CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure

Wildlife highlight of the day

(7166 posts)

  1. Frenchy
    Member

    @unhurt - The problem fun part is making sure those ears and legs are on hand at all times. Rather than, say, disappearing under the nearest hedge, just in case there's a cat/hedgehog/rabbit/squirrel/blackbird on the other side.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  2. jdanielp
    Member

    Red squirrels in the Ardennes forest.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  3. unhurt
    Member

    Bona fide beaver dam right across a small river. V cool.

    @Frenchy good thing s/he is so pretty by the sound of it.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  4. gembo
    Member

    Little baby deer on the mud road yesterday, just after the bridge over the rail track fawn- tastic leap over high fence upon our approach and lucky it was us as very big land rover filling entire road came up behind us.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  5. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Kestrel quietly getting on with some hovering over the RIE path being persistently attacked by a sparrowhawk.

    Sparrowhawks are utterly radge and quite capable of killing a kestrel but it just rolled on its back and showed its claws a few times before moving slowly away.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  6. unhurt
    Member

    Should I mention the osprey flying back and forth in front of my campsite over Bonne Bay with a backdrop of huge volcanic mountains in the dusk? While I sip wine and eat rehydrated chilli by the fire?

    Posted 5 years ago #
  7. unhurt
    Member

    Oh, now she's calling. That's nice. And the common terns are still diving about ten metres away.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  8. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @unhurt

    Offer the osprey a sip of wine? (If it's white to go with her fish.)

    Posted 5 years ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    More than 1” long.

    Probably https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligia_oceanica

    Posted 5 years ago #
  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    This was the first year where these fellows were crawling up my leg at outdoors dinner-time at the mother-out-law's. More than 1” long, excluding the feely-boppers. Grillon champêtre.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  11. unhurt
    Member

    Something I would have called a hen harrier if it danced across the road on the wind in Orkney.

    A "bay seal" (harbour seal?) in Shallow Bay popping up 50 metres away as I chatted to another camper and her dad as we stood thigh deep in ridiculously warm water.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    While many taxonomic authorities split the northern harrier and the hen harrier into distinct species, others consider them conspecific.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_harrier

    Posted 5 years ago #
  13. unhurt
    Member

    Aha, thanks. I'm going to be a splitter I think so I can say I saw something new to me.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  14. unhurt
    Member

    Wyld stallions caribou at Point Riche. Very cool!

    Posted 5 years ago #
  15. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Possibly not unconnected to the recent death of our rather murderous cat a fat frog just plopped into a flower pot full of rainwater outside the French windows. The King (RIP) would undoubtedly have attacked and eaten the poor thing.

    Probably turn up on Facebook shortly.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  16. gembo
    Member

    Commiseration on the death of The Murder King Cat. You think @IWRATS poisoned frog?

    Watched crow magpie combo mobbing /GyrFalcon above Salisbury crags yesterday (ok maybe half Gyr ok maybe peregrine juvenile, OK maybe sparrowhawk, c'mon it was quite high up and my eyes are bad)

    Definitely bring mobbed by a crow magpie double act

    Posted 5 years ago #
  17. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Thank you friend. Murder King, rather grimly, chose to hang himself in the local kids' tree hut. Reminiscent of Odin's nine days hanging in Ygdrassil I thought, apart from the outcome.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  18. jdanielp
    Member

    @IWRATS :(

    Posted 5 years ago #
  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Cheers @jdp

    Posted 5 years ago #
  20. gembo
    Member

    @Iwrats. How terrible for all concerned, including the local kids

    Never heard of cats hanging themselves before?

    No suggestion of foul play?

    Posted 5 years ago #
  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Yes, kids traumatised when they found out, luckily it was next door's scaffolders spotted the wee fella and recovered the remains. Freak accident it seems, got his head caught in some camouflage netting and fell. Maybe chased by a fox?

    Now installed under the vegetable patch. Very glad he came to stay for five years, very sad he's gone, slightly annoyed his legacy was a posthumous flea infestation in the spare bedroom.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  22. Frenchy
    Member

    Sorry to hear about your weird orange dog, IWRATS.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Cheers Frenchy. Still haven't given the five remaining cans in his last six-pack away. Maybe tomorrow. Strange how attached you get to beasts, almost like it was a core part of being human.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  24. gembo
    Member

    @iwrats, check out the movie Reuben Reuben that was Tom Conti's peak performance, has many similar elements to your shaggy cat story. Though no cammo.

    It is a strange and beautiful world.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  25. steveo
    Member

    As much as my cat irritates me I suspect I'll miss it when it finally goes.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  26. steveo
    Member

    Disappointingly little to report from Perthshire one halk of some description and no free range bison.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  27. Rosie
    Member

    St Ronan's Well museum, Innerleithen. Loads of taxidermists' creations. A pair of very sinister black crows - wish I'd taken a pic.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  28. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    A very tame beige rabbit on top of Craigmillar Hill. A rather careworn young lady was taking photos of it to post on Facebook to see if anyone had lost their bunny. Rumour has it it's been there all summer.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  29. fimm
    Member

    Lots of frogs.
    Some high-speed mountain hare action, on the hills to the east of the Drumochter Pass. One of them sat up and watched us disappear into the murk, which was quite cool.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @fimm

    Them's some bleak old hills. Lucky to see blue hares these days, what with the regular slaughter.

    Posted 5 years ago #

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