Wild life near you

Gee DGee D Shipmate
We did our usual grocery shop this morning rather than yesterday. After the shop, we went to a cafe in the same suburb and as usual sat outside. Just after the coffee had been served, there was an enormous screeching sound as a large flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos perched on a nearby angophora. There must have been 50 of them, perhaps more. We' often see flocks of them, but this was the largest in a very long while. They're beautiful birds to look at, but their call is far from attractive.

What is your local wildlife (neighbours children excepted)? Do you see much?

Angophora - https://www.google.com/search?q=angophora&oq=angophora&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQLhhA0gEINDgyM2owajGoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Sulphur-crested cockatoos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur-crested_cockatoo
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Comments

  • Near my home and workplace I've seen black bears, deer, bald eagles, ospreys, mallard ducks, turtles, California quail (gotta be the dumbest birds on the planet; they run onto the road when cars approach), American coots, Canada geese, wood ducks. I'll stop there for now!
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    We have seen fox, turkeys, moose, elk, deer--white tail, mule--wolves, cougars. I have also seen bear scat on some of the trails. Our son had the dog off lease in a remote area, and the dog treed a black bear. Racoons--other dog loved to take them on in a local pond. Mallards, Canada Geese, Pheasants, Pelicans are now flying north.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Lots of birds: magpies, crows, cockatoos and noisy miners. Possums both ringtail and brushtail. Flying foxes nearly every evening flying from Centennial Park ( close by) to the Botanical Gardens.

    All natives and also the usual introduced pests such as rats and Indian mynahs. I once saw a fox skulking around at dawn and wondered whether he’d hitched a ride from out the back of Windsor ( 60 km away).
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Parisian wildlife is mostly pigeons and rats :grimace: We do get other birds in the garden. Some bluetits have been in one of our nesting boxes this year.

    Foie gras land is a bit more exotic. We have a hedgehog that pootles about of an evening, plus a few bats (Any creature that eats mosquitoes is alright by me). A praying mantis once dropped out of our tree onto the patio, which is the only time I've ever seen one.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Er...grey squirrels? Used to have not infrequent sightings of foxes, but with the spread of the all paving/decking and lawn style of garden their habitat has disappeared. Probably why, bar the one time, I haven't seen a field mouse or a rat. Other than that, robins, bluetits, magpies, wood pigeon - a hawk once.

    It's also the case that the main animal populations are dogs and cats.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    We have a wide variety of birds, from starlings to buzzards, and greylag geese to corncrakes (who are bloody noisy). The geese are cordially loathed by crofters, and subject to a wide variety of population control measures.

    We have few land mammals, but we do see mice, rats, hares, and sea otters.

    Offshore we get dolphins, various whales, and famously basking sharks.
  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    edited June 2024
    Here in London we have an ever growing parakeet population. As they’re not a native species to the UK, they obviously originate from an escaped pet that went feral. Their are various theories/urban myths as to how this happened, one of which is that Jimi Hendrix had a pet parakeet that he deliberately released into the wild. (I’m sure that’s just an urban myth, as I seem to remember hearing a similar story about Marc Bolan)
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    I get a reasonable variety of small birds at my feeders - blue tits, great tits, bull finches, gold finches - as well as the ubiquitous larger birds - pigeons, magpies, sea gulls. We used to have a fair number of rabbits around, we now have a lot of foxes (I'm sure the lack of rabbits is related to that). Elsewhere in town I've seen deer at work, there are reports of otters in the heritage loch at the north of town (though, I've not seen them - there are plenty of water birds up there, swans and varieties of ducks, hoor hens etc). Around town we get a lot of oyster catchers pocking around in the grass (we're a long way from the coast where one would usually expect to see them), apparently they've always been here as the town crest has an oyster catcher on it.
  • Here in our Valley town we see lots of birdlife - kookaburras, magpies, crows, willy wagtails, galahs, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, noisy miners and the hated feral Indian mynahs, the occasional kite or hawk. Bluetongue lizards were common but are getting rarer. A young red-bellied black snake ventured into our yard many years ago and was despatched after being bailed up by our terrier. On the outskirts feral deer, a population based on escapees from a tourist farm which went bust in the GFC, are a peril to motorists, as are kangaroos which also occasionally venture into town.
  • MrsBeakyMrsBeaky Shipmate
    Small walled town garden which backs onto a churchyard.
    We have a beautiful fox which we see several times a week walking along the back wall before it jumps down into the churchyard.
    Lots of grey squirrels and occasionally field mice- last year one got itself stuck inside the bird feeder.
    This year the bird life is not as diverse as it used to be but we've had blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, house sparrows, starlings, wood pigeons, wrens. We also have herring gulls that sit on top our chimney pot.
    In previous years we've also had gold finches, sparrow hawks, wood peckers, gold crests.
    Not bad for such a small space!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I live right beside Linlithgow Loch, and the swans, ducks and seagulls sometimes venture up to the patch of grass below my window. There are also blackbirds, crows and magpies who live in the trees beside my flat.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    Deer, raccoons, skunk, Canada geese. Outside my office window I frequently get to view turkey vultures which have an impress wingspan.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I raised a smile at the board page:

