Yes. It’s amazing.
This morning there was a little gecko on the screen porch. Glad it wasn’t one of those flannel moth caterpillars!!
I love when someone finds a Flicker Feather and asks if I know what bird it came from. In my area they are all yellow shafted, so I can tell at a glance.
No hitchhikers!
Here’s a puzzler. Out on the bike today, a kestrel flew across my path - at a height of maybe 3 meters, and five or six meters in front of me. But its flight was … I can only describe it as extreme evasive action, little jinking swoops and soars, throwing itself from left to right and back again. The only thing around to evade (so far as I could tell) was me, and I haven’t seen this happen previously. The only thing to add was that it had a tasty snack grasped in its talons as it flew. Ideas?
j
So far, far less impressive shots (mine were less inclined to pose nicely in decent light or less than a billion miles away 
), but I thought this was serendipity. From the opposite side of the country this morning, if you click you’ll get a rear view that more directly shows off the difference between the two races:
These guys were slightly more cooperative (okay that’s a lie - the warbler was an utter pain the ass, but at least he was close):
Also, it was a warm and itchy morning:
All very nice captures. And I love seeing the red tail feathers on your flicker - definitely in the West!
I don’t have a photo of this, sorry, but this morning I saw a couple of small woodpeckers (downy or hairy) pecking on canna flowers Canna (plant) - Wikipedia in a neighbor’s garden. I guess they were frustrated these huge plants weren’t actually trees, because they just pecked a few times and then flew away.
Yesterday, working in our yard, I saw:
A garter snake on our patio.
Deer in our pasture.
More deer in our pasture.
A loner early morning mallard.
Despite the glorious fall weather outside, it has been housecleaning day here at Carnut Castle. I have seen spiders, box elder bugs, Japanese lady beetles, a moth, and one lone stink bug. All alive. All outdoors trying to find their way back indoors now.
At the UNM duck pond I saw orange crowned warblers
and red naped sapsuckers
From Nov 10 of last year:
And today on the bike, less than a mile from the same deer park, I encountered two does - again, very much not in the park. Not sure what to think. Incidentally, without warning these guys came crashing out of the hedge at me - as happened a couple of times back in July. But these were fallow deer and does are no bigger than a large dog, so not nearly as frightening (see 10 Nov '21 post for a photo of fallow deer). I think the previous encounters were red deer, big and (when they do that to you) very frightening - we have a significant population round here now.
More peaceful: one of the sights of October, and one of my favorite hedgerow plants, which I spotted today:
Could be a great year for hops. Most years you’ll see them now and again as you ride around, but it looks like there are masses this year.
Finally, cycling back into town - and we’re talking about a town of substance - I saw a buzzard circling above the railway station. I guess it was working the scrubby areas alongside the tracks (which are an important urban pathway for wildlife - so you do occasionally see birds of prey over the tracks). But I’ve never seen one over the station before.
j
Having this thread dormant for 10 days is not acceptable. I need nature updates, people!
Autumn colors at Nymans gardens, Sussex.
(OK, so it’s a fairly quiet time of year. But on Wednesday, out on the bike in open fields, a kestrel flew alongside and just ahead of me for about fifty meters. Breathtakingly agile. Fabulous.)
j
Sorry Trep, most of our brilliant colors disappeared in the wind earlier this week. I must say, that’s pretty good color for the U.K.
It hasn’t rained for a couple of weeks. The pitcher plants are folding up for the winter and the sphagnum is fading, but the capillaris are brilliant. Don’t know what’s got into them. This is a roadside plant, the exposed soil is a deer footprint:
Yesterday, sitting outside at Brighton International Airport cafe - I was surprised to see a juvenile herring gull still (almost in November!) trying to scrounge a snack off mum/dad.
That’s on the taxiway, mind you. The situation resolved itself when the people next to us left and mom/dad helped itself to leftover fries.
j
Walking in the woods Sunday morning I saw a sink drain placed in a fallen tree. Someone was walking in the woods with this in their pocket why? And they left it here why?
Looks like an art piece, perhaps placed to elicit your question. (or maybe to make me figure out how to spell elicit)
Saw this creepy crawly out in the barn. Apparently it is a stinging caterpillar, which becomes the Io moth.
