Wildlife when out hacking

[Desert_rider]

One thing I love about hacking is seeing wildlife and birdlife. I feel you can sometimes get a lot closer than on foot as I think it takes a little longer for the animal or bird to actually register that there is a human on the horses back!
I recently saw deer grazing in the field at the side of the bridle path and a beautiful little yellowhammer in the hedge. Obviously regularly see the normal suspects like rabbits, pheasant etc.
Hacking In Egypt is even more interesting. I have seen mongoose, swamp lynx, massive monitor lizards, hoopoe birds, jewel green bee eaters and once I even got a glimpse of a wolf and her cubs.
What wildlife have you seen out hacking, both here and abroad?

 

[HashRouge]

Oh wow, hacking in Egypt sounds incredible! I haven't seen anything as exciting as you, but have seen foxes, deer, hares and even a weasel crossing the road once!

 

[scruffyponies]

Deer and hare regularly. The odd stoat. Lots of skylarks.

 

[JFTDWS]

Red kites, kestrels, sparrow hawks. Plethora of small bird sp in hedgerows. Roe deer and muntjacks everywhere, badgers and foxes, hares, all the usual stuff really.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Deer, pheasants (no shoot near us, just wild ones) escaped Guinea fowl, Red kites, kestrels, herons, various owls, the usual corvids, skylarks, assorted ground nesting birds (fun when crossing heather areas!) and neighbours huge striped cat hunting.
In and around the yard numerous small birds like wrens, robins, tits of several types, finches, wagtails, nuthatches, wood peckers, swallows etc etc

 

[J&S]

Snakes, in the New Forest!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Snakes, in the New Forest!

Oh yes, them too! Saw an adder only a fortnight ago, bleddy thing in the middle of a track. Heathland in Surrey tho.

 

[JFTDWS]

Oh, it's not wild, but I saw a peacock on a trampoline yesterday. That was a bit odd.

 

[Desert_rider]

Never come across a snake! How did your horse react to the one on the path?
How could I forget about the skylarks! Nothing better than riding through the fields listening to them singing overhead.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Oh, it's not wild, but I saw a peacock on a trampoline yesterday. That was a bit odd.

Does not compute! 😱😂😂😂

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Never come across a snake! How did your horse react to the one on the path?
How could I forget about the skylarks! Nothing better than riding through the fields listening to them singing overhead.

We both saw at same time, stopped and she huffed at it. I then slowly moved her sideways off my leg and took a little detour. Friend on her thicko tbx gelding was glad I was in front as she reckoned he would have just carried on as wouldn't have seen it!

 

[Trinket12]

It wasn’t on a hack, but a couple of days after I had tried Sugar, her previous owner sent us a picture of a bear at the side of their arena!

Ahhhh Canada 😉

 

[Chippers1]

We have three resident Buzzards that live near our summer fields, I also see two woodpeckers that live there, foxes, hares, lots of rabbits, seen a snake and very occasionally deer. I saw a mink down by the brook that runs next to the summer field once!

 

[ycbm]

Red deer, hare, kestrel, brown owl, badger, lapwing, curlew, raven, red badger, kite, barn owl, lark, weasel, woodpecker (noise not sight), stoat, fox, mink , buzzard, paragliders , naked rambler 🤣

 

[Meredith]

Deer, red kite, buzzards, squirrels, hares boxing, crows etc etc

The badger that trotted down the track towards us at about 1.30pm one Sunday lunchtime

Today. A crow flying into the hedge in front of me and flying off with a small bird in its beak. There was a lot of frantic bird calls which I am afraid I couldn’t recognise.

 

[Lurfy]

Plenty of kangaroos and rabbits, a few echidnas. We came across some wild pigs when out riding with my Adult Riding Club some years ago. They are very different to domestic pics, smaller and fast as all get go. Snakes in summer. The horses usually see/hear/sense the snakes before you do and prop or get agitated. This has happened a few times over the years, horses are pretty smart at avoiding them.

 

[Lexi_]

There are lots of hares on our yard so they’re fun to watch zooming around the fields. I’m terrible at bird spotting though so only know the super obvious ones like pheasants and barn owls and so on.

 

[Rokele55]

Cantering across the common one day I noticed a new tree, hadn't been there previously. It was a huge set of antlers attached to a very big stag laid up in deep heather so just the antlers visible! Probably the best part of the relentless work of exercising hunters is the opportunity to observe the surroundings, especially on the common. Love it

 

[Northern]

Eastern Grey kangaroos and snakes (brown) mainly. Horse eating birds too. Echidnas sometimes and wallabies. In the summer we have lots of blue tongued lizards around sunning themselves too There are foxes and wild pigs around but I haven't seen them while riding!

 

[silv]

Really miss seeing all the wildlife that the UK has. Here I see wild pigs, goats and quite often deer sometimes a few birds but that is about it. I was riding in Australia a few years back when on holiday and there were kangaroos jumping up the track in front of us which was cool.

 

[gryff]

I am currently enjoying watching a pair of kingfisher feeding some young on our canal. I haven't seen a nest, but there's a real flurry of activity around a particular willow tree. I've seen otters around the river and lots of half eaten salmon. Kites and buzzards galore.

 

[dogatemysalad]

It's quite interesting riding a fizzy horse alongside a herd of deer when they suddenly take flight or having a welsh colt on a mountain show a determined interest in the mare you're riding.
Mostly though, we meet squirrels, geese and herons on our daily hacks.

 

[rabatsa]

One day I rode right into the middle of a litter of fox cubs playing on a bridleway. It was not until I touched one with the end of my whip that they realised I was there.

 

[scats]

Regularly see foxes, geese, hares and pheasants. We have three resident buzzards, an owl and a heron on the yard. I’d gladly get rid of the pheasants, hate the things!

 

[Pinkvboots]

We see pheasants, red dear, muntjac and a lot of red kytes they often swoop down right in front of you some of them are huge, saw a massive hare last week as well not seen one in ages, we have a resident male pheasant his always in my fields and we have 2 mallards on our pond they tend to hang around all day.

Oh and loads of partridge they run up and down our roof at night so loud it sounds like it's a person up there.

 

[{97702}]

Great thread 😊 I did think 😱 at some of the posts then realised that the poster probably wasn’t in the UK 😛

 

[Mule]

Birds, deer, rabbits and pheasants. I can't think of anything else. Certainly no snakes or Kangaroos

 

[JFTDWS]

I once met a dog springing through a wheat field so that only its head was visible at the height of each leaping stride. It did look a bit like a kangaroo...

Or, at least, a kangaroo crossed with Theresa May, anyway...

 

[Northern]

Can't find a picture of the hoppers from horseback, use your imaginations This is a big male who shared my paddocks for a while. I had a healthy respect for him, he was about as tall as I am! Apparently they are still to be regarded as suspicious by the horses even though they live with them

 

[ycbm]

I once met a dog springing through a wheat field so that only its head was visible at the height of each leaping stride. It did look a bit like a kangaroo...

Or, at least, a kangaroo crossed with Theresa May, anyway...

🤣