Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Grandson caught five crabs today in rock pools at the beach, two of them quite large. He lives in wooded countryside, nowhere near the sea, so it was a bit of a Eureka moment for him.

I nearly decapitated an owl yesterday. Was driving back home after visiting a friend who had been taken to A&E. It was getting on towards 9pm and this huge owl was sitting in the middle of the road looking the opposite way. Fortunately I was able to slow down as no cars behind me, he looked round in the nick of time and took off.

Owls Well That Ends Well

Kate, love the book-link. I'm glad the owl was OK!

Does Singapore wildlife count? There was a praying mantis in our kitchen last night. I went to get a glass of water before going to bed, switched on the light and he/she was sitting by the cabinet door. I don't know which of us was more surprised!

I should imagine Singaporean wildlife is fascinating. My son used to live in New Mexico and he often saw praying mantises.
Owls are often linked to the moon, presumably because of their moon-like eyes and face.

Apparently there are mantises (is that the correct plural?) in France - I saw a documentary called Microcosmos that was set in at French meadow and it featured them. Very cool insects!

I saw a few Swifts today as I left work - I thought they'd all left as I haven't seen any for ages, though these might be ones from further north passing through on migration. My book on The Birds of Essex suggests most leave the county by the end of August so probably we are in the midst of their exodus. Always sad when they go; I love to see the Swifts around, more-so than Swallows really - I love the screaming calls they make and the way they fly and how they look, plus they are just such astonishing fliers to stay in the air for years at a time without landing once!

I did see a number of House Martins yesterday though, fighting the wind over the river near town. I get quite excited seeing those, especially when there are lots over my local meadow. And as for Sand Martins! Wow!!! :-D

Paulfozz wrote: "Apparently there are mantises (is that the correct plural?) in France - I saw a documentary called Microcosmos that was set in at French meadow and it featured them. Very cool insects!

I saw a few..."
I had no idea there are mantises in France. Have seen bits of the film you mention. It is very famous and I think has won many awards.

A young Kingfisher was flying along the river earlier in the week as I walked into town from work. A duller colour than the adults and instead of their direct, fast flight this youngster had a bounding flight pattern, more like that of woodpeckers or some small birds. The first time I've noticed that so was really interesting to see, as well as being superb as ever to see a Kingfisher of course!

Been watching the squirrels all day here in Connecticut. Not sure they are as cute as they look. I think sometimes they steal the nut hoards of other squirrels and then those squirrels can't survive the winter. Saw a groundhog the other day.

They do Carol; they'll actually pretend to cache a nut if other squirrels are watching and then go off and hide it elsewhere, leading the watcher off the scent (as it were). Fascinating creatures!

Saw a chipmunk yesterday. It was like a large mouse with stripes on it and seemed completely unafraid of me.

Paulfozz wrote: "Apparently there are mantises (is that the correct plural?) in France - I saw a documentary called Microcosmos that was set in at French meadow and it featured them. Very cool insects!

I saw a few..."

Paulfozz wrote: "Apparently there are mantises (is that the correct plural?) in France - I saw a documentary called Microcosmos that was set in at French meadow and it featured them. Very cool insects!

I saw a few..."

I look for swifts every May and am also sorry when they go.

Went to a beach today opposite Long Island, and found the whole shell of a horseshoe crab. Never seen one before. Looked them up when I returned home and found it is one of the arachnid family, and is not a crab at all. It seems to have been around on the Earth for a very long time. Also saw a seagull with a whole fish in its beak.

Didn't see it, but smelled a skunk as we drove in the night. Evidently they often get run over and then you can smell them.

My house sits upon a half-acre of land, surrounded on three sides by rows of trees and high bushes.

A day doesn't go by that I do not see a small herd of five or six deer, a flock of up to a dozen wild turkeys, or at least two or three rabbits or groundhogs wandering around the back yard.

It sounds lovely, Jim, and similar to where I've just been, except I did not see turkeys.

I put some brazils out Sunday and was rewarded by a Jay and then a Magpie visiting.

Carol wrote: "Didn't see it, but smelled a skunk as we drove in the night. Evidently they often get run over and then you can smell them."

Don't want to speak too soon but I haven't smelt a skunk before. The one we have at work is (so far) well behaved but I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before one of my students pushes it a little bit too far...

What's That Awful Smell?

It seems very unusual to have a skunk at work. Have you anything else unusual, Kate?
The only wildlife aspect I now have left from my trip to Connecticut is that I'm still itching from mosquito bites.

I saw a hummingbird moth at the weekend, feeding in the sunshine. We see one or two most summers here but they never fail to fascinate me. Are they more common these days? I never saw one as a child - but then I lived further north then and I'm in the southwest now. Have they been around southern England for ages?

Carol wrote: "It seems very unusual to have a skunk at work. Have you anything else unusual, Kate?
The only wildlife aspect I now have left from my trip to Connecticut is that I'm still itching from mosquito bites."

I work at a land-based college teaching animal management students how to handle and care for a wide variety of species. You name it, we've got it (well almost!)

Kate (Trojanhorse) wrote: "Carol wrote: "It seems very unusual to have a skunk at work. Have you anything else unusual, Kate?
The only wildlife aspect I now have left from my trip to Connecticut is that I'm still itching fro..."

What an interesting job.

Where's Paul these days? Are you there, Paul? Don't seem to have heard much from you recently.

Anyway, I nursed a bumble bee this weekend. I moved my wheelie bin and there was a bee sheltering underneath. I thought it was dead, so I pushed it to one side. The next door neighbour wanted to tend to the roof on his shed and had asked to use our side. When I was putting the bin back later on, I found the same bee crawling really slowly towards it. It looked to be on it's last legs. I've never studied bee treatment, but I went to get it a spoonful of honey. When I put the spoon beside it, it pointed an antennae in the honey, and presumably drew some strength.

