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Science/nature/environment

Nature Walk - What Have You Seen Today?

(142 Posts)
SeaWoozle Tue 20-Feb-24 13:43:34

A sunbathing squirrel! Also saw my first bumble of the year. Spring is springing!

GrandmaSeaDragon Wed 28-Feb-24 15:34:04

A robin was serenading me as I walked through the village to our church coffee morning. I always think of lost loved ones when I see robins. On an ancient brick wall, the aubretia is an absolute picture. Lots of daffodils, snowdrops and hellebores flowering now too. Natures is amazing after so much rain recently, when roads were like rivers and fields like lakes!

SeaWoozle Wed 28-Feb-24 16:43:49

GrandmaSeaDragon

A robin was serenading me as I walked through the village to our church coffee morning. I always think of lost loved ones when I see robins. On an ancient brick wall, the aubretia is an absolute picture. Lots of daffodils, snowdrops and hellebores flowering now too. Natures is amazing after so much rain recently, when roads were like rivers and fields like lakes!

I have robins nesting in my garden. I was sorting plants out yesterday to take with us and one was bobbing backwards and forwards taking the worms I'd dug up.

Dolly17 Wed 28-Feb-24 17:33:50

I saw a little owl at a local nature reserve today, along with long tailed tits (my favourites), bull finches and assorted garden birds. Buds and blossoms appearing on the trees, Spring is in the air!

CanadianGran Wed 28-Feb-24 17:59:09

Canada's 8 Seasons

Winter
Fool's Spring
Second Winter (we are here now)
Mud and Allergies
Actual Spring
Summer
Fall
Second Brief Summer
Fall Storms
Hello Darkness My Old Friend

CanadianGran Wed 28-Feb-24 17:59:33

Well, 10 actually!

nanna8 Wed 28-Feb-24 22:39:39

White cocky up a tree. Not to be particularly encouraged because they eat wooden window frames! Loud,though!

SeaWoozle Wed 28-Feb-24 22:40:52

Oh wow! Beats my red kite! Would quite like to see a wild one, but not one chewing my windows!

nanna8 Wed 28-Feb-24 22:46:04

There are a lot here SeaWoozle I’d sooner the red kites anyday . You get them further north but haven’t seen them down here.

Greyduster Thu 29-Feb-24 09:05:17

I was finishing my breakfast in the kitchen being entertained by a lovely flock of goldfinches in next door’s holly tree. We get them in the garden regularly in summer, but I haven’t seen them this early before. No time to set the camera up this morning but here is a photo I took last year. They like the spent lavender seeds!

SeaWoozle Thu 29-Feb-24 09:09:27

Greyduster

I was finishing my breakfast in the kitchen being entertained by a lovely flock of goldfinches in next door’s holly tree. We get them in the garden regularly in summer, but I haven’t seen them this early before. No time to set the camera up this morning but here is a photo I took last year. They like the spent lavender seeds!

Beautiful. Love goldfinches. We get them occasionally here. Where I used to libe there was a large flock of them lived in the woods. As you walked along, they'd fly up and move with you.

SeaWoozle Thu 29-Feb-24 13:58:30

Had to go to the tip this morning and afterwards decided to go on a slight detour home, round the lanes. Came across a field full of ewes and their lambs. These ones ran over to the gate to say hello. It's a shame I can't add video because in the distance there were five lambs playing together, headbutting each other and leaping all over the place. An absolute joy to watch. This duck (I believe it's a Muscovy duck!) was just in a watery ditch at the side of the road, by a farm. Also saw a juvenile buzzard sitting on the hedge but wasn't quite quick enough for a photo. I really was in another world for a while.

Kate1949 Tue 05-Mar-24 14:31:19

Walsall Arboretum today. Not a great pic as my phone is useless. What a beautiful place in the middle of Walsall town. There are miles of tree lined walks, lakes, one with a fountain, streams with little weirs and bridges, play areas, a very reasonable cafe. Today we saw parakeets in the trees.

Witzend Tue 05-Mar-24 14:34:48

The first sticky buds on the horse chestnuts opening!

Juliet27 Tue 05-Mar-24 14:37:48

@ nanna8
I’ve got used to cockatoos after visits to family and now understand what a noisy nuisance they can be but I do like seeing just how agile they are in flight.

SeaWoozle Tue 05-Mar-24 14:47:10

Kate1949

Walsall Arboretum today. Not a great pic as my phone is useless. What a beautiful place in the middle of Walsall town. There are miles of tree lined walks, lakes, one with a fountain, streams with little weirs and bridges, play areas, a very reasonable cafe. Today we saw parakeets in the trees.

Lovely. I've only ever seen wild parakeets in Spain. They don't half make a racket! But quite cute all the same.

Kate1949 Tue 05-Mar-24 14:51:46

There are quite a few of them in this part of The West Midlands SeaWoozle. We get the occasional one in our garden

SeaWoozle Tue 05-Mar-24 14:57:10

It's a glorious day here. Went for a walk up the lane earlier and had to wait for a while for a farmer to hustle his ewes and lambs into a field. They were having none of it, quite happily munching on the grass verges! Babies just skipping about. Saw a few very bouncy squirrels and a flock of jackdaws suddenly landed in a tree above where we had a rest before our return. Just nice to see the 🌞

Wheniwasyourage Tue 05-Mar-24 14:57:16

Over the past week or so we've seen 2 dippers, a grey heron, 2 mallards, a hare, a wren and what I'm pretty sure is a yellowhammer on our walks. Also heard woodpeckers. There aren't as many birds as there used to be, sadly.

SusieB50 Tue 05-Mar-24 14:57:33

We have a large group of parakeets (outskirts of E London) that make a dreadful racket but I noticed yesterday in the sun what a brilliant green they are . I presume they are in their mating attire . Two redwings in the garden this morning getting the last of the ivy berries.

SeaWoozle Tue 05-Mar-24 15:01:26

SusieB50

We used to get redwings in the garden of our old house. Pretty little things but weren't around for long.

Wheniwasyourage

Wonderful. We've just had the usual robins, pigeons, bluetits and occasional pied wagtail here. Oh, and our usual blackbirds of which I think there are usually three pairs nesting around our garden. They don't get on! Found some mice nesting in a box in the garage last week, too. Very cute with their little beady eyes.

Greyduster Tue 05-Mar-24 16:50:34

One of our local parks is full of ring necked parakeets. Their numbers are on the up. I’ve also noticed that as a result we don’t see so many nuthatches, treecreepers and woodpeckers☹️.

Kate1949 Sat 09-Mar-24 17:32:00

The Canal and Rivers Trust are working on the canal near us. Today they have dyed it green! It looks very strange but better than the usual murky brown.

CocoPops Sat 09-Mar-24 21:31:20

A cute young raccoon spotted yesterday evening

Floradora9 Sat 09-Mar-24 21:45:02

We have both red kites and red squirrels in our neck of the woods.
As an aside I remember someone with Aspburgers syndrome calling it " my corner of the field "

SeaWoozle Sat 09-Mar-24 22:29:46

CocoPops

A cute young raccoon spotted yesterday evening

Oh wow! Lucky you.....well, I know they can be known locally as Trash Pandas, but even so!! They're my daughter's favourite animal and we did a Meet the Racoon for her birthday a couple of years ago. It was fab! In the UK now, though, they've changed the status of them and they're now classed as invasive so they have to be kept behind locked doors and out of the public's eye......