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i live on a coucill eastate in middlesbrough out my front there is a beck that runs through the eastate over the winter we had a pair of egrets all winter they left about march time do you think they will come back this winter . it was fantastic looking out of my front room window every day to see egrets . david from middlesbrough

Yes, i've seen lots of ring-necked parakeets in hyde park,London.

I had this in the garden: , any ideas as to what it is? Thanks - Matt Mcveigh

Hi do blackbirds come in black and white.

Ive seen a Great White Egret

Not an exotic creature but in the garden of the large house across from my house my wife has seen a squirrel with no tail more than once. We wondered how rare this was?

I live in North West London and numbers of Parakeets are increasing. I don't know if they are eating any of our native species out of house and home but they are definitely here to stay.
A few years back, I heard they were in South London but they're obviously widening their circle.

Comment 3 loggergoat, looks like a starling, at first a royal starling but they have a yellow front. This looks more likely:



Hope it helps.

Hi, I live on a converted barn steading. There are pheasants, partridges, yellow hammers, tits & robins galore.... One unusual sight we saw last year walking around with the pheasants, was a black variety??? I cannot find anything on the internet. Are these really a different species or related to our common pheasant??

I have seen ring necked parakeets at RSPB Sandwell Valley in birmingham and they were beautiful!

This is a difficult one-i am conflicted. Some i feel should be removed (mink, knotweed being 2 that come to mind as they do so much damage to native wildlife). Parakeets don't appear to harm anything + are very pretty. turtles (someone has released one into ALexandra Palace lake whih eats teh baby waterfowl) should not be put in lakes by ex pet owners. wild boar + beavers were our native animals but can teh landscape + people now live with them-i hope so.

Question, i have a woodpecker that comes to feed in my garden but he looks nothing like the one on springwatch eg white fluffy clean, mine is a grubby sandy colour,with the red rump and crew cut, but he has white patches oh his back not spots ,he is the size of a blackbird, and is always fighting with the starlings,so any ideas, why mine looks in need of a bath

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

A few miles from where you are at a place called Kelling Aviaries near Holt in Norfolk a whole flock of Macaws live wild in a nearby wood. They fly in to the Aviary grounds every day but are completely free and return to the woods. I witnessed this back in 1989 when I was on holiday staying in Cley. As far as I know they are still there.

There is/was Wallabies on the Island Inch Conachan in the middle of Loch Lomond up here in Scotland. I have not been out to the island for a few years but they have been living on the island since about the 60's were are doing well.

Can anyone identify this mystery bird which visited our garden today (Devon). It was about the size of a woodpecker.It enjoyed the apple and chased off our resident blackbird.

WALLABIES!!
When walking with a friend in North Derbyshire in the 1950s, we were leaving Froggatt Edge and stopped dead when we saw what looked like a kangaroo. Having had a pint at lunchtime, we agreed never to mention this, but some years ago learned of a colony on the Derbys/Staffs border.
They are still there - if you do a google search, you'll find them!!

i have got 2 pairs of Red Starts that have just arrived and are nesting in the walls at my house in Cerrigydrudion North Wales this is the first year that i have seen them here. i went out to the car on sunday and one of the pair landed on my head while i was unlocking the car.

Thank you to Ryan Wallace - it does look similar to the Cape Glossy Starling but not identical

last year when going along m4 towards bristol we saw a wallabee on the bank of the motorway eating and hopping around

You can see many wallabies at Leonardslee Gardens in Sussex,and stand about two feet away from them!

Colwick Park, Nottingham. Red Eared Terrapin sunbathing on a log sticking out of the lake behind Colwick Hall. He was about 40cm long. Not spotted him since but keeping an eye out.

Last year in our, garden we had a young Polecat, it was living under our tool shed. One day I was in the garden with my friend and we heard rustling coming from under the shrubs, and we looked under them and saw a ferret like creature,it was so cute, we left it alone and we looked it up on the internet and it turned out to be a Polecat, which was wonderful. We only saw it once, but kept looking out for it.

following on with the story about wallabies on the isle of man i recently saw a dead wallaby on the side of the road just outside andover hants. so mainland uk might have its own colony

Last autumn my husband and I were travelling down a country lane where we live in Berkshire when we saw, what we initially thought was a fox cub running down the middle of the road. It had reddish brown fur with a black tip to a very bushy tail. However as we slowly came up behind it the animal moved over to the side of the road and we saw it had a long snout,short legs and no ears as such. After we passed it returned to the middle of the road continuing at the same pace totally unperturbed by our car. We looked it up on the internet and believe it was a coatimundi.

Hi

i was completing a paleaoenvironmental survey on the gwent levels with the uni i attened and i got a picture of paederus littoralis which i thought was very rare for the area as not many sightings have been logged. however i then found a plant speices that was completely out of places for a salt marsh and the univeristy botanist is still trying to identify, im not to sure how to upload pictures to you, but if your intrested please let me know

cheers lee

I keep seeing what I can only call an Albino Magpie. I've looked on the net a few times, and read that these birds tend to get bullied, or even killed by other Magpies. But I always see this bird in a group of three or four others. Are these Magpies rare?

we live in a small village nr Newmarket we have seen a pair of white birds which look like small Herons I think they could be little egrets we have seen them three times this week, could they be breeding here or are they just passing by?

Hi, yes an exotic species that i have seen is the Ring Necked Parakeet, i seen it in the city of Swansea in Singleton Park, i have not heard of them being in South Wales so this might be new.

We get a great number of GREEN Parakeets every day feeding off our nuts.
On one occasion in 2007 we had a pure YELLOW Parakeet and soon afterwards a pure BLUE one feeding off our nuts. Never seen either one again.

I have seen a wryneck woodpecker, I am interested as I do not believe they are native to the Uk, the one I saw is in a small wood very close to my home,is there any information please about this species. I am pleased to have seen one. I live in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

While walking at Danebury Hill Fort in Hampshire at the weekend we spotted hundreds if not thousands of what I think might be Japanese beetles. The bushes they were covering had skeletalised leaves. I have searched the web trying to name these beetles for my grandson and wonder if these are common in Hampshire.

On tonight's programme Kate mentioned the Richmond Park colony of ring neck parakeets. For a number of years now there has been quite a large colony in Nonsuch Park, which straddles the Epