[Will Hunt]

Went to Pembroke on holiday with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their two young 'uns a couple of weeks ago. Swallows, swifts and everything else.
A highlight of the trip was playing in the garden with my 2.5 year old nephew and enrapturing him by catching grasshoppers in the grass. If you're careful about it they'll sit in your hand.

[mrjonathanr]

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/30814373@N02/28314690632/
Now resident under The Egg, Crag X.
Is it a cave spider??

[r-man]

Looks like it. I found a few of them in Lancashire last month. Impressive little beasts. Interestingly (to me, anyway) the young are phototropic so once hatched they will head towards the light. The adults are photophobic so they will head for darkness. Neat dispersal mechanism.

There always used to be loads in Odin Cave too.

---

Last night, I drove alongside a running stoat. I was going pretty slowly obviously. I watched him for a bit then drove on.

[mrjonathanr]

Thanks R man. I remembered you said there were some in Odin's cave but wasn't sure if that was one. Unpleasant looking fella. Will give the egg a miss for a bit.

[webbo]

Sat outside having dinner this evening and suddenly the couple of dozen swallows multiplied in to what looked like at least hundred as they mobbed and chased off a hawk.
Impressive.

[Fultonius]

A decent wildlifing weekend:

A Merlin!  We spotted this small flighty bird at the end of Knapdale Peninsula. We instinctively thought "falcon" but then so small... neither of us even knew what a Merlin was, but we're now sure that was it. 

We also saw a nice big black and yellow dragonfly: 

We are pretty sure we heard a beaver gnawing at a tree (as we were in the area where we had seen freshly gnawed trees the day before. And definitely were woken up by some owls, but didn't bother trying to go and find them...zzzzz

[SA Chris]

Seal or two bobbing around when we were out SUPing last night, no sign of the humpback whale which has been hanging around the last few weeks though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36943566

[Johnny Brown]

A decent wildlifing weekend:

A Merlin!  We spotted this small flighty bird at the end of Knapdale Peninsula. We instinctively thought "falcon" but then so small... neither of us even knew what a Merlin was, but we're now sure that was it. 

We also saw a nice big black and yellow dragonfly: 

Merlin is always a treat. Despite knowing where they are around in the Peak I've only ever seen two, both very brief.

The Dragonfly is a Golden-ringed - the biggest British insect by length. Quite common on the west coast, I've seen them on Skye before.

[dave]

Saw shit loads of dragonflies in the alps, along with the usual chamois and marmots. Also the bouquetin, which I think is the french name for ibex.

[GazM]

I once had a juvenile Merlin land on my head while doing survey work in the Flow Country.  Lovely little birds. I was the tallest thing in the landscape for miles around and standing still and staring at the ground while measuring vegetation heights. Suddenly there was a wooshing noise and a weight on my head (fortunately I was wearing a baseball cap).  I absolutely shat myself and let out a shriek, suddenly the weight was gone and I saw a startled Merlin flying away.  It obviously thought I was a fence post.

Later that night I climbed a cool highball at a little crag I had found and called it The Merlin. 

[cheque]

The Dragonfly is a Golden-ringed - the biggest British insect by length. Quite common on the west coast, I've seen them on Skye before.

I had the remains of one of these splattered on my car number plate a few months ago. 

[lagerstarfish]

tawny owls going mental on our street this evening

saw four at once doing swoops from TV aerials and lamp posts - lots of male hooting going on

even though it was dark, the magpies felt obliged to join in

[fatneck]

Any other Harry Potter-esque goings on?

There's shit loads of young magenpies knocking about this year for some reason...

[tomtom]

Any other Harry Potter-esque goings on?

Kids over the road keep on doing multiple laps of their house on their broomsticks. Fucking noisy little scrotes.

[SamT]

There's shit loads of young magenpies knocking about this year for some reason...

word!

