Things you see on walks

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

I think I saw a Buzzard. Well that's what I've identified it as in my bird book. I saw it both perched in trees and flying between them.

Anyone else seen anything interesting this week?

@Furries I live near Richmond park and see the deer regularly. They are so beautiful. Even after 25 years of seeing them most weekends I still stop, look and marvel at them. Majestic creatures!

@ProperVexed where abouts do you live?! I would love to see a wild otter!

I’ve not commented on anything all year but since this thread seems to be bringing cheer to you all; I also saw a kingfisher in urban Nottingham as a child but more recently I saw an
alongside a water vole I got a good look at them and was very lucky.

swam not saw

@Onedropbeat

What were they hiding from?

My covid ridden children I assume I wouldn't mind it if they smiled or anything but you almost get hissed at.

Great thread!

This week I’ve seen a couple of herons, a kestrel and a very small flock of lost looking geese. But best of all an otter! There are apparently 3 or 4 which have taken up residence in the river that runs right through our nearest town.

No hedge porn but did spot a black stocking stuck on a hedge next to a very busy A road which looked like it had been flung from the window of a passing car!

@BabloHoney Dorset. Otters are returning to many rivers across the country. I'm pretty good at spotting them now but it isn't guaranteed! They are also wary of people. Good luck!

. In a lot of ways, we're quite sanitised in the Uk

A few years ago after reading the first chapter of Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods', which was mostly about how many ways there are to be killed on the Appalachian Trail, I started a thread wondering what the worst thing was that anyone had encountered in the U.K.,
The winner by a country mile was cows, IIRC.... seriously!

We often see deer in our garden and there is much evidence of wild boar , although I have never spotted one in the garden.

When I go for a run it is not unusual to see a couple of hares - but not for long as they are much faster than me

We have a beautiful woodpecker which comes to the bird feeder every morning.

Saw these lovely geese or ducks the other day. See lots of parakeets and cockerpoos in cute winter coats in London.

Had a rare sighting of an office chair hanging upside-down in someone's hedge recently.

The parakeets aren't wearing coats btw, just the cockerpoos.

Not on a walk but a beautiful pheasant in my garden recently. It was picking up nuts dropped from the feeder and very tame.

Egyptian geese, Canadian geese, coots and moorhens and herons. All on the smallish pond in SW London. Lots of parakeets. Love them. Puppies.

We see buzzards, quite often in pairs soaring around in circles in the sky. We also have kestrels here and I am pretty sure an owl swooped from one side of a field to the other when we were walking the dog at close to dusk.
I have also seen a deer, thought it was a branch a tree and then realised it wasn't. Amazing sight, just stood there looking at me. In the same area but not the same time, a fox was hiding in the tallish grasses of a bank. I was so amazed I couldn't get my phone out quick enough to take a photo.
We see rabbits very often and bats. They are an amazing sight too. They swoop so close to your head, I can see why some people worry about them getting caught in their hair.
The thing I notice more is the small changes of the seasons. I didn't really notice it that much before I got my dog, but being out every day you see the small differences.

@NeedToKnow101

The parakeets aren't wearing coats btw, just the cockerpoos.

Ahh parakeets in little coats. That would be a sight 😉

Yesterday on my walk I saw a man sunbathing stark bollock naked on his balcony. Not a young, handsome Adonis but a Friends-style ugly naked guy 🤮

I saw a man on a 6ft high unicycle in my local park last week.

Your photo is Egyptian geese, NeedToKnow.

@ErrolTheDragon

Your photo is Egyptian geese, NeedToKnow.

Thanks Errol. I had wondered what type of geese they were 😘

They're very striking, aren't they? Easy to remember once you know what they are as they look as if they're wearing kohl like a pharaoh.

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/egyptian-goose/

@ErrolTheDragon - brilliant! And thank you - I haven’t read a Bill Bryson book for years, and definitely haven’t read that one so you’ve sorted out my next book purchase.

@lightlypoached - lucky you, they really are gorgeous. Do they ever get out of the park and cause chaos on the roads?

We have a few of the “deer crossing” road signs on various roads locally. Am sure I heard once that someone had complained to the council about one of them, saying that it should be moved as it wasn’t a safe place for deer to cross the road! Or maybe it’s an urban legend I’ve heard.

@grassisjeweled

Snowy tree a couple of day ago (live abroad)

Also saw the woman next door putting the bins out with bare legs/ no pants on... Bit odd

that really tickled me

I usually see kingfishers once a week or so, but I've seen them every day this week! I don't know whether there are more of them, or if I've just got better at spotting them.

We live next to a golf course and as lockdown = no golf we walk our dogs on it most days never seeing another soul but we do encounter deer every day, there is something ethereal about them. We also see kites, buzzards, kestrels and hawks. We also see tawny owls most evenings, as enigmatic and other-worldly as deer. We have to play white noise every night as our dogs get spooked by the constant to-wit-too-woo!

We live near to an 18th-century manmade lake and we've spotted kingfishers, marsh tits, woodpeckers and hawfinches. There are lots of pheasants in the area and they seem to have a death wish, they make up most of the road kill along with badgers, I have never seen one in the wild, just dead on the side of the road people drive way to fast on the country roads around here, not taking into account that wildlife don't have any road sense

Every day we see field mice as we are on a constant battle to rid our house of mice without causing them harm, we use humane traps and we empty them every single day . We never see them in the house but hear them in the eaves! I would never cause them harm but they are prolific. If anyone has any tips for getting rid of field mice without hurting them, I'm all ears!