UKH

Walking along a wood edge next to a newly harvested field. A continuous stream of well fed squirrels racing back from the field to the safety of the wood as I approached. There must have been hundreds of them!

Not as good as something I read about from a participant in the Iditarod though. An orderly line of Moose taking turns to run and slide as far as they could on a frozen lake. After their go each Moose would return to the back of the queue to await their next turn!

Monkeys leaping out of a tree into a reservoir in Hong Kong. Numbers of them did it repeatedly, it was a 25 to 30 foot drop. Some as they jumped gave a shriek of joy. They kept going round and doing it again. There was one long branch sticking over the water which they edged along before jumping. Totally doing it for fun

While ski touring in the Canadian Rockies we spotted what looked like two skiers descending a mountain across the valley from the one we were climbing, leaving nice curvy tracks. We were amazed as we couldn't think where they would have come from without us having seen them or their tracks. We stopped and watched, then realised they were mountain goats.

Mrs Num Num. . . . . . . . 
 

In a bikini . . . . . . . . 

I went out canicrossing with friends and six dogs late this April. We spotted seven hares, seeming oblivious to us as they ran in loops, single file around a huge field for a few minutes. They came up close to the low hedge that separated us. It was a joyous sight.

I've seen chamois doing exactly that on a snowslope in the Ecrin. Orderly queue, going back for another go...

Its not particularly strange but our house backs onto a small woodland and we have three squirrels who have decided that our garden is far better than the woodland..... 

Its quite interesting watching them.  They will take nuts from the feeded, go hide them, then 'pretend' they still have the nut, dig a really obvious hole to bury the pretend nut, make sure they are looking really obvious about it.  Then go pick the nut up from the original hiding place and scamper off with it. 

Now they have worked out that my partner will feed them, if the feeder becomes empty one starts banging on the patio door.  It got so bad we had to stop feeding them!

Yes, saw the self same phenomenon at the Pelvoux hut.

Two summers ago, in the southern Cairngorms, I saw a couple of large deer charge down the mountainside to a large puddle where they rolled around on their backs, kicking their legs in the air.

Was a really hot day, during a dry spell, so they were really loving that cool water.

There's a hydroelectric scheme in the centre of Oxford, at Osney, which uses an Archimedean screw.  One of the (many) arguments from the nimby crowd was that it would be awful if any birds got caught up in it.

Once it was up and running, a duck was seen leading her clutch of ducklings straight into it - surfing it all the way down - and then walking back up top for another go!  It's now a minor tourist attraction to sit and watch the ducks riding their 120kW water slide.

Have you seen this series of videos

youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg&

I was on the seafront in Sunderland years ago and it there were really strong winds (the kind where you're nearly off your feet).  the tide was in and the sea was choppy as hell, lots of spray and foam and stuff.

It was a generally clear and bright day though, and on the crest of each little wave a small arc of colour would appear.  There were loads of them, all appearing and vanishing again within seconds.  Hundreds of mini rainbows spread across the surface of the water

It was bloody magical.  I've never seen anything like that before or since.

Not that uncommon, but was walking in Cornwall and the local crows (?) were doing aerobatics - flying upside down repeatedly.

On the bird front, the seagulls in Prague seem to like surfing down the weirs repeatedly. Don't seem to be feeding - just sliding down.

There's a weir on the Bela River near Milnthorpe where I once saw a duck with her little flotilla of ducklings above the weir. The adult then slid down the weir, then turned around to encourage the little ones to follow. When they didn't she rather laboriously climbed back up the weir and repeated the demonstration several times before they finally plucked up courage. Then they went back up to repeat it.

Saw about 100 geese, flying in V formations on my commute today. They were flying South, which was reassuring.

Saw the aurora borealis (northern lights) in Weymouth (South coast), when I was about 13. Almost unheard of that far south. Had to go and ask my Dad what it was. It was absolutely spectacular. 

Also remember seeing a massive swarm of bees descend on a red post box - looking for a potential nest site I suspect. They stayed for a short while, then all took flight. Postman would have got a shock at collection time.

Frogs, tens of thousands of them spilling out of a graveyard like liquid flowing over the retaining wall, plopping onto the pavement then limping on to their doom in the road.

Also a solitary tree generating its own pretty heavy rain in otherwise glorious Ugandan sunshine.

jk

Humans, at Stanage, climbing to the top, then walking back down again, then doing it all over again, hundreds of them. All quite strange.

My neighbour in Gairloch has a cattle grid at the entrance to his driveway.  A few years ago I saw a sheep shuffling across it  on its knees to reach his fine sward of nicely mown grass. 1 other sheep watched it and then followed  suit. The sheep were owned by his crofting  brother down the hill and were soon sold at Dingwall market before they could teach the rest of the flock the technique!

