Anyone interested in chatting about wildlife in the city/town/country?

[tomorrowalready]

On the back of discussing what wildlife cats catch, I'm pondering just how much wildlife I have seen since moving to the second biggest city in UK as opposed to how little I saw when I lived firstly in the country and then a small town as a child. Eg, never saw a wild fox close up until lived in a flat 1 mile from Spaghetti Junction with an old orchard where I sat with a vixen and 4 cubs playing less than a foot from me. Foxes, Squirrels and bats in the garden here so commonplace now, never saw them as a child. Coup de Brock- saw a large live badger emerge from neighbours hedge late this summer, had never seen a live one in 60 + years. It is a very green tree-ridden place here even though on one of the main roads out of the city. But is it now more common to have close encounters of the wildlife kind in town or country?

Oh yeah, cities are great places for wildlife, foxes, gulls, magpies. Scavengers.

Well I've seen deer, badgers, owls, hares etc only in the country. And quite often.

Suburbia is great for bats!

Rats and foxes in the city.

I guess as countryside gets squeezed more and more, there is nowhere for the wildlife to go go except in with us. We live on the very edge of the city, built up area but literally last road before the countryside. I love it I see foxes, deer sometimes, jays, buzzards. And we get TONNES of slow worms which are amazing creatures.

Just had a fox scale our fence ! We're in a built up area, lots of houses etc

Growing up a fox lived in my garden, geese were common, parakeets often in my garden trees. Even saw a pheasant in the garden once. Hedgehogs, lots of birds. I grew up in z2/3 London.

In the country abroad I've seen hare, rabbits & bats.

Never saw a rat till I went to uni outside of London, mice are common on the tube.

I grew up in the countryside and now live in Brum too. Loads of foxes round here as we're right next to the railway line, a fab green corridor! I think city animals are by necessity more used to humans and less, they come across us here wherever they turn. Also the only time in my life I've seen a water vole was in a stream near my estate!

I live in Canada in Vancouver but right beside a regional park that is forested. I regularly see squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, eagles, hummingbirds, owls, and many other birds.

Oh and bats mostly in summer.

At Shuswap Lake in the interior I have seen a cougar, many deer, loons, mergansers, chipmunks, Douglas squirrels and hundreds of birds.

I would love to see a fox or hedgehog during one of my visits to England to see family but haven't yet.

And yes I have seen bears close up. A bit scary I must say.

I live semi-rurally. Today I rounded a corner with my dog and happened upon a squirrel on the ground. It did not move. Neither did I (my dog didn't spot the squirrel, probably because it was so still).
After a while it dashed up a tree bare of leaves, yet I couldn't see where it was in the tree. It's a hollow oak tree, so I guess there must be a dip at the top where squirrels can hide. Although there are lots of squirrels around here, I've never seen a drey (nest). Does anyone know when they start building their dreys?

And yes I have seen bears close up. A bit scary I must say.

😱

OhLoveFall, Canada's always going to beat our poor parochial wildlife aren't they? I must say bears do fascinate me, I have watched so many programmes abou them, maybe I identifiy with them as I am getting there size wise and the tendency to hibernate. In my break I remembered we hear a lot of owls here as well, I see jays in the bare trees in autumn and winter. Maybe my favourite bird plumage wise, where do they go in summer? Have seen many kingfishers on the river in the park, never saw those as a child. I have seen a kestrel kill a pigeon on my kitchen doorstep and it gave me an evil look before swooping off lest I try to nick it for my lunch. I do leave left over cat food out in hopes a hedge hog will eat it but suspect it is rats or foxes or the slugs that get it but then hedghogs can eat slugs. Just remembered when I first moved to Birmingham the areas had regular spring signs out to slow down for the natterjack (sp?) toads crossing the roads to breed. There were hundreds of tiny ones hopping over busy roads. In fact we are blessed here with wildlife - it makes me so mad when ignorant commenttors talk of Brum as an urban slum.

Used to see loads of water voles in the diches growing up, my dad said he once saw an otter. Rabbits of course I have seen aplenty and I do remember the last myxamatosis epidemic (isn't there another threat now?) and seeing the dead ones, we used to see hares in the fields and some people found lizards and grass snakes (and killed them for no reason) in their gardens. I have never seen wild deer but mixed on a daily basis with cows and horses in their fields and once saw a weasel which stopped to look back at me in a lane.

