The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: MAK on January 30, 2012, 06:46:06 am
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Has anyone sited rare or unexpected wildlife.
My niece spotted a kangaroo for a second time and stopped the car to phone home. After a search her husband got the RSPCA number and she called from her mobile.
She gave her location but was asked if she was sure that it was a kangaroo - yes she said ( a little frustrated).
She lost the plot when the lad asked her for a description of the kangaroo.
Very wise to get a description just in case other callers report a different looking kangaroo.
Spotted near St Ives Cambs.
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Lol :D
A friend of my mother's rang the RSPB about an unusual bird in her garden. The man asked her to describe it. Well, it has a bit of red and some yellow on it's head and wings, she said. I think, madam, what you have there is a goldfinch the man relied in a condescending voice. Oh no, she replied, I don't think so, it's about three feet tall! :D Turns out it was some sort of crane, well off track :D
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We got all excited seeing otters play in the snow nearby. Then we saw 2 large figures swimming on the lake - we promptly ordered a sign to name our house the Lazy Otter. The OH then unpacked a stone otter (from her old "water feature" and some otter figures for the mantelpiece.
Unfortunately the animals on the Lake turned out to be giant rats ! Those massive ones from the Amazon that had escaped from a zoo and roam the countryside. Nasty buggers apparently.
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We have wallabies in Haldon Forest, near here and did have Coypu on some wetland but haven't seen them for a few years now. Mind you, I haven't been down there to look.
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We got all excited seeing otters play in the snow nearby. Then we saw 2 large figures swimming on the lake - we promptly ordered a sign to name our house the Lazy Otter. The OH then unpacked a stone otter (from her old "water feature" and some otter figures for the mantelpiece.
Where I come from a 'water otter' is a kettle! ;) :D
Love the house name :)
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This should really be in the 'wildlife section' :)
There used to be lots of coypus in the Norfolk wetlands when I was growing up there, but they killed them all off for not being native. I liked them 8)
There's lots of wildlife round here, in the south of Scotland, but nothing excitingly different - except perhaps the giant feline my OH saw a few years back - but that's a different thread......
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My OH was taking a fishing trip out at Eela time( fishing competition) and as it was a bit foggy he remained in the wheelhouse. He knows the local waters well so when somebody screamed rocks and he had to turn the boat rather quickly he was surprised to say the least. It turned out to be a Humback whale turning over and the tail came up right in front of the boat! The whale was on its own and hung around a nearby bay for a few days then went. Unexpected but not rare up here.
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That's lovely Hermit :) I do so miss the sea - where I am is about as far from it as you can get in Scotland :(
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We had a Sea Eagle down here in W Sussex last year which I saw twice during the winter. I though it might be an escapee from some ones private collection but no one reported it missing. Spoke with a chap from the RSPB and he said they'd had a similar thing a few years previous down in Wiltshire. There. they'd had some twitchers spot it and were able to identify from leg rings that it was a juvenille male that had flown over from Scandanavia. It over wintered and then went back. Although probably not the same bird, the one I saw was probably a similar type of thing.
Makes me wonder,,, do young male Sea Eagles have a gap year and go globe trotting?
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We live right on the coast at cardigan Bay and its not unusual to see Bottle Nose Dolphins and Atlantic Grey Seal. The dolphins are a magical and fascinating sight, apparently up to 130 in the area but the most I have seen at anyone time is up to 6 leaping around together. They can be seen all year round but particularly when the sea is calmer.
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Today I saw a strange wee bird on its belly gingerly pecking at the seeds we put out .
i sat enthralled at this green tint headed chaffinch looking bird but could not work out how it was so low down to the floor .
After a while it kind of tipped it's self forward and raised itself up on its wings and put down the only leg it had . Then before it fell over it flew up into next doors leylandi.
This is one little birdie I'll be keeping and eye out for over the next few months .
We are off to buy another 20 Kg of mixed small bird seed and some more fat balls in the morning.
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obviously welsh burds cant stand on one leg :D we had a robin last year that had one leg never fell over and was quite tame coming really close when we were feeding the pigs :farmer:
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my best is an otter on the usk, whilst i was fishing for salmon on the usk, george mellys water(rip) dont tell him.
regular falcons near perranporth and unidentified big cat tracks in the largest private woodland in cornwall.....
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They have Seagulls by the river Severn in Newtown Powys. A bit far from the sea but they've been coming there for years apparently.
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the other day whilst doing a squirrel survey in tentsmui forest, i am certain i saw a goshawk, but fr the sighting tobe confirmed in fife i have to file a report and send it off to a group of bigwigs to decide. i aslo saw a flock of scottish cross bills :)
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We had a Goshawk in our garden a few years ago, CameronS. It had killed Poor Charlotte, my one-eyed Speckeldy hen. It wasn't a wildie though and was eventually captured and taken home.
I'm afraid I may have been a bit scathing to the lovely man who came to try to capture it re. the keeping of birds of prey in captivity when i thought they should all be flying free in the wild ::) How arrogant I was! It was only afterwards that I learned that if it weren't for the birds in captivity and the breeding schemes for them they would probably be extinct, in this country at least. So, if Andy, the hawk man is perchance a visitor to this forum, my apologies :)