The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Diane and I are keen walkers and naturalists, yes I repeat naturalists not naturists!
This little chappie decided to pose for his picture.


Grass snakes have suffered in recent years because they need piles of vegetation to incubate their eggs and they also eat frogs which have been in decline for many years.

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track action maniac.

The lunatic is out................heres Jonny!

I blame the grass snakes!

Yesterday I saw three common lizards, only one frog, three palmate newts, two golden eagles (possibly the same one twice) and surprisingly no frog spawn. Also hundreds of geese noisily making their way to Greenland via Iceland.
No snakes though.

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I went to Ducklington "Fritillary Sunday" yesterday.

Saw innumerable purple fritillaries, a few white ones, three cowslips, a buttercup, a daisy and lots of dandelions. Also the slightly boggling sight of about a hundred people wandering carefully around a field looking at same

My house backs onto a forest and nature reserve, so at night all the creatures come out.
Fox's I see all the time, i've even had two cubs playing on my front lawn for an hour solid during the day. I'd never seen a wild Badger before I moved here, but since then i've seen two! The first was strolling along the pavement down my road, the second time one was sitting at the end of my drive as I came out the door to go out! As I stood still..smiling, it sat for a while staring at me as if to say.. "Who are you looking at?"....surreal moment that was..being stared out by a Badger! I also used to wonder what was eating the Bluebells in the front garden, until I came home late one night and found three Roe Deer were munching away on them!..another surreal moment.

The Grass snake that Jon saw is an even greater find though...never seen one in the wild..maybe one day.

The Golden Eagle..jaw droppingly beautiful.. I would drive all the way to the Highlands just to see one flying free..awesome!

I can let you have some tadpoles if you like! Tonnes of frog spawn around here!
It is a great time of year for spotting wildlife and flowers. Great to see the butterflies out again this year after such a horrible summer in 2008.
If you head for the west coast of Scotland you may be able to spot Sea Eagles as well as Golden Eagles. Try the Isle of Mull or Ardnamurchan.
When I was in the TR Register I helped organise the Tour of the Isles week. This happens every second year and takes in a few islands on each trip. Maybe the Dolomite Club should do something similar. We usually ended up with a good list of wildlife records by the end of the week - eagles, buzzards, otters, red deer, dolphins, etc

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1959 TR3A, 1970 Triumph 1300, 1974 Toledo
Thanks Photobucket

Round here, this sort of stuff is happening....

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Vindicator Sprint, Honda Fireblade RRX 919cc, re-powered by AB Performance. Quick.
1995 Trusty Peugeot 306 XND, no turbine, 242K miles young.
1997 Trusty Peugeot 306 GLX TD, 90K miles and soon to ride again..
Alfa Romeo 147 1.9 JTD 150 Ti Lusso , no longer smoking.
Various other transient runners for selling.

From our living room window we often see our resident fox and squirrel in the woods behind our house, the squirrel has been known to stand nearby watching me work on my car.

Took this picture today. 2 mins from my house at a RSPB nature reserve. The male partner was in the dyke behind (oo er missus) and apparently he attacked one or two passers by bruising one persons leg quite badly with it's wing. I tried not to disturb it too much and took this picture from a good distance with the zoom.

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'74 Magenta Sprint WDY250M

Love the pictures
When I was young I spent all my free time wandering the countryside modern cameras have made the pictures so professional.
It has been 30 years since I last visited Scotland and as my Grandmother was a Mc Kenzie from the Black Isle near Inverness It is a MUST for us to return, not just for the wildlife but the wonderful sound of bagpipes played outside in the mountains.
Yes it was a Triumph we drove up there in 77..................

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track action maniac.

The lunatic is out................heres Jonny!

Well Reg you live in Hants and good places to look are near water as they love swiming. The Romsey area and the New Forest are good places. Last year I was fishing in the Dorset Stour at Throop and a grass snake slid across the path in front of me.
The bad bit is that they are extremely fast and have fantastic eyesight.

Oh and Alun mmmmmmm your probably right!

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track action maniac.

The lunatic is out................heres Jonny!

All this talk of eagles reminds me of my 1999 business trip to Hong Kong, the company paid for me to stay in the Island Shangri-La. There were a pair of eagles apparently nesting on the roof, beneath which was the breakfast room some 54 floors up. It was a marvel to watch them glide at close quarters whilst enjoying a full english

We've got countless small brown and larger green lizards over here, not far from our front door either. We used to have a couple of resident grass snakes last year, but they suddenly moved on. The size of some of the toads over here are ridiculous, never seen any as big in England as they are here in France.

Steve

You have a lot of big frogs too

The Black Isle is not that far from me (80 miles). If you do make it there sometime, let me know Jon and I'll drive the Dolomite down.

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