Animals and Birds Common in your area

[wheretoyougonow]

I'm just interested in what wildlife is commonly seen in your area that might not be seen in other counties or countries. You don't have to say the specific area (you can if you want) but I thought it might be of interest to some. I will definitely be jealous if you are in a country with exotic animals commonplace

I am in England and here are mine-
Muntjac deer
Red Kites
Foxes
Kingfishers
Herons
Owls
Bats
Moles

Owls
Hares
woodpecker
bats

I live nearva zoo so our local animal population is very skewed!!

But we do have owls, birds of prey, foxes, badgers, rabbits, deer, swans, herons, kingfishers etc roaming free as well.

And bizarrely, a population of feral peacocks that cause havoc.

Bucks: hare
Badger
Fox
Newts
Frogs
Toads
Deer, esp muntjac

The peacocks in the village I used to live in were always underfoot, or wailing horribly underfoot in the dark…

I live close to a city centre, but by a river, and beside a ruined convent on grounds that haven’t been touched since the 1970s, so we have lots of bats, rabbits, foxes, herons, little egrets, frogs, otters, stoats, birds of prey (mostly kestrels but some peregrines), various waders and gulls, salmon and grey mullet, the occasional dolphin, grey or harbour seal.

Most of the animal listed so far are pretty common animals in the British countryside and seen regularly if you live there?

contrary to popular belief there's plenty of wildlife still in the countryside areas where there aren't hoards of people walking their dogs.

granted if you live in an urban area and have gravelled and concreted over your garden your wildlife spotting options may be limited.

the only thing I rarely see and get excited when I do is a hen harrier or an osprey flying over. We even have a healthy population of long eared owls.

regularly have to remove toads/frogs/ newts from inside the house

Barn owls! And owls in general — I forgot. And once we had orcas come up from the harbour to the city centre.

I live in a suburb. This week we found an elephant hawk moth caterpillar. Probably the coolest wildlife find this year.

Wolves and someone saw a lynx wandering around the back streets of a nearby village not too long ago. Wouldn't say they were a common sight though!

Thanks for the replies. I love the idea of seeing peacocks regularly. Pretty glad I don't bump into wolves though

Last year I was in a part of rural Italy where I saw wolves several times in the distance while out hiking. They seemed to be keeping themselves to themselves, and hilariously, the friend I was with, who is absolutely terrified of dogs, had no issue with them.

On the other hand, I’ve never been able to relax entirely while visiting another old friends’ parents in Vermont. Lovely hiking, but bears all over!

Seagulls (seaside town)
Seals
Pigeons
Crows
Foxes
Slugs and snails...
Butterflies

London:
Foxes
Parakeets
Neighbour has a large pond with a resident toad & some dragonflies.
Seen the odd frog
Geese
Rats
mice
Brown squirrels (we had red when I was a dc)
Used to see Stag Beatles when young now very rarely.
There was a pheasant in my garden once.

Saw a badger this summer in the countryside which was exciting.

Black bears, cougars, coyotes, deer, occasional grizzly bears, but that is just this week as I leave in 5 days. My family live in the mountains in a large country so there is an abundance of interesting wildlife. A lot of it is getting ready for winter right now.

South Hampshire UK
Hedgehogs - have 2 visiting + 1 who lives in our garden
Squirrels
Rabbits
Red Kite
Buzzards
Sparrow hawks
Peregrines
Kestrel
Bats
Frogs/toads
Dragonflies
Assortment of 'garden' birds - sparrows, robins, starlings (vandals of the bird feeding stations!), blackbirds, tits (blue, great, long tailed, coal), gold finch, ring-necked doves, wood pigeon)
Pheasants
Corncrake
Heron
Slugs - about 7 different species (yes, I do get slug resistant plants but they mainly eat hedgehog food leftovers + the vast amount of hoggie shite!)
Stag Beetles
Kingfishers
Cormorants
Oyster Catchers
Avocet
Sandpipers
Terns
Seagulls (usual variety but also Black Backed ones - lesser & greater)
Swans - white and black
Foxes - occasionally but we have wheelie bins so they mainly stay hidden but see one if out and about
Fallow Deer
Butterflies - but not very many this year sadly

We live on the very edge of a city but back on to a large green belt area and are near the sea/rivers. We are also very near 2 country parks and the New Forest is about 40 minutes away by car. We feel very lucky.

South London....
Foxes
Squirrels
Magpies
Rooks
I sometimes hear an owl
Pigeons
Lots of pigeons
Rats
Mice
Canadian Geese
Egyptian Geese
Swans
Mallards
Herons
Those little black ducks with the big feet.
Giant turtles (dumped when they were babies apparently)
Approximately ten million bright green parakeets
There's an urban myth of a black "big cat" living in the park
Someone once claimed they saw a wild lemur in the same park

My allotment is packed with slow worms. Every time I move something there's loads of them underneath.

North Scotland

Sea eagles
Golden eagles
Various less exciting raptors
Greylag geese 🙄
Herons
Corncrakes - hear rather than see
Grouse
Orca - occasionally
Humpies - very occasionally
Basking sharks - very occasionally
Dolphins
Seals
Otters
Deer
Seeing short eared owls recently - hunt in the day time

Very very jealous of those that can spot dolphins and seals. We are supposed to have otters here but I've never seen one.

Bedfordshire:

Red kites galore
Buzzards
Magpies
Rooks
Wood pigeons
Tawny owls
Blackbirds
Starlings
Robins

Muntjac deer
Fallow deer
Badgers
Moles
Black squirrels
Assorted little brown furry things

Grey squirrels, parakeets, a variety of garden birds, rats, terrapins. That’s it. About 5 years ago we had nesting kestrels, and I used to have a visiting hedgehog but he’s gone now.

I live in a special rural area, and apparently have 3/4 species of Bat in my not exactly big garden.
I get excited by: Hares (not rare but we don't publicise where)
Red Deer, and a bit for Sitka and Roe, I've yet to see Muntjac but I know they're around
White Tailed Eagle
Rare Tern's
Ravens

And I still like seeing Red Kite, and other birds of prey, including Owls

Black ducks with big feet will be moorhens I think

@AuxArmesCitoyens I looked it up - I think they're coots.
They're feet are hilarious.

I've just remembered that there are several rare white squirrels round my way.
I have only seen one once but apparently there is quite a few now.

Oh, I forgot -

Grass snakes
Herons & little egrets fly over quite often
We sometimes hear woodpeckers but rarely see them
Bizarrely, cattle egrets

Years ago, our cat caught a ferret.

And once, some years ago, DH saw an otter.