Outdoorsy shite. The outright boastful thread...

[FryingNemo]

And here it is. Please boast here about wildlife spots that did not occur in March.

I start with a white rhino!

Just to clarify... I think its OK to report spots which happened in previous Marches. Or even this march (in addition to putting it in the Top Trumps thread) if its really good - the sort of thing you'll remember in 10 years time.

OK, nemo, so where was the rhino?

Actually it was a one horned rhino and it was in Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Big and ugly. Lovely.

I almost bumped into a bittern once. Came round a corner and there it was, right on the path. (OK, it was at Leighton Moss RSPB so the sort of place you hope to see bitterns, but not that close)

A one-horned rhino? Hmmm. How about this then - a two tailed lizard (basking on a piece of ancient masonry in the ruins of the Greek city of Paestum in Italy)

Loving the lizard!

Hoopoe in the himalayas (my favourite bird)
A dead and a live lemming in Scandinavia
Orca + grizzly in BC
Firecrest
Umm there have been more, but it is usually a combination of location + wildlife that make it a memorable spot.
Love the lizard and rhino :)

it is usually a combination of location + wildlife that make it a memorable spot.
Indeed. So - a giant turtle swimming right underneath where I'd got a small dinghy stuck head-to-wind (Kephalonia)

I saw a hoopoo on the beach in Tenerife, i was very excited. I also saw a Sea cucumber in a rock pool on the same beach. I saw a thresher shark at skeggy years ago.

Oh yes, the turtles are amazing around there aren't they grimma! Your sailing boat trumps my pedalo

I have a turtle/pedalo combo from Crete.

Hoopoo in Egypt many years ago.

School of Dolphins off the Lleyn Peninsula

Puffins on Skomer

Last October in the Kruger Park:-

25 White Rhino running along the side of the road then across the road in front of us
Lots more Rhino at various times
About 2000 elephant in various locations and of varying sizes
4 Lion loitering in the grass after a feed
Leopard in a tree (oh yes)
Leopard asleep at foot of tree
All the usual bok/zebra/wildebeest etc
Buffalo
Hippos galore
Crocodiles
Fish Eagles
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Tortoise
2 Cheetah feeding of a Tsessebee (sp?)

I am even boring myself now.

Actually my two best outdoorsy moments are not wildlife spots at all. The first was a sunset over Loch Laxford and the second seeing the Milky Way properly whilst hiking Annapura. Those moments will stay with me forever.

I had a black mamba under the kitchen doormat, actually it was in March but a few years ago.

Oh well if we're not restricted to wildlife spots....

rafting down the Grand Canyon, one of the portaloos was in a tent, the other just placed somewhere away from sight of camp with an 'occupied' indicator at a suitable point en route to it. So... dawn in the Grand Canyon...if that's not the ultimate in Outdoorsy Shite I don't know what is

What about swimming in the middle of a shoal of 150 basking sharks?

Actually dawn in the Grand Canyon is pretty impressive. I have walked down - starting at dawn - and up again - arriving at dusk but it ain't the same.

I have walked down - starting at dawn - and up again - arriving at dusk but it ain't the same.

No, that sounds a lot harder than sitting on a raft (one of those big motorised jobs, not paddling!)

But without the risk of drowning! :)

Arizona desert, 3am: a perfect hemisphere of stars, from horizon to horizon. That was pretty cool. And pretty bloody cold as well.

A yellow eyed penguin. The skipper of the boat nearly wet himself :)
Black browed albatross

What colour eyes do they normally have??

I dunno. A variety of colours I think.

But the yellow eyed penguin is the rarest species in the world apparently.

Yes to the Milky Way. The first time I saw it, in Africa, I asked, What is that? Could not believe my eyes. Have never seen it so clearly since, but the memory stays with me.

the trouble with yours, Ariel, is that they are so extraordinary and rare that no-one has ever heard of them so we're all 'huh?' instead of 'WOW'

Cassette.. 'A smelly dog spotted this evening on my sofa. ' - I'm sure that's a truly wonderous beastie, but doubt whether the sighting qualifies for 'outdoorsy shite' unless your sofa is in the garden.