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Produce => Wildlife forum => Topic started by: Trixiebelle on June 21, 2009, 17:30:36

Title: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Trixiebelle on June 21, 2009, 17:30:36
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?  :)
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: manicscousers on June 21, 2009, 18:06:55
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
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Rhubarb Thrasher on June 21, 2009, 18:18:32
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

(http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p94/rhubarbthrasher/03-Black-Woodpecker.jpg)
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: debster on June 21, 2009, 19:06:00
ive never seen a red squirrel, even when i visited a wildlife sanctuary and they had some there i never saw them
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Flighty on June 21, 2009, 19:21:25
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
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: lewic on June 21, 2009, 19:29:05
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.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Unwashed on June 21, 2009, 21:16:07
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.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: OllieC on June 21, 2009, 21:50:29
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.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: landimad on June 22, 2009, 11:35:00
I have not seen this ever and would like to. The colours are the most vibrant I have seen in a british bird.
(http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad68/landimad/garden/kingfisher.jpg)
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Kea on June 22, 2009, 13:17:26
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.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Trixiebelle on June 22, 2009, 15:19:04
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  ;)
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: 1066 on June 22, 2009, 15:25:50
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
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: OllieC on June 22, 2009, 15:27:41
I've put a ring on a Sea Eagle chick, 1066, a real privilege!
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: manicscousers on June 22, 2009, 17:11:07
forgot about the kingfisher, would love to see one of those  ;D
have seen red squirrels, they have a sanctuary at formby  :)
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: mummybunny on June 22, 2009, 17:21:30
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
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Rhubarb Thrasher on June 22, 2009, 17:22:41
Quote from: manicscousers on June 22, 2009, 17:11:07
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?
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: mummybunny on June 22, 2009, 17:24:00
Im off to the Squirrel sanctuary then where is it  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Kea on June 22, 2009, 17:27:33
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?
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: mummybunny on June 22, 2009, 17:29:07
nope but off for a looksee now  ;D
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: manicscousers on June 22, 2009, 17:37:32
Quote from: Rhubarb Thrasher on June 22, 2009, 17:22:41
Quote from: manicscousers on June 22, 2009, 17:11:07
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
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Rhubarb Thrasher on June 22, 2009, 17:40:18
Quote from: mummybunny on June 22, 2009, 17:24:00
Im off to the Squirrel sanctuary then where is it  ;D ;D ;D

When it all came out I was round a friend's house and she had all the celebrity magazines, and they all had interviews with Colleen. One said how happy she was, and the other three said she'd chucked her ring away, and one of the three said she chucked it away in a squirrel santuary. I just thought it was the one on the way to Southport on the train

I'd wait til he does it again, mummybunny - the wedding ring's worth a million quid
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Trixiebelle on June 22, 2009, 19:15:28
Don't hold your breath Manics!

I saw a squirrel in the grounds of Nottingham Castle once. It didn't come up with anything valuable.

It dived into a waste-bin and came out with a Kit-Kat. Fully wrapped! It unwrapped it and scampered off.

It was a grey one though. Not a red.

A red one would have been seeking a bar of Green & Blacks!
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: saddad on June 22, 2009, 20:36:32
Seen two kingfishers
;D
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Bjerreby on June 23, 2009, 05:02:41
Quote from: landimad on June 22, 2009, 11:35:00
I have not seen this ever and would like to. The colours are the most vibrant I have seen in a british bird.
(http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad68/landimad/garden/kingfisher.jpg)

You can see kingfishers just to the west of Scalby (north Scarborough). Take a walk between The Sea Cut and Mowthorpe Farm on the way to Raincliffe Woods. They are also in Troutsdale and the River Derwent north of Forge Valley.

You can also see them on the River Bourne, just north of Hadlow, Kent.

A third place (if you come over here ever) is in Denmark. There is a pond in the woodland just south of Valdemar's Slot, Taasinge.

The trick with seeing kingfishers is to sit still and be patient. Suddenly there is a right red / blue streak through the air, and it is gone again. That was a kingfisher.  ;D
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on June 23, 2009, 13:20:34
I used to see them regularly on the Thames below Sandford Lock, but I don't know whether they're still there. There were some old gravel pits a few hundred yards from the river, and they nested in the banks.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Kea on June 23, 2009, 17:22:07
On spring watch they stuck a nicely shaped stick into the river/stream bank and hid and waited ...if you're lucky they choose your perch to fish from.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: antipodes on July 07, 2009, 16:07:20
I regularly see red squirrels, there are a few that live near our flats in the park.
I have only seen a mole dead  :'(  sniff sniff, they are very tiny.
I regularly see wild rabbits (a novelty as they are vermin in Australia).
I have not only seen a Coypu but I have EATEN IT! Hah! it makes lovely paté, like hare in flavour.
I have seen grass snakes here (you wouldn't want to see a snake in Australia for love nor money), woodpeckers, water rats,  lots of lovely birds of prey, and storks.
never seen a badger though, that must be lovely.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: Fork on July 07, 2009, 16:14:17
I have seen lots of moles.....but only dead ones after other plot holders caught them in their traps!

Similar sort of things with badgers...only seen dead ones at the side of the road!

I have only ever seen 1 slow worm and that was walking up to a place called "Rodneys Pillar" but I cant remember where that was...it was many many years ago....1977 I think.

Never seen a red squirel in the wild but plenty of grey.

Not seen any kingfishers for ages,then again I have not been to the places I used to see them for a long time.
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: mat on July 07, 2009, 16:29:59
Quote from: Bjerreby on June 23, 2009, 05:02:41
You can see kingfishers just to the west of Scalby (north Scarborough). Take a walk between The Sea Cut and Mowthorpe Farm on the way to Raincliffe Woods. They are also in Troutsdale and the River Derwent north of Forge Valley.

Oi, one of those places is my secret location, with few people going to... stop giving away our local trade secrets  ;)  ::)  ;D

mat
Title: Re: Indigenous British Wildlife I've Never Seen ....
Post by: redimp on July 07, 2009, 19:03:42
Frequently see Kingfishers when I walk the dog down the River Witham about 100m from our house.  I have seen Red Squirrals in the Lakes along with Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. My dream see would be an otter I think.  Would love to see a Scottish Wild Cat too.