Nature Walk - What Have You Seen Today?

We've had torrential rain here and I find earthworms washed up on the tarmac. I rescue them and find some drier soil for them. My little garden buddies!

This morning I watched a magpie struggling with a beak full of twigs. It is nice to think spring is on the way, although there is a heavy frost today.

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Mega frost here this morning so had to defrost the car in preparation to take the car to the cattery. No wildlife for me as such today, so just scenery. Eryri/Snowdonia, Lake Bala, Ffestiniog and bits and bobs in-between. Such a beautiful drive. Highly recommended!

Cat, obviously! 🐈‍⬛

I’ve just had a magnificent fox in the garden , eating the remains of my D’s dog’s breakfast. DD and family are staying and I keep telling them to bring in the dog bowl once he’s finished but they don’t listen! Presumably I will have Mr Fox visit daily now for food! They drink from the pond most days but I have never fed them.

Went for a walk in nearby woodlands earlier and there were several huge piles of logged trees. Lovely fresh smell

SusieB50

I’ve just had a magnificent fox in the garden , eating the remains of my D’s dog’s breakfast. DD and family are staying and I keep telling them to bring in the dog bowl once he’s finished but they don’t listen! Presumably I will have Mr Fox visit daily now for food! They drink from the pond most days but I have never fed them.

Lucky you! We don't see them around here. Used to have a family visit the front garden. I used to feed them jam sandwiches every couple of days. They'd have foxy time under our motorhome then bring the babies a few months later. Glorious!

LucyAnna

Went for a walk in nearby woodlands earlier and there were several huge piles of logged trees. Lovely fresh smell

LOVE the smell of freshly cut logs/wood 🥰

Bit of a poor photo, but can anyone see the rooks building their nests?
They stood out against the bright blue sky yesterday, but I couldn't get any closer to take a better photo because they would all fly off.😄

Namsnanny

Bit of a poor photo, but can anyone see the rooks building their nests?
They stood out against the bright blue sky yesterday, but I couldn't get any closer to take a better photo because they would all fly off.😄

They make the most incredible nests. There is a huge rookery over the road from us. They sit in a tree in our garden and physically snap off the small twigs/branches with their beaks then fly off with them. I wondered for ages why there were twigs on the grass - now I know why!!

Just before dusk we’ve had a magnificent sparrow hawk in the garden, he/she was swooping in and out of the shrubs. I hate to think of them killing small creatures but I know they have to eat too.

Today? Heard lots of birdsong, including several different robins, at least one woodpecker drumming, a dog fox sunning himself on a driveway. As for flowers... Loads of hellebores, two daphnes, a frangrant honeyuckle, a magnolia stellata starting its display,daffodils and narcissi, flowering cherries galore. All this in a rather built up area of Bristol.

SusieB50

I’ve just had a magnificent fox in the garden , eating the remains of my D’s dog’s breakfast. DD and family are staying and I keep telling them to bring in the dog bowl once he’s finished but they don’t listen! Presumably I will have Mr Fox visit daily now for food! They drink from the pond most days but I have never fed them.

I feed the foxes every evening at between 8&9 . I buy snd give them cheap dog food plus anything the dog leaves plus any left over food - all gratefully received.
I started last early summer as I watched two very thin bedraggled foxes and felt so sorry for them. By early autumn they looked magnificent - their tails were bushy snd coats thick and glossy.

I have wondered about worming - has anyone done this?

Early morning photo

We went for a long walk yesterday and I had hoped to see a stork. According to the local paper they have started to return for the summer. Every village around here has a stork nest ready on too of a tall building or just on a pole and some villages pride themselves on their large stork population. Didn't see one. But I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Have had a red kite fly over the house three or four times in the past couple of days. Watched it this morning, over the back garden just swishing around. Then again this afternoon, intimidating the rookery over the road then later this afternoon, as the cat and I stepped out the side door to go around the front (thankfully the cat went to the back of the house!) I heard a loud "Reeeeee" and looked up to see the kite flying not much over the garage! And off it went, towards the hills. It's very rare to hear one make a sound so it did make me jump!
Don't know if it's ill, looking for food or just finding our village a nice place to be!

Sadly no photo as wasn't quick enough with my phone..

Around here it is the rooks who intimidate and mob the kites. They feed on similar carrion so are in competition.
Here some of the fields where they would normally search are flooded, so perhaps your visitor was just hungry.
Enjoy the sight, it won't harm your cat!

shysal

Around here it is the rooks who intimidate and mob the kites. They feed on similar carrion so are in competition.
Here some of the fields where they would normally search are flooded, so perhaps your visitor was just hungry.
Enjoy the sight, it won't harm your cat!

That's a good point shysal

Very flooded around here too. And I know the cat's fine, just made me jump as we both stepped outside and it being so close! Hope it dries up soon.

I’m still reeling from the piles of 🐶💩 on my walk yesterday.

However, I’ve a pair of rooks on my bird table this morning, with my usual flock of 8 feral pigeons and 9 jackdaws. They all give way to 3 wood pigeons who strut around warning them off.
I’ve little birds too, so I wait for the big ones to re-fuel, then take another lot of food out for them.

shysal

Around here it is the rooks who intimidate and mob the kites. They feed on similar carrion so are in competition.
Here some of the fields where they would normally search are flooded, so perhaps your visitor was just hungry.
Enjoy the sight, it won't harm your cat!

When my daughter and I both had tiny puppies at the same time we both noticed that when we let them into the garden it seemed to attract buzzards. It was worse for my daughter as her garden is much larger than mine but we were both scared that a buzzard would fly off with our dogs. However the rooks did a really good job of scaring away the buzzards at my daughters. I feed the corvids when I’m at my partners place ( it’s part of my zero waste policy, they get stuff that would normally get thrown out) and love watching their pecking order.

I’m the same May my thought/hope being that if I feed the corvids, they won’t prey on the little ones.

Storm Arwen took down all the trees in the rookery. I felt so sorry for them the following day, they were like little lost souls. They have rebuilt it since though. When I do my evening walk ( which is a bit spooky) I always like to know that the rooks are up there in the trees. What amazes me is that, as soon as I put food out for them they see it even though they are nowhere to be seen.

Loving these, aren't we just so lucky to to have all this on our doorstep
I thought I was watching a cormorant down by the (very muddy) river bank but it was a branch. My little (white & fluffy) dog was rolling in every thing before I realised
A friend's little grandson was overjoyed to find frogspawn!

keepcalmandcavachon

Loving these, aren't we just so lucky to to have all this on our doorstep
I thought I was watching a cormorant down by the (very muddy) river bank but it was a branch. My little (white & fluffy) dog was rolling in every thing before I realised
A friend's little grandson was overjoyed to find frogspawn!

🤣 I've seen so many creatures which have turned out to be branches or rocks. I've even thought a herd of deer was cows! Good job I've got some new glasses. Lucky boy finding frogspawn. I've yet to see any this year. Was hoping to see our toad in the garden yesterday but he wasn't around either. We've also got a newt which hides under the pots and pretends to be dead. Until you turn your back and it scuttles away!

Yes, we're very lucky 🤗

Out of my kitchen window I saw 2 woodpigeons, one chasing the other round the garden - spring is in the air!