Topic: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....

[Trixiebelle]

I had to do a dictionary search for 'indigenous'  ;D

I've lived on this sceptic, sceptered isle for 43 yrs and I've NEVER seen a 'live' specimen of these animals :(

Not without trying either. I've been in fields, woods, allotments (!) and all over the bloomin' place!

I'VE NEVER SEEN A .....

BADGER - maybe I don't get up early enough. I'd love to see a family of them though

MOLE - I know they're a bit shy but SURELY one could have poked it's head out of a mound of soil and waved its little paw at me after 43yrs! YOOO HOOO ... OVER HERE!

SLOW WORM - I thought they were slow? I'm quite quick after a few cups of coffee but no ... they continue to escape me

I feel bereft!

What have you seen/not seen/would like to see?  :)

[manicscousers]

Hiya, Trixie  ;D
we saw a badger lumbering across the road on a b road, wierd stumpy legs but we were made up, seen eagles and deer in scotland and those brilliant cows up there, never seen a mole, we're always in bed when they come out  ;D
glad I've not seen a slow worm, would probably run a mile..stuff i'd rather not see..rats and the wasp that stung me TWICE on the ankle today, they're in the dalek and I only walked past  :o
would like to see? difficult one, I know ladybirds, not a one here and me peppers are full of greenfly.
is that indigenous enough?  ;D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

does this mean you've seen a notter? I saw 2 playing once. that cheered me up enormously

never seen a live mole, but I found a dead albino one when i was about 10. I wrote to the bbc about it, and got a reply from someone who probably wasn't Tony Soper  :D

what I always wanted to see as a child was a Black Woodpecker, only my "Book Of British Birds" had been cobbled together in Poland, and we don't get em

[debster]

ive never seen a red squirrel, even when i visited a wildlife sanctuary and they had some there i never saw them

[Flighty]

Trixebelle I'm not too sure that we live on a sceptic, sceptred isle!
However like you I've never seen a badger, mole or slow worm.
There's lots of wildlife I'd like to see and heading the list is a polecat
http://www.uksafari.com/polecats.htm
and a little owl, which is an introduced species,
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/l/littleowl/index.asp

[lewic]

Have also never seen a mole, nor a Scottish wild cat (not sure these really exist!) Used to see slow worms in our garden as a kid, havent seen one for years though, sadly probably due to more people having strimmers..

Have seen lots of badgers, but no families of them yet. My parents used to take us on badger-watching expeditions, we would sit in a field in the dark very quietly, listening for rustling sounds. Remember seeing a huge shape with luminous eyes one night and it scared the bejeezus out of me and my sister! We would usually see the badger on the drive home, as my Dad narrowly missed running it over.

You are welcome to sit in my sweetcorn patch one evening and wait for a badger, our site is plagued with them  ;)  If there was leccy onsite I would be tempted to get one of those wildlife webcam systems I have seen in garden centres.

[Unwashed]

See a fair few slow worms on the allotment and saw one at work last week.  Seen several moles - stopped a few times to help ones off the road.  Saw a badger crossing the road last week - but see several each day dead on the road.

I saw what might have been the last Coypu - by Potton Island, Essex in 1986.

Got butted by a big pike on the shin today - still sore - closer than I'd like to get to that bit of wildlife.

Bats are some of my favourites.  I've seen them at night on the canal - the air was thick with them.

I love rats.  I've seen them climb out on overhanging bushes to take bread off the water that people have thrown in for the ducks.

I'd like to see an otter, that would be special.

[OllieC]

Seen Otters on North Uist, Red squirrels in the woods near where I grew up and a mole on the allotment (in the day!, rushing to the undergrowth). Only ever seen dead badgers (run over), and never seen a slow worm (or a fast one, come to that).

I've seen Roman Snails near to here which don't get most people as excited as they get me (they're protected by the wildlife & countryside act)...

Would like to see a slow worm too.

[landimad]

I have not seen this ever and would like to. The colours are the most vibrant I have seen in a british bird.

[Kea]

I've seen lots of Red Squirrels mainly in the Lake District every year, this year I saw two one in the Park in Keswick and the other at the Osprey view point  (lower) at  Dodd wood, Bassenthwaite. I would like to not see the grey ones anymore!

I'd love to see the British Kingfisher, I am very familiar with the NZ Kingfisher, one used to sit outside our house and fish in the stream but not as colourful as the British one.

I've seen a live badger on the side of the road on night.....and lots of dead ones. Got very excited when i came face to face with my first fox. I was convinced the first time I saw a green woodpecker that it must be an escaped tropical bird.....now I see them a lot as they live near my allotment. Similarly the first time i saw a bullfinch, too colourful to be British! Not that I'm running down British birds......NZ birds are even less colourful...mainly green/brown or black!

There are lots of birds i haven't seen yet which i'd like to see.

I had lunch with a Raven sitting two feet away and that was intimidating! Yes he did get part of our lunch, we wouldn't have got any otherwise.

[Trixiebelle]

I've seen otters in the Shetlands - they're FAB creatures  ;D

Had the priviledge to see most British birds as me dear old dad's a twitcher.

When I was a youngster he was only one of a select few in the UK who knew where there was a nesting pair and I saw the chicks  :)

I only saw a pike recently. They're HUGE!

Dear old dad's wife saw it lurking at the bottom of a stream bed. As he so genteely put it .."She's got eyes like a s***t-house rat". I've never seen one of those either  ;)

[1066]

this thread makes me reailise how lucky I must have been to have seen so many British birds and other wildlife. I'd never seen slow worms or newts until I got my allotment tho.
What I would like to see is an eagle, I've seen them on my hols abroad, but never here - oh well one day and crossed fingers
1066

[OllieC]

I've put a ring on a Sea Eagle chick, 1066, a real privilege!

[manicscousers]

forgot about the kingfisher, would love to see one of those  ;D
have seen red squirrels, they have a sanctuary at formby  :)

[mummybunny]

you could try and make a nice hiding place for a slow worm bit of roofing felt in a grassy area might attract one  ::) I was watching a program about them re homing slow worms because they wanted to build on the land they were lining on. So they laid lots of roofing felt etc and checked every couple of days then moved them somewhere else.

I have seen badgers bats and slow worms in our back garden bit shocking really as its a really busy built up area!

Would love to see a mole but no on my lawn please  ;D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

forgot about the kingfisher, would love to see one of those  ;D
have seen red squirrels, they have a sanctuary at formby  :)

wasn't your Squirrel sanctuary the one that Colleen threw her £30,000 engagement ring away in, after Wayne did the dirty deed with that erm lady of the night?

[mummybunny]

Im off to the Squirrel sanctuary then where is it  ;D ;D ;D

[Kea]

Yes I'd like to see a mole. no chance of it turning up on my lawn the soil at home is like concrete too.

Did you see the video of one on the BBC springwatch website?

[mummybunny]

nope but off for a looksee now  ;D

[manicscousers]

forgot about the kingfisher, would love to see one of those  ;D
have seen red squirrels, they have a sanctuary at formby  :)

wasn't your Squirrel sanctuary the one that Colleen threw her £30,000 engagement ring away in, after Wayne did the dirty deed with that erm lady of the night?

didn't know that, off to dig out my metal detector  ;D