Wildlife

[Bearlegged]

Oh cool, I've dropped them a line.

[redefined_cycles]

Sometimes you just have to resort to YT for your Wildlife fix... https://www.youtube.com/live/HpYgxVKS05o?feature=share

Cromer Perigrine live... That reminds me, best go check the birds book and see what me and John spotted on the ride the other day.. Curlews but might not have been and plenty other beauties...

[macinblack]

Cheeky bugger;

[fatbikephil]

Took me a while to figure that one out - tails can be handy

[riderdown]

Kingfisher going up and down the stream in the backgarden

[whitestone]

Saw my first ever Dipper when camping at Culra. Surprised that I’d never seen one before. Also a couple of dragonflies (or damsel flies) but couldn’t determine the species since I didn’t see them alight on a perch and my eyes ain’t that quick.

Does mean that the burn is fertile ground for various flies. There were quite a lot of trout in the burn as well, most were pretty small but I did see one about 12” or so. Water levels are low so everything is in whatever deep pools there are

[benp1]

Bob, that’s my favourite bird. I could (and have) watch them for ages. I was on the look out for one while on JennRide as we don’t get them down here but sadly no luck. You only get them in good areas! My last two sightings were in the Brecon Beacons and the Forest of Bowland


Took the dog for a walk earlier. As well as the normal birds you’d find, I spotted buzzard, red kite, roe deer and badger. Was quite pleased to have seen all of those, the badger was particularly close. Had my bins round my neck for the walk so got to enjoy it all. That combined with the nice weather and lovely view made it a very nice walk indeed.

[Rasta]

This is going to be hard to explain.

There are a few places in Scotland where I have heard this. Maybe once in the Lakes.

In the evening, just after it gets dark, I hear something that sounds like a boomerang whizzing around in loops. The only things I know that seems to move in these loops are bats. So I thought the sound may be audible, to me, sonar/radar (?)
A couple of days ago I heard it in the morning. Daylight. But couldn't see it.

It seems too loud to be an insect. Cricket?

Any ideas? Do I have bat ears?

[Bearlegged]

Not sure I can help with that, but tonight riding home through central Sheffield my path was crossed by 3 badgers, and when I got home there was a hedgehog snuffling about in the ginnel.

[PeterC]

This is going to be hard to explain.

In the evening, just after it gets dark, I hear something that sounds like a boomerang whizzing around in loops.
Any ideas? Do I have bat ears?

Hi Rasta, when i heard your description I thought it might have been a snipe?

https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/snipe/

On another note we have two 15m siver birch in the front garden and last week I heard this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkGP2OP7wvc

To me a strange yet hauntingly beautiful call. It's not come back to our trees but I still here them of an evening so I guess they must be nesting in or around the town. (Can also hear them in Pécs where the MIL lives, which is more a small city, though she does live on the edge with open farmland maybe 500m away.)

Couple of weeks back I saw a kingfisher for the first time in Hungary, it was flitting about on a little stream barely more than a ditch exiting a small reservoir. Only the third time I've seen a kingfisher, first was River Kelvin near Glasgow University, the other the River Add in Mid Argyll both times kayaking.

[PeterC]

Saw my first ever Dipper when camping at Culra. Surprised that I’d never seen one before.

Pretty much common all over the Scottish Highlands Bob, used to see lots in Glen Etive and Glencoe when going for a dip after a climb. However the best ever view I had of Dippers was in Portree where a bridge over the river gave me a great view of two dippers walking around underwater searching for food before hopping out onto a boulder for a quick shake before resuming their search for insects and suchlike. I'm no expert, but I believe that a lot of insects are present in the gravel of stream beds which is what they are after. And, perhaps too much info, Caddis fly larvae which they prey upon build themselves an exoskeleton, if it's a sub species which lives in rivers the exoskeleton is made of grit or fine gravel, if a sub species that lives in slow moving water or lakes the the exoskeleton is made up of small twigs or similar, apparently trout are partial to them too.

[Rasta]

PeterC

Brilliant! It was driving me crazy trying to work it out.
According to my birdy book, not a call, but made by vibrating the tail feathers.
There were sandpipers around, a bit similar, so I wasn't really thinking of other long beakers.
A very beautiful sound. So much for my ability to hear bats then!
Cheers.

[riderdown]

Snipe are very odd especially when in a tent, took ages to figure it out as the campsite was busy for my first time

Dipper is always buzzing up and down my stream. What cheered me up was the sound of a curlew some distance away whilst sat in the garden

Starlings seem a lot.more numerous

Also two fawns on the edge of the stream surprised me today

[AndreR]

Badgers out in force on last nights ride, saw 2 groups and a couple of youngsters too.

[thenorthwind]

Saw a dipper in a small but beautiful wood in Northumberland at the weekend. Not doing its thing at the time though, just flitting about.

This is going to be hard to explain.

In the evening, just after it gets dark, I hear something that sounds like a boomerang whizzing around in loops.
Any ideas? Do I have bat ears?

Hi Rasta, when i heard your description I thought it might have been a snipe?

https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/snipe/

Thanks for that! We heard them every evening in the wood across from the campsite in Torridon a few weeks ago. Didn't know what they were, you can't Google a sound (don't think there's a Shazam for birds ) and couldn't really think of a searchable description either, though "boomerang whizzing around in loops" is pretty good.