Humans, in an old steel works, climbing up chunks of plastic

That's an amazing video!

Well, this is the oddest thing I've seen in the Scottish hills. En route from the Oban bothy to Tarbet on Loch Nevis and the boat to Mallaig, couldn't hang around too long.

A much simple solution to the problem:

youtube.com/watch?v=oNltR4iCRCA&

Is that a dead frog being devoured by gobies?

Mediterranean coast of Turkey, small fishing village, on the quay, past dusk. Disturbance in the water... and then fish started jumping out of the sea. In very large numbers. Very large numbers indeed. 10-30cm typical length. A couple of locals goggled... then put down their rollups.... then scarpered and appeared shortly afterwards with buckets and a van, which they proceeded to get filling as fast as they could. Lasted over fifteen minutes, they got a nice vanload. 

While I doubt it's super-rare, it was a new one on me. 

Y

That shouldn't be so funny.

Ughhhh!

That sounds like the display flight of the raven.  There's a glimpse of it at around 4m25s in this BTO video:  youtube.com/watch?v=qi1p0yh4X3I&t=26, at around 2m20s in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFKcj9aN7ZI&t=20s (apologies for the rather twee music & voiceover) and at about 5m into this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCkELrxCl70&t=299s

That said, crows are also pretty agile flyers.  I once stood and watched a crow being harassed by two herring gulls in a fight over some picnic leftovers on a local beach.  The gulls were trying to get the crow to drop its goodies but the crow consistently outmanoeuvred them.  It was almost like a WWII dogfight, with one gull acting as decoy while the other sneaked up on to the crow's tail - only for the crow to duck and weave out of the way at the last moment.  It was pretty spectacular while it lasted, and by the time the crow made its escape there were a good half dozen on so human onlookers rooting for it!

Given that you're in Cornwall they might have been choughs, which are also agile flyers, though noticeably smaller than raven or crow, and the red beak and legs are distinctive features which differentiate them from the other corvids.

I saw this on the way up the the Sele, so perhaps the same herd. I usually get a slight look of disbelief when I recount it, so it is nice to have another witness.

Across from our house is a power wire running from a large pole, over to another pole 50 feet away.

On my monthly day off, I sit on the settee listening to popmaster.

When a squirrel sits on top of one pole, me and the dog go to the window in expectation.

Soon enough,the squirrel makes the precarious crossing of the power line and I hum, ‘ der der der, der der der der, de de’ The dog goes woof at the end of the ‘de de’.

To our amazement one day, two squirrels started from either end. They met in the middle  to numerous’ der der dear and woofs’

They had a scuffle in the middle and one of the squirrels lost balance and fell. The other squirrel seemed to shout ‘nooooo’ and grabbed it by the leg. 
The fallen squirrel climbed back on and they went their separate ways.

Ive never seen two squirrels on the power line since!

A ring necked parakeet trying to attack a juvenile grey squirrel. The mum who was on a nearby tree predictably banzaiied in and was aggressively defensive. She ended up carrying the young one off down the tree whilst fending off the parakeet. it struck me that both are non-native species. 
 

Driving along the trans-Canada highway at night, my friend spotted a deer by the road side so we slowed down. It was at that point we realised we were surrounded by a huge herd of deer. Hundreds of them just wandering over the road so we just stopped and watched them until it was safe to start off again.

 

No, tadpoles -it was in one of the rock pools near the summit of Sgurr Mor. 

One of my favourites is our late Blackbird chasing a smash and grab raiding thrush round and round a bush in the blackbird's territory.    After a couple of circuits the blackbird stopped and went round in the opposite direction and met the very surprised thrush who fled.

A bright and much loved little chap

this is rather strange blackbird behaviour. not sure if it's infanticide or (conspecific) brood parasitism..

youtube.com/watch?v=7XkB9SPlKbk&

Our little white fluffy dog, sitting proudly on the lawn beside a very dead, bright green parakeet.  The jury is out as to whether it was the dog or the cat wot dunnit.

Thanks for replying.  I re-read your original post and realised it was probably fresh water, not salt water  which would rule gobies out. Tadpoles makes more sense, especially given the numbers present. 

Jackdaws sliding/sledging on the shed roof in the snow. I see this almost any time we get more than an inch or two of snow. Often they slide in the snow, and as others have said, they will queue for a turn and come back for more. I once saw one that had found some piece of litter (I couldn't make out what it was) and was using it as a sledge.

