7.30 am; I SAW a Grey Heron flying unusually low over the roof tops and it was only 5 or 10 minutes later that I realised that it was flying so low because it was coming in to land at the edge of our garden pond; a juvenile, still in streaky grey plumage.
It soon flew off when it saw use looking at it. Hope it didn’t eat too many of our frogs and newts during its visit.
A minute later an equally infrequent visitor to our garden had taken its place by the pond; a Grey Wagtail bobbed and pecked around the pond edge.
I guess I need a pond. Well that won’t work in this drought area.
My unusual siting today, a skunk strolling across my yards. I’ve lived here since 1971 and never saw such!
Congratulations. We don’t get them here of course but we did get a brief view of another North American mustelid, a mink, crossing a country road where the disused Barnsley Canal goes through a culvert. They’re not rare but this is the first we’ve seen for five or ten years. There’s a possibility that our native otter, which has continued to make a come back over that period, is driving them out from riverside habitats. But this was definitely a mink, one with a dark, almost black pelt.