Wildlife

[Andrew Boyd]

Edenbridge - A huge male Deer with a full autumn head of antlers crashing through a hedge and appearing about 20 feet from a mate and me, before crashing though another hedge and across a road.

Everywhere - kingfishers either flashing by or settled on a fishing stem, never had one land on my rod, yet!

Penshurst - a mother Mink clutching a leverett and disappearing into a small drain on the opposite side of the river Eden, then repeating the excersise every half hour or so.

Renshurst - feeding Voles by hand.

Tonbridge - A very foggy summers morning when a Heron tried to land on myself and a couple of mates. Saw us at the last moment and just had the strength to back pedal and avoid us.

Hayes - Watching two Canada geese, one chasing the other out of the water and wizzing round the lake at about chest height, until the one being chased almost hit a standing fellow fly angler, ducking sideways at the last moment, the 'chaser' clattered into the poor guy almost knocking him over.

Lingfield, last weekend - A male Swan chasing a cygnet, this took to the air and landed on the rod's of two carp anglers.

Bewl - watching a Stoat darting about, behind the fishing lodge.

Bewl - watching with my children, a family of Voles going about their daly life within their whole world . . a large rotten tree stump.

Orpington - seeing a Little Grebe swimming underwater in a gin clear river Cray.

Sevenoaks - a Sparrow Hawk chasing a Blue Tit at full pelt across a lake and flitting through some dense trees with no reduction in speed, only to re-appear a moment later and twistingly scoot back to where they had originally appeared.

Night fishing - Shooting stars.

Watching Tufted Ducks locate boilies in 25' of water at night?? Good going when I have trouble locating them within arms reach!

[Miggy]

Whilst fishing a small pond near my house i looked to my left and there was a robin redbreast calm as you like and was just watchin me , i through a few maggots on the floor it came along and ate them all i thought it was gunna fly off but stayed with me most of the day

[James P]

What a great thread, nice to see how much people are respectful and in awe of nature.

 

I've got a few and will write them up when I get back home.

 

James P

[Peter M]

seeing kingfishers is always a thrill, saw a deer on the common near the pond one winters day, seeing grass snakes when fishing on local gravel pit, But the best must be this summer, i saw what i thought was a mink on my local river stort but on closer inspection i saw it was unmistakenly an otter, my first in the wild.

[poledark]

Steve, re your swan battle, check out my website and follow the link to " Fight" in the Birds section, I have to agree with you, it is the "dark side" of a swans life. Most males are now in the process of driving off their offspring before the winter..........

 

Den

[MordenMike]

Fishing the River Mole last winter I saw 2 kingfishers locked beak to beak having a right

old fight dunking each other in the river ! Fortunately after a couple of minutes one of

them let go, so no fatalities. Even after 30 odd years of fishing I never tire of seeing that

fabulous flash of blue as a kingfishers skims by.

[Guest Rabbit]

Having a family of mink playing at my feet whilst night fishing at Rackerhayes Newton Abbot Devon.

 

Kingfisher perched on my rod at Burton Hill Lakes Malmesbury and Badgers play fighting at the same venue.

 

Basking Shark by Torquay Pier.

 

Swimming Grass Snakes on quite a few occasions.

 

Feeding sharks with N.A.A.F.I pork pies in Persian Gulf and catching puffer fish and huge grouper.

 

Geese on the wing in the evening in 'V' formation.

 

Barn Owls

 

And above all, catching a fin and scale perfect specimen roach.

[Dave Matthews]

When I was fishing the Dorset Stour at dusk, a pair of Hobbies were flying back and forth catching insects within a few yards of myself.. I was surprised how slowly they were flying, It shows how adaptable they are, as they can also outfly swifts and swallows

[Anderoo]

What a nice topic this is Please keep them coming!

 

I forgot to mention all the watervoles I saw this spring, which have been reintroduced to a Thames tributary I was fishing for trout. The first indication of them is a good loud 'plop!', followed by them paddling upstream against the current. They've got such character.

[gozzer]

Where do you start?

 

Fishing a trout stream in Scotland, wading on to an island, and coming face to face with a large fox, looking at each other for several seconds, before he turned and slowly trotted away.

 

The same day, sitting in the shade of a hedge and having a full grown hare come within 15ft of me and then just lope away.

 

Freelining a bait to chub, watching the line when I nearly toppled in as a martin landed on my rod and made me over balance.

 

Watching a fully grown mallard disappear backwards underwater several times before emerging, and slowly floating downstream, alive but sinking slowly.

 

Another mallard disappear backwards under water, this time the pike didn't let go, and it never came back up.

 

Fishing for grayling on the R Costa near what was then Kirby Misperton Zoo, (now Flamingoland). Seeing a guy with a large 'dog' coming down the bank, only to see that it was a large lion cub on a chain.

 

Same place, seeing an escaped large white cockatoo, hiding in the bare branches of an old oak, while the rooks circled and mobbed it, screaming at it and it squawking back.

 

Leaning on a wall, waiting for some late comers who didn't know the fishery, being offered a sweet and a big white head appearing and scoffing the lot! The horse in the field was well known for it, but not by us at the time!

 

The usual kingfisher sightings, a mole coming up at the side of my seat. Having a shrew take a fancy to my bait, and when I moved it, the cheeky thing just sat and stared at me, as if to say, if I were a bit bigger, I'd have you!

 

Just about every time I go I see something, perhaps I should concentrate on my fishing more, but I can't help it

Edited November 2, 2006 by gozzer