About the dreys Gameof Phones, I think they keep them all year round and raise their young in the spring, it seems we have hundreds (grey ones) round here yet they were a rarity when I was young. Our garden is dominated by them and crows and magpies, they all make a right din. I have noticed a great deal of twittering in the trees at 2/3 am, I think it is roosting starlings.

Parakeets in my garden this afternoon!

Are you in the south Luredbyapomegranate, around London? I believe they have become naturalised. what do they eat? You're not growing pomegranates for them are you? I saw one once in a tree Handsworth, Birmingham so I don't know if that was an escaped pet. Apparantly there was a genuine escaped golden eagle in South Birmingham a few years ago, I never saw it though others claimed to. I think it was recaught but removed from its 'owner'. Did someone mention peacocks? Someone kept them in a council house back garden growing up, again , noisy buggers. Used to see pheasants and partridge pecking about in the fields, a bit of shooting went on I think. Where I grew up had a heavy industry and yet was also very connected to rural life and a big river, I think I got a lot of my interest from my father who worked out of doors and my sister who was self taught but then took a degree in zoology so had a fair amount of knowledge. I loved birds as a child and used to bird spot with my Obserever Boof of British Birds, don't knoww what happened to that.

@LoveFalls, I meant to ask, what is a 'mersanger'? Do you have to keep your own pets inside for fear of them being attacked and eaten by the wildlife?

I'm SE London. They do have them in the West, but it's VERY exotic around here..

Sorry, @LoveFall, I meant 'merganser' and have now googled it . A type of ruddy hooded duck, some have been seen in Cardiff bay so could get to Birmingham as not far in Canadian terms. In my area we have an interesting little park with a good variety of water birds including a pair of black swans a few years ago. But I think they flew off though a do remember seeing a warning notice about not feeding them because of 'angel wing' which damages their flight feathers.

Is it brown bears you see sometimes? Do you ever see the cubs? I think it is the long relationship the mothers and cubs have that fascinates me.

We have a large suburban garden with plenty of wildlife. We get a fresh family of fox cubs every year, and plenty of squirrels. The last few years we have had a pair of muntjac deer too. Yesterday we saw the female with a new baby, about the size of a large rabbit. It was zooming around the garden at high speed while the mum tried to keep up. It couldn't be very old because I had noticed the mum looking very pregnant a couple of weeks ago. I was quite surprised, as I thought it was the wrong time of year, but apparently muntjac breed all year round. They are also fertile again within days

Oh what other wildlife do you have there, Luredbyapomegranate? I understand that in some places wombats have escaped and become native, not to mention the mythical? panthers or leopard roaming around. I think it's possible but how long would they survive alone with no mate? Also in so many cities now as here every square inch is being built on and old trees being taken down. They provide so much habitat and food for the whole range of life. I could weep when I see another tree being taken down. My sister works in a place in Wales where they had a nice garden including a tree she had planted but it has been torn up for a car park - yeah, they paved paradise. But ,Good News! Everybody in Wales is being gifted their own tree.

On drive hime tonight i see a badger and fox
I live small town near country we have a lot of badgers in our town and foxed
Regularly see bats in my mums garden, also lots of pheasents around , seen owls and hawks etc as well
Dh see otter other day .
See a fair few deer as well but only the odd hedgehog

We live on the outskirts of a large city and have a hedgehog that comes into our garden, we’ve named him Hedgy

@worriedatthemoment

On drive hime tonight i see a badger and fox I live small town near country we have a lot of badgers in our town and foxed Regularly see bats in my mums garden, also lots of pheasents around , seen owls and hawks etc as well Dh see otter other day . See a fair few deer as well but only the odd hedgehog

That's lovely, worriedatthemoment, to have so much wildlife around. Are you in a country area? As I mentioned I have only seen the one live badger once though it is probably there and many others too nearby. I do hope you don't see too many dead animals as you drive along? I understand deer can cause serious accidents in some places.

@Vapeyvapevape

We live on the outskirts of a large city and have a hedgehog that comes into our garden, we’ve named him Hedgy

Hope Hedgy has a nice family to see him/her through the winter. as I said I do put out food and there tons of slugs in our garden but not much shelter. I have been thinking of making one of those hedgehog boxes and leaving it at end of garden to prtect them from cats and other animals. the problem is it is a shared garden and constantly cut back be HA gardeners. That's why I value what I do see so much.

SW London here - loads of foxes. Normally see several a week on my evening dog walk. My dog just ignores them in now. Regular badger visitor in the garden as we ell as squirrels. Occassioanlly see a bat.

Never seen a hedgehog, but neighbours have.

I've seen an owl once.

Loads of parakeets.