Wildlife around the yard.

[Toby_Zaphod]

I led one of my horses out And I walked passed a fence post with a buzzard sitting on it, He didn't fly off until I was about 2'- 3' away from him. He was beautiful, big & powerful. We have green woodpeckers in the trees, the usual Pied Wagtails running about the yard. There are robins defending their territory. There are foxes, badgers and rabbits running around. There are plenty of other birds but I've stuck mainly to the 'different' ones. I think it's good to take time to take in the diversity of birds & animals we have the opportunity to be near & enjoy. A wonderful morning.

 

[Rowreach]

It's wonderful isn't it! We have buzzards galore and a heron on the pond. Currently I have a visiting raven in the rookery. He's huge and very vocal, and the rooks are seriously cross with him for being there. And red squirrels. We also had a pine marten but I haven't seen him for a while.

 

[scats]

We have a few resident buzzards, herons, ducks, geese and owls. The large buzzard is fantastic, but he clearly judges you when you ride past him!

 

[Archangel]

We have buzzards and kites here. Plus a stoat and lots of frogs including tiny ones that live in the boggy bits of the field.

In my old field back in Surrey the buzzards used my fields as a flying school for their babies. The fences were just the right distance apart for a short flight and then a rest before setting off again. It was fascinating to watch, some landed perfectly, some landed then fell off the fence, some missed the fence altogether.

 

[billylula]

All we seem to have at the moment is rabbits, constantly digging holes in the paddock and digging up the floor of the field shelter. I'd quite happily shoot the lot.

 

[rextherobber]

This is a lovely post, was thinking similar as I pop picked yesterday, with buzzards and Kites above We have a seasonal visitor, a grey Wagtail, who is with us all winter and vanishes in the spring, this is our third winter together. We have loads of owls, or one very vocal one, I hear them/him on the stable camera, but no idea,what sort, and bats, which do sometimes trigger the camera.

 

[rextherobber]

All we seem to have at the moment is rabbits, constantly digging holes in the paddock and digging up the floor of the field shelter. I'd quite happily shoot the lot.

I had the same problem, the paddock holes were lethal. One evening I saw a fox, started leaving food out to entice him to stay, and now my rabbits are back to normal numbers, they live and burrow only in the hedges outside of the field. Fox comes for his supper every evening, sometimes if I'm running a bit late, I spot him waiting for it. I also haven't seen a rat since he's been around.

 

[ycbm]

I saw a lovely fit young adult hare at the yard yesterday and a venerable old hare here yesterday. I had an oystercatcher on the field 2 weeks back but it was lost, I think, and seems to have left. We have lots of kestrel, always hovering even in a high wind. I don't know how they do it.
.

 

[billylula]

I've never seen a fox in the paddock but that sounds like the perfect solution. I'm sick of walking round the field edges covering every hole with buckets!!

 

[billylula]

On the positive side, we used to have buzzards but haven't seen them for a while. We do have swallows thst nest in the stables every summer which is lovely to watch (if annoying for the poo!)

 

[rextherobber]

I've never seen a fox in the paddock but that sounds like the perfect solution. I'm sick of walking round the field edges covering every hole with buckets!!

I got a £50 wildlife camera from Amazon, it's amazing what goes on at the yard after dark!

 

[cauda equina]

Foxes here were a PITA - I feed hay in nets on the ground and the foxes were always chewing holes in them

 

[ycbm]

On the positive side, we used to have buzzards but haven't seen them for a while. We do have swallows thst nest in the stables every summer which is lovely to watch (if annoying for the poo!)

I love the buzzards, it's not a positive for me when the gamekeepers kill them.
We used to have tons of buzzards and tons of swallows. We have few buzzards now but lots of swallows still.
.

 

[billylula]

I meant it was a positive to see the buzzards, sorry badly written. I assume the gamekeepers have killed them (we are in the middle of a shoot). Very sad.

 

[babymare]

Not at a yard but we have thrushes, robins and many other birds on and around bird feeders in the garden( love being on meetings watching them through conservatory window).On the fields behind I see hares deer pheasants white egrets. We also have kites flying around. Just love living where we do ??

 

[poiuytrewq]

At home we have red kites and barn owls (love them)
Lots of Hares and Deer.
My work has more rabbits than I’ve ever seen in my life, it’s unbelievable. If I turned my own horse out there he would definitely break a leg the first day. Im not sure how theirs get away with grazing amongst the holes.

 

[Chippers1]

We've got Buzzards (and my Buzz - his full name is Buzzard ) kites, foxes, many rabbits, hares - one year we had a baby visiting the summer fields, he was super cute! Woodpeckers, a whole gang of Jackdaws including an amazing Leucistic one. Also seen snakes and a few deers too! I love the massive variety of wildlife around our yard, a vast parcel of land has been sold to developers though (8000 houses, two sports grounds, two schools....dreading it) so I think most of the wildlife will be gone

 

[meleeka]

I don’t see foxes at the yard anymore as my dog will chase them. She did pick up a badger too once so I’m pleased they know to stay away. We’ve mostly got birds and squirrels. A family of baby squirrels is so cute!

