local wildlife (fur,feathers and beasties)

[nepia]

...stopped the car to let a half grown one cross the lane near home late one night a few weeks ago.  First one I'd seen in years too.

I'm told they're doing well in and around towns; can't say whether that's true or not.

[gary112]

11 minutes ago, AJStrees said:

Yeah the estate I work on and have done for 20 years. Haven't ever seen one myself. However this year I have seen 3 photos of hedgehogs that people have seen on the site in the evening. So things are looking up for the hogs. 

I,ve recently seen 4 dead on the roads,all within a mile of home which is annoying,but must be a few about here

[Stubby]

10 hours ago, gary112 said:

I,ve recently seen 4 dead on the roads,all within a mile of home which is annoying,but must be a few about here

We had a few in the field next to me 2 years ago and the Badgers peeled all of them open .

[Deafhead]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

We had a few in the field next to me 2 years ago and the Badgers peeled all of them open .

Badgers have removed them from here too. ( Found the last remains about four years ago).

[openspaceman]

22 minutes ago, Deafhead said:

Badgers have removed them from here too. ( Found the last remains about four years ago).

Yup, once the wildlife trusts changed their logos from dragonflies to badgers it was the death-knell for hedgehogs, people deliberately running them over doesn't help either.

[Stere]

Still see them pancaked on the roads but getting less common.

 

Theres is a claim of a 97% decrease  in number since 1950's.

 

Must of being swarming with hogs back then

 

 

[Billhook]

Heron looked to be asleep in the lane and looked soaked and unhappy in the heavy rain yesterday 

[sime42]

Don't they always look to be asleep?!

[Billhook]

S

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

Don't they always look to be asleep?!

Someone suggested that it may have been shot at by one of the local trout farmers.  Apparently legal to shoot them if they are taking fish from a business??

[Treerover]

I was fishing our local river when a feral pigeon misjudged the water and ended up right in the middle. Luckily it’s only about 4ft deep and with a long landing net I got out there fully clothed and saved it from a watery grave. An hour drying off in the sun under the net and it was good to go.
many years ago fishing again in Holland and the local pigeons would scavenge bait from me. One had fishing line wrapped around one foot which had become quite deformed and it had a nasty limp. Took a few days of careful coaxing to get it close enough to net it - 10 minutes of very careful snipping and nylon extraction from its wounds and another creature saved from a painful situation.

Are you sure it wasn’t I racing pigeon. I’ve sat fishing on a lake and had to land like ducks in the middle….take a drink, cool off and fly off like it was totally normal !!! Me and the chap I was with were dumbfounded !! I guess it’s how they cope with long water crossings but could be wrong