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?

We’ve been putting cat food out for him and have loads of slugs too.

Lots of rats in town near the station.

We must have voles nearby as well as the cat bought one in the other day.

I used to live nearer the town centre and was walking down the road in daylight one day when I realised there was a badger walking right next to me! He was huge, I was so tempted to stroke him but didn’t fancy getting bitten.

@BurnedToast, I just composed and lost a post about finding a depitated creature beneath my window and not knowing if it was a mole or vole but decided it was a mole due to body size and its hands, poor thing. A happier creature that visited one hot day was the attached - an Elephant Moth, looked like it was going to the Butterfly Ball.

I'm finding this quite depressing reading. Shows the imbalance of apex predators and non native species that cities and suburban areas allow to thrive whilst animals like hedgehogs struggle.
Grew up in a Surrey village and now live in a small town but spend a lot of time in the 'leafy' bits with the horses. The foxes near my house are ridiculously tame, literally no fear of people and will almost walk next to you in broad daylight. Not good for us or them really.
See lots on our bird feeder...woodpeckers, blue tits, great tits, finches, sparrows, nuthatch and of course grey squirrels 🙄
Resident buzzard at the yard with the horses, seems to keep the rabbit population down a bit. I always thought they only took carrion but even if its not eating the bunnies it seems to have deterred many from moving in.
Kestrels and red kites have become more common near me.
The local river is riddled with mink and I've never seen as many rats as when I attended Royal Holloway uni but on the flip side there was a beautiful pair of peregrines nesting in the founders building.
Only ever seen one live hedgehog 😔 but I am seeing more squashed ones on the road so overall I hope that means there are more of them but it's hard for them with so many badgers.
Also OP that will have been a sparrow hawk you saw, not a kestrel. Kestrels not heavy or quick enough to take a pigeon, they mainly eat insects and small mammals.

Sorry a decapitated creature not depitated, whatever that might mean when it is an invented word.

@TooManyAnimals94, if you don't mind I'll ask about your last point first as I wondered myself. It was over 10 years ago during that very cold winter and an icy cold day, I opened my back door and there was this bird holding down a still living pigeon. they both looked at me and I looked back wondering if I should attempt a rescue, when the bird took off very low with the pigeon by the neck, I was surprised it could hold it as it was nearly as big. But I have seen film and pictures since as well as others flying over and I would say it was a kestrel but I may be wrong. I never saw a woodpecker as a child but again have seen green and tree ones here several times. I think I saw a buzzard or two travelling by train through mid Wales (I was entrained not the buzzard, I believe it is only London birds that take public transport). Also watching a film set in South of France countryside, was just showing birds etc and a heron flew by reminding me how excited I always feel seeing a heron, don't know why, it's the legs I suppose. Does anyone here live in a crane introduction area as I have seen on TV? I'd love to see them fly over.
I'd agree it's not good for wildlife to get too trusting in humans that's why I thought it remarkable I spent a lot of time out walking as a child but never saw foxes etc apart from the one weasel ( and I have pondered was it weaselly a weasel or stoatly different, 50 years ago and I can still see its face and body poised in my mind's eye). But I came to the big city and here they are as you say almost tame. I suppose it's the easy food supply and the lack of hunting in past times.

Do you mean the mink as a non-native species? Are they related to weasels etc? do you think they should be culled or controlled? I know they escaped or were let out of mink farms and attack other animals, are mink farms still a thing in this country? We did see rats outside in my childhood but I never saw rat poisin inside buildings till I worked in a posh hotel in London. Also saw my first cockroach in a hotel bed.

I mentioned the winter twittering of birds before, I can hear them now at 3.45, through the double glazing. I was thinking I have never seen a starling caught by a cat maybe that's because they have a good mutual alarm system? The cat is in with me now not out hunting.

I'm in Wolverhampton, currently I have a squirrel living in the front garden and another that lives in the back garden, they don't like each other.

I get hedgehogs and quite a few birds, which I do no encourage as I have a cat.

I once saw a small brown furry thing being chased by the cat, about the size of a rat but all furry including the tail.

There are also a couple of foxes that run down the road in front of my house, unless they see me, then they stare at me

I forgot about squirrels, they are everywhere. All grey though, I remember the red ones from my childhood but I think they only exist in one part of the UK now.

@tomorrowalready I would be very very surprised if it was a kestrel but I wasn't there so maybe! Sparrowhawks aren't big either but from what you describe that is definitely their MO...pretty savage things.
Yes by non native I mean animals that have been brought into the country. Mink are one of the worst examples but also parakeets, grey squirrels and even rabbits although I believe the Romans brought them so you're going back a loooonnngg way. Yes I do think mink should be culled along with badgers which, although native, have no other predators except cars and they are everywhere near me. Obviously very attractive charming animals but they breed very successfully and eat everything, including hedgehogs.
Same with deer. We have no wolves or big cats in this country anymore so large deer populations also need management to keep the herds healthy and protect woodland so it can house other animals. I love seeing wildlife but we're going to see less and less of it because the government doesn't care about countryside issues and only listen to Chris Packham who is a much bigger threat to wildlife than the mink or the badgers!
Re herons...I know what you mean about them. I'm endlessly amused by the fact they nest in trees...they look ridiculous 🤣

We have many pheasants, rabbits, some hares, grey squirrels, foxes, owls and lots of deer. This is a pic of 2 sleeping in my neighbours garden 😄. Cat also brings in lots of mice and the occasional slow worm.

5 miles from a major city centre but lucky to have a very large garden. We have a family of grey squirrels living here, bats in the loft, a fox couple who visit nightly, various hedgehogs that wander in for food (I put meat out for them), and many mice. I have bird boxes up which are well used in the warmer months. I also put a bee hotel in and there were signs of use there too.