My favourites are owls and buzzards. I currently have a Robins nest in the barn and a wren in a stable. The swallows will hopefully nest soon, but no blue tits this year.

 

[Burnttoast]

We got our land partly so we could encourage wildlife and I love seeing birds using the new hedges etc, makes it all worthwhile. We have buzzards, kestrels, tawny and barn owls and the occasional red kite, corvids, mistle thrushes, wrens, pied wagtails, robins, dunnocks, a variety of tits and finches, whitethroats some years and linnets, which are red list and rare around here - I was so happy about that. They came because we let our original hedges go - they need scrub and big hedges for nesting. The only mustelid I've seen here was dead though ? we are a bit short of mammals. I make sure a couple of the winter fields never get grazed down too hard to help the voles at least. There was a grass snake nest in one of the muck heaps one year but the farm's pheasants eat them I suspect.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Oh snakes aswell yes, not seen any yet but this is the snakiest area I’ve ever lived!
I once got home to work to what seemed like a massive python curled up in the sun on my door mat! (Fully grown grass snake in reality I expect ?)
Que slight panic as I really needed a wee and couldn’t get into the house!

 

[J&S]

My swallows are back. They take over from the sparrows that i have all winter. We had a deer come in a few years ago, he ate the little willow plants i had just sewn and investigated the open stables as i found deer droppings in there! Before we bought the field, its right behind our house, I saw a deer and her baby just resting there. We have had rabbits but i think the resident lurcher has put them off.
We quite like our pidgeons, they bill and coo on the phone wire outside the kitchen window.

 

[dorsetladette]

We have buzzards I love watching them. We also have bats, which are lovely to watch in the evening (once you get past panicking they'll get stuck in your hair - no idea why this thought even enters my head). Hedgehogs seem to like our middle field too.

As for rabbits - we seem to be the perfect breeding ground for rabbits. We were over run a few years ago, I think we have a manageable number now, but this is with a weekly visit from a marksman. Moles are another massive problem for us. We've got a brilliant mole catcher now who removed 8 in a week. But the damage has already been done.

 

[cauda equina]

Moles here too, although I class them as vermin rather than wildlife
They've been fairly unobtrusive lately and I've been trying to ignore them, but they're in the front lawn now so the traps are out

We are lucky to have a muntjac and her calf visiting the garden - watching the calf do zoomies is lovely

 

[spacefaer]

Those people who have rabbits - what part of the country are you in?

There used to be loads here in Shropshire but the nightmare of PHD has mostly wiped them out. The ones we do have seem to get to teenager -dom and then we don't see them again

 

[Chippers1]

Ooo I forgot about the long-tailed tits! My favourite birds, I love spotting them in the hedges. Plenty of herons that like to fly out when you go past. Also saw a mink once...

 

[Birker2020]

I saw a beautiful deer running along the grass verge the other morning around 6am. So pretty. I thought it was a fawn and very young, and wondered why it would be away from its Mother but didn't see her lying on the verge or road.

 

[BBP]

We had buzzards when we first moved in but then the kites moved in so the buzzards have moved down a field. Barn owls in the bottom field, tawnys in the one nearest the stables (again they will sit on posts and wait you are right alongside). Sparrow hawks, kestrels. So so soooo many tiny birds, finches, sparrows, dunnocks, wagtails etc. swallows. Bats of some sort. A stoat. I think the dog and stock fencing puts the foxes off coming in.
You are right, we are so incredibly lucky to have access to these diverse open spaces. I try to take a little moment each day just to appreciate it. We try to manage it as best we can for wildlife.

 

[humblepie]

It is lovely isn't it. Go out for a hack and see deer, buzzards, kites, hares, squirrels and lots of little birds. A few people hack out with earphones playing music and I think how many lovely sounds they miss.

 

[Lexi_]

Lots of hares! It’s very flat here so you get a great view of them zooming around.

I had a lapwing keeping me company while I was poo picking the other day. I’m generally terrible at identifying birds but I ended up looking this one up as I was a bit thrown by the weird electronic sounding bird call!

 

[millikins]

I have lots of buzzards, I think they have a nest in one of the big trees. Since they arrived in greater numbers I have far fewer rabbits. I have a few Scots pines (some of my grazing used to be a large garden), and a resident population of goldcrests. There are at least 2 nuthatches which come to the bird feeder. The usual foxes, roe deer and badgers though the badgers seem to have given up trying to be resident which is good. Hardly ever seen a rat, never seen a reptile, occasional toad but no water near by to attract frogs. Pipistrelle bats, swallows visit but disappointingly don't nest, no sparrows but countless robins. Considering how territorial they are I am amazed there are so many. Most exciting was about five years ago when I saw a barn owl twice. Not seen it since but they are secretive so I hope it/they are still around. Oh and the redwings, fieldfares and mistle thrushes in winter.