass and piece of card to transport it to the outside world. Quite by chance, the card turned out to be the Guardian's Guide To Moths - I did have a quick go at trying to identify it but failed, so I put the glass under it and slid the card over to trap it - as I was walking up the stairs to the nearest open window, I wondered what it was thinking about the whole thing.

Haven't seen one all summer. :o

Seen the odd bee, though. Rum coves.

It was thinking: 'U fucka, I was gonna have a swim in that toilet bowl!'.

a hare stopped and danced about - well sort of - near my car on the way back from lunch yesterday :)

Saw a big fat badger in the street last night, not 100 yards from my house. Looked at me, and dived into the hedgerow.

I'm used to having this effect on living beings.

I like the spiders you get this time of year- I think they are called Wolf Spiders (there was a great David Attenborough thing on them a few years back). I annoyed a load of them while cutting the grass at work today.

Collared Doves?

Also in my bathroom this week, there was a fly that was buzzing around - with the potential to disturb my bathtime - so I took a vague swipe at it and it flew straight down the plughole of my basin, buzzed a few times and then nothing. I was a bit "oh, I didn't really mean that".

Cheers DJ, i looked them up and that's exactly what they were.

Sadly, there only seems to be one now.

Hacked the garden right back these last few weeks, cleared all the brambles/nettles and whatnot down and burned the lot.

Foxes just come in at will now, which is great.

There's a rabbit invasion lately by the river near my home.
They are getting increasingly insolent as well. :angry:
Time to get an air-rifle. :devil2: