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.

Saw quite a big group of house martins (the birds not the 80's northern indie band) as well getting mud for their houses and swooping onto the river to drink but after that I was distracted because the bastard dog forgot all his recall training and buggered off

That snake is huge!

Haven't kept up witht the thread, sorry.

9 cygnets :o :o

first time out of the reed bed today, they're so tiny. Am going to try and get pics.

A dead squirrel on the road :(

Dear little cygnets

ooo er at snake

a hobby I think, very small and FAST, neowm, low over the fields

(two years ago we had a sparrowhawk strike in the back garden, complete with hooded wings and dismemberment of poor blackbird)

What are hooded wings? Sounds uncommonly Grim Reaper

Nothing new today. Another blue butterfly. More swallows. A jay.

Like the Hooded Claw in Penelope Pitstop?

arf at Penelope Pitstop !

Hooded wings is where the bird makes like a vulture and sort of wraps half unfurled wings around their meal.

like this

Ah, the Cuddle of Doom.

Wow. That magpie must be almost as big as the sparrowhawk.

I was surprised when we had our sparrowhawk strike, at how small it was; not much bigger than the blackbird.

It was probably a boy, random - birds of prey tend to have larger females. Make of that what you will

For some reason I am really chuckling at grimma's use of "a boy" in conjunction with a sparrowhawk. No idea why

I had a swallow fly into my house this morning. I had to chatch it with my own two hands and take it back outside. The children were thrilled!

Cor @ your proper snake Losty

V odd your magpie tale Rusty.

Sweet Fanny Adams here apart from the usual birds and wild garlic and shit. I might have seen The Duke of Westmister yesterday in a car, or maybe not. It was going past fast and I was picking up a dog turd. Do aristocracy spots near nature count for anything?

Only a rural aristo I'm afraid Slubber. Now, had it been the Duke of Devonshire....

Snakes, no thanks and hissing at the dog. No. Needs some way of working in rule about minus credit for spots displaying such antisocial behaviour.

Goes back to serene rural idyll post of cygnats. Still waiting here.

The Duke of Westminster is rural - owns vast tracts of the Bowland fells I think, for starters.

I stand corrected.

Hence his enormous wealth then :)

Did anyone see Michael McIntyre's comedy roadshow the other night? There was a posh comedian on who I found quite funny. He said he was mugged in Hull and had trouble understanding the mugger fellow. He eventually deduced he was being asked for "all of his money". He said "What, ALL of it? Most of it's tied up in land. Can I write you a cheque?"

Obviously it was much funnier at the time

Whilst playing football with the dog today, and admiring the miles of rippling corn in every direction, I heard and spotted a skylark. They sound so joyful!

Rescued a red admiral from the cobwebs in the feed room - took some doing but I think it will survive.

Isn't the Duke of Westminster the biggest land owner. He has loads of Cheshire, where he lives most of the time, as well as vast tracts of London.

Neds out all night for the first time last night - hurrah!

OK SO THE RURAL NOB THING WAS A STUPID THING TO SAY!!

I've got a frog in my pond . A pond needs a frog, doesn't it?

Wasn't that Archie the Inventor on Michael Mackintire? I find him rather lovely in an odd way.

two whippet puppies today so not a chance in hell in spotting anything outside so I'm going for the tiny frog that we grew ourselves and is in the fish-tank upstairs until we can take him home.

Surely not negative points for my grumpy snake, he was rather beautiful.

I reckon extra points for any reptile as they are so elusive. And in my book, extra points for any animal with character, be it friendly or otherwise.