Anyway, seeing as it wanted to stay under my bin for shelter, I made it a little house. I got a plastic bowl and cut a door out and piled some loose grass inside (for warmth, not nourishment!!) and left a blob of honey. The day after, it had gone. I hope it found the strength to fly to where it should be, which is in a hive presumably, shoving up against hundreds of other bees to keep warm.

My OH thought I was a bit mad, but how could I not help the poor little thing, stranded far from home, freezing cold and all alone? Maybe my mum could have knitted him a little stripy jacket.

Tori wrote: "Where's Paul these days? Are you there, Paul? Don't seem to have heard much from you recently.

Anyway, I nursed a bumble bee this weekend. I moved my wheelie bin and there was a bee sheltering un..."

I find this really comforting, Tori. It's exactly the sort of thing I'd do! I've often tried to rescue bees and put them on flowers with nectar. Sometimes they feed, sometimes not. I have no idea if I'm helping or not but I can't bear to see them struggle. I suspect some of them are simply at the end of their life cycle though. A little stripy jacket each might be the answer to all their problems, mind you... :)

Kathy wrote: "Tori wrote: "Where's Paul these days? Are you there, Paul? Don't seem to have heard much from you recently.

Anyway, I nursed a bumble bee this weekend. I moved my wheelie bin and there was a bee ..."

Lol! You're as bad as me. We're so soft!!

Tori wrote: "Where's Paul these days? Are you there, Paul? Don't seem to have heard much from you recently.

Anyway, I nursed a bumble bee this weekend. I moved my wheelie bin and there was a bee sheltering un..."

Hi Tori - I thought I should come back to explain; after a lot of thought I've decided against posting on this group anymore as there's just too much spam and author self-promotion on here for my taste (it's something that happens to get under my skin - I'm generally an extremely placid person) and I felt that if I stayed then I'd end up saying something inappropriate and angering one of the regulars or the admins, which I really, really don't want to do! I haven't quit the group yet as I still have a round the world challenge going on but might do and just run that as a bookshelf-based challenge.

It's nothing to do with anyone in particular, I can't stress that enough, it's just that I don't feel I fit the group demographic or spirit. In any case, here's wishing you all happy reading and I hope you'll all carry on looking out for those bees and wild animals. :-)

It's a tricky one! I thought by having a section bespoke for author promotions it would keep that kind of thing in one place and those that are disinterested can give it a swerve, so to speak.

This works OK if I'm accessing GR from the PC but if I'm using iPhone, there's often a lot of promo's etc. to wade through. Perhaps we should poll members and decide as a group whether to just ban promotions altogether? I know it irritates a number of members.

If anyone would like to offer an opinion or suggestion on author promotions, I've posted a separate thread under Random Chit-Chat!

Don't have an iPhone, so have no idea about promos on it, but certainly from the PC I don't have any problem with spam. I'm a reader/author but from the beginning of joining Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ I've kept to the principle of never mentioning anything I write. What links us all is a love of books, and in this section, that of wildlife. I have not interacted in this group for very long, but have enjoyed your comments and obvious concern for the natural world, Paul and it would be a shame if you left.

Did anyone else see about banded stilts in the Times yesterday? Evidently these little birds live on beaches by the coast, but fly thousands of kilometers to the Outback deserts when they suddenly have rain and lakes form. The mystery is how do they know that the lakes have formed.
Various suppositions have been put forward, but no one really knows.

Carol wrote: "Did anyone else see about banded stilts in the Times yesterday? Evidently these little birds live on beaches by the coast, but fly thousands of kilometers to the Outback deserts when they suddenly ..."
I didn't see this, Carol, but I'm always amazed at the distances birds fly when they migrate - and by how they know when to go. At a previous house we used to have house martins nesting and every autumn all the house martins in the area used to fly in circles over our garden, landing occasionally on the roof and then flying again. It looked as though they were bonding before the big push south. It would last three quarters of an hour or more. Fascinating!

Saw a little fox on the allotments at the top of the hill two days ago. It had white markings. It seemed unusual to see it during the day and wondered if it was not well. I gather that foxes are often seen in cities, but here it is not so common.

I'd have to save the bee too. Bless.

Grandson found a starfish on the beach,(as well as 8 shrimps, a fish, and 2 eels) It's only the second one I have ever seen.

Your grandson was very lucky. We took the shrimping nets to look in the rock pools last time we went to Devon. My son found only snails. We had to overcome the disappointment by building the best sand castle we could. (Luckily there were some useful shells etc to add embellishment!) That did the trick.

That's great, Carol. I've only ever seen a starfish once.

What surprised me was that he used his hands to catch everything! He refused to use the net. Think he's going to be a naturalist!

Well its that time of the year again, happens ever year. The back garden becomes a footpath to baby frogs for a few hours. They are only about 10mm long in the body and there are hundreds of them. Have never been able to figure out where they come from or where their going, but it not our pond.

Hop Frog

Wonderful, Tania! How cute. So long as they don't all set up home for evermore, it must be lovely to watch them hopping around.

I was putting the paper bin out last night and found a huge frog under it. Don't know where they come from as I don't have a pond.

Saw a slow worm, a legless lizard, on the Downs this morning. It was like a brown snake.

Took my mum a handful of those from the railway years ago, thought she was going to kill me! Never saw her so angry. I thought she'd be impressed.

Lol!

I used to see slow worms in the woods of the Cairn near the old railway line in Ilfracombe as a child. Perhaps they have a liking for rail travel!

Clearly. Probably as they don't have any legs.

Chuckles.