Memorable things in nature

[MysticChevron]

It’s Friday evening, the kids are away for the night…please share your nature anecdotes!

I once saw a swarm of bees migrating - actually heard them first! I stood at my front door and witnessed them come round the street corner, follow my street, then turn another corner at the end of said street. It was nothing short of entrancing!

Driving home when a young owl flew down hitting the windscreen of our car. It landed on the pavement, very dazed with a bloodied beak and one of its wings looked broken. Local vet kindly agreed to take it in (and didnt even charge us) so we popped it in a canvas shopping bag and I held it on my knee, stroking its soft head. The next day I was allowed in to the vets to see the little owl before it went off to a wild bird rescure place for rehab. So amazing to see such a beautiful wild bird up close, (pic attached so you can all share in the cuteness!)

Wow amazing!

I have been fortunate to see so many wonderful animals & plants

A few years ago, walking beside the river in Singapore, heard squeaks. There were about 20 large otters with babies rolling in the sand on the shore edge. Then they all popped into the river. One local lady said that she walked there every day & had never seen them before.
A few years later, there was a BBC news story about these otters.

While scuba diving
Turtles sleeping, perfectly camouflaged under water amongst the corals & sponges.

12 huge, majestic manta rays circling above me

At a city park in Thailand, an enormous monitor lizard crawled out of the lake with a big fish in its mouth. The lizard whacked the fish against a tree to break it up to eat it. Lots of smaller lizards joined the to feast & also crows.

I also used to walk in a forest that had a herd, that included white deer.

I have also seen dolphins, whales, basking sharks, sharks, bio fluorescent waves

There are so many beautiful creatures !

Ooh this is just the sort of thing I’d have gazed at for 20mins!

Split with an ex
Moved to new location, where I knew nobody.
After work, I would sit in the garden & eat something.
A beautiful sandy coloured field mouse used to come & eat the crumbs.
I suddenly realised that I was not alone & that I would be OK !

Later on there were wood peckers
A pheasant laid eggs in the garden
I could hear owls at night
A shew made a nest near the back door

How wonderful !

The blossom on trees on spring before everything becomes green

My first view of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It took my breath away. The photos just don’t do it justice.

This summer has been wonderful for the insects in the garden. More bees and butterflies particularly, which is encouraging.

I was watching a total solar eclipse over 10 years ago with a primary school class.
There was a field of horses and cattle nearby...when the sun blacked out they made a commotion and ran to a corner of field . It was uncanny and strangely beautiful.

I'd like to mention blossom too...especially magnolia.
And Nepal...I cannot imagine a more beautiful country ...it truly is Shangri La.

Seaside sunsets. Stunning.

And 20 years ago, on a morning safari drive in South Africa. When it was still dark, found a cheetah and cubs sleeping. We waited, silently, for an hour as it got light and the sun rose, and the animal woke up.

The scene changed from black and white to bright colour as day broke.

Glorious and unforgettable.

These are lovely to read, nature really does give a lot of "wow" moments.

Me and the dog were out walking, and came face to face with a muntjac deer. They both stopped, then the little deer ran towards my dog and headbutted him in the face! (dog was fine)

A herd of about 50 fallow deer in v. early spring, I was alerted by them crashing around the woods, all running together.

A kingfisher flying down the river, keeping abreast of me as I walked down the path, then it perched on a branch sticking up from the riverbed.

I love to watch the water voles - one day one came bumbling towards me with a mouthful of foliage and it looked as if he was carrying a bunch of flowers.

An otter, just diving and swimming on the opposite riverbank. He stayed for about 20mins until another walker approached and scared him off.

I've also seen the patch of rainbow on a non rainy day like a pp. Have also seen some glowing things flying above me in a straight line in the evening sky. Much too low down to be satellites. What were they?

It was an amazing sight.

Yes, we've also had various reliable sightings of Panthers (Black Leopards) over the years in rural West Yorkshire including one by a male family friend, a previous sceptic, who saw one stalk and then chase a deer Into the woods. I don't know if you are aware but DNA taken from a sheep carcass in the Lake District has confirmed their existence in the UK. Your dad was right!

www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/big-cat-british-countryside

I'll tell him, thanks!

