Wildlife

[trackerjack]

When Diane and I were going to Mallory for a track day in March with the Club Triumph 3 years ago a Barn owl flew alongside our car for over a hundred yards between Droxford and Winchester.
We often see them when fishing the river Rother in W Sussex, they look white and just turn their heads to look at you as they silently fly by.
I am guessing that a few of us are avid wildlife fans as well as car anoraks

[Jon Tilson]

On the forked tail question I was going to suggest a bat of some sort...
Then I thought that they must eat the same sort of diet as swallows, so what on earth do they do in winter?

Jonners

[merlind100]

Dont bats hibernate

[JPB]

Dont bats hibernate

I hope they do since, if they don't, I must have a roof full of dead ones.

[trackerjack]

Dont bats hibernate

No they go to Pakistan Australia and India to play in the winter

[merlind100]

Not to mention South Africa. I think you may have your bats confused there

[trackerjack]

You may be right I got arrested last year for wolloping a cricket ball with a long eared bat

[Jod Clark]

I walloped a buzzard with an Iveco today just outside Ludlow. It didn't seem to mind that much.

[trackerjack]

Ludnow is supposed to have great restaurants, is this true.
We go fishing the river Teme for barbel in the summer and usually go to a lovely Bangladesh restaurant in Tenbury.
Two years ago we saw a Raven near Tenbury plus the usual birds of prey that inhabit this lovely part of Britain.

[sprint95m]

Ludnow is supposed to have great restaurants, is this true.

Do they restaurants serve buzzard?

[JPB]

....Do they restaurants serve buzzard?

As long as they wear a tie.......
Here's an interesting, buzzard-based recipe.

[trackerjack]

Yum yum.
Buzzards are one of the great success stories of the last 30 years.
When I was a child we would visit the west country and to see the first buzzards was always exciting for me, I would often spot the first just past Exeter. I was thrilled to see two of them pass food in mid air between their talons.
I never saw them in Hampshire despite the fact that my childhood was devoted to wildlife watching.
I think the buzzard population now covers the entire country.

I keep having this vision of a buzzard waiting to be served in a restaurant and nibbling his talons while he waits

[Jod Clark]

I'm off to Aberystwyth today, so will hopefully see some red kites.

[merlind100]

Red Kites are now really common all along the M40. I had cause to use that stretch a lot last year and never failed to see several. We have a couple of Buzzards ragularly spotted over the airstrip near Hitchen and occasionally a Red Kite as well

[Jod Clark]

Unusually, no red kites on the A44 today. They are usually plentiful along that stretch of road. One flew along above and slightly in front of the truck last week, about ten feet above me, quite a sight.

I very nearly collected a barn owl between Worcester and Hereford (good evasive action by the owl, respect) and saw three buzzards at Dolley Green just West of Presteigne, then no further birds of prey until Welshpool, Shrewsbury and Telford on the home run. As much of the high ground is still under several feet of snow (and a lone snowboarder) up on the mountains, I suspect they have moved to areas where pickings are easier.