Could he have been getting rid of a youngster that had something wrong with it?  I know there is quite an imperative not to waste resources on ones that won't survive.  There seemed to be some inspection going on  before ejection- why did that one hatch so early?  Did he discover a cuckoo?

I do know that the one of which I wrote egg-sat regularly.  you could feed him while he was doing it.  One brood only one hatched but he went on desperately trying to incubate even after the female had given up on them.

Its the cat.

A) cats kill birds

B) cat stiches up trusting pup as patsy

That's where we are too - the cat has calm green eyes, but the mind of a psychopath.  The dog has trusting, brown eyes and an eagerness to please - all he's missing is a post-it note on his tail saying, 'Kick me'.

He's fallen for the same trick three times now.

To be fair to him, he hasn't been taken in as badly as the parakeets....

Not really strange as they do it all the time, but on Beinn Eighe (close to the trig point) years ago I noticed a raven because of the noise of the wings.

It flipped over, closed its wings, tumbled in the air with its legs wiggling about for a few seconds, then flipped back and resumed normal flight. It was alone and I could not see any others but the bird so I suppose it did it just because it could.

Dave

I did see some American tourists at the met station on Mount Kenya once' long check shorts, polo shirts and baseball caps.  They were excitedly photographing a monkey that was bouncing up and down and shrieking at the top of a tree.  This attracted the attention of a large bird of prey, which hit the monkey with a loud thump, a spray of blood, and much wailing from the tourists.

Similarly, on the same trip a time-served ornithologist who'd been looking for the green ibis that were reputed to live in the forests of Mount Kenya up at that height.  He'd been searching for 15 years without success.  We asked him what it looked like.  He described it.  We all said 'So a bit like that bird in the tree behind you then'?

On't North Yorkshire Moors one autumn night some 40 years ago I was following my friend across the wet moorland surface.  It was quite dark and I could see their footprints shining with what I thought was reflected moonlight on the wet surface.  Then I realised it was not reflected light - there was no moon! - but bio- luminescent bacteria in the acid soil that was lighting up due to the disturbance made by our feet/boots.  It easily transferred to our hands, clothes and face.  The illuminated soil only stayed bright for several seconds after it was disturbed. 

I wrote to  Southampton University as they had published a paper on Bioluminescence and had some correspondence with a professor of something or other who told me that he had no idea what it might be and could not identify the  bacteria concerned as he did not know any which were active on acid based soil/peat..

I used to walk the same moorland many times in the dark, and have never seen it before - or since.  The game keeper who is employed on the estate and has travelled those moors far me than I have in the dark had never seen it either.

I live out in Northumberland so do see some funny stuff on my twilight bike rides.

• Once rode alongside a squirrel running along the top of a post and rail fence for like 20-30m, but I only realised 15m or so into that that there was a fox running along underneath that kept jumping up to try to bite it.
• Again out riding, a barn owl was sat in middle of country lane, flew off when I got within 10m or so, I got camera out to film it whilst riding, just as a bat flew out a tree and whacked straight into my shoulder - I'd just got myself sorted from the surprise when 2 massive deer came crashing through the fence 2m infront of me to my left, i rode inbetween them, with one bashing through the hedge on other side of the road and the other 180ing back where it came from. This all happened in about 10 seconds. 
• I watched a big commotion in a sheepfield as I watched the sun setting behind, and took ages to spot what was going on - about 15-20 sheep were taking it in turns to basically kick a fox to death, which they'd surrounded. It must have fancied it's chances nabbing a young lamb and got more than it bargained for.

I used to live there for many years and never saw that either. I wonder why it was there on that occasion?

Out mountain biking late one evening and surprised a young couple having sex by Ladybower reservoir!

I've been quite impressed how high our rabbits can jump and the speed they can run round the garden.

25 years ago, whilst on a seismic survey boat in the north sea I watched a huge pod of dolphins, several hundred I'd have though, performing acrobatic stunts for 30 minutes or so. Perhaps it was just for the joy of it or maybe they just wanted a break from the infernal noise of the air guns. 

I used to get the night boat home pretty frequently across the Irish sea, by preference I'd take a sleeping bag and kip on deck in reasonable weather. One night almost the whole way home we churned up a bright blue bioluminescent wake visible for miles. Never seen it before or since in 40 odd years.

jk

Reminded of the occasion when the great lexicographer Noah Webster was caught by his wife in flagrante delicto with the chambermaid. "Webster, I am surprised", she said. Her husband, who must have been the pedant's pedant replied “It is I who am surprised. You are astonished.”

A few years back in Slovenia we heard a commotion in the undergrowth behind our van. Turned out to be a hedgehog and a snake having a right old tussle. It didn't last long before they both went on their way, seemingly none the worse for wear. 

