RSPB Communities Christmas Advent calendar

I'd say bubbling Black Grouse accompanied by other upland waders such as Curlew, Oystercatcher, Snipe and Lapwing! Remember last year hearing all of these in County Durham from my tent....really strange in the pitch black!

Unknown said:

Oystercatcher

That reminds me! We had a talk recently at the Shropshire Ornithological Society, all about origins of bird names. Apparently, the Oystercatcher was called a Sea-Pie originally! I So love that name!! Much better! :-)

Like most of you, I cannot choose only one, but the warble of a Goldfinch is right up there along with the twitters of Long Tailed Tits.  Also love the songs of Blackbirds and Robins, especially a Robin singing its heart out in the middle of a winter night just outside our window.  And the sounds of Cranes flying overhead and Geese of any sort give me a thrill, too.

Day 11:
Most memorable wildlife encounter?

It's a toss up between innocently driving along a country lane nearly two years ago and just happening to have a barn owl fly past me - less than a foot away from the car - it was late afternoon on a beautiful, sunny winter's day and it was just awesome!  The other encounter was near the summit of Snowdon in August last year - unusually, it was absolutely clear at the summit and I noticed this big bird soaring past magnificently.  I assumed it was a bird of prey until I noticed the diamond-shaped tail and the fact it was jet black!  I promptly left the caff and followed the raven (which it was) and saw it had landed ahead of me - to my astonishment it let me get quite close and posed for loads of photos!  A very memorable afternoon.

While out riding my horse, I managed to watch a vixen and her three cubs playing in the sun. They had no idea I was there and I was quite close to them. They were wonderful to watch.

I guess that would have to be when I was living in Tanzania - we were visiting Mikumi National Game Park at the time and were travelling in the Landrover with our company Doctor (very useful to have in the wild  LOL )  and as we drove around the (grassy track) corner we came virtually bumper bar to trunk with a huge Matriarch elephant.   She had a herd of female "cow" elephants and calves with her and was performing her Lollipop lady duties !  Upon seeing us (our landrover) she turned head on to us in a stand off !!  The ears began to flap, the feet began to shuffle slightly as we tried very very slowly to reverse backwards away from her.   She was standing centre track and the herd were crossing behind her as she fronted up to us.   The Doctor was driving at the time and we were imploring him to reverse very slowly so as not to freak the elephants out.   The Matriarch took three strides towards us and we thought we were going to end up as a Landrover sardine tin  LOL   It was such a scary experiece I have never forgotten it but needless to say we did survive the heart-stopping experience !    That was the 2nd time we nearly had our lights extinguished by an Elephant .... so as popular as they are with many people, they are not top of my favourite list   lol  

Driving to Mull in 2010, down the single track road to Lochaline along the shores of Loch Sunart. Pulled over in a layby and seeing the rocks and sea weed, I thought "perfect place for an otter'. Then I spotted one!!! My first ever wild otter!! WOW! I'll never ever forget that moment! Had the pleasure of watching him roll around in the sea weed, go into the water, catch a fish, come back and eat it before eventually swimming off out of sight!! I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest I was so excited!! Lol! 

Its important to note I get sea-sick on a duck pond, so any boat trip is an act of bravery on my part. I never inherited my father's sea legs. Whilst in Canada and on a boat trip on the Saint Lawrence river, I had my most memoral wildlife encounter to date. Everyone was on one side of the boat looking at the Minke and Humpback whales and were busy taking photos, whilst I was on the other side almost dumb struck by how close a Blue whale had come next to the boat. I paused for a few moments just taking it all in, before I found the strength to lift my camera to my face. I had a huge beam on my face for the rest of the trip and totally forgot about being sick.

I've had a few memorable encounters (one with a mole mentioned earlier in this thread) but recall an incident whilst trout fishing on the Hebridean island of Benbeculla several years ago. I was wearing thigh waders and was in the water to just above knee level when I noticed an Otter working the far shore line around 300 yards away. I suspect he was a Dog Otter due to the large size of the animal. After about ten minutes he disapeared. A further fifteen minutes or so passed when all of a sudden the water exploded about five feet in front of me, a large, dark hairy Otter turned and then dissapeared never to be seen again. I'd often heard it said that your life flashes in front of your eyes in near death experiences and can confirm this with certainty. I honestly think my heart missed a few beats and I rather embarrasingly emitted a high pitched noise similar to the scream of a young girl, stumbled a few steps and promptly fell backwards, ending up sitting in around eight inches of water. I was shaking for around ten minutes after this. Very momorable indeed.