[fatneck]

Not much of note up in Teesdale (usual meadow pippits, peewits etc) bar a rather sad encounter with a rabbit at Grassholme reservoir. Was working my way along the bank fishing when I startled a rabbit out form the bankside, it took to the water and swam alongside me for a bit. It didn't look too happy so I sped up to allow it to get back on to the bank which it did. Upon my return walking back towards the car I had a look out for it but couldn't see it and assumed it had scarpered. Five minutes later I spotted some weird splashing further up the bank which transpired to be said rabbit drowning! It spent a few minutes lunging about and then became still and floated a long for a bit before sinking to no doubt provide a substantial feed for the myriad crayfish that inhabit the reservoir...

Bad photo of soon to be dead rabbit swimming!

[tomtom]

2 (presumably) buzzards soaring high over the uni area in central sheffield at the moment.

I've been keeping an eye out and chatting with the locals and the general opinion is that these were rock-fax beta hawks.

On closer inspection it is clear that they are a member of the vulture family which has learned to scavenge information on a large scale - similar behaviour to the european topo cuckoo, but much bigger

:D superb.

[SA Chris]

Not much of note up in Teesdale (usual meadow pippits, peewits etc) bar a rather sad encounter with a rabbit at Grassholme reservoir. Was working my way along the bank fishing when I startled a rabbit out form the bankside, it took to the water and swam alongside me for a bit. It didn't look too happy so I sped up to allow it to get back on to the bank which it did. Upon my return walking back towards the car I had a look out for it but couldn't see it and assumed it had scarpered. Five minutes later I spotted some weird splashing further up the bank which transpired to be said rabbit drowning! It spent a few minutes lunging about and then became still and floated a long for a bit before sinking to no doubt provide a substantial feed for the myriad crayfish that inhabit the reservoir...

Bad photo of soon to be dead rabbit swimming!

Murderer! Well, a charge of manrabbitslaughter at least

[r-man]

Spent much of the summer helping on this film. Great fun getting up close to all sorts of fantastic invertebrates.

[Johnny Brown]

Female Merlin today on Kinder near Nether tor. A real treat, you know they're there but so rarely see them.

[andy_e]

Good spot! I had a golden plover over my gaffe this morning and a hobby chasing the amassing swallows and martins over my gaffe this evening!

[Will Hunt]

Anyone know what this is?

http://twitter.com/Will_Hunt/status/644625944825757697

[Johnny Brown]

It's a male lizard. http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/common_lizard.htm

[SamT]

Magpies......

One one,

Not two,

Not Seven

18 of the feckers... all lined up on the gutter and ridge of the house opposite making a right old racket at 7.30 the other morning.

3 mins later they were all gone.

 

[Oldmanmatt]

One for sorrow.

Two for joy.

Three for a girl.

Four for a boy.


Eighteen for fuck knows what but possibly peace in the Middle East or a resolution to UK bolting debate?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Sasquatch]

4 days of driving from Anchorage, Alaska to Spokane, Washington:

5 brown bear(closest we could have reached out the window of the car and touched)
4 black Bear
1 Wolf
2 Foxes
?? Buffalo(lost count after 30)
6 Caribou
4 Moose
4 Mountain Goats
1 Porcupine
14 Stone Mountain Sheep

Good Tally

[tregiffian]

A Moose or two, a Caribou, a Bison cow or so..........
 

[Johnny Brown]

That's well impressive Sasquatch. In the 20 hours I spent driving through the Yukon I was expecting something like that but saw virtually nothing. And we were only on the Alaska highway for a third of that. Suppose I'll have to go back.

[andyd]

4 days of driving from Anchorage, Alaska to Spokane, Washington:

5 brown bear(closest we could have reached out the window of the car and touched)
4 black Bear
1 Wolf
2 Foxes
?? Buffalo(lost count after 30)
6 Caribou
4 Moose
4 Mountain Goats
1 Porcupine
14 Stone Mountain Sheep

Good Tally

What a haul! Did you weigh the sheep or was it an estimate?

[SA Chris]

One for sorrow.

Two for joy.

Three for a girl.

Four for a boy.

5 for silver

6 for gold

7 for a secret, never to be told.

Nothing after that, it's sort of like binary, you start at one again. so you got 2 secrets and one boy.

[lagerstarfish]

8 for a wish,
9 for a kiss
10 for a bird you must not miss
11 for health
12 for wealth
13 beware it's the devil himself

18 gets you 2 kisses or wish and a bird you must not miss or the devil and silver etc.

[lagerstarfish]

I think people just make this shit up to help kids learn to count

[SA Chris]

or it can get you a rubbish pop song played 18 times.

[SamT]

Blimey - opening sounds like N Trance - set you free and there are shades of Josh Wink in the back ground. Who knew.

[andy_e]

Hen harrier swooped out of the fog and glided right past me today, amazing! Also more bizarrely, a treecreeper was scaling the rocks, very strange behaviour as there are no trees for a mile around!

[tlr]

The Red Deer up on White Edge and Big Moor are getting a bit excitable at the moment. I didn't get any full on action shots, but there was a lot of noise being made and lots of chasing around.

[fatneck]

Nice shots!

Pretty certain I saw a Great Northern Diver at Hury Reservoir yesterday!!! Have tweeted various bird peeps but no one has got back to me about how likely this is!? Lifetime tick for me after an Arthur Ransom inspired childhood dream...

Also saw a group of male black grouse and two deer crossing the road then peering at us through the trees today in Weardale...

[andy_e]

http://www.durhambirdclub.site40.net/birdnews4.php

[fatneck]

Thanks for this Andy. Reported it variously but received nothing back. Not sure if this means they don't believe me or it's not unusual!? Some more research suggests it may have been a black throated diver? But definitely not anything other than these two possibilities...

[JamieG]

Just got back from my holiday in the south west of the US. Saw roadrunners, which are super cool. Also lots of squirrel, chipmunks things. Highlight was getting a very good look at some kind of garter snake. Also in Dallas, grackles absolutely everywhere and what a racket they make.