Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife

Fortunately they seem to be increasing in numbers all the time in the South East. My niece's husband works in Reading and they see Red Kites out of their office window on a fairly regular basis - would have been unheard of just two years ago.

My best moment was last year when a kestrel landed on a footpath in front of me... and then settled down to eat its prey (yes another grizzly one). I took a sequence (photos 23-32 starting here).

The other highlight (which gets repeated very occasionally) is watching our local foxes hunting in the beech trees along the edge of our garden. Here's some video. It's about 13MB so may take a moment or so to start.

I think for me it was driving in the staffordshire moorlands two years ago, when two red kites came barrelling over the stone wall running alongside and just above the road on a bank. They continued flying up and over the wall for a good 200 yards as we drove along. absolutely stunning.
Also been enjoying the site of buzzards since 2001 after they moved into the cheshire/staffordshire/derbyshire border area during foot & mouth.
Herds of fallow deer coming down off the moor. A flock of over a thousand canada geese flying over my head to land and graze in the field behind me.
A Robin displaying against a wood pigeon on a feeding station where I work. was quite hilarious to watch as the pigeon was completely unfazed.
And my cat in a full on fight with a sparrowhawk. the bird won.

Aren't we all lucky to have such fantastic wildlife in the UK??

We are very lucky to have such wildlife on our doorstep. Kit, that experience with the red kites sounds amazing, your very lucky!

I know. we were convinced they were kestrels as red kites weren't in our area. but they weren't right for kestrels. Wasn't until I heard they had been released not far away that we realised that yes, we had seen two kites so close. So amazing to see.

I think my favourite though has to be walking up onto Shining Tor on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border, on a cold day in march. Practically no-one else about and the Sky Larks were flying over my head and singing their territories. So stunning, and the day was rounded off by standing and watching a Golden Plover 50 yards from me, in the heather calling for a mate.

Going to miss this area of the world if I have to move away.

I also have a wonderful memory of a Red Kite. It was two years ago in Surrey and I was sitting out at a friends house having a cup of tea and I looked up and saw it. I couldnt believe what I was seeing and my friend, a wildlife enthusiast, was so excited. It was all the more special for him as his friend had just travelled down to Wales that morning to try and spot Red Kites and he was sad that he couldnt go due to work committments.

I hope, Kit, that if you do need to move it is to somewhere just as special.

Me to. am going to seriously miss the peak district. especially as heading into buxton today i watched a kestrel being mobbed by a lapwing, then lapwings attacking two buzzards on the way back to drive them off.

We see lots of wildlife on a regular basis as we live on a narrowboat, so kingfishers, herons, all types of fish and water foul are common, we visit an area where a pair of buzzards rear chicks each year and have seen them fledge. The first time I ever saw a kingfisher flying was quite stunning - it took several attempts. I've seen lots of them now but still get a buzz, especially when I see one dive and catch a fish. The most amazing thing I ever saw though, was back in 1995, we had just got married and were on 'honeymoon' - in other words, we had taken a week off work to ride our motorbikes around Wales, we were on our way to the coast and rode through (I think) the Black Mountains, we had seen a sign for a Red Kite centre but didn't have time to visit. We were very high up riding along the mountain road when a Red Kite appeared, flying along side, it was so close I could almost touch it. The road was very high and steep and windy, so I had to keep one eye on the road and one on the Kite, which was flying at the same level as us, it was breathtaking!

Regards. M

We have a lot of red kites here in Oxfordshire (aonb) where they were reintroduced very successfully - they hang in the sky and come right down in the garden swooping low over our heads - very beautiful sight. They are now pretty common here (we have spotted at least eight pairs in the area) and are around consistently.

We have a wild Wallaby who comes into our garden from the surrounding woodland - he comes to graze at sundown and you can sometimes catch him (if you are up early) at dawn. He is relaxed with our presence, providing we keep our distance and is definitely a wild Wallaby - that there are apparently small colonies of them in the area. We were pretty surprised the first time we saw him! Especially when he bounced away! We have some great footage of him on camera.

Today, with owls becoming so rare, I think seeing owls landing at dusk on our roof is the most wonderful experience. We hear them (both barn and screech I think) but when we see them flying in the wild and at close quarters it is rather mystical.

Some interesting observations. Here's mine, which still is my most remarkable sighting.

Many years ago I was running on a path through a wood in North Yorkshire. On my right was a small river with a very steep side mostly a rock, falling away from the footpath. I heard this sound in the wood on the left - a sort of 'squealing or squeaking' sound. I kept my eyes & ears open and the noise continued and it sounded as though it was going to cross my path somewhere ahead of me. I kept getting the odd glimpse through the undergrowth and it was keeping up with me but slowly converging on me. The glimpses got more frequent. I knew once it crossed the open path in front of me I'd recognise it immediately. A second or two later this smallish thing crossed infront of me about 20' ahead of me - I got a brief but clear view of it. It shot across the path then disappeared over the small cliff above the stream. I looked for it and saw nothing. Even though I had a clear view of all my surroundings.

'It' was about the size of a large coconut, reddish brown with markings vaguely like a pheasant and was sort of roundish in shape. Its speed matched mine which was probably around 10 to 15 mph. It had legs of course but how many I couldn't even see it was going so quick. No tail that I could notice either. Nor an obvious head. I was unable to identify it as either a bird or an animal.

Mystified I went into my local pub that evening and told my trusted friends some who spent their life farming, another a game keeper, another a better birder than me and all were good observers of wildlife. After much puzzlement, laughter and discussion they decided I should abstain from alcohol before going running!!!

To this day I have no idea what I saw.

and now that description is going to haunt me as I feel I should know what it is.

Hi all, first post here, although I have been reading for a while, so I thought I would share the following with you.

Last weekend my wife and I decided to take our children for a walk, good excuse for me to visit a lake I might be fishing. So to deter everyone from my plan, we parked the car up a long way from the lake and followed a bridle way across a field where there is a solitary house called 'Deer Tower', and then across another field before making a return trip nearer the lake.
On the final leg of our walk, after we had seen Geese, ducks and various bugs, my eldest asked how the house got it's name. As I was explaining about the larger more stately house on the horizon and that this was probably a hunting lodge from times gone by, the youngest asked 'why deer tower?'. At this point, much to everyone's delight and surprise, there was a rustle in the long grass about ten feet away from us, then a deer appeared before leaping across the field, soon followed by two more from deeper in the grass.

It certainly made the walk a remarkable event and the kids can't wait to go out again, this time with binoculars and nature books.

Hi Surreyhatter,

Sounds like the deer was right on time! I think that deer are one of the most spectacular animals you can see in the UK because of their size and elegance.

I think this months photo competition is on mammals so if you could get a photo yo could enter!

Probably a routine thing for most but we've had two chiffchaffs in the garden today. I've never seen them before and we were thrilled. Perhaps we're too easily pleased but I don't care.

Oh, if you want a easy sighting of a red kite, try loitering around the Harewood Estate just north of Leeds.