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.

What about um....what are they called....what frogs and newts are? Will they get extra points too? My mind is saying molluscs but that's so far from right as to be risible.

Amphibians

Well, I don't think normal frogs qualify for many points (given that we have them in garden ponds and fishtanks) but newts or toads (esp natterjacks) are a bit special aren't they?

I haven't seen a frog for years and that's the truth. Though I probably haven't been looking in the right places. I don't think the sea agrees with their skin.

You def need to peer into freshwater ponds (and dampish flower borders) for froggies. I think salt water would dehydrate them...permeable skins, osmosis?

Natterjack toads breed in pools between the sand dunes near Formby, so there are some coastal amphibians.

Well. You learn something every day and no mistake.

Natterjacks were on Countryfile on Sunday - Mull of Galloway. Loudest?

We have a toad that lives in a flower bed but we don't have a pond and neither do either neighbours so he must bathe infrequently

A bee swarm! A bee swarm! Just over there and a very apprehensive looking headmaster

Wow, I bet that was a sight, Slubber

I've got newts in my garden, and last year's slow worm babies are grown up and teenagers now. Lolling around in the sunshine regardless of lawnmowers. The parents are more cautious.
Saw kestrels over the Downs on Saturday, half a dozen of them.

amphibian and reptile combo!

We have furries at the bottom of our garden. We were hacking back ivy in the corner near the compost bins and saw a bank vole pop down a hole. Then when DH opened the lid of the bin we put veg waste in there was one foraging in there. It didn't seem very bothered by us.

Less cute, sitting by the pond looking for the frog a rat ran across the back of it by the fence- then another smaller one. They came and went a bit; we think they may have a burrow in a thicket of geranium.

Right this is in NO WAY a boastable spot but it's very cute. I have taken to making my own bread and when I saw the crusts off I put them in the compost bin which is in no way simply a bin filled with rotting vegetables. The jackdaws have taken to hanging around on the wall and waiting for me to come out with the bread and when I leave again they swoop down and grab the bread, because the next time I go into the garden the crusts are all gone! Clever corvids that they are - they recognise me!

I wonder if corvids do a People Spot competition among themselves 'Its the breadcrust lady, extra points for her!!!'

Actual laugh out loud at that, Grimma!

Grimma

Surely they operate a handicap for her now - "only the boing old bread lady again, and it wasn't even one of her better loaves."

How very dare you. Every loaf is perfect!

Redlegged partridge is atop the roof next door but one - round cul-de-sac so visible and very audible. Its a peculiar noise - sounds almost mechanical, the rhythm is repeated with a crescendo followed by a few moments quiet before he (I'm assuming its the he) starts again. He's getting on my wick a bit, TBH.

Shoot the bugger.

Grimma, try living next door to a Scops Owl .

(Not that I do, friend in Spain does....it drives her batty)

I just heard an owl, as it happens. Just a single hoot, but it's a very rare spot for me. I think I can count in single figures the number of times I've heard an owl in my life.

I saw a whole pile of tiny hatchling spiders today, hanging out on the window. I also turned oner a pile of straw and disturbed a stable mouse this evening. He was most put out!

I've been trying to find a recording that comes close to my chap, this is the closest (turn up the volume and then imagine it several times louder!)

Just heard some spooky tapping on the window then I realised it was may bugs. Dumbledor is a great name for them because they are so big and blundering.

Saw a little fluffy buzzard sat right up on the edge of the nest today too and felt like a proud mother. Oh dear, think I've been spending too much time craning up at that nest!

Grimma your partridge reminded me of a place DH used to live where you could hear nightjars every evening. They were very odd sounding, not at all bird like and only 'chirred' when it was nearly dark.

Being able to actually see the chick of something like a buzzard must be pretty special.