[Johnallan]

(don't think there's a Shazam for birds )

The BirdNET app is pretty good for this

[redefined_cycles]

Today, whilst stopped on my mtb climbing track, having my honey & palestinian olive oil infused milk I saw a black and white bird. Wagging it's tail which was pointing skywards. About 15cm or smaller I'd say and in my head for some reason I thought maybe it's a wagtail - looked like a (zebra?) fynch but wagging that tail.

Bird book opened just now and closest I can identify is the Pied Wagtail. Just that the books states theyre 18cm to 20cm. I'm certain this was much smaller, about 15 or 12 from beak to end of tail...

Also in the birdbook, lots of activity of this amazing (and loud) birdy up in the northerly Peaks. Just managed to identify it now. Though it never comes close and the flight is what's easier to see due to the shape, I've double checked against how it sits (thanks to the binoculars) and it's indeed bene my privelege to be seeing lots of Lapwings.

Not sure if they've migrated here as never seen em in the years gone by??

Last but not least, last weeks walk down to Wyming Brook and the Rivelin reservoirs. Thought I saw a few curlews which we'd usually see up at the top of Wessenden, ground birds and you only spot em once you've startled em and they make a quick getaway. Curlews I always thought and down at Rivelin/Wyming Brook there was a boggy marsh we walked through (trying a bit of mental training, the others hated me for it) and after there were these Curlews again. Onyl this time they'd fly around, in pairs and happy to be pictured from afar.

Bird book now opened and now I'm not sure - actually, reading the description that the Curlews are more wary I think I am now. So Curlews ground nesting up at the northerly edge of the Peaks but down near Sheffield in this boggy marsh neat Rivelin, must've been Whimbrels we'd seen. The pain of the bog (cotton socks being the culprit for me, maybe) well worth it

[whitestone]

Curlews are pretty easy to identify due to their long curved beak ( I believe it’s the longest beak of any British bird). They are actually wading birds and come inland to breed. We’ve loads around us, to the point we see flocks of them.

Lapwings have a “pee-wit” like call hence their common name, in the north at least, of Peewit/Tewitt (too-wit). They like to nest on land that’s been recently ploughed and sewn so their eggs are camouflaged. With the changes in farming techniques in the last 50 years they’ve gone into serious decline

Wagtails, all species, are about the body size of a sparrow but with that extra long tail

[thenorthwind]

(don't think there's a Shazam for birds )

The BirdNET app is pretty good for this

That looks pretty cool I suspect the limiting factor would be the microphone... I tried to record the snipes we heard on my phone, but despite them sounding pretty close, it didn't pick anything up.

[redefined_cycles]

Curlews are pretty easy to identify due to their long curved beak ( I believe it’s the longest beak of any British bird). They are actually wading birds and come inland to breed. We’ve loads around us, to the point we see flocks of them.

Lapwings have a “pee-wit” like call hence their common name, in the north at least, of Peewit/Tewitt (too-wit). They like to nest on land that’s been recently ploughed and sewn so their eggs are camouflaged. With the changes in farming techniques in the last 50 years they’ve gone into serious decline

Wagtails, all species, are about the body size of a sparrow but with that extra long tail

Thanks Bob... Yes, this tail was almost half or longer than the size of its body. In the bird book the length of beak of both the Whimbrel and Curlew look about the same. Whimbrels looked more brown/ginger and it said they weren't as shy. Hence why I thought it must be Whimbrels I'd seen at Rivelin.

Not doubting your judgment at all though Bob... I thought I'd seen a golden eagle and you had to bring me back to earth with it being a buzzard

[Bearbonesnorm]

Dee just shouted me to say there was something under the bench at the side of the barn. I went to have a look assuming it was a rat and instead was confronted with a Pine Marten strutting about the place as though he / she owned it ... lovely.

[benp1]

That is excellent. I've not seen anything like that down here. A chap up the road says he has weasels or stoats regularly in his back garden but i've not seen any. He backs onto fields though whereas I back onto more of a wooded area

I thought I was close the other day, saw something small jump into the hedge as I was riding. Pulled over and sat by the side of the road to wait for it. Waited for a while and nothing. Then looked up the road, a black and white cat was walking along. Must have been that little blighter, gutted




Re bird sound app, the BirdNET app is good. The Merlin app is also good, has sound ID in it. Comes from the same people

[slarge]

In Pembrokeshire on the coastal path near St Davids, a fox hunting in a freshly mown field, and then 2 minutes later her 2 cubs came out and started to watch and learn.
Also lots of stonechats (seem to be common in Wales coastal areas), red kites (they're doing well - expanded from Brecon to Pembrokeshire and also Warwickshire).

And a couple of weeks ago a weasel ran across the road in front of us as we walked the dogs.

Lovely time of year - all the parents and youngsters are out and about.

[whitestone]

I'm trying to build a wall next to a beck before the clegs get too bad (the field and its neighbour are the worst place on the farm for them). Saw loads of Beautiful Demoiselles and Large Red Damselflies. I'll take the camera tomorrow and see if I can get some shots. There were dragonflies in the same place last year but I couldn't identify the species.

[redefined_cycles]

Had to google demoiselle and the red damselflies thinking it might be similar to what we'd seen at Wyming Brook. But it's summat totally different it seems.

Anyone know what this serious looking fly is we'd seen back at the car after returning from the walk?


Told me son that the upturned tail, like a scorpion, meant it didn't seem a fly to messed with!