    Wildlife near you - Most recent by Hedgehog 🦔 🙂
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    Rats of course. Opossums. Squirrels. Geese. Turtles in the park pond. Quaker parrots. Small snakes. Hawks and falcons. Pigeons of course. More exotic wading birds.
  • Rats and Foxes are the main animiles seen in Arkland. There are numerous Cats, who keep the Rat population in check...

    As to Birds, there are, as one would expect, varieties of Gull, along with Ducks (mostly Mallards), Swans, Wood-Pigeons, Collared Doves, Sparrows, Starlings, Blackbirds, Swifts (I think) and Martins (not sure which sort). Occasional visitors are Kingfishers (all one usually sees is a flash of that most gorgeous blue), Egrets (the little pure-white cousin of the Heron), big Herons, Shags, Cormorants, and (in cold winters) Redshanks.

    We used to see flocks of Dunlins and Lapwings, feeding on the edge of the water as the tide came in, but, with global warming, they rarely come this far south these days.

    Lots of Insects, especially in the parts where vegetation has been undisturbed (No-Mow May!), including Butterflies, but not many Bees just yet - hopefully, more will appear as the wild flowers bloom.

    One Beastie probably not seen much inland is the Sea Slater:

    https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/marine/crustaceans/sea-slater

    We don't have many rocks, but the Sea Slaters still find plenty of holes and crevices in which to lurk. Seeing a large one (3 centimetres long) for the first time can be a bit of a shock, but they are entirely harmless.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Gosh, we have a lot of wildlife. All kinds of birds like cardinals, blue jays, grackles and boat-tailed grackles, scrub jays (very cute and very friendly!) pileated woodpeckers, red breasted and red headed woodpeckers, great crested flycatchers, bald eagles (our local nest is on an eagle cam), turkeys, indigo buntings, painted buntings (!!!) and all the usual sea birds.
    Wood storks used to come to my house looking for bugs, as do the ibises.

    We have manatees, dolphins, all kinds of fish and an occasional shark in the canals.

    Deer, wild hogs, bears, are in the woods and often in our yards, and Florida panthers!!!!

    Oh, yes. Alligators and American crocodiles live here. And all four of the American venomous snakes, plus the good ones we like to keep around: indigo, black racer, corn snakes, red racers. And lots of different kinds of lizards, including iguanas who have made themselves quite at home here. Oh, and monitor lizards have been in the area.

    Unfortunately, we are plagued with a huge number of Burmese pythons, which only have humans as natural enemies.

    The more I think about this, the more local critters I think of. Like burrowing owls! Very cute and very fearless!
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Provided one is allowed to include what flies over as well as what lands, for a congested urban location, I get a surprising number of birds. After being absent for some years, House Sparrows have returned, though that has seen the departure of Goldfinches that had replaced them. Then there are Blue and Great Tits, less frequently at the moment, Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies, Ravens that nest not that far away, Jays in winter, but not Rooks despite there being a rookery only about a mile away. Blackbirds of course, and also Hedge Sparrows. Both the larger gulls nest on local chimneys and wake one up with their noise, but the smaller Black-Headed ones, the ones that squawk, leave in April and will return shortly. We've three sort of pigeon, Woodpigeon, Feral and Collared Dove. Sadly, the House Martins nearby seem to have abandoned their colony this year, and there are fewer Swifts than there used to be. Mallard and Cormorant frequently fly over. Birds of prey are Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Peregrine (which nest not that far away) and Kestrels. I've very occasionally seen Red Kites but we're outside their area.

