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Wildlife highlight of the day

(7221 posts)

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  1. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Great festive sparrowhawk action. Guy along the street has an extensive pigeon loft complex beside his house. Very well kept.

    Strolling to get bricks for a friend we were lucky to spot the local female follow the ridge of the roof and plummet onto the pigeon complex in a vertical dive down the gable wall. The pigeon sunning itself on the ledge escaped, only to be pursued by the hawk, right on its tail.

    Both vanished behind some other houses but the circling very anxious seagulls indicated a kill just out of sight. Homing pigeon sushi for Christmas dinner.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Yellow eyed killer

    Posted 3 years ago #

  3. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Went for a stroll on Liberton golf course. Never walked there before. Compact course with some nice holes and a few plain vanillas but I digress....

    Flushed a male sparrowhawk that was dozing in a Corsican pine. It ekranoplaned down the fairway and across into Craigmillar Castle Park. 'Did you see that?' I asked madame but she had seen nothing. They are very discrete birds and the turf-skimming flight straight away from us made it almost impossible to see.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  4. gembo
    Member

    In same tree down in jungle at bottom of my garden

    4 magpies, 5 bullfinches, one Cushat Doo

    Little blackbird on fence next to kitchen window,

    Something about birds in snow feels Elizabethan to me

    Posted 3 years ago #

  5. bill
    Member

    Since I started commuting again this wee -- meaning getting up before the dawn I got to see two foxes frolicking in our cul-de-sac. We could hear a fox before during the night but finally got to see not just one but the two of them.
    Today I am working from home so I went for a bit longer jog. With the fresh snow I saw their footprints all around the neighbourhood and including Colinton Rd. At one of the side streets there was a high density of footprints around some McD wrappers. That made me smile :D

    Posted 3 years ago #

  6. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @bill

    Our local foxes began advertising for fox-on-fox action around 00h00 on the 1st of January. There has been no let up, although they prefer windless nights for their eager cacophony. Still in full winter coats but thoughts have turned to spring and vulpine babies.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  7. bill
    Member

    @IWARTS I didn't realise it's the time for it now! Good to know

    Posted 3 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    Dec Feb for the foxes then 52 days later the babies arrive, 20 per cent of the Cubs get eaten in the den by the other Cubs. According to New Forest website, though litters are bigger down that way given the easy life and rich pickings

    Posted 3 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Remember the Affair of the Headless Cub? Gruesome.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  10. jdanielp
    Member

    @bill they're lovin' it?

    @IWRATS all fur coat and no knickers!

    @gembo that's quite a gruesome statistic...

    Posted 3 years ago #

  11. Frenchy
    Member

    I don't remember that being mentioned in the Animals of Farthing Wood, anyway.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  12. gembo
    Member

    @IWrats, my friends went to Auchtermuchty and I said wear the fox cub head hat.?

    Posted 3 years ago #

  13. jdanielp
    Member

    @gembo great advert.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  14. wingpig
    Member

    Kestrel hovering over Seafield beside the railway Snicket on the way home from the beach.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  15. gembo
    Member

    Last week on a loop of Balerno I was heading home when very big deer indeed came Stoating out of Glenbrook Road (it must have been on the tarmac for a hundred metres or so coming along there as the corner is built on. It then ran in front of me on the road then disappeared into Johnsburn House.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  16. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Fur coat and no knickers. This'll be the red-hot lady howling for love every still night.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  17. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    I saw a couple of buzzards and a small flock of fieldfares yesterday near Carberry.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The redwings are here.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    The most exquisite yellow wagtail landed in the gutter as I was looking out the attic window. Yesterday morning, very dainty bird, small head. Drank the frosty water and ate some detritus Very pretty

    Posted 3 years ago #

  20. Rosie
    Member

    Last night on Perfect Planet. A great flock(?) of Arctic hares filmed at night. Nothing so white as them.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Snowdrops peeking through. Can autumn be far behind?

    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Great Tits have started their territorial declarations. Tiny loins are stirring.

    Can next winter be far behind?

    Posted 3 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Curlews coming and going over the house.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  24. panyagua
    Member

    A red squirrel in my street (in Dalgety Bay, Fife). Have never seen one in 17 years of living here - nearest I've seen was in Blairadam Forest, 10 miles or so north of here. Maybe they are spreading? Or perhaps normally very elusive but raiding bird feeders during the cold weather.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  25. CocoShepherd
    Member

    @panyagua

    Are you suggesting that the red squirrel should be investigated for travelling from Blairadam to Dalgety Bay i.e. not staying local?

    Posted 3 years ago #

  26. chdot
    Admin

    I’m told one was seen in Kinghorn last year (pre lockdown).

    Posted 3 years ago #

  27. chdot
    Admin

    Further news from (someone else in) DBay -

    "I  am pleased to report that we have had almost daily sightings of the red squirrel which seems to be co-existing naturally with its grey counterparts.”

    Posted 3 years ago #

  28. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Excellent news. Dreamt I saw one in town the other day. This likely means that pine martens are also present.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  29. panyagua
    Member

    A friend had told me they'd seen them in this street, but I confess I didn't actually believe them (they are not renowned for expertise in wildlife identification). Luckily I didn't not believe them to their face, so I only need to apologise to them in my internal dialogue.

    Posted 3 years ago #

  30. gembo
    Member

    Perhaps Red Squirrels are Covid resistant compared to Grey Squirrels

    Anyway good news to cheer us up.

    Not as cheery though as a radio 4 this morning playing the newsreader, maybe Charlotte green, corpsing after announcing the earliest recorded human sing8ng Clair de Lune. 30 seconds of terrible warbling (sounding like when I used to play game with my wee sister in Garnock Baths, go under water and sing song and try to name that tune) that warbling made me laff but then Charlotte corpsed all the way through the rest of the news. Which was brilliant.

    Posted 3 years ago #

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