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.

It was just that particular hide I expect Grimma. They looked absolutely horrified when I wheeled in my 9 month old nephew even though he was fast asleep at the time

Today I saw two peregrine chicks.
I feed our hedgehogs on the top of a rocky bank. Last night I saw no. 1 hedgehog headbutt no. 2 hedgehog until no. 2 turned into a ball. Then no 1 hedgehog gave no 2 hedgehog a mighty shove and sent him rolling down the bank.

I don't know if this will work but this is where I am lucky enough to walk daily.

Only spots today apart from the harrier where plenty of common lizards basking in the sun and the tail end of a grass snake as he made off into the reeds.

ooh can I join in?

Two weeks ago I saw a stag (yes!) in the forest and yesterday I saw a llama, although tbf it had escaped from a llama farm....

I'm in Germany, does it count?

I love this time of the year when everything starts to wake up, and just wish I knew the names of more stuff

LINKFAIL!!

Barbarianb that hedgehog thing sounds hilarious! And everyone thinks they are such cute snuffly little things.

OK, does this work?

I have to sign into Yahoo.

Go hedgepigs a lot more cheerful than the smell of rotting rabbit, as the myximatosis ravages the bunny population. I'm not saying it doesn't need ravaging, its just a foul way to die. And such a waste.

Apologies for rhea though animal sanctury doesn't really count either ... someone near here farms ostriches, and there's quite a few llamas in with sheep so that's the sort of thing I was envisaging. (Apparently they protect the herd, will see off a fox.)

Photobucket?

Anyway, today I saw a lark ascending (and heard more, the saltmarsh was alive with the sound of birds); goldfinches, a shelduck, oystercatchers, an egret, three herons flying together (I don't think I've ever seen more than one at a time before), blackheaded and blackbacked gulls, and some meadow pipits (first time we've knowingly seen them - I remembered my bird book for once and DH had his iphone app. Its quite satisfying to ID an LBJ ).

And lots of plump saltmarsh lambs with their mums.

Lots of flora but I haven't worked out what everything was yet. There were some tiny short-growing magenta geraniums ; some tiny white 5-petalled stars and small 6-petalled pink flowers - these had spiky leaves like thrift but were smaller. Can't find any of these in my wildflower book. There was also a lot of tormentil.

Points there for the evocativeness of the description I think Grimma. Vaughan Williams was soaring in my head and everything.

I saw an arctic skua mobbing a kittiwake for a sandeel today. Poor little kittiwake didn't stand a chance :(

ok, I think the geranium was Dove's foot cranesbill - my book had them but gave a much greater height.

Oh dear lord, poor little thing. Have you seen all the damage that Chinese lanterns can do to wildlife?

awwwwwwwwww poor wee hog

It's a bit Watership Down round here - dandelions, blackthorn in flower (think buckthorne in the book though) bluebells

I'm orf to local weeny SSSI this weekend to photograph early orchids fingers crossed

They make me incandescent with fury. As do all these idiots who think that "balloon releases" are a great way to remember a loved one. Who the heck would want to be remembered after they are gone by choking marine wildlife to death with a deflated balloon? And as for these so called balloon races......

People just don't think.

Same thing with discarded carrier bags etc - Bags for Life really do save lives, don't they?

I agree. And those lanterns ARE awful. There have been thatched roofs and hay stores burned down because of them, and livestock killed through eating the metal bits. They were released at a wedding I attended. It was hysterical, one landed in a convertible in the car park with the top down!

Today, I have seen some wild forget me nots, nestling in the long grass, next to a field of potatoes, and a dung beetle. I was muck lifting, and when you p

You try and make people care by pointing out what happens to animals who ingest these things and get accused of being a preaching do-gooder who wants to spoil everyone else's fun, I'm afraid. I have found it here on MN.

"When you p....." what?

Pick up the horse poo, there is a small hole in the ground, and if you are really lucky, you catch sight of the small iridescent blue green beetle. He is very handsome.

Imagine being a dung beetle. It must be shit.

"When you p"

Sing loudly in case some one is listening in?

Check the area well to make sure an errant cyclist does not zoom in to view just as you are mid stream?