    Apart from rats, mice and the occasional urban fox, there are fewer mammals. Squirrels are common less than a quarter of a mile away, but are absent here. We do though get two sorts of Pipistrelle.

  • Gray squirrels are ubiquitous in North Carolina. Where we live, deer wander into our yard and our neighborhood with regularity. We also see raccoons, beavers, foxes, possums, chipmunks and copperheads. (We live near water.)

    Plus, we have many kinds of birds, including bald eagles and red-tail hawks. And Canada geese regularly act as traffic police.

    Where we are in the summer, the black bear population has exploded over the last decade or two, to the point that you have to be very careful about trash or leaving food in your car. You also have to be very careful when walking or running at certain times of day.

    Unlike brown bears and grizzly bears, brown bears typically aren’t aggressive unless they feel threatened, or unless the bear in question is a mama bear and her cubs are nearby.


  • DiomedesDiomedes Shipmate
    We are by the coast and enjoy the birdlife. I'm particularly fond of the little birds that are always busy on the beach (and have such cute names!) Sandpipers, Turnstones, Golden Plovers, Sanderlings and Dunlins. Moving up a size there are the Curlews, Oystercatchers, Greenshanks and Avocets. Different types of gull all year round and Brent Geese in the Winter. And seals - both Common and Grey. Bird watching and Seal watching brings visitors to the area all year round.
  • Very similar here, in Norfolk, but also large flocks of pink-footed geese in winter, a very fine sight. Also buzzards have moved eastwards, and so we hear their mewing. Ravens supposedly, but haven't seen. Still a few corn buntings. Muntjac in the garden.
  • Jedijudy, I envy you the panthers and the burrowing owls!
  • Lovely to hear about the nature that people are able to observe from their homes and gardens. We live near a sediment pond/wetland and so quite a few water fowl. Ibis, wood ducks and purple swamp hens form the majority of pond birds. We did have a pair of swans a couple of years ago, but last year I only saw one, on one occasion, I still hope to see them again.

    We have about 4-5 magpies in our area as well as visiting crimson rosellas and grass parrots. Occasionally, we get sulfur crested cockatoos flying over with their noisy call. I love seeing the little wrens hopping around the garden, they move so quickly. This year I noticed an Indian Mynah, yuk, I hope it won't return. We also have a noisy wattle bird who loves our camellias and I think this must have been the attraction at our previous home where a very loud one would land on our verandah railing and tease our old black cat. That bird was a cheeky one.

    At the same residence we used to have a possum or two that would run across our roof about 9pm every night, I used to listen for him. He would jump from the neighbours trees, run across our roof, down the length of the house and then into a very large white mulberry tree in our back garden. At times they also used to sleep inside our garage roller door and when we raised or lowered the door we would hear it thump around inside. I do miss him at our new place!

    We make a real effort to keep our cats inside so as to give the wildlife a chance. They love watching cat tv out the front window as one particular maggie lands on our small water feature to drink and the long haired cat waits there to watch for him. I love that the birds can be observed with all the relevant "chatter", but can't be harmed by our furry ones
  • I moved from the country two years ago where I saw wildlife of all kinds daily, into a mobile home park in a small city. I was sure I was going to miss all the wildlife sightings. Although we have industrial buildings and townhouses on two sides of the park, there is a wooded area and small stream behind the park as well as many lovely old trees in the park. I have seen deer, skunks, squirrels, and many birds. My favorite sighting has to be a pair of ducks who decided to try out our swimming pool. We discouraged that visit but it was fun for a moment.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Jedijudy, I envy you the panthers and the burrowing owls!

    I feel very blessed to live in an environment with these lovely animals. They are protected, and that's a very good thing.
  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    Rats and Foxes are the main animiles seen in Arkland. There are numerous Cats, who keep the Rat population in check...