I've thought of another. In NZ, I was on a boat tour, whale and dolphin watching. The dolphins would swim on their backs under the prow of the boat, looking upwards to the humans lying on the prow, looking into the water. I cannot tell you how odd and awe inspiring it is to catch a dolphin's eye. Not at all like looking into the gaze of a guinea pig or a dog, even. There is a consciousness looking back at you.

I'm convinced Douglas Adams was right!

Wow, what a magical experience that must have been! I've seen a Harbour Porpoise spy-hopping but not a dolphin or a whale.

I'm curious to know whether your dad reported his sighting. I didn't report mine partly because I couldn't accurately label it but mainly because badgers and deer live in that area and we don't want idiots turning up in the dead of night with rifles looking for a big cat and disturbing them. Our family friend didn't report his panther sighting either on the basis that it wasn't harming anyone and the area he'd seen it in is very remote.

I was 14 and put with my first boyfriend. We came out of the cinema and there was thunder and lightning. We walked home about 1/2 a mile and it was really spectacular. We stood in a doorway to a shop and just watched it.

This is a fantastic thread @MysticChevron. I am really enjoying it. I have seen many amazing things in nature. There’s one incident I call ‘The Squeaking’. Last winter I took my dog to the beach. It was afternoon and very cold. As we started to walk along the cliff top to get down onto the beach it started to snow. When we reached the beach there was the loudest thunder clap I have ever heard. There was forked lightning out to sea. We turned back. The thunder was so loud the ground literally shook. We started to hurry back along the cliff top path. As we started along the path there was only what I can describe as a cacophony of squeaking. From out of the tussocks of grass on either side of the path came hundreds of voles and field mice running everywhere crisscrossing the path and squeaking so loudly. I do wonder if they thought there was an earthquake happening.

I was driving along the A6 last Saturday and a little way ahead of my car, a little group of three stoats dashed across the road. I know they're not rare or anything, but I've actually never seen one before (though I've seen weasels). They move in such a funny, quick, smooth, undulating way!

We came out of a shopping Mall in Paphos in 2019 to an unbelievable sight, literally millions of brightly coloured butterflies....on the drive back to our hotel they just kept coming.

For hours we watched them, just amazing. I've googled and there are loads of articles on it online

@MasculineProviderEnergy the patch of rainbow on a non rainy day. They could be nacreous clouds I saw some a couple of years ago in North Yorkshire near Helmsley. Truly magical!

That is wonderful @Pubgarden

I often go out very early (before 6am) for a swim or run on the moors nearby. There is about half a mile of small road i travel along with woodland on one side and a reservoir on the other. If I'm there when it's just getting light, an owl has often come out of the wood and flown by my car at eye level, basically staring me out. She's telling me it's her wood. I know!

I saw a sun dog last week, that was cool.

Whales in the wild.

Aurora Borealis. Saw them nearly every night when I spent 6 weeks on the Isle of Raasay in the summer of 1991. Also several times since!

Swimming with my friend across a harbour in Northern Ireland when three dolphins popped up right next to us. No one else around. They were so close I could have touched them but I was actually quite scared. I knew they wouldn’t do anything to us but wasn’t prepared for how big they were. Glad I saw that they were dolphins because once they swam away all you could see were three black fins…

I am lucky to see a lot of things in nature... everything from flocks of various species of birds swooping and circling overhead at dawn, ducklings going out for some of their first swims, lambs sunning themselves (or just frolicking about with their friends... I love lambs!), a whole range of animals giving birth, and times when even deer and foxes have startled my dogs into absolute fascination. At the moment, I see a lot of sparrow hawks about.

When I used to do the long-distance drive to college in the mornings, I used to see occasional bats hanging from motorway bridges.

@AcquadiP , my dad didn't report it. I think he doubted the evidence of his own eyes. I remember him saying it was about the size of a Labrador but didn't move at all like a dog, it leapt up a bank like a cat.

Thought of yet another one. When I lived in Australia, we used to have white gate posts at the end of the driveway. I used to swing the car in there at night and the headlights would illuminate the giant huntsman spider who lived in one of them, gripping onto the post like a guardian. Sounds terrifying, but it was actually rather reassuring (he/she never came into the house, thank God).

Swimming near minke whales in Orkney.

I'm in Scotland and one particular winter was extremely cold and snowy. When driving to work one morning a barn owl flew along beside my car for ages. It was incredible. I guess it was struggling to find food in the deep freeze.

This week I had a hummingbird moth in my garden. I have never seen one before and I had no idea what it was. I was most impressed!