Outdoorsy Shite - April Top Trumps

[GrimmaTheNome]

Rules as before - nature 'spots' fauna and flora, points for rarity (absolute or relative to where seen), seasonality, eloquence of description. Please declare if you're in forrin parts or a mermaid.

Did I cover everything?

[Slubberdegullion]

Perfect

Today's rubbish spot was a mouse on the patio.

[Northey]

What a lovely day for the first of a new month!

Today I spent a lot of time considering leaves. Practically overnight, it seems, they have switched from acid green, needle-slender tips into being broader, sturdier, fleshlier...

[GrimmaTheNome]

My spots today carry on from yesterday. We took the little ferry to Piel Island (the first day of regular service this year). On the island itself we saw a small flock of Emporer Geese (presumably from the original wildfowl collection I alluded to, though they didn't look to be pinioned). A couple of Highland Cows (DDs favourite mammal after dachshunds at the moment). Then, sitting on a bench in the castle looking over the water to Walney Island - the bubbling call of curlews (one flew right across our field of view) overlaying the Frankie Howerd impersonators convention calls of Eider drakes. There were hundreds of ducks and drakes in the channel. I don't know whether this is usual or a spring special - they nest on various of the islands on this northern part of Morecambe bay, I believe. Absolutely fab - we'd lured DD with the hope of hearing an odd eider, I'd not anticipated seeing so many. On the return trip there was a drake sitting on the end of the RNLI slipway next to the little jetty, didn't even need bins for that.

Then during civilised tea at Conishead priory, two of DDs most favourite mammal turned up to augment our own - ok, not wild nature but her cup ranneth over.

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

My rubbish spot was 3 dead ladybirds. I think the frost got them

Photos Grimma. You forgot extra points for photos. I didn't bother with the dead ladybirds.

[Slubberdegullion]

How wonderful Grimma. A cornucopia of spots.

[Selks]

Today, nothing as am back home and exhausted...but can I sneak in a spot from yesterday? Hundreds of puffins (and guillemots, seals, kittiwakes etc) at the Farne Islands, Northumberland. It was fab!

[GrimmaTheNome]

Photos are of course nice but proper wild spots are likely to be through binoculars or too fleeting to catch.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Hello. Happy April spotting everyone.


I am a year older today
And I didn't see nuffink.


The Farnes sound bloody lovely.

[violetwellies]

I went to an auction yesterday and bought a ferret. A present for Do, part of the arsenal for the war against rabbits. It doesn't appear to be awfully interested in rabbits. But has the hugest pair of furry testicles.

[violetwellies]

A present for DP

[AIBUqatada]

A ferret! What a lovely present.

I've misfiled my April stoat-or-weasel in the March thread. So I'm trying to encourage it over here Ray Mearsishly by kissing my palm to sound like a rabbit available for slaughter. I expect it will trot along soon.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Happy Birthday Ariel. Did you really see nothing, or just nothing as spectacular (to us land-based mortals) as usual?

A ferret? A male ferret? Do they really stink to high heaven? - we've only met them at 'animal days' at the WWT and they didn't seem too bad, and cute as heck lounging in hammocks.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

No really nothing. Mind you, I didn't go anywhere.

[violetwellies]

An actual real ferret, dp let it loose in the kitchen (or What will be The kitchen When it, grows up - I prepare food in There for goodness sake ) Everywhere now stinks of ferret. Really stinks. A throat burning musk.
There will probably never be s spot again from Violet as the odour of Mr ferret will have frightened every thing away

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

[DeepThought]

ooh er at real ferret

they STINK

Highland cow babies, soooo cute (the Heiland Coos graze an SSSSI* locally)

*Not sure how many SSSs to use

A toad in the village pond

Huge hornets, feck orf ye buggers

Blue butterflies - common blue I think

Not anything remarkable yet

[Northey]

Oh! Speaking of butterflies, I saw one of the white ones with orange wing tips.

A ferret, violet? What an interesting gift :)

[GrimmaTheNome]

Ah Northey, it was you who claimed to be crap at identifying butterflies, wasn't it? Now concentrate.... that was an Orange Tip.

[Northey]

Was it you who gave me the nice butterfly site? I have been looking at it and trying to learn some. I'm still stuck on the red ones though.

[violetwellies]

Peacock butterfly -obviously not fazed by ferret pong :) Then at a nursery so I'm not sure that it counts, a quince in flower, beautiful red blooms.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Jack shit here today - and still no fecking lambs.

(Will you sack me from the whole Great Outdoors thread if I confess that Bastarddog caught a Canada Goose yesterday )

[Northey]

Nature red in tooth and claw, innit?

[ExitPursuedByABear]

I do like to channel a bit of Tennyson.

[LostInWales]

Lots of dead star fish and dead crabs today, not sure what Tennyson would have made of them tbh. Slightly worried that rather than horrified I'm quite intruiged by the whole Canada Goose catch, we have thousands of the buggers here over winter.

Too jealous of Grimma's day to even comment.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

I am ignoring Grimma. (jealous)

I am consoling myself that Canada Geese are treated as vermin in some places. He was very pleased with himself. It was bigger than him. It wasn't dead. (I haven't been back)