    My nephew used to live in your part of the world and moved to Suffolk a few years ago. He commented that the roadkill up there is a lot more posh saying that in Kent you’d see dead foxes and rabbits at the side of the road, whereas in Suffolk it tends to be deer and pheasant.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    edited June 2024
    Spike wrote: »
    Rats and Foxes are the main animiles seen in Arkland. There are numerous Cats, who keep the Rat population in check...

    My nephew used to live in your part of the world and moved to Suffolk a few years ago. He commented that the roadkill up there is a lot more posh saying that in Kent you’d see dead foxes and rabbits at the side of the road, whereas in Suffolk it tends to be deer and pheasant.

    Hedgehogs, hares and gulls mainly here. Frogs in season. Cars if there are black cows on the common grazing in the dark.
  • TelfordTelford Shipmate
    In downtown Sheffield we have hedgehogs, foxes, grey Squirels, snails and birds
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    We are taking this Heavenwards, don’t forget your harps !

    Doublethink, Admin
  • Spike wrote: »
    Rats and Foxes are the main animiles seen in Arkland. There are numerous Cats, who keep the Rat population in check...

    My nephew used to live in your part of the world and moved to Suffolk a few years ago. He commented that the roadkill up there is a lot more posh saying that in Kent you’d see dead foxes and rabbits at the side of the road, whereas in Suffolk it tends to be deer and pheasant.

    :lol:

    Rabbits are to be seen in the fields just upstream from Arkland - a former neighbour used to shoot a few now and then (for food - Rabbit Pie... :yum: ), but I don't think I've ever seen one actually on the premises, so to speak.

    I forgot to mention earlier that we also have Magpies (noisy b*****s), and Rooks (or Crows - which one is it that looks as though it's wearing baggy shorts?).
  • I look out for the rooks when we're driving up the A1, as they start to congregate near nests early in the year, February even. I was startled to see they had gone recently, so assume they have bred. There are a lot, even near roundabouts.
  • We are seeing an unusual number of garter snakes around the garden this year. They are timid and harmless, and if they eat the bugs, then they are welcome here. The lawnmower can be bad news for them, and we try to avoid such interactions. Then we have the usual deer, groundhogs, muskrats, foxes, occasional coyotes, and a plague of grey and black squirrels. I'm not good at identifying birds, but you can't mistake a bald eagle, and we often see the weird wild turkeys, turkey vultures, ospreys, herons and countless smaller flying creatures. Watching an eagle circling slowly over the woods, hardly ever moving its wings, is magical. Perhaps the favourites are the friendly big North American robins that come back to make this their summer home every year.
  • LeafLeaf Shipmate
    edited June 2024
    From my couch, I can see often: deer herds (already complained about on the gardening thread!), rabbits galore (another gardening problem), foxes, red and grey squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, sparrows, chickadees, crows, robins, gulls, grackles, mallard ducks, hawks. Just outside town there are coyotes.

    Where I grew up, there were standard Canadian Shield fauna: wolves, bobcats, loons, herons, great grey and snowy owls, beavers, black bears, moose. I've only seen a bobcat once as they are quite shy. Other than the birds, these are all high on the "Do Not Mess With" list.

    Moose are enormous. If you hit a deer with your car, the car will drive away; if you hit a moose with your car, the moose will walk away.
  • "Leaf wrote: »
    If you hit a deer with your car, the car will drive away; . . . .
    Maybe. I’ve known quite a few cars totalled and undrivable from hitting a deer. But yes, moose are huge.

  • LeafLeaf Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    I’ve known quite a few cars totalled and undrivable from hitting a deer.
    I would accept a friendly amendment from "will" to "may". :wink:

  • (shudders) "May" is about right. I nearly got hit by one a few years ago--sucker was at least six feet tall at the head and surely outweighed me. My little plasticky car would have had... problems!... especially if he had come through the windshield, as it looked like he was going to do.
  • Not in the same league but the camera in our swift box showed a hatched eggshell on the side of the nest this morning, which had now been kicked out of view. No sign of junior yet, but we have come over all proud parents.

