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You & wildlife


Snake-Pit

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I usually don't do anything to it because it doesn't do anything to me, I like to just let wildlife be.

But sitting in Hyde Park the other day, called over a squirrel, an Easton Gray, very common here. People were taking pictures of these squirrels that me and my friend noticed anyway before people came along taking pictures, but after the people left, my friend and I called it over when we saw it again and it actually came. It ran around us, checked us out and everything, then decided to come in closer as we were calling it, was cool; and the cute thing came so close, when I put my finger out, for it to smell like a cat would (I gathered), it ran up a tree were sitting under, and I called it and it popped it's head round like it was playing peek-a-boo, I knew where it was, it ran up the other side of the tree we were sitting under, didn't run up it, just ran for it when I put my finger out like I would to a house cat.

These things sound like they're being violently attacked, and pretty much come out at night.

An-urban-fox-in-London-20-006.jpg

... The Urban Fox is my local wildlife.

That and pigeons and robins.

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(This is what a robin looks like in England).

Edited by Snake-Pit
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Love a bit of wildlife watching.

Me and the wife had always enjoyed watching nature programmes so one day we decided to go to a nature reserve about an hour away. When we arrived the first thing we heard in the car park was a bunch of Christians singing "All Things Bright and Beautiful". We looked at each other and thought about going home as the last thing we wanted was to be hassled by the God squad but we decided to go in anyway. That day turned out to be the start of what is now one of our main interests.

Personal favourites are probably avocets.

new%2Beaster%2Bavocets_edited-1_filtered

The rarest thing that I've seen around here (Northern England) is probably a Great White Egret. There had been reports of the GWE in the area so I went to check it out. I was huddled in this hide with a bunch of old blokes when one of them got an alert saying you could see the GWE from the next hide about 5 minutes walk away. They all scrambled to get there as quick as they could but given they were nearly all 3 times older than me I easily won the foot race and got the best view :lol:

GW+Egret+10.JPG

We live about an hour and a half away from Bempton/Flamborough Head, which is an amazing sea bird breeding colony. Incredible views of huge numbers of gannets and puffins amongst others. Worth going just to experience the smell!

gannet_bempton_10.jpg

puffin.jpg

And this hobby also gives you the opportunity to be asked by a random old woman "Have you had a shag today?" :lol: Sadly, this is the what the old woman means.

european-shag1.jpg

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I love watching wildlife. Last year in Canada and the US me and the Mrs. managed to spot a lot of wild animals:

- Grey Whales

- Humpback Whales (with calf!)

- Porpoise

- Sea Lions

- Harbor Seals

- Sea Otters

- Bald Eagles

- Deer

- Elk

- Bighorn Sheep

- Mountain Goats

- Wolves

- Coyotes

- Red Fox

- Black Bears (with cubs, yay!)

- Grizzly Bears

- American Bison

- Alpine Marmot

- Pika

- Red Squirrels

- Golden-mantled ground squirrels

- Columbian Ground Squirrels

Countless types of birds too.

That was a really great trip. We've seen Grey Dolphins and Bottlenose Dolphins in both Greece and Portugal. In Greece we also saw (and swam with) Loggerhead Sea Turtles.

Maybe we'll manage to spot bears again in the Tartas mountains in Slovakia. And maybe some cool birds or sealife in Croatia.

Edited by username
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I love watching wildlife. Last year in Canada and the US me and the Mrs. managed to spot a lot of wild animals:

- Red Squirrels

The only reason why we don't have them here anymore is because the one we have now came from North America and wiped them all out.

Wiki says they're a Eureasian squirrel.

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Grey squirrels (Scirius caroliniensis) are native to North America and were first released in the UK in 1876 in Henbury Park, Cheshire. It’s not clear why they were introduced and the Victorians had no idea of the risks of introducing non-native species. Perhaps they were just a decorative and interesting “exotic” in the park; part of the fashion for collecting that the Victorians enjoyed so much.

There were further introductions around the country and it wasn’t long before it became clear that they had taken to their new home like a duck to water (or a squirrel to trees). Within the space of 25 years, for instance, grey squirrels had colonised an area of some 300 miles between Argyll and Stirlingshire in Scotland.

Although they are bigger and have a reputation for being aggressive, they do not kill red squirrels and there is evidence that red squirrels were already on the decline because of loss of habitat and disease. The greys have just taken up the space vacated by the reds.

Sciurus carolinensis is native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of eastern Canada. The native range of the eastern gray squirrel overlaps with that of the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), with which it is sometimes confused, although the core of the fox squirrel's range is slightly more to the west. The eastern gray squirrel is found from New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to East Texas and Florida. There are breeding eastern gray squirrels in Nova Scotia, but it is not known if this population was introduced or came from natural range expansion.It has also been introduced into Ireland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia (where it was extirpated by 1973).

Eastern grey squirrels in Europe are a concern because they have displaced some of the native squirrels there.

A prolific and adaptable species, the eastern gray squirrel has been introduced to, and thrives in, several regions of the western United States where in a few areas it competes with the shyer western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus). The gray squirrel is an invasive species in Britain; it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. In Ireland, the red squirrel has been displaced in several eastern counties, though it still remains common in the south and west of the country. There are concerns that such displacement might happen in Italy and that gray squirrels might spread from Italy to other parts of mainland Europe.

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I love watching wildlife. Last year in Canada and the US me and the Mrs. managed to spot a lot of wild animals:

- Red Squirrels

The only reason why we don't have them here anymore is because the one we have now came from North America and wiped them all out.

Wiki says they're a Eureasian squirrel.

My daughter used to call them Squiddels. We once went for a woodland walk and she sat down on the path and refused to walk anymore because 'the Squiddels had bited my legs'. They hadn't obviously, she just hated walking - she still does 18 years later!

I took a cute picture of a squirrel burying a nut in NY earlier this year. Sorry it's the wrong way up, I can't figure out how to get tinypic to flip images round.

oa64n5.jpg

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I have an amazing job, I regularly see nutria, deer, goats, blue herons, eagles, hawks, sometimes beavers, squirrels, skunks, marmots. I work out in farm country, so also horses, some dude has peacocks, another has a zebra.

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I fuckin' hate animals. I mean, don't get me wrong, i respect their right to live and that (thats noble of me, eh? :lol:), just not around me. Horrible thick stinky beasts, never understood this passion people have for pets, spending money or a fuckin' rat or a mutt or some fuckin' reptile, for 'companionship', fuck me, if i was ever that hard up I'd probably chuck it in :lol:

Seriously though, how tragic is that, people coming home and talking to their dogs and cats :lol: This ain't Garfield and you ain't Jim Arbuckle alright, you wanna talk, pick up the phone and call your Mum or something!

'Hello Rover, how was your day?'

'Woof Woof!'

*goes in the pantry and shoots himself*

Get a fuckin' Sooty puppet or something, it's cheaper!

'Whats that Sooty? I'm a sad lonely bastard?'

:lol:

Edited by Len B'stard
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yeah but your dog won't ask you why you're still not married, why did you spend $200 on a pair of shoes or will you lend it some money :lol: that's kind of the point :lol:

Why do i feel like i just caught a piece or your life there? :lol:

it has nothing to do with my life. i have a cat :lol:

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Awww, whats it called? :lol: If you say Axl I'm gonna bully

You :lol:

he's not even red :lol: his name is Senja, after our PM. when i found him, he looked same clueless, minus Brioni suit and Louis Vuitton eyeglasses :lol:

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