Nature

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Katharine
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Nature

Post by Katharine »

I wish I'd had Enid with me yesterday. I was walking through a forest when a small black animal bounced across the road in front of me and disappeared into the undergrowth. My first thought was that it was a black squirrel, however the way it moved didn't seem quite squirrel like, and also it's tail seemed thinner. My 10 year old was with me and she said it reminded her of a picture she'd seen from 'Pop Goes the Weasel'.

We tried to spot it amongst the trees, and saw something moving up a tree, but we weren't sure if it was the same animal or a different one. I wondered if it was a pine marten, but a quick Google informed me that they can't be found south of Northumberland, and even my ropy geography knows that's nowhere near East Anglia. Another Google brought up lots of pictures of black squirrels, which it possibly could be or a weasel, but they don't tend to be black. However I'm thinking it was more likely to be a weasel because it seemed to bound across the ground rather than scamper.

I do wish Enid Blyton had been there though, I'm sure she'd have known in an instant. :D
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Nature

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

That's interesting, Katharine. It does sound like a weasel or perhaps a stoat. Some have darker coats than others and could look black depending on the conditions, e.g. this weasel photographed at Blacktoft Sands is quite dark on top:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/places ... 86654.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've only once seen a stoat in the wild, on the Great Orme in Llandudno when I was a teenager. I wasn't sure at the time whether it was a stoat or a weasel, but I managed to photograph it with my camera which I'd bought through a special offer on a Weetabix box!

My daughter and I saw a green woodpecker at a nature reserve on the Essex coast on Wednesday. We've only seen three in the last five years, all in different places.
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Katharine
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Re: Nature

Post by Katharine »

Thanks Anita, I don't remember it having a white underside, but of then it happened so quickly, and we weren't up really close. Unfortunately I hadn't got my camera with me, but doubt I'd have got it out in time anyway. I've tried looking on Youtube for footage of both creatures running, and now can't decide if it might have been a black squirrel after all. :roll: Even if it was, it was still something I've not seen before.

Although black squirrels seem to have a spooky feel to them - are there some in Lord of the Rings?
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Courtenay
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Re: Nature

Post by Courtenay »

Katharine wrote: Although black squirrels seem to have a spooky feel to them - are there some in Lord of the Rings?
Can't remember, though it does sound familiar. There are definitely Black Riders — and at one stage (I think it's in LOTR) I'm sure they encounter black swans, which are mentioned with a definite sense of foreboding. As an Australian, I'm insulted. 8)
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Re: Nature

Post by Katharine »

Why?
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Nature

Post by Rob Houghton »

Anita Bensoussane wrote: I've only once seen a stoat in the wild, on the Great Orme in Llandudno when I was a teenager. I wasn't sure at the time whether it was a stoat or a weasel, but I managed to photograph it with my camera which I'd bought through a special offer on a Weetabix box!

My daughter and I saw a green woodpecker at a nature reserve on the Essex coast on Wednesday. We've only seen three in the last five years, all in different places.
I remember seeing a pine marten when we were on holiday in North Wales in the early 1980's - the only time I've ever seen one.

I've seen plenty of green woodpeckers though - when we had a caravan near Lichfield we would see one most days. Nearer home though we usually only see the more common black and white version.
Courtenay wrote: I'm sure they encounter black swans, which are mentioned with a definite sense of foreboding. As an Australian, I'm insulted. 8)
I've seen quite a few black swans, in Dawlish, which is well known for them! :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
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Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

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Re: Nature

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote: I've seen quite a few black swans, in Dawlish, which is well known for them! :-D
Ah, now I didn't know that. I've seen them on the lake at Claremont in Surrey, and Chartwell — Winston Churchill's home, near where I live now — has a pair as well, purportedly descendants of two that were given to Churchill as a gift from Australia after the war.

Where I come from, of course, it's the opposite — black swans are common just about everywhere, while white swans are completely exotic and only seen in parks and gardens or occasional escaped feral populations. They do say the early European explorers saw the black swans as proof that this new country was totally alien and upside down. :wink: But if you've grown up with them, they're just normal — but still beautiful, of course.

I've never yet seen a weasel or a stoat or a pine marten, but I remain hopeful! :D I haven't seen any black squirrels, either, but I was delighted to see lots of red squirrels on a visit to Brownsea Island a few years ago.
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Re: Nature

Post by Katharine »

I saw a couple of red squirrels there too. It was a truly magical moment for me. I'm not what I would call a real 'outdoors' sort of person, although I couldn't bear to live in a city. However I do get a thrill from an unexpected/rare encounter with wildlife, especially if it's something I've only read about in books (usually Enid's).
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Nature

Post by Rob Houghton »

Here's a bit of info about the black swans of Dawlish. They were apparently introduced by a Dawlish man who went to New Zealand -

http://www.dawlish.com/article/details/9
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Rob Houghton
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Re: Nature