I seem to recall posting on here about seeing 20 or so on the house opposite one morning. all a bit hitchcock.
There's too many off them IMHO.  Keep digging everything up in the garden, they're slowing raveshing, the place.  Had the eggs out of the blackbird nest in our garden too. Feckers. Couple of them are really mangy too, feathers are in really poor nick.
Seriously thinking of borrowing a neighbours air rifle and having a bit of a cull. 

[tomtom]

There's shit loads of young magenpies knocking about this year for some reason...

word!

I seem to recall posting on here about seeing 20 or so on the house opposite one morning. all a bit hitchcock.
There's too many off them IMHO.  Keep digging everything up in the garden, they're slowing raveshing, the place.  Had the eggs out of the blackbird nest in our garden too. Feckers. Couple of them are really mangy too, feathers are in really poor nick.
Seriously thinking of borrowing a neighbours air rifle and having a bit of a cull. 

Our cats had a few good run ins with them...

[gardinrm]

Saw some pretty interesting birds swooping in and out of the conifer plantation right next to Gib Tor. Predator with thin wings and speckly brown plumage. Fairly certain they were a bunch of juvenile Hen Harriers. Haven't seen them in a long time, and didn't have the binocs. Can't think of anything else they could have been. You get them in Scotland, but I've never seen them around the Peak. Was lovely to watch them.

[Johnny Brown]

How big were they?

[GazM]

Would be fairly significant if hen harriers had bred successfully in the Peak (or anywhere in England). Also, they're not typically associated with plantations. They weren't kestrels?

[gardinrm]

Definitely not kestrels. Didn't fly like one and were bigger. They were next to the trees really, flying out over the heathland and then darting back in. Looked like they might have been hunting pigeons, trying to scare them out of the trees. It was about the size of a buzzard but much sleeker. Thinner wings, slim square tail. Can't think what else it could be. It was the sort of bird that really made me stand up and look, not something you see every day.

[Kim]

Definitely not kestrels. Didn't fly like one and were bigger. They were next to the trees really, flying out over the heathland and then darting back in. Looked like they might have been hunting pigeons, trying to scare them out of the trees. It was about the size of a buzzard but much sleeker. Thinner wings, slim square tail. Can't think what else it could be. It was the sort of bird that really made me stand up and look, not something you see every day.

Near dusk (or dawn) by any chance? Description/habitat/behaviour (apart from hunting pigeons) sounds pretty spot on for long-eared owls. I've seen young birds hunt from plantation edges like that (in daylight). Bit smaller wingspan than buzzard but appear long winged.

[gardinrm]

Definitely not an owl. Long eared owls are unmistakeable. They have heavier bodies and quite braod (though long) wings. They also have obvious 'owl' faces. This was a quick flying bird, changing direction rapidly. Thin long wings, thin long body and squarish tail. It also had a small head. Darting in and out of the woods at mid-tree height. Skirting round the edges mostly, and quickly charging in and out. Speckled white and brown plumage.

If i'd been somewhere else I would have had no doubts.

[r-man]

Hen harrier hunting is "mainly at very low elevations as they quarter the ground for prey at slow speed". Not usually quick flying?

http://www.natural-research.org/documents/NRIN_2_whitfield_madders.pdf

[Kim]

Definitely not an owl. Long eared owls are unmistakeable. They have heavier bodies and quite braod (though long) wings. They also have obvious 'owl' faces. This was a quick flying bird, changing direction rapidly. Thin long wings, thin long body and squarish tail. It also had a small head. Darting in and out of the woods at mid-tree height. Skirting round the edges mostly, and quickly charging in and out. Speckled white and brown plumage.

If i'd been somewhere else I would have had no doubts.

How sure are you of the size? Sorry, I don't know how well you know your birds, and it's often easy to misjudge. Did you see a white rump? Your description doesn't shout hen harrier to me, but obviously I don't know how familiar you are with them.

I work doing bird survey/conservation stuff, and as Gaz says above, breeding hen harriers in the Peak this year would be a seriously big deal.

[lagerstarfish]

saw some excellent flocks of peewits doing their thing today whilst I was driving back from the Lakes

peewits are so cool