I was feeding a couple of foxes at work a couple of years ago, the one was particularly brave and came very close to make his presence known. They were fed everything from steak to cake and believe me the cake went down the best. Sadly they stopped coming eventually. As for Sparrowhawks, i have trimmed the underside of the shrubs to provide cover for the ground feeding birds so they’re not an obvious target for Sparrowhawks. I have nearly run over a badger once, it ran out of nowhere and it’s a good job i have good reflexes. At least the foxes you can see the reflections of their eyes at night!
Edited to add, i was sharing my fox pictures on Chris Packham’s fox group and Chris Hemsworth The Mighty Thor himself liked one!
No, we are in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the south shore of Lake Superior. The water below is an oxbow off a small river. Lots of water birds,even a pair of swans earlier this spring.
The Nuthatches are so cute. Watching a mature one feeding an excited chick was so interesting a couple weeks ago. Pictures might be an option if I could capture a good one, or more.
I have a humming bird moth that comes to my garden. They really do look like a tiny humming bird and they actually hover at the flowers like a humming bird.
Had never heard of them until this year, but seen a few videos online and my cousin in Wales has them in her garden and sent me pics. Will be keeping an eye out in my garden now!
I think they are getting about more. Where we used to live in Reading I used to see them in my garden and now for the first time where we live in Wiltshire.
Just saw a Red Kite, swoop down for a field mouse ( or something very small on the ground ) in the very dry fields behind my garden. Such a majestic bird.
Just lying here in front of My big bedroom window watching the batty tat tats pinging past and wondering what it would be like to have a moth trap? I didn’t realise before just how many different species of moths there are, on the one website that was just three pages for the butterfly species and 12+ for the moths…
I haven’t seen the red kites for a few years here and I really miss seeing them. The colours, the markings and the fact that they fly so low unlike the buzzards. Whereabouts in the country do you live? I’m in the West Midlands and they’re not so common around here…
We have honeysuckle and raspberries as well but no elephant hawk moths boo-hoo! The honeysuckle has finished now and was an absolute beacon for insects and it smells amazing as well. Well, I’ve just had a look at this site and it says they like fuschias as well which we have: Elephant Hawk-moth | Butterfly Conservation
This site is good. It has a bit more information about them: Humming-bird Hawk-moth | Butterfly Conservation we’ve really noticed how much they love the phlox flowers so if you want to attract them, that’s a good one to plant
They are lovely aren’t they? I’ve never seen another insect or animal like them. I couldn’t believe it when I saw them for the first time I thought they were one of those migrating species that had accidentally flown over! X
Ahh so the Great Lakes then!? I’ve never been to the US before so it seems like a million miles away. If you could share any pictures that would be lovely. I have seen birding videos of some of the species you have their like blue Jays and my favourite cardinals because red is my favourite colour and you get hummingbirds as well?
With the eclipse did anyone notice any wildlife activity.
The eclipse of “99” Was fantastic for wildlife, while feeling very spooky how the light disappeared and started to feel colder.
Too many people are focused on seeing the eclipse than taking in the surroundings and notice what was happening, from 99 I will always remember what it was like.
We were in Cornwall at the time of the 99 eclipse. It went really dark, like proper night time. All the birds went to roost and it went really quiet and cold. It was spooky but then it started to get light again and all the birds started to sing as they would for the dawn chorus.
This time we never noticed any wildlife activity apart from normal but then it wasn’t a full eclipse here and it didn’t get much darker than normal.
It didn’t feel special this time around because it happened at night, and our brains automatically assumes it’s night.
The 99 eclipse I was working but as we were driving we pulled over in a layby and saw all the beauty of the wildlife, birds tweeting rabbits crossing the road and a fox appearing in the bushes.
I can tell you what the eclipse looked like and I never looked up once to see it, we all know what was happening countless of pictures and TV stations recording the event.
But one thing I have never seen recorded from the 99 event is the wildlife, that is something that we be for ever with me.
Good point actually… I can’t believe the last eclipse was all those years ago! Wow… Yeah I was too busy enjoying the respite from the hot sunshine I didn’t really think to take in how the animals were dealing with it.
I was standing in the garden though and the heat that was coming off the ground… wow it felt like a cooker and my thoughts, i’m more concerned about it catching on fire? We’ve had a lot of naughty kids around here try and start fires and luckilyr the firemen have put it out so far.
The canal has had a really funny sort of bluish sheen on it and just seen some big branches in it, which the ducks are really enjoying, I think some of the trees have been losing branches to deal with the heat. Hopefully we will get some rain soon!
I absolutely love this - i’ve been a life long Birder…and have been trying to get my kids into it to - getting outdoors in nature is such an important thing.
We went on holdiay last year to Purbeck in Dorset - stayed in a lovely NT cottage which had access to its own bird-hide. I was up super early every morning to see the birds/deer.
There was a Barn Owl that emerged from its Barn at 2100 every night, and saw so many Osprey that I got bored of them. Also saw my first Wryneck! Swallows were nesting in the porch of the cottage too - it was idyllic. Also plenty of stuff to forage too!
Nuthatches are some of my favourite birds. My 7 year old can identify them by thier call now - sadly we only have the one species in the UK, but they’re always a joy to see.
We found a Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar on our lawn - I assume it had been dropped by a bird. We put it in a box with leaf litter/soil and put in our porch. They eventually pupated and hatched out into the most amazing moth. My daughter loved every minute of it!
Didn’t notice anything different this time as birdsong round here is minimal at that time of day anyway, unlike the sudden eerie silence of 1999. One thing I did notice is that my dog had his tail down during this eclipse which is so unlike him.
pinging past and wondering what it would be like to have a moth trap? I didn’t realise before just how many different species of moths there are, on the one website that was just three pages for the butterfly species and 12+ for the moths… 
and you get hummingbirds as well? 