    That we know of, our suburban garden has produced at least four broods now this year, one of blue tits and two of sparrows, as well as the swifts.
  • Other wildlife round here besides what @Sandemaniac has mentioned includes local cats, several foxes, and roe deer. A neighbour has hedgehogs feeding, but we haven't yet seen them (though they may have been through). Other birds I've seen are blackbirds, starlings, goldfinches, jackdaws, magpies, and red kite. There are skylarks breeding in the nearby fields, so we hear them quite a lot. Oh, and the occasional pheasant in the fields - probably escaped from Blenheim.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    Spike wrote: »
    Rats and Foxes are the main animiles seen in Arkland. There are numerous Cats, who keep the Rat population in check...

    My nephew used to live in your part of the world and moved to Suffolk a few years ago. He commented that the roadkill up there is a lot more posh saying that in Kent you’d see dead foxes and rabbits at the side of the road, whereas in Suffolk it tends to be deer and pheasant.

    :lol:

    Rabbits are to be seen in the fields just upstream from Arkland - a former neighbour used to shoot a few now and then (for food - Rabbit Pie... :yum: ), but I don't think I've ever seen one actually on the premises, so to speak.

    I forgot to mention earlier that we also have Magpies (noisy b*****s), and Rooks (or Crows - which one is it that looks as though it's wearing baggy shorts?).

    We get hooded crows. They look like they're wearing grey tailcoats.
  • We have a great barred owl living around our house—i think its nest is across the street. We saw it carrying a rabbit home to its chicks two days ago. It’s one of the only owls that routinely comes out in the afternoon, so we see rather a lot of her.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    In this area of London suburbs the only mammals I get are grey squirrels and the occasional fox. We used to have hedgehogs many years ago, but I haven’t seen one for many years.
    Birds – flocks of parakeets which have displaced a lot of our small native birds. They clean out my bird feeders before anything else gets a chance. Quite a lot of starlings still. I hear a blackbird singing in the early morning but I don’t know where it comes from. I get the occasional great tit or robin, sparrows are in the area but I don’t seem to get them in my garden. I used to have goldfinches a few years ago but they seem to have disappeared.

    Otherwise – wood pigeons and magpies show up occasionally, and recently we have started to get seagulls. A very rare visitor from the local park was a kestrel last year. My best sighting so far this year – not in the garden but circling overhead – a pair of Red Kites. I guess they have spread from the Chilterns which they have colonised in recent years, and I assumed they came from the park.

  • A friend who lives 20 crow miles (30 road miles) from here has a neighborhood bear. It's a pretty new addition to the town and they're expecting fish and wildlife to come remove it.
  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    Following my earlier post about feral ring-necked parakeets, here is an interesting article about them

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/09/how-parakeets-escaped-and-made-britain-their-home
  • Living in the countryside, near the coast, we get a great variety of wildlife. In our garden we regularly see the following:
    • Blackbirds
    • Robins
    • Great Tits
    • Blue tits
    • Long-tailed Tits
    • Wrens
    • Dunnocks
    • Goldfinches
    We also see or hear the following on a regular basis:
    • Barn Owls (They nest not far away and we regularly hear the chicks
    • Little Owls
    • Tawny Owls
    • Buzzards
    • Kestrels
    • Red Kites (they aren't nesting in the area yet but it probably won't be long)

    We have also been fortunate to see Sea Eagles

    Among the mammals, we see:
    • Hares (especially in spring)
    • Badgers
    • Deer
    • Weasels

    I know that there are Hedgehogs around but I haven't actually seen them.

    As a contrast, when we were in Canada, we saw regularly:
    • Bald Eagles
    • Turkey Vultures
    • Ospreys
    • Anna's Hummingbirds
    • Chickadees
    • Varied Thrushes (only in the deepest winter)
  • We have a large suburban garden in a semi-rural location - our back gate used to open to farmer’s fields until new housing was built 10 years ago. So we get all the common garden birds. Blackbirds, wood pigeons, collared doves, starlings, hedge sparrows, dunnocks, great tits, blue tits, goldfinches, robins and occasional long tailed tits. We used to get greenfinches but don’t seem to see many now. Likewise I haven’t seen a thrush in the garden for a few years. The grey squirrels have moved in recently and dig up my pots to bury cobnuts.
    We also have some very noisy magpies and the odd jackdaw in the garden, skylarks in the fields and crows nesting in the trees nearby. There are pied wagtails on the roads outside, swifts in the orchard nest boxes and heron and little egrets fish in the brook; the heron also sits on rooftops on our estate. There used to be a green woodpecker in the school grounds and he was wonderful to watch fly, undulating low swoops. A solo red kite has a visit over our park late morning.
    When they built the new estate they also built a nature reserve with a big lake so lots of ducks and geese and the occasional kestrel. There are hare in the fields around it and bunnies near the railway track. There are badger sets by the cycleway and the occasional muntjac used to wander in our garden before we fenced it off.

