UKH

Roe deer everywhere, should be a great year for them, partly because the farmer never got round to sowing (wet weather, covid, too dry) has meant a massive amount of fallow land.  Usual whitethroats, blackcaps, tawny owl, but also kingfisher, dipper, curlew and oystercatcher.  Butterflies in numbers, red admirrals, commas, small tortoiseshell and found a few orchids.  Watched Roe Deer flush out a hare!

Anyone else?

In reply to mick taylor:

3 osprey flew right over my van by stathfleet SAC, bullfinch in the garden which is nice for where I live. Divers still making the odd racket in the bay. 

In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

I saw a bullfinch today, don’t see that many. But I’ve not seen an osprey in ages (but I have been lucky enough to see lots in the past, and good views). 

In reply to mick taylor:

On Tuesday, my seventh evening searching, I finally saw some glow worms! Hadn't seen any since a kid in the south in the '70s.

In reply to Vanessa Simmons:

Excellent.

This is a small tortoiseshell have a good feed

In reply to mick taylor:

Took the photo this morning, but yesterday watched the same heron (95% sure its the same one, and the same one that I posted few weeks back) catch 2 roach in 5 mins.  Sadly, those photos are spoiled by the plastic litter floating around.

In reply to mick taylor:

Poppy. yesterday.  Section of a field that's gone wild and is full of interesting stuff.  This is about 15 metres from the deer photo.

In reply to mick taylor:

Like I said, pity about the litter.  Will take my grabber and bin liners, and remove the towels, socks etc. as well.

In reply to Vanessa Simmons:

I remember as a young child seeing them in north London out of my bedroom window at night. Since we moved in 1966 when I was 7, it must have been that year or one or two before then.

In reply to mick taylor:

A big roe (I think) deer just walked out from behind a row of fruit bushes at the allotment yesterday. Must have been all of 8 feet away from me. We both froze and stared at each other for about ten seconds - then it left the scene at high speed.

I suspect I know who's been nibbling all the beans now..!

In reply to mick taylor:

There are a few fields not far from here that have an impressive crop of poppies, very pretty.

In reply to deepsoup:

Great photo.  Is that chamomile?  Tonnes of it where 'my' poppies are.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

They'd be runner beans then....

In reply to mick taylor:

I hadn't thought about it, but yes I think it must be.  There was just a patch of it in the corner of the field, but the poppies are everywhere.  This is in the patch of NE Derbyshire countryside South to Southeast of Sheffield - I only really discovered it during 'lockdown' and it's been a bit of a revelation to me how lovely it is, it's a firm favourite for a walk or a run now.  There are always a few walkers around but it still seems very quiet compared to the honeypots of the Eastern Peak.

In reply to deepsoup:

Chamomile is covering whole fields, you can sometimes smell it.

My patch looks similar to yours and I have no intention of going elsewhere at the mo.  Grown quite fond of it, and of photography (treated myself to a new lens !!)

In reply to mick taylor:

Saw my first marbled white of the year as well as a small skipper on Portland. And passed a flurry of pyramidal orchids. 

In reply to Derry:

Never seen one so just checked what they look like - beautiful !!

In reply to mick taylor:

We’ve had a sparrowhawk in the garden the past two evenings. It seems to have learned that our extended family of sparrows have nests in the ivy overgrowing the wall. First time it successfully made off with its supper. Yesterday it left empty clawed but we got a super view of it (female) as it paused for a moment on a pole.

Jason

In reply to mick taylor:

Dunlin and Greenshank heard rather than seen at work today. For this part of Scotland a bonanza of butterflies, ordering a new field guide for them as my ignorance is showing. 

In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

having great fun watching this wagtail family

In reply to mick taylor:

I’ve collected a few poppy seed pods today - they are amazing things! They have a little ‘roof’ that is reminiscent of that on a pagoda. When it is ready the roof raises to reveal ‘windows’ below out of which the seeds spill (presumably when the wind blows). Amazing things.

In reply to Darron:

They are, and they rattle around in a cute kinda way.  And edible (not tried it yet).

In reply to coinneach:

What type?

In reply to mick taylor:

Pied

In reply to mick taylor:

Had great fun watching a common lizard darting in and out of my rucksack and boots whilst at Stanage on Friday. We seemed to be base camped at his rock and didn't seem to mind I e bit. The only shame was my camera was in the rucksack so no photos ! 

Great to see ! Keep them peeled in heading up there.

Cheers

Jason

In reply to mick taylor:

Spent a big part of Friday evenings bouldering session watching two Peregrines, I think they were this years offspring and they looked (& sounded) like excited teenagers at the skatepark as they practiced swooping and riding thermals. All this with the Langsett moors as a backdrop.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

Wonderful, but also a bit scary when you think about the dangers these excited teenagers might be facing.

In reply to mick taylor:

This is a lovely thread.  

It appears to me that many/a  lot of  outdoor folk don't know or don't care much for our wildlife when out on the hills.  I can't be the only one who carries binoculars into the countryside and hills.

last week in the very hot weather I was on Skiddaw & Blencathra and noticed 100's of Lesser Black Backed gulls sat in the lee slopes of the summits picking, what appeared to be, insects off the grass.  Unless my memory has gone, I'm sure its the first time I've noticed that species doing it.


 

In reply to mick taylor:

Two nice if unspectacular sightings here in Berlin. I saw my first Tree Pipits here at the top of a wooded hill in a park in the middle of the city; a pair of them going quite unconcerned about their business. Lovely birds, like miniature thrushes but with beautifully striped heads. The second sighting was amusing; the first Yellow Wagtail I've seen in Berlin, happily running around between two polar bears in their enclosure in the Tierpark (what used to be the East Berlin zoo, much spacier and more enjoyable than its western counterpart). Their German name means Sheep Wagtail, coming from their habit of feeding on insects disturbed by grazing animals, so the idea that the bird had mistaken the polar bears for rather large sheep made us laugh. 

In reply to mick taylor:

Close encounter with an Otter this evening and leaping sea trout on Anglesey

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Osprey at Keilder yesterday