[DaveC]

We saw our first Southern Right Whale off Logan's Beach near Warrnambool out in Western Victoria on Saturday. They gather off the coast here to give birth apparently and this is the time of year to see them.

[SA Chris]

They gather off the coast here to give birth apparently and this is the right time of year to see them

Saw dolphins on Friday night, was a gorgeous evening after torrential afternoon showers - dolphins and double rainbows!

[john horscroft]

Bit short of whale sitings  , but I did see the herd of red deer up on Totley Moor at the weekend.  Probably 15 of them, startled initially, but once we stopped moving so did they.  Big fella had a good long look at us and they stayed in the vicinity for a good fifteen minutes.  The one that checked us out looked like the dominant stag but had lost his antlers.  Is this about the time of year they shed them??  And when do they have their fawns?

jh

[dave]

clocked up some ill shit scotiaside. shit load of deer etc. found a barn owl nesting in a granite quarry. seals n shit. saw the 3 main innuendo-birds, the shag and the swallow, and some tits. saw what was either a golden eagle or a common buzzard, trying to establish from what I remember of the underwing markings.

[Mr Cat]

there's quite a few Swallows around mine and the other day I had the kitchen door open and I heard some birds tweeting...when I looked 2 swallows were gently flying around in circles... they didn't seem to be panicing in any way...

it was a beautiful sight - they were only there a few minutes before flying out of the back door again...

[Nibile]

while searching (desperately, to be honest) for some rocks while in elba island, walking through a wood, i had a brief (luckily) encounter with a gigantic black boar.
keith would have been happy, i wasn't at all.
it was easily 200 kg, because it was also very very tall, comparing it to the trees. there was also a baby bocause i could hear more noise from another spot, and that made for a dangerous situation.

[Falling Down]

After surfing at Porth Ceriad on the Lleyn today with my mate Dave who works for the RSPB and is a professional birdman we clocked a large seabird that wasn't a gull flying back and forth across the bay. He keeps bins in his car so we watched for a good half hour and narrowed it down to a Caspian or Royal Tern, both very, very rare visitors to our shores.  He went back this afternoon with a scope and condfirmed it as a Royal Tern which has less than 10 recorded sightings in th history of the British Isles.  One was last month off the Dingle Peninsula so this is could be the same bird. A beautiful animal and a lucky sighting...

[SA Chris]

Quite a tern out for the books (sorry).

Random sighting - was shower the other evening, so went for a wander on cliffstops near house trying to catch some photos of rainbows above the seastacks, and came across a field with a herd of bison. Needless to say I lost interest in taking pics of rainbows, will post pics of bison soon! About a dozen of them, one male was huge, and there were a few calves too. Spoke to a mate who lives near me and he said they had been there for a year or so at least.

[Johnny Brown]

confirmed it as a Royal Tern which has less than 10 recorded sightings in the history of the British Isles

Wow. Cilan is a special place for sure. Can you ask him if he knows the whereabouts of the Spotted Rock Rose?

[AndyR]

Saw a lone wolf about 50 m from me whilst working last week.

[Falling Down]

Abersoch is jammed with Twitchers today.... Over 50 at the Harbour alone.

JB I'll ask about the Rose tomorrow.

[Falling Down]

Photo here on Abersoch news. http://www.abersoch.co.uk/news.html

[SA Chris]

Would I have seen one before in SA? looks naggingly familiar but twitching was never a strongpoint.

Anyhow Bison pics if anyone is interested.

[Duma]

Nice.

Insomnia? Or have you a better excuse? (I'm on night shifts at the moment)

[SA Chris]

Insomnia. Second time this week.

[underground]

Good night for me last night; headed out looking for Nightjars and only spotted one, although it was my first so was chuffed with it, and then went on the hunt for glow worms, and had 5 of the bioluminescent little lasses 

[dave]

saw some mosquitos last night. what the fuck.

[Johnny Brown]

Where were the Nighjars and glow worms that UG?

[underground]

Where were the Nighjars and glow worms that UG?

Both over by Ashover way, although my mate was giving me a bit of a tour so I'm not too familiar with the specific areas. I'll find out and let you know... There were loads of Woodcock too.

[SamT]

Spotted fly catcher feeding off a telegraph wire up here in Cumberland.
Also some sort of Warbler, was very pale chest, really distinct eye band, brown backed, no hint of green/yellow, so Im thinking Reed or sedge warbler. Didn't get long at it and no bins so very difficult to say.

[underground]

Bargain to be had here: http://www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=HAWPLAT842&cat=38

Decent optics, 8x42 zinc alloy bins that focus down to 1.2m. 80 nicker knocked off the normal price....

[magpie]

Cool bison! 

[slackline]

Rare wader spotted in Cornwall.........then eaten!!!

Watched a cool Grey Wagtail flitting Malham Beck last weekend...

[clm]

Would I have seen one before in SA? looks naggingly familiar but twitching was never a strongpoint.

Anyhow Bison pics if anyone is interested.

Whats the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

You cant wash your hands in a buffalo!

(NB - joke only works in strong brum accent)

[Monolith]

This is going to be difficult to ascertain without finding the cable to my camera...

Right now on my lawn is a baby animal. It's walking around squeaking and obviously has lost it's mother. I thought it might have been a grey squirrel at first but after looking at pictures, it's not. It has a fairly long body for its age, is light grey, has a tail of about 3.5cm. Could it be a baby badger perhaps? I have no clue but would like to know. Also I've heard that you're supposed to leave wild animals be but I'm as soft as shite and will probably cry if this thing is left to die.