Post by Rob Houghton »

Considering many people would think I lived 'in a city', there is lots of wildlife near where I live, mainly due to being on the edge of Birmingham and right by a leafy canal. On a daily basis I see swans, ducks, moorhens, coots and Canada geese, as well as often seeing a heron. We have grey squirrels but I've never seen a red squirrel, unfortunately, as I've never been to a place where they live. I've seen a king fisher, and there are foxes and badgers just behind our house in some woodland. I've also seen sparrowhawks, which live locally. :D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Katharine
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Re: Nature

Post by Katharine »

Sounds great Rob. I've seen Jays in the cemetery which is just up the road to me, and I've heard a woodpecker. I was in a local forest yesterday and saw loads of dragonflies which I always think are beautiful. Sometimes I feel quite low and trapped with Ipswich as it seems it's slowly being concreted over, but recently we've been out and about quite a lot and I'm reminded that thankfully there is still quite a lot of nature and open space out there. The Suffolk landscape might not be as beautiful as places like Dorset, or as spectacular as the Lake District, but it's a relief to see fields and trees rather than concrete.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Nature

Post by Rob Houghton »

I feel the same about where we live. Birmingham has such a bad reputation, but in the south its still very leafy, and we have so many canals and parks, and right near the green belt also, so the country is just a mile up the road. I hope they don't decide to build on it any time soon - but as we are a mile from the boundary of Worcestershire, Birmingham can't expand any further, thankfully! :-)

We used to have Jays in our garden but I think they've now moved on. :-( Of course, we have loads of magpies and jackdaws and crows, as well as wood pigeons and collard doves.

My dad and I had a walk up the canal to a local reservoir the other day and we saw dragonflies hovering over the water - always love to see them! :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Nature

Post by Courtenay »

I live (and work) at a care home, on a hill just above a pretty little village in Kent — we're actually only a few miles from the official border of Greater London, but you only know it if you start driving west or north. South and east, it soon all becomes countryside. My room here (I'm not working today) overlooks our front meadow with a couple of tall pine trees — I keep an eye out and often see quite a variety of birds (and grey squirrels). Sometimes there are great spotted woodpeckers climbing the pine tree nearest me, and a couple of months ago a pair of mistle thrushes nested there. I hear green woodpeckers occasionally too (they have that funny "yik-yik-yik-yik" kind of laughing call), but rarely see them. I think I heard one in the distance just now, but unfortunately we're on a major road and just near a motorway, so there's always a fair bit of traffic noise to contend with.

Now that I live in Britain, I appreciate Enid's many nature-related books more than I ever did as a child in Australia (and I liked them even then!) — I remember how delighted I was a few years ago to discover the tiny little heart-shaped "purses" on a roadside plant and realise it was shepherd's purse, the same one that gave Pip the Pixie a new green purse for his aunt! :D I have a couple of Enid's more "serious" nature books that I haven't fully read yet — The Animal Book and Hedgerow Tales, as well as two of her Round the Year school books (spring and summer), so I must get into those as well.
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Re: Nature

Post by Carlotta King »

I live just about as much in the city centre as its possible to get; I can see the high street from my window, but I still see loads of beautiful wildlife. I see squirrels and rabbits on a daily basis, running around the street outside, and at night we have fantastic mr fox out and about regularly.
There are big rats about too, I know most people would say "ugh" but to me they're living creatures and just as nice as anything else!
The other night there was a big owl swooping about, I thought it was a tawny at first because he was very dark brown, but then he swooped on something and screeched,so maybe he was a barn owl.
There are tons of birds here too, mostly pigeons and gulls, but blackbirds too, and wagtails and sparrows.
I have a 'pet' gull who sits on the streetlamp outside my window every day to wait for food and if I hold food out of the window he flies up to my hand and takes the food. :)
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Katharine
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Re: Nature

Post by Katharine »

That sounds great. I've seen the occasional squirrel in my garden, but never any rabbits. I've never seen a fox either, although I know there is one in the neighbourhood as it killed my mother's chickens.

Apparently we've also got rats around at the moment as one of my neighbours recently had a go at me about them as my garden is rather overgrown. She called the council to put down poison in her garden, and wasn't happy when I said I wasn't having poison in mine - rather try and get rid of them by other means.

Last week I saw a cat behaving rather strangely, and saw that it was watching a field mouse in the garden. I expected it to pounce on it, but if anything it backed off. I looked outside an hour later, and both cat and mouse were still there - the mouse seemed to be staggering around in circles. I phoned for my father to come round and he 'put the mouse out of it's misery'. It wasn't an act I felt great about, but on the other hand, we didn't think there was anything that could be done to save the mouse, either the cat had got it, but only done half a job, or it had been at the rat poison. So it seemed 'kinder' to kill it quickly rather than letting it suffer any more.
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