Wildlife Top Trumps

[Paul Wagland]

Ok, so what's the best wildlife you've seen on your plot? You get points for rarity and for closeness of encounter

I had a big fat toad living on my plot in Portsmouth - and I think they're uncommon down there. My favourite spot was the bank voles that nested under last year's black plastic sheeting though. They were completely unafraid of me and ran all over my wellies and anything else I put on the ground.

[smallblueplanet]

Yay! I saw a common lizard on the patio - sorry no picture.

Also seen the year before last, the sparrows set up a commotion to highlight this baby!

- grass snake

[muckdiva]

Buzzards - well not actually on the plot you understand - but in the sky above it, Robin, and ( couple of wasp nests!)

[bluemoon]

A beautiful pair of tawny owls who sit in a nearby tree and impatiently wait for us to leave in the summer time (usually well after dusk). And a woodmouse who was so cute that I not only forgot my rodent phobia, but even allowed her to keep the stash of almost ripe strawberries that she had pinched. A thread elsewhere has people yearning for Sean Bean and Angelina Jolie on their plots, but I'd love David Attenborough on mine, just so he could tell me what everything was. We also watched a mother hedgehog lead her young across our plot last year and frequently see foxes.

I know none of this is particularly rare, but we are only a couple of miles from an industrial city's centre

[jeannine]

God, I second that David Attenborough craving, I even wrote to Jim'll Fix It to ask if I could meet him!

I saw a sparrowhawk catch a starling last year which was amazing and disturbing all at once. It was incredible to see how all the other birds clubbed together to mock the hawk, but he didn't let go of his prey.

I'd love to see a family of hedgehogs!!! Times like that on the allotment are priceless.

[veg4681]

We saw a frog family/community inside the communual well with our neighbour's garden but that was before we covered it up (but it's still intact underneath).

Had hedgehog just by the back door but I guess that's relatively common. We have all the usual birds of starling, sparrow, robin, blue tits, pigeons and trouble maker magpies. Sorry no top prizes here as we're pretty secluded from the wildlife but just down the road few metres away, we have a big park teeming with wildlife.

[Minty]

It`s one of the main reason i love going to the allotment.
Since last April i have enjoyed Sparrowhawk, Kestrels Buzzards, jay, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker,Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch,Goldfinch,Bullfinch,Chaffinch,Yellow Hammer,Stonechat,various Tits and the most enjoyable was a Goldcrest last weekend that was happily flitting with blue and great tits.
Picture below is not the one i saw but just as beautiful.
Minty

[Sue]

Nothing exotic on my plot but having an allotment has made me appreciate insects more and I've really enjoyed being able to watch them. I did a spider survey for HDRA last year so spent a lot of time watching them, amazing how many there are when you really look.
And there are different types of bees...didn't know that sadly. I love my carpet of limnanthes douglasii which attracts many beautiful hoverflies.
But nothing exciting on my plot, very few birds, no hedgehogs, not seen any snakes or voles, do get frogs and toads though, very cheered to find baby ones last summer. Saddest of all is that there are hardly any butterflies. I remember from childhood seeing buddlia covered in them, I've got one growing now so live in hopes.
Sue

[kernowyon]

three gems from my allotment are
long tailed tits, a huge family of them (20+)
jays (you just know when they are around) so beautifully coloured
and ring necked parakeets (a pest apparently, though i dont mind them)

[smallblueplanet]

....Saddest of all is that there are hardly any butterflies. I remember from childhood seeing buddlia covered in them, I've got one growing now so live in hopes.

Sue have you any verbena bonariensis growing, they're a real magnet for bees and butterflies and on ours the year before last, a humming bird moth.

[Paul Wagland]

ring necked parakeets (a pest apparently, though i dont mind them)

You old show off!

[Minty]

three gems from my allotment are
long tailed tits, a huge family of them (20+)
jays (you just know when they are around) so beautifully coloured
and ring necked parakeets (a pest apparently, though i dont mind them)

Ring Necks a PEST !!!!. .I would love to see them at my lottie, you are so lucky, Minty

[SarzWix]

A hedgehog shambling across the path, Paddy (German Shepherd) thought it was a cat and went belting up to it, never seen her stop so fast and shot backwards into a fence when she got a spike in her nose! (Much hilarity for the kids!)
Also a couple of frogs in the long grass, tons of birdlife (but nothing unusual as yet) and a couple of feral cats.
I'm keeping my eyes open though, a friend had a sparrow-hawk picking off starlings in her garden down the road just last week.

[Seahorse]

I have at least one squirrel, toads, goldfinches, robins, bluetits and a few other less welcome birds (namely magpies and wood pigeons). My #1 daughter has seen a kingfisher twice but I've yet to spot it!

There are 14 feral cats on our site too and I often find a couple cosied up on my plot

[greenlung]

2 frogs at it this week in the pond.
Red fox with a green collar, 20 ft away, midday last month.
Badgers (unseen) in the night to nick my sweetcorn last year.