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.

Does that happen in the UK Ariel? How awful.

What a pity it is not marketed as Swimming with Apex Predator. (With crocodiles may be substituted in very small print and a tick box to say you have read and understood the implications.)

LOVING that suggestion!!

Doesn't happen in the UK at the moment, Slubber and it is to our very great credit that it doesn't. However, there are moves by SeaWorld to take over some of our aquaria and we know how they operate, don't we? And all that bollocks going on at Discovery Cove Florida, where parents pay an absolute fortune because they want their children to have a great experience. What they're not told is that almost every one of those animals saw its mother killed in the wild, so that it as a calf could be sold to a captive facility. They don't tell you that.

PS also loving the loyal top trumpers popping up on the balloon thread!

Are any dolphins captive bred? (Just a question - it seems a bit distasteful but I'm curious )

They try violet, but the stresses on the animals are so great that they are almost always unsuccessful. The average lifespan in the wild is 40 plus years. The average captive lifespan is about 5 years. Sometimes they commit suicide - they just don't take the next breath. The dolphin who played Flipper ended her life this way.

Haven't read whole thread (gosh, it's very long isn't it) but can I just add that we saw salmon leaping last week.

I think they were salmon. Leaping up these huge weirs in the river. Impressive in that they must have got through several weirs already to get to this one and the water was racing over the top. Tough little buggers. Like the SAS of the fish world.

Do salmon jump in May? Do trout jump? Which river, Mary?

Haven't a clue but deffo a fish

Big river in South Waless.

Hmmmm. Usk? Wye? They have salmon in both.

But is it the time of year for them to be going up stream for spawning? Who knows! Maybe it was a game. Fish version of Alton Towers.

Impressive though.

I always thought it was September. At least that was when I used to spot them leaping in Pitlochry. Maybe it was river dolphins? If it was you would deffo have Spot of the Month!

"river dolphins"

Very possibly Ariel, very possibly

I've only ever seen salmon running upriver in september too.
Perhaps it was sea trout - they can get big and according to a site I found about scottish ones some of them come up April-June. Apparently it depends on how much river they've got to go up, the same may apply to salmon.

Anyway... my spot of the day is that my pond now has two frogs - the big one I saw before and one about half its size.

Is there a big difference, size wise, between sea trout and salmon?

(both of them are making me salivate btw, barbecued, with just a dash of lemon)

Taff river. Just on the outskirts of the city.

Oh ffs did we have to bring up dolphins????

I went to Cuba on holiday a couple of years ago and oh the fun I had explaining to people why no, we would not be going on the Swimmng with Dolphins trip (don't get me started on the zoo).

But I never knew they committed suicide.

Ok. Today, I think I saw a Hobby.
We were sitting in the barn and there was a real ruckus outside. We went to see, and there was a small falcon was sitting on the manège floor, doing that mantling thing, over one of the resident Pied Wagtails. I tried to get closer, but it flew off. It wasn't the right colour for a kestrel, or a sparrow hawk. I googled and Hobbys seem to fit the size and colour bill.
I'm really getting into this bird watching lark, I'm going to buy myself a book and some binoclishers!
I was also down by the reservior this evening, with my friend, and there were two families of Canada geese, with mum and dad front and back, and all the little babies in the middle.
@ River Dolphins!

Mary we get big sea trout in the rivers further west - Towy etc so could be in the Taff too? They are called sewin and yep, they do taste nice :)
(sorry not knowledgeable enough to know when they come up river)

can i join this thread .we have an assortment of the usual garden birds.But we also have quite a big pond and a very small one where we tend to put fish eggs if we are quick enough to rescue them.This week i have seen 4 little frogs in there and today i found a newt ! I have named her Norma. back to the birds.we have two pairs of blackbirds daily and one of the females likes to sit in the waterfall of our pond to have her daily bath.It is lovely to watch her and she is very intolerant of any smaller birds that dare to go near her bath. We also have had a baby robin for the last few days,but today it has not appeared so i hope that one of the cats around has not got it. Living at the bottom of the garden between mine and my neighbours is a fox.Yesterday i heard an almighty commotion ,looked out of the bedroom window and saw fox skulking back up the garden and both cats with their fur raised.Think the fox lost. We also have a nesting box which we put a camera in ,but guess what no baby birds in there for us this year.better luck next year i hope.Damn may bugs keep crashing into my windows.

Saggy - a pair of bins really do help - and the book. Or if you've got an iphone, there are bird identification apps, some do the songs and calls too which can be useful.

mummylin: lovely intro and I think the first newt!

I forgot to mention we occasionally have dh,s worst nightmare the "heron" we have to keep the pond covered.i will post a photo of the lady blackbird having a bath yesterday !

An eye roller for you all...
My friend lives on Mersea Island. As I mentioned before, they are looking to establish a red squirrel colony there, as there are no greys. Well, I saw her last night. The latest development, is that ONE red squirrel has been released. A kind of tree rat advance guard, to see how it gets on!!
One squirrel....