So much going on even though we are in a very urban area. I have lots of large shrubs, hedging etc., though to try and attract wildlife in.

I'm only about 10 miles from a red kite feeding centre so we see them circling over the valley almost daily. There is also deer that live in the woods behind our house and they sometimes come down to graze on the grass banks every now and again.

@SummerSazz lovely!

I just saw a jay bird in my garden, never seen one before

I used to work in a hospital on the edges of the city centre and there was a small wooded area. On a nightshift we would see families of badgers playing on the patio and occasional mutjack deer.

I'm in South Birmingham in a built up area but near a park and we see lots of foxes, squirrels and different birds pass by in our garden..I'm yet to see a hedgehog though which I'm quite miffed about.

@boltz

I just saw a jay bird in my garden, never seen one before

It's amazing how well camouflaged they are when they are so vivid. I have mostly seen them in the trees by our busy road while I am urbanly waiting for a bus. One quick flash and then they are gone. Actually don't scientists now tell us birds and other animals are seeing colours differently from how we (humans that is) perceive them? We (humans that is) think this world is ours but it really isn't it, is it? That's why I don't kill spiders, ants, slugs etc outside though I am afraid I have killed indoor flies and fleas.

I did not know a badger might eat a hedgehog. Having seen the badger and told by neighbour they have a set nearby, I now wonder if that is why I have not seen the hedgehogs for a long time. Though they hibernate at his time don't they.

I live in the countryside. Regular visitors to my garden are mainly squirrlls and hedgehogs. I saw 4 deer on a walk this morning, there seems to be a small group living wild. It's very nerve wracking when they leap into the road.

Yes Hizz, they are quite a traffic hazard in some areas aren't they. Years ago I lived in Swansea and at certain times you'd find horses or ponies (have never known the difference) wondering the streets as they live freely on Gower. I don't say wild as I think they do have owners like the ponies wondering in the New Forest or is it the Forest of Dean where local people have foraging rights for their livestock?

I’m another Brummie too! I’ve seen muntjac round the Queen Elizabeth hospital site and buzzards. Loads of birds in my South Birmingham garden this year, including starlings that I haven’t seen much of for years. We’ve got a high population of goldfinches, tits, blackbirds, robins and more exotic parakeets, jays and woodpeckers in South Birmingham. Pigeons, wood pigeons, magpies and crows all over the place. I see far more magpies in Birmingham than in the countryside. We’ve also got a hedgehog, frogs, noisy squirrels and foxes in outback garden. Plus bats. I’ve never thought about it but you are right; loads of wildlife in this city.

Yes, a merganser is a duck. DH also saw an American Widgeon last week. Very lovely ducks.

The bears I have seen are black bears. One summer day my family and I were walking on trails near Shuswap Lake and saw a mother and two cubs. We had to move away from the area as a mother bear can be aggressive.

A few summers ago we were in Anchorage Alaska at their aboriginal cultural center and a huge bear just sauntered across the path. Freaked out the staff who basically locked everyone inside the exhibits while they tracked it.

I have a photo of my Dad with a huge bear he shot outside our trailer in a forest service camp in the interior. It had been hanging around the camp and there were many children, including baby me. Sad though.

We do have problems with bears habituating to human neighbourhoods. They like fruit trees, berries, and garbage.

Yes, we have to watch our pets. Coyotes have killed small dogs in Vancouver. We never let our little one off a leash in the forest. I have seen coyotes loping down the middle of our street. One attacked neighbours cat on our front porch years ago. Blood everywhere but the cat survived.

We have had to cull coyotes in Stanley Park as they were attacking people who were jogging etc. it is apparently due to people feeding them.

Raccoons can be a real nuisance. We had one who had kits under our front porch. She dug huge holes in our garden to get in.

I would still love to see a hedgehog!

I forgot about skunks. Pretty but smelly. We see lots. And smell them often in the spring and summer.

Thanks for sharing your experiences LoveFall, nowadays we so often see video of human/bear interaction it must be all too easy to forget they are hugely strong animals that will be dangerous if they feel threatened. All my information comes from watching BBC nature programmes, one filmaker (Gordon somebody) followed the lives of a family of brown bears in North America, as you said they love sweet stuff and can get too familiar with human habitation so he also showed the different attitudes of local people and even hunters.

Just realised I missed your sentence about your dad killing a bear and hanging it up - that is what the film showed and the number of trophies kept by the hunters. They also ate the bear meat and offered some to the film maker which he did eat and said was tasty. It was fascinating but one thing I always wonder is do bears have a strong smell? Could you smell the ones that crossed your path? Do you have any sensory memory of the dead bear as well as the photo? Forgive me going on but it seems to me sight and sound of human /animal interactions and observations are often discussed but not so much smell and touch. I suppose it depends on the individual (human and bear or other creature) and their sensitivities. What exactly does a skunk smell like and is it different in normal daily life to when it is using its glands aggressively or defensively as I understand it does?

Hedgehogs just amble about sniffing up food but can protect themselves with their spikes or quills, appparently they can also make a lot of noise especially when mating, I have never heard that. Or maybe I have. I do sometimes hear loud squeals and screams in the night from the garden but don't investigate unless my cat is out there. I have been a bit dismayed to learn that badgers which another poster says are increasing will eat hedghogs as I tell myself the hogs can eat the slugs which in turn eat my plants and even the plastic pots they grow in. The cycle of life in the suburbs - a bit different from yours.

Had to live in a city to go to uni and only saw the occasional mangy fox.

In my garden now we get rabbits, badgers, muntjac, usual birds but also red kites more recently, shrews, mice and hedgehogs.

On leaving the village, more muntjac but also roe and fallow deer, one or two hares, stoats, weasels and mink.

I’ve never seen a red squirrel in this country.