Nature is almost always surprising, and often when you're out observing something happens that you're not expecting. Sometimes it is an animal you weren't expecting to see in that area or at that time, sometimes it's an animal you were expecting to see do something amazing.

What is the most remarkable thing you've seen in the UK?

I think mine was last year when in Surrey I saw Red Kite. I wasn't expecting to see one at all in the South East, although I had heard (I think on this forum actually) that they are very occasionally seen there.

Its funny how remarkable things can sometimes be quite gruesome. I once saw two Carrion Crows take down a Teal in flight then kill it while they had it pinned down!

Saw a polecat in Wales while on holiday some years back.
Was out looking at the night sky and heard rustling in the bushes, so went to have a look and there was a polecat.

Gruesome things do tend to stick in your mind the most!
Senua that must have been amazing, I've only been to Wales once but never had the luck to see a polecat.

They have become fairly common around my village, which is really exciting. But a heavy myxy outbreak and a new stinking By-pass has pushed them around a bit. They are now turning up in Gardens, mine included


I have seen many remarkable things. One that always stands out is a Blackbird.

I was crossing my local river by the means of an old gas pipe, it was high up off the water so the sit down and shuffle techique was employed, can be a bit painfull.
Anyway..as i was crossing i noticed some movement at the other end, i could see a Blackbird picking leaves off Knotweed and placing them down on something. When i finally got across i found that the bird was placing the leaves on top of it's nest, attempting to hide the contents of the nest (four eggs) from me..a potential predetor.

That really is remarkable! It is quite an interesting thoguht process for a bird. I wonder how effective it is if you were a predator?

I guess it could be effective against Magpies and such, but do birds leave their nests unattended when in egg (when not disturbed that is)? The bird saw me coming and had time to respond, with other predators the Blackbird may not be so lucky? And i often wonder if it did this when there were chicks?

Yes often it wouldn't have had time to cover the eggs if a predator was about, but I would think that if they did have time it could be quite effective if the predator wasn't aware of the bids presence.

I lived in a converted outhouse in a garden, in a seaside resort in Devon a couple of years back . I had a wildlife pond and 2 rabbits who lived free in the walled garden complete with their own burrow in the compost heap (I had a catflap in the door and the female would come in and sleep near the radiator on cold evenings and she used to come in and jump all over the bed to wake me in the morning so I would get their breakfasts. Seagulls, pigeons and garden birds would wait for me to come into the garden and all hell would be let loose with screechings and flutterings.
Anyway, one afternoon a loud thump on the roof alerted me to something strange. I opened the door and on the threshold a beautiful sparrowhawk had its gingery wings spread wide over a pigeon which hung lifeless from its beak. It observed me in a 'Make my day, punk!' kind of way so I quietly withdrew.
20 mins later I found the body of the pigeon at the back of the garden though its head was gone. Of course I was saddened that one of the flock was gone but I still felt so priviledged to have seen the sparrowhawk so close up and had to admire its audacity and courage in staying its ground.