Jump to content

What Did You See On The Way Home


snaik

Recommended Posts

As i only live 2 miles from Work I either Walk or Cycle, down the River Tay and see plenty Wildlife- and I tonight nearly fell of bike trying to get Camera out of bag on move as right above the river was an Osprey hovering only 200 metres from 2.54cm or is it an Inch! Cache which isnt that far from Perth Town Centre! Used Fuji S5000 full zoom.

 

ossy.jpg

Link to comment
WOW I never have my camera handy when things like that happen.....

You and me, both :P

I did have an 'up close and personal' encounter with a badger not so long back. I was walking along a footpath beside a wood quite late one night after walking across country to my sisters (15 mile round trip). I could see a grey shape coming towards me in the gloom. I stopped and stood very still, the badger continued walking and came right up to my feet, sniffed then walked round me and on up the path. Absolutely magic :D:D

Link to comment

One of the great things about Geocaching is the amount of wildlife we see. We have seen many deer, a fox almost walked into us as we were turning a corner in the woods, not sure who was the most surprised, good job Chester didn't see it. I have disturbed field mice whilst looking for a cache in a pile of rotting logs, seen fishes jumping in the river and so many Red Kites that they are almost becoming routine. And this evening had a very close encounter with a herd of bullocks, not sure we enjoyed that though.

BC (before caching) I hardly ever noticed or saw these natural wonders, if for no other reason it was worth taking up Geocaching just for this.

Link to comment

What an absolutely magical photograph!

 

I'd no idea that Ospreys had spread so far South.

 

In Aberdeenshire they are becoming ubiquitous and almost routine.

 

I can remember when they were as rare as rocking horse poop. It's wonderful to see them back in such numbers.

 

I also remember a job I did on a tiny desert island in the Gulf called Arzanah. There was just one road around the island and the oil company had decided to install British style road signs throughout the island. Other than radio antennae, they were the only things which had any vertical extent and every one of them had an Osprey nest on the top of it!

Link to comment
They've spread a good way further south than that... :ph34r:

Bird navigation has always fascinated me. I'd love to know how they do it.

 

How on earth do they find a tiny little speck like Rutland?!

 

Are they cheating by taking a cheeky peek at their GPSr?

 

Has an Osprey ever been shown to have found Rutland without GPS?

Link to comment

While in the Perth area yesterday (and only a few miles from the town center) my wife and I were climbing a wooded hill when an Osprey whizzed across our path, only about twenty feet in front of us ... up that close it looked spectacular ... and very big indeed :blink:

 

So there must be at least one nesting pair nearby!? I remember the first nesting pair being spotted in Scotland many years ago! Now there are many nesting pairs all over Scotland...I'm glad to say.

 

I spotted one earlier on this year in the Campsie Hills region and it was flying along the road in front of my travelling car and it had a large trout in it's talons....no chance of a photo of course in that situation :blink::huh::(

 

Ullium.

Link to comment
I'd no idea that Ospreys had spread so far South.

Every year for several years we've had a single Osprey on the River Axe at Axmouth at a certain time of the year. It stays for a few days then moves on again.

Some (a lot of) years ago I used to sail a centreboard dinghy. The class was, coincidentally, 'National Osprey'. Our home club was on an old flooded brick clay pit at Stewartby, Bedfordshire. Every year an osprey would stop over for a day or two on it's migration south for the winter. For the duration of it's stay, all water activities were voluntarily suspended. We had 'twitchers' from miles around descend on the place.

For the last few years I've spent some time during May, fishing on and around Loch Awe on the Scottish West coast. During my stay I always tried, and usually succeeded, to get a days fishing on a small private loch on the Ederline Estate. This was also home to a pair of mating Ospreys and one end of the loch was given over to them. I never ceased to be amazed and enthralled at their fishing skill. It far surpassed mine !!!!

Link to comment

Pharisee:

 

I remember the National Osprey class....I used to be the trapeze man on a fireball....remember them?...very fast! I loved it when it started to plane....that hissing noise....I can still hear it <_<

 

Naefearjustbeer:

 

I have a fish pond in my back garden....it has Golden and Blue Orfe, Ghost Carp, Shebunkins and various fancy Gold fish...just recently a very big heron has started to take an interest in my pond....fortunately for me the local cats (who are also very interested in my pond) have taken an interest in it :unsure::ph34r::huh:

 

Ullium.

Link to comment

 

Naefearjustbeer:

 

I have a fish pond in my back garden....it has Golden and Blue Orfe, Ghost Carp, Shebunkins and various fancy Gold fish...just recently a very big heron has started to take an interest in my pond....fortunately for me the local cats (who are also very interested in my pond) have taken an interest in it <_<:unsure::ph34r:

 

Ullium.

So the cat fights the heron and the fish escape :huh: I am sure the cat would make a meal of the fish too if it got the chance.

 

I think a net over the pond might be an idea as those herons can fairly eat once they get a taste for your fish. The brute kept coming back until the fish were all gone :D

Link to comment
Pharisee:

 

I remember the National Osprey class....I used to be the trapeze man on a fireball....remember them?...very fast! I loved it when it started to plane....that hissing noise....I can still hear it :P

 

Indeed I do, Ullium. My uncle owned a Fireball (bl**dy unstable thing it was too...)

Hanging on the wire, trying desperately to control the Osprey's spinnaker on a broad reach whilst lying third in one of the races for the British National Championships was an experience that will stay with me forever. At the time, we were about 5 miles out in the North Sea, sailing from the Royal Tay Yacht Club at Carnoustie. We ended up 10th out of a fleet of over 200 boats.... Happy days, I was young and fit then B)

 

Sorry... this is way off topic :lol::o:(

Link to comment

Here in California, mountain lions are a bit of a scare. But in my lifetime of hiking and biking and camping here, I've only ever seen one: a kitten who fled so quickly when she spotted me on the same trail she was meandering along that I didn't even have time to process what I was seeing until she was gone.

 

Then, while caching in the greater Los Angeles area, I had my first BIG Mountain Lion siting. I was walking up a creekbed in a fairly well-populated (I would say overdeveloped/overcrowded/urban) neighborhood, so I felt safe going with only my 4-year-old and then 20-month-old in tow. The trail was clear, we couldn't get lost and it wasn't a long hike to the cache.

 

The mountain lion playing with its wild bunny, however, was much closer to the trailhead than was the cache. :lol: I picked up BOTH girls, stood stock still and awaited its departure. Not sure what we could have done had the cat decided to trade its bunny morsel for a baby morsel! EEEEK! :o

Link to comment

Naefearjustbeer:

 

yes I have a couple of nets I use when the heron pays me a visit....I think it may have gobbled a couple of fish...but I have so many that it wasn't noticed :lol:

 

The cats of course would have a go at the fish if they didn't like their paws getting wet ... and in any case the fish are just too fast....one of the cats made the mistake of letting it's tail wander too close to the pond surface and one of the Orfe or big carp took a bite at it...gee you should have seen that cat jump :o:(:P

 

Leoness:

 

I like that idea of a plastic heron....and I've heard that they won't land where they think another heron is fishing! Thanks for the tip....I will pass it on to some of my mates who are really plagued by these birds :D

 

Pharisee:

 

10th out of 200 !!! Well done...like yourself I wouldn't like to buckle on my harness now to hang off a Fireball B) .... nor would I be quick enough to duck booms or agile enough to rig Spinnakers nowadays :D

 

Ullium.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...