Earlier this year, in the evening by a pool in France, we heard a frantic, almost mechanical rattling on the concrete. A wasp had pinned a cicada on its back and was slowly eating it alive. Despite its desperate attempts to fly away it had no chance even though it was much bigger than the wasp.

In summer of 2020 I spent a lot of time sleeping in the garden, under my board, becase it was too warm inside. One morning I woke up to an odd noise. There were a squirrel and a massive wood pigeon on my bird feeder. The wood pigeon was slapping the squirrel with its wing until it buggered off.

Here's one.  Not particularly strange but very striking.  I whipped out my phone and tried to get a photo but it doesn't do it justice.

Crossing a big grassy field about this time last year, the ground was wet but it had turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon.  And in the low sunshine, the whole field was completely covered in shimmering threads of silk like one enormous cobweb.
What did that, spiders?  Some kind of caterpillar?

Another one (or two) from a week of very hot, still weather last summer while I was paddling in N Wales.  The air was still and hot and there were lots of superior mirages going on above the relatively cool surface of the sea for several days.  Ships and even islands seeming to float just above the horizon, that kind of thing.

I paddled across to the Skerries (of the NW corner of Anglesey), and as I was heading over from Cemlyn Bay a very light mist descended leaving blue sky above but the horizon and all the landmarks just faded away for about half an hour.  The tide was flowing strongly but the sea was mirror flat, so there were big boily upwellings in the water caused by the current running over rocks on the sea bed.  Quite spooky, it was a bit of a relief when the Coal Rock cardinal buoy appeared out of the mist.  Never felt lonely though, because there were a couple of other parties paddling out there (I was on my own), and I could clearly hear them just talking normally to each other from about 1km or so away.

The following morning I was playing in the tide race at North Stack, and looking across to the Skerries there was a full-on 'fata morgana' mirage for an hour or so making it look like there were big cliffs over there.  Not weird as such, but really striking.

Probably a mass spider hatching event.

I've come across a woodland reserve where I occasionally walk when every bit of (overgrown and tall) grass is covered in web strands and there's several tiny spiders on each stem. Every so often I'd have to remove them from myself.

Ta.  I wondered if it might have been something like that, but I didn't notice any spiders or insects on the grass - might have missed them if they were very small and keeping tucked in out of the light though, my eyesight isn't the best when I'm wearing contacts.

I find the wee things cute though I know it would be full on horror for some.

I've seen it at night canoeing along the coast in |Eire - and quite a lot of it when i was at Sea in the RN.  But never in footprints!!

I see some strange things while working offshore on an oil rig, strangest possibly was a kestrel eating another kestrel. A couple of months ago another kestrel which had been around for about 5 days disappeared, I did find it being eaten by a peregrine falcon.

Another funny thing is I catch hoverflies which migrate across the North Sea for research purposes, they are only small so an amazing achievement as my rig is 140 miles from the nearest bit of land. I usually hand catch the hoverflies, but also have sticky traps up too. One day I noticed about 40 hoverflies on one of my sticky traps and decided to stick them into test tubes after lunch. On my return all that remained of the hoverflies were their legs still stuck in the sticky trap, a small bird had taken advantage of a mid migration meal, I had to smile.

Matt Hancock

Imagine being fly no. 40!

Pic number 3 looks like a Roger Dean painting (Yes album cover).

Was once in mid Wales and discovered that there was going to be an exhibition of Roger Dean AND Rodney Matthew's work in Machynlleth. Unfortunately it was for the following week and there was no way I could return for then 😭

It does.

I didn't know it was called a Fata Morgana mirage until I showed someone the picture who told me.  It's named after Morgan Le Fey, the sorceress from the Arthurian legends, because apparently she could conjure up castles in the sky.

Earlier this year we had some quite stunning bioluminescence on the the local beaches (Kent coast). The waves were bright blue with it, some local photographers got some amazing photos but they are all on f***b**k. Only problem is the sludge (I assume the critters that made the glow) left all over the beach, which took months to clear back to sand.

Years back I was doing some dives in the N. Wales slate quarries, I was stating at a coastal campsite nearby, and did some easy shore dives off the beach in the evening. To my surprise the seabed was covered in spider crabs, like a carpet, there were so many, they were crawling over the top of each other and you could barely see the sea bed. Never seen or heard of a similar event since.

That's a breeding pile, and they're becoming more common as seas warm. We get them in one of the marinas here. They can only mate when the females shed their shells iirc.

Thanks, I can imagine mating would be a problem for them. I was surprised at the amount of them, must have been tens of thousands as I dived over quite a large area, and that they were so close to shore as they started in only around 2m of water.