May Top Trumps....wildlife geeks step this way and get your spots in here!

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

I'll start - I'm hoping that someone will do better than an infernal wood pigeon and obnoxious noisy herring gull. Before the morning is up, hopefully.

And remember, cast ne'er a clout til May be out.

Poached too many at supper, Grimma! It was very quickly guzzled.
I like the swan stories on this thread. We had swans vanish- killed for meat.

We have a resident breeding pair of swans on the loch, nesting again. They lost one cygnet to discarded fishing tackle last year. No duckling deaths so far but will try to check everyday for hooks/lines.

Interesting about the game keepers. We are surrounded by game land, I haven't seen any killed prey birds but will now keep a look out as we have a pair of harriers I think but not hen nesting up the road. They feed by the loch but get attacked by the crows.

at woodpeckers and hedgehogs.

Didn't hear my hedgehogs last night but I was a bit pissed and had to go to bbed early Although I did dream about seeing lots of birds to spot for the thread. Not sure what that's a sign of?

Saw my usual heron this morning, he and I exchanged a friendly look and I carried on and some tiny blue butterflies which I was very excited about, the dog less so.

Arf and you and the heron exchanging a friendly look!

I saw the FUNNIEST THING this morning. Well, I thought it was funny. I watched a herring gull chasing fish in some shallow water, but not catching them. It was just paddling round like crazy after a group of mullet, and one of them in particularly, and it was obviously having a little game. I'm not sure how a mullet would react to such an irritant, but it was starting to look rather teasy! Anything which plays is a Clever Creature and I have always thought gulls to be remarkably bright.

ParticulaR not particularly.

Swan update - it's still sitting on the nest. Must google how long they do it for.

I have seen Steve Backshall is coming near us on talk/tour. Anyone heard him live? Think DS might really like to go.

Ariel did the mullet survive though? In which case surely v intelligent?

This is in my garden.

[honest face]

The mullet just swam around in circles. It reminded me of nothing more than a cat chasing sunbeams.

Those herons have got very unnerving eyes.

NarkedP excellent name. Are your fingers crossed behind your back mmmm? Great spot though. We went on a walk around a heronry last year at nest building team. Remarkably flimsy nests for such large birds, a lot of wobbling going on.

Ariel just noted in your OP herring gull is noisy & obnoxious. Now it's funny & clever. Do we think the herring gull community runs to a gamut of personality types ?

Might be.

Herring Gull are funny and clever in the singular and noisy and obnoxious in the plural.

A roe deer! In a narrow shrubby area between fields. From my train window.

And... a mother rabbit with three tiny babies next to her. I practically pulled the communication cord in a passionate attempt to stop the train, disembark and LOVE THEM. It came perilously close to a Mice and Men moment for those bunnies.

In case no-one else knew, swans can take 2-3 weeks to lay eggs after nest built and then sit on them for 6 weeks. Sometimes if they lose the first ones they will continue to sit there for a second clutch. I'm strangely impressed.

There are herons nesting on the lakes I sometimes take the dogs to walk around, but they're smaller (grey) and you can't see the nest well - up a tree on an island.

One of the things I love about around here is the rabbits and deer. I've trained myself not to shriek, 'Bunny!' if DH is driving.

I'm always impressed by the swan's knowledge of botany. I've seen a swan sitting on eggs in a silly, open nest site on/by the water and thought it was odd. By the time the young were hatching the nest was invisible - dense foliage completely obscured it.

We did a bike ride along the canal through Lancaster, back along Morecambe seafront (fabulous views all round the bay and of the hills from Ingleborough round to the Cumbrian fells). Lots of yellow poppies, and some scarlet pimpernel to add to the floral list. Loads of ducklings. And while stood on the Lune aqueduct, an oystercatcher flew just over our heads.

Peregrines!

Herring gulls are funny and clever
They are my friends.

Northey!!!! Hello my dear. You ok? You and your sparrows have been strangely silent of late.

Can you imagine if you had pulled the communication cord? You'd have been sectioned!

Any judge would admit my sanity. NO-ONE can deny the cuteness of baby bunnies. They were so small!

I am fine, thanks - have been a bit busy going back and forth for job interviews and follicle tracking. I am still depressingly undiffed, but I do now, subject to formalities, have a job!

Well that's good :).

And you never know, you may be a ripe candidate for an ironidiff.

And congratulations on the job! Local to you?

Nope, back in London. Not entirely certain how this will work with bastard ttc. But on the upside, there will be regular opportunity for nature trump spotting from train windows.

Congratulations on new job Northey.

Ariel, I'm with you on herring gulls. I used to live and work very close to a breeding colony of gulls, herrings and lesser black backed and I can confirm that they are indeed both funny and clever with quite distinct personalities. They are also bloody noisy and smell vile but I used to watch them flying round and riding the updraughts on the cliffs as if for the hell of it or sitting on the fence posts 'chatting' and started to really quite admire them.