[Will Hunt]

Went to the Farne Islands at the weekend and saw seals and puffins and the like. Pretty rad.

[fatneck]

A week on the Lleyn;

Hen Harrier - two
Choughs - only two
Kestrels and buzzards - many
The last swift of the summer - sad times...
A small pod of porpoise off Porth Iago...

Nice

[nai]

While belaying on Left Unconquerable today a small bird of prey landed on the Calvary buttress next door and sat for a while.
I've never seen a BoP on Stanage and was torn between admiring it and paying attention to my leader who was engaged in the crux.
It was small, probably smaller than a Jackdaw, and fairly light in colour but with a distinct speckled breast.
Anyone seen it and/or any idea what it could be?  I'm thinking possibly a Hobby but couldn't claim any sort of certainty.

[Johnny Brown]

A week on the Lleyn;

Hen Harrier - two

Whaaat? Where? Just spent over two weeks in Abersoch. Highlight was on the main beach yesterday, mother and child bottlenose dolphins chasing fish in the shallows about thirty yards out. Amazing.

[webbo]

 While pedalling through the wilds of East Yorkshire (Broomfleet ) I saw this pile in the road which as I got closer was clearly snake shaped. I stopped and a closer look i.e. about 30 foot as I wasn't too sure how protective Lycra is for fending off snake bites.
This snake wasn't moving it was in the shade and it was quite cold but it was way too big to be a grass snake, in the end I just buggered off not being that comfy with even viewing the things on the telly.
I will be avoiding that road in summer from now on.

[JackAus]

Spotted an echidna on Sunday while on the bike. He was just wandering off the apex of a nice fast left hander as I went through it at about 140kmh, lent over he was about 1.5m away from my face... :D

[fatneck]

Whaaat? Where?

Pistyll just east of Nefyn, spotted on consecutive days fishing so likely the same bird...

Saw one every day for a week at Clynnog Fawr a couple of years ago!

Just back from a week on Anglesey and saw lots of choughs including one in the garden of the house we were staying at!!! Not much else to report (aside from the usual waders) apart from some stonechats and a surprising number of curlew...

Also, to my joy, the private lake I'm a member of in darkest Aintree now has a resident Kingfisher!!

[webbo]

Does recent wildlife sightings include chasing a shrew round your dining room after the cats brought a live one is as a present. This is a regular event field mice, shrews, voles and even rabbits. These are ones I manage to catch and release, there are the ones where it's just a few body parts.
Country living not for the faint hearted.

[SA Chris]

Small BoP, hovering low, I think brown with black tipped wings (it was nearly dark)?

I've seen one before in the area tucking into a pigeon.

[lagerstarfish]

yesterday I watched a male bullfinch narrowly escape a sparrowhawk by diving into the trees at the nottom of the garden - even in the trees the sparrowhawk put in a fairly impressive Star Wars speeder bike style performance.

the local magpies were pretty angry at having their patch invaded, but the sparrowhawk took plenty of time soaring its way back up with the ocasional roll to avoid attacks

very cool

[SamT]

Small BoP, hovering low, I think brown with black tipped wings (it was nearly dark)?

I've seen one before in the area tucking into a pigeon.

Kestrel

[lagerstarfish]

my other source of joy at the moment is a pair of goldcrests that regularly come within a few feet of me while I stand still communing with nature in the mornings - hopefully I'll get my act together and try get some video of the midget birds this weekend

one of the neighbours showed me a palmate newt in their garden. don't think I've seen one before

[SA Chris]

Small BoP, hovering low, I think brown with black tipped wings (it was nearly dark)?

I've seen one before in the area tucking into a pigeon.

Kestrel

Looking at google images, almost certainly is.

Thanks Kes, proper Bo.

[SA Chris]

White cross orb weaver, from my garden.

[Johnny Brown]

Ring-tailed Harrier over Ringinglow bog this afternoon, got a great if brief view of it overhead as I drove across the cattlegrid. Pulled over and watched it slowly diminish towards Redmires.

Something of a landmark for me as this is this first one I've seen in the Peak.

Then a hundred or so Pink-feet headed east at dusk. Magic.

[dave]

Then a hundred or so Pink-feet headed east at dusk. Magic.

Anasazi lace up wearers driving back from burbage?

[andy_e]

Hen harrier? Surely this plus the geese is a sign of a strong grit season ahead.

[Johnny Brown]

Almost certainly a female or juvenile Hen Harrier yes. It would be very late in the season for a Montagu's.

[andy_e]

Ah, I'd never heard the term ring-tail before. Nice spot! Have you reported it? I'm sure there's some initiative or other about hen harriers.

This maybe? http://www.derbyshireramblers.org.uk/public/news-mainmenu-354/news-items-mainmenu-355/97-rspb-report-sightings-of-derbyshire-hen-harrier.html

[Johnny Brown]

I think that's aimed at protecting nesting attempts. I've reported it to the local bird study group, though they haven't included it in their daily roundup due to sensitivity.

[andy_e]

Or they think you saw a kestrel and got over-excited 

[Johnny Brown]

Funny you should say that, I've just had an email from them asking if I was cycling, and if there were any Spanish witnesses.

[andy_e]

Well, it was at 6am when you saw it...

[Sloper]

I saw a stoat near to the junction of the A56 & M60 (it was running by the side of the bridge over the Bollin) and we say what was some sort of harrier in Northumberland (I've forgotten the crag but it's the one with Sloper Masterclass, which incidentally took me two goes).

Note not a Harrier Jump Jet, I'd be pretty certain to recognise one of those.

[Yoof]

So we had an eastern brown snake come into work today which was quite scary for those in the room (which has one exit) alongside the snake... By the time I arrived it had been scared into a big blue wheelie-bin

In other news, white bellied sea eagles abound last week
https://www.flickr.com/photos/82111568@N02/15028659654/in/photostream/