Some great photos. None by me. https://www.boredpanda.com/comedy-w..._J6VN9nsdZfBjPPhnxGbJGb86osE0o0TaPS6zzHAF04-E
Lovely place . Not been for ages ,last time we went we stayed at a poor B&B . cracking Sausages from the Market !
We've got common lizards in the garden again. I haven't seen any here for about 15 years but I rescued this one from the cat today. Female who looks like she lost her tail at some point, and is growing a new one but was really lively and scurried off when I released her.
My water lily has just flowered for the first time. Its a miniature lily, the flower is only about 3"across and it grows in quite shallow water
I’m so jealous. I am sure once I started clearing piles of stuff up, I’ll find some more wildlife. I am confident I have a resident hedgehog as I’ve seen some signs of the little black long variety. also hoping I have grass snake nest
Glad I haven't got a grass snake nest as they'd get all my fish. Almost wish i had snakes not fish though. I've a big female hedgehog that lives somewhere in the garden plus a few almost grown hoglets that still hang out with mum. Your garden sounds as unkempt and wildlife friendly as mine
I share my hedgehogs with my neighbour - he feeds them and they sleep under my decking. I've had to deactivate the security light because they kept setting it off in the small hours of the morning and waking me up!
On the grass snakes, two years ago I found one tangled in my pond netting (about 2.5-3’ long). Set it free up the road. A few weeks later whilst clearing some grass cuttings that someone had just dumped emoticon-0111-blush) in the bottom corner of my garden, I found 2 grass snakes about 10-15cms long. not seen anymore since, but when I sort my new compost bin out, I expect to find something in the two black plastic bins I have done there now. They’re crap as it’s hard to turnover the compost, so I’ve collected some old pallets to put a two or three sectioned wooden one in.
I think the Common Lizards are only easy to identify because the only other two lizards are the Sand Lizard and the Slow Worm. If that was not the case, I think the variations in colour would make them a nightmare if we had other species. In France, they often have two, very fine blue parallel lines down their back which helps. I used to get grass snakes in my garden too and they also got tangled in the netting I used to protect my Climatis from the deer. At the moment it is pretty slow regarding wildlife as the bird numbers are down , there are only large white butterflies around and the most regular mammals are grey squirrels and Roe Deer. What was interesting earlier last month was that there is a part of the River Itchen which is restricted because of private fishing rights. I spoke with someone who was passing out of the gate whether the wildlife along the private footpath was rewarding and he explained that there are supposed to be nine species of warblers along the river bank. I love warblers, not only because of the songs they sing, but also because of the sense of achievement you get from identifying them. This is part of my "patch" and I have seen Chiffchaff, Blackcaps, Willow Warbler, Sedge warblers, Reed Warblers, Cetti's Warbler (heard only) and Whitethroat. It makes me wonder what the other two species must be. I am assuming one must be Garden Warbler which is annoying as it is a species I have never seen although they are alleged to by ubiquitous. Not convinced that the "other" would be a Wood Warbler as the landscape is not ancient woodland. Probably more likely to be Lesser Whitethroat - a bird also supposed to be common although I have only seen one at Titchfield Haven many years ago.