British Wildlife

mercury · Post by **mercury** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 3:07 am

Last time I saw a fox it was a fox cub , believe it or not it was actually dancing in a patch of moonlight on the road before it turned and looked at me

got1 · Post by **got1** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 7:40 am

My mates wife is a bit of conservationist and he told her that all the materials he uses for fly tying comes from road kills.

I found him in the car park beside the river tying a fly, I asked him why he didn't tie it at home, he said he couldn't very well tell his wife it came from a road kill. He was using a piece of polar bear.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 5:57 pm

I heard on the news the other day, that there is a rare bird of prey somewhere in lincolnshire, (forget the location) and its had chicks, now they are letting people watch the chicks, ( from a hyde) surely this would put any future "Eggs" at risk from these people who like to steal eggs?

Peds · Post by **Peds** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 6:13 pm

Far from it, I believe - in Derbyshire there was a family of raptors, and you could watch them from across the valley. There were ice-cream stands, cafes and those little coin-operated telescopes for the day trippers, and lots of lovely walking to be done for the more professional bird-watchers.
Both the place name and the exact species escapes me... twas many a year ago.

Artist · Post by **Artist** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 6:43 pm

Thanks to some Loon at a place called Stapely Water Gardens. Cheshire now has two free range Skunks. And the female was up the duff!

Should make for an interesting life round where I live.

Our local town is infested with Grey squirrels which cause no end of damage to the trees but silly sods are still feeding them.

The Pidgeons are a bloody menace as well. crapping all over the place. But our local Council trap them humanely, take them away from the town centre, release them, And next day they are back in the Town.

When I'm out and about in the Artmobile the wildlife seems pretty healthy and varied. A mate of mine is a Gamekeeper and has been shooting no end of Foxes trying to get to the Gamebirds. He says they are all in good nick apart from the bullet holes.

Artist

lew · Post by **lew** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 6:55 pm

Foxes round here (hertofrdshire) are big and strong, theres normally one in my garden most nights passing through. as for pigeons, I hate them, they're rats with wings and if I had my way they'd be made extinct.

lew

Peds · Post by **Peds** » Fri 02 Jul, 2004 8:02 pm

Only eat country pigeons. Town pigeons taste bad, as a friend of mine with an air rifle discovered after ignoring my sound advice.

Mince · Post by **Mince** » Sat 03 Jul, 2004 1:31 am

Our skies are awash with shitehawks, as are our cars, pavements and bonces. The council decided it was going to shoot them but a dozen protesters from some town a hundred miles away turned up here naked and the council tremblingly backed down.

jlitt · Post by **jlitt** » Sat 03 Jul, 2004 7:47 pm

Was quite surprised having moved down to Cornwall that the wildlife is surprisingly different from back in Essex.
Seen a quite a few birds of prey which are larger than in the east, buzzards and kites plus one really big one that I’ve no idea of what it is.
The rabbits are smaller and orangy brown and they seem to be about all day not just in the evening and morning.
The foxes seem smaller but not so skinny.
Lots of chuffs, they look like crows but have grey heads.
Giant beetles that fly about at night.
Six weeks or so ago I was surprised by these bugs flying at the windows of an evening they were then joined by an owl that sat on the sill watching me. I always thought owls ate mice and such so I don’t know why it was attracted by the beetles.
Overall there seems to be a lot more variety.

Spannerman · Post by **Spannerman** » Sat 03 Jul, 2004 8:29 pm

Lots of chuffs, they look like crows but have grey heads.
Giant beetles that fly about at night.

I think those Choughs (Chuffs) may be Jackdaws, but the Chough is making a comeback in Cornwall and parts of Wales, they are easily distinguishable from a crow/rook/jackdaw as they have a red beak slightly downcurved.

The Giant Beetles may well be 'BillyWitches' and often appear to swarm around trees especially just before sunset.

Meekon · Post by **Meekon** » Tue 06 Jul, 2004 12:16 pm

All we have in Cardiff are mangy pigeons with only one leg - flying vermin! Oh and ants - loads of 'em!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue 06 Jul, 2004 1:50 pm

what about hedgehogs? i`ve seen shed loads at the side of the road, flattened, guts all over the place, but have only seen one just recently trying to cross the, M1

I`m sure i missed the little critter, but god knows if the rest behind me did or didn`t.

which reminds me,

two rabbits (real ones Flo) were hopping down the grass verge at night, when they saw a hedgehog crying his eyes out. They asked him what the problem was, and after a while, told them he wanted to cross the road, but was shyte scared. its easy, said the rabbits, watch this, all you do is wait for a car to come, and go into the road and stand between the headlights, ducking when the car is upon you. Like this said the rabbit, and hopped into the road, standing in between the headlights, ducking at the last minute. then, he hopped to the other side of the road. Come on, he shouted to the hedgehog, not yet he said, so the second rabbit did exactly the same as the first, standing at the other side of the road, they both shouted for him to come over. Now, with enough courage, he walked into the road, standing between the headlights, when SPLAT the car ran over him, the rabbits looked at each other, and one said, first plastic pig i`ve seen for a while

jlitt · Post by **jlitt** » Wed 07 Jul, 2004 10:50 pm

Thanks for the “spellie” on “chuffs” Spannerman no wonder I could’nt find it in the index of a garden bird book; I’ve now seen both types of corvie in the area.
Out riding my bike the other evening and nearly hit a badger; BLOODY huge things nearly as big as a collie I reckon. Oh and asked a local about the beetles called them May bugs pretty descriptive as they disappeared soon after May.

Wholley · Post by **Wholley** » Thu 08 Jul, 2004 3:24 am

jlitt,
We call them little monsters"Water Bugs"here.
Their a type of flying cockroach.Little bastards can bite too.
Get one in the house and it sounds like a B-52.

Spanners,as a member of The Royal Society fo the Prevention of Birds
do you still have Orioles in the UK,or are they finally extinct?Still have them here,beautiful birds.
Wholley.

Spannerman · Post by **Spannerman** » Thu 08 Jul, 2004 6:23 am

wholley wrote:jlitt,
Spanners,as a member of The Royal Society fo the Prevention of Birds
do you still have Orioles in the UK,or are they finally extinct?Still have them here,beautiful birds.
Wholley.

I have never seen a (Golden) Oriole but my wife spotted one and said that it was a beautiful black and gold bird. That was a few years ago now, as a point of interest we watch birds occasionally as a hobby and enjoy it immensely, the twitcher travels miles to see something rare or unusual.

If anyone lives near Minsmere on the Suffolk coast then a trip to the Bittern Hide is a must for here is one of Britains rarest and secretive birds and in our last 9 visits only once did we fail to see one, there are only about 40 pairs in the country.

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