What wild life have you seen in your garden?

crosseyedsheep

Last house I was living in I had a few interesting visitors apart from the normal birds:

Cock Phesent (regular visitor)
Hen Phesent with chicks
Hedgehog
3 wild boar Shocked

Not joking, they made it on to the news a few weeks later, I got some camea footage as proof. I suspect they were actually owned by someone locally though.

So far in the house I'm living in now I saw either a pinemartin or stoat early one morning, it was just getting bright so it was too dark to tell which.

squire1 · Hazel Tree Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 34

The last place I was in (Housing Estate) had a pea-cock and pea-hen as regular visitors. The novely quickly wore off as I realised the size of their "deposits". They also ate evey new shoot that came up in the garden. In the end we had to complain to the owners as they were causing such a nuisance. Smelly feckers.

Curently (House in country) I have two rabbits that greet me every morning, a family of foxes in the field behind, bats, mink (around the river, not very plesant animals) phesant and hares. Oh, and twenty three bullocks.

crosseyedsheep · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:45 am Post subject:

GPI

No pinemartins, stoats or BOARS here. Shocked

Within the garden we have a multitude of birds visiting..... sparrows, finches, robins, wrens, wood pigeons and wagtails.
The soffit and fachsia at the front of my house is to be replaced shortly as it is old and broken in places, at the moment we have (or should still have) a nest of coal tits in one of the cavities. Sure we'll let them bang away for a while more as long as they keep the noise down.

In the fields around my house we have sheep, cattle, donkeys, horses,foxes, pheasants, rabbits and hares.
None of these ever enter the garden though because of Bobby, our long haired German shepard..........

All the birds love Bobby as ......
1/ He never really bothers with them, except for the larger birds like crows, starlings etc.
2/ He provides loads of great long hair for the birds nest building. This hair is to be found all around the garden.

Tessa · Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 2:00 am Post subject:

Here I have lots of cardinals, goldfinches, wrens, thrashers, and some other very little grey birds that I haven't yet identified. Also many many different kinds of woodpeckers, including several pairs of pileated woodpeckers. It's great when a bunch of them get to drumming on the big dead hollow trees in the woods. Makes me feel like dancing. And I love their call....sounds like they're laughing. Lots of crows that entertain me endlessly with their antics. A few shy ravens as well. Most recently, a red-shouldered hawk has come to live in the woods. Some logging nearby destroyed her habitat, I think. It was also about that time that there was an invasion of squirrels that ate every single one of my cherries, and even ate all the apples before I could get even one of them.

As for critters....some very colourful snakes, lizards and salamanders in the most electric colours, possums, raccoons, and lots of deer who made naughty pests of themselves this year chomping on my daylily shoots. A little spray made of rotten eggs and garlic took care of that little annoyance. Lots of bunnies, but they've never ever bothered with anything in the garden. I have caught a box turtle or two munching on tomatoes that are close to the ground. They love them.

anchoress · Hazel Tree Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 19

In a previous house, we had a love affair with a pine marten over several years.
She had made the empty cottage her territory and came then for food As did her young.

Used to breed peafowl and all you say is true. They are also greedy and destructive, but we caged our vegetable patch.

The chicks are the most adorable creatures ever, and those tails..

Now? They say there are deer here. And they say too that a famer here sometimes brings his cattle through.

Well, maybe used to as the gate is now firmly padlocked. Sheep we can handle but cows? No way. We need to grow our food...

hawthorn · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:50 am Post subject: cute..!!

This Fox comes to our garden every so often, i just managed to get a photo through the window after being alerted by the sensor light.
He tends to bury food in the garden and returns every so often for it.

medieval knievel · Rowan Tree Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 115

in this garden:
http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about1462.html

there's a few frogs down the end, but no other big, permanent residents. we get various tits, robins, sparrows, some finches, wagtails, wrens, starlings, magpies, blackbirds, and plenty of insects and other invertebrates. thankfully, not too many aphids this past summer. plenty of slugs though...

Dr. Sunny Thomson · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:11 pm Post subject:

Ha Ha fast on the old shutter there hawthorn. I bet he thought he was done for this time. Approx what time was this taken?

hawthorn · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:20 am Post subject:

It was taken at 22.54 to be exact. He looks a bit surprised alright, but funny enough he stayed in that spot for awhile but kept looking up at me, so he probably knew he wasn't going to get it. The only thing i was pointing at him was my camera.

verge · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:34 am Post subject: Re: cute..!!

anchoress · Hazel Tree Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 19

amen to that.

Mink are even worse.

[quote="verge"][quote="hawthorn"]This Fox comes to our garden every so often, [/quote]

See the way the sly-boy is still in the shadows even though the security light is on. I can respect foxes, but will never like them, having seen too many chicken kills by them on my relations farms.
Nice shot by the way hawthorn.[/quote]

Sive · Rowan Tree Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 131

Live and let live guys.....if any species should be reviled, it's the one we belong to. We do far more damage to this planet than any fox ....and the tragedy is that we are supposed to have "superior intelligence".
Yes, well............

anchoress · Hazel Tree Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 19

That is not surely a reason to allow and approve when predators attack and kill our livestock.

Protecting our hens is a part of our intelligant life.

Everything in its right place.

[quote="Sive"]Live and let live guys.....if any species should be reviled, it's the one we belong to. We do far more damage to this planet than any fox ....and the tragedy is that we are supposed to have "superior intelligence".
Yes, well............[/quote]

hawthorn · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject:

The fox has been killing chickens for thousands of years, its not his fault, its just in his nature. we kill chickens...don't we..!!