Shields Fauna

[Globalmyths]

try and post more photos of the fauna for little old Global please as he loves photos of animals.

[Stout]

Walking on Readhead Ave this morning when what flies by me and over the roofs? a DRAGONFLY of all things! Someone must have a hell of a garden pond round Westoe area.

[Stout]

Over the last couple of days ive spotted:


A waxwing, in a tree next to the Old Ship in Harton. Fairly rare sighting as according to the RSPB only about 100 waxwings overwinter in the UK.


A pair of pheasants on a fence on Holmfield Ave off Sunderland road.

and a pair of either marsh or coal t*ts (no giggling at the back) didnt get a good enough look.

[Globalmyths]

Superb photo of the Waxwing and pheasants. =D> =D> =D> =D>

[Stout]

If only i had the eye and the camera, they were just found via google. as is this...

remembered i saw some redwings in St Peter's church grounds over the winter. They roam across the UK's countryside, feeding in fields and hedgerows, rarely visiting gardens, except in the coldest weather when snow covers the fields.

[Globalmyths]

You can get some good photos of flora and fauna on Google
And if you want free photos just type in Google. "Free photos of Barn Owls". for example. And you can get dozens of free photos on just about any subject you can think of.

[memor]

You lot kill me.

You see ONE grey squirrel and your as excited as seeing the Loch ness monster or Bigfoot.

Grey Squirrels or Tree Rats as they're called down here are an absolute nuisance. We've got Badgers coming out of our armpits and every garden has its own Urban Fox.

We are innundated with Dragonfy's and Ladybirds and

if you promise not to tell anyone.

I caught a glimpse of a maneating plant in next doors garden it looked like Audrey from the "Little Shop of Horrors"

Now if you lot had said they'd seen a Polar Bear.

Thats almost as rare as the "Rocking Horse Sh it" I nearly stepped into.

[jimmywizz]

those pheasants call into my auntys garden to get fed

[robadair]

Has nobody seen anything unusual lately or has this thread just died the death?

If anyone ventures along the cliffs at the mo there's a good chance of seeing Purple Sandpipers, Turnstones, Curlew, Woodcock, Snipe, Little Owls and it's heaving with Rabbits looking for food since the snow fell.

Westoe cemetery also has a good collection of small birds on the feeders, Blue t*ts, Great T*ts, Long Tailed T*ts, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Dunnocks, Robins, Siskins. You also see the odd Brambling, Woodcock, Wren and Great Spotted Woodpecker if you just stand there still (and quiet) for a while.

[Mr Smith]

Photos of most of the birds you mention Robadair have been posted
in other threads, a Great Spotted Woodpecker photo was posted just
two days ago. Have a look at Curlys Corner Shop board, that's where
those sort of things are posted.

[jimmywizz]

tyne dock is crawling with starving rabbits at the moment

[Mr Smith]

tyne dock is crawling with starving rabbits at the moment

I think stottie intends to solve that problem.

[Stout]

I have, while blundering about the Sunderland Road/Harton House Rd area disturbed a bird from its hiding place on a few occasions. Its a brown/black mottled bird with a long beak, a bit bigger than a blackbird and i tend to happen upon it hiding in hedges and flower beds (the bird, not me). I would have said it was a snipe or a woodcock but its too quick for a positive i.d. and i didnt think that we had either around these parts. Next day off, i'll get myself to the cemetery.

[brian c]

A Thrush?

[jimmywizz]

stout as a kid there used to be some woodcocks at west hall campsite at whitburn

[Stout]

A Thrush?

Def not a thrush, wrong shape, darker colouring and a long thin beak.

I saw some kind of warbler in a garden in Dunlop crescent today, it looked most like a garden warbler but they arent resident during the winter. The other half saw a pair of birds that looked similar in our garden yesterday.

[jimmywizz]

stout did your bird look like this ? http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&so ... =&gs_rfai=

[Stout]

Yeah that's the chap Jimmy, when i compare it to a snipe it seems the more likely candidate. The beak didn't seem as long as a snipes.

[jimmywizz]

they are very clever birds for blending in with the background, the first one i saw is when i just about stood on it at the west hall scouts campsite at whitburn

[Stout]

A good spotting day today, grey squirrel, woodpecker and a small flock of long tailed t*ts. All between the cleadon rec and Sunnirise.