  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    I live close to the estuary that two of Christchurch's major rivers feed into. I've been told it's a place of international significance due to the diversity of wildlife. Godwits fly in from Alaska in September and the Cathedral bells used to announce their arrival. They leave in March and there's usually a gathering of Friends of the Estuary to mark this.

    @Cheery Gardener your purple swamp hens are probably the birds we call pukeko here. I think they may also be in South Africa. The estuary also has royal spoonbills and on odd occasions I have seen a white heron/kotuku visiting.

    My favourite birds are the papango/blackscaups. They are small black diving ducks. When they're only a few days old the can dive down 1.5 metres to scoop up food. Sometimes I walk along the river to the shops and look out on what seems to be an empty stretch of water only to have a few pop up. It always brightens my day to see them as they were seriously affected by disease for a while and also by the silting up of the river during the quakes. They are definitely making a comeback now though.
  • TurquoiseTasticTurquoiseTastic Kerygmania Host
    We've definitely got a couple of red kite in the neighbourhood (suburban Hampshire) and I have occasional hedgehog sightings. Goldfinches, long-tailed tits, sparrows all regulars at the bird feeder with Mrs. TQ-Tastic occasionally sighting a greater spotted woodpecker. However one of our most thrivingest wildlifes are the lovely RATS that scamper about from undergrowth to compost bin. One of TQ-Tasticlet #3's first words was "RAT HOLE!" as he proudly pointed at some fine examples of same in the garden.
  • Whilst sitting in bed this am, the swift cam app started pinging, so I had a look. One parent was sat in the opening, and I could see the chicks at the other end. Then other parent appeared, both crammed into the nest end (how do they get those great long wings in there?), presumably fed the sprogs, and then one came and sat by the camera at the hole end.

    I went into the orifice* to see if I could see it leave, as the box is next to the window, and was distracted by a poor female stag beetle that was caught up on an old cobweb on the window. While I was extricating that, the swift left, so I only saw it out of the corner of my eye.

    *orifices are more fun that offices.
  • Headline news in this morning's paper a pair of mountain lions have been spotted in the neighborhood.
  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    and Rooks (or Crows - which one is it that looks as though it's wearing baggy shorts?).
    Rooks are a bit smaller than crows and look like they're wearing shorts - they also have dirty white patches around their beaks.

    I've seen wrens, tits (blue, great, coal), robins, woodpigeons, goldfinches, and willow warblers (pretty sure it was them and not chiffchaffs) out of the back window that I can remember off the top of my head. There are sparrows down the road but they don't seem to like our end of the road so much. We live near one of the Edinburgh hills, so we can see various birds from time to time when we walk there - blackcaps, dippers one year, kestrels, dabchicks (not to mention more ubiquitous species): I have seen a buzzard from my front window.
    As mammals go, there are foxes about, and the hill has rabbits and also bats (pipistrelles, both kinds, daubenton's - I know because I went on a bat walk one evening). I saw roe deer on the hill a couple of years ago and I once saw a weasel. I have also seen a dead badger in the road, though I've never seen signs of living badgers.

  • Spike wrote: »
    Here in London we have an ever growing parakeet population. As they’re not a native species to the UK, they obviously originate from an escaped pet that went feral. Their are various theories/urban myths as to how this happened, one of which is that Jimi Hendrix had a pet parakeet that he deliberately released into the wild. (I’m sure that’s just an urban myth, as I seem to remember hearing a similar story about Marc Bolan)

    On the other hand, if they both did it, there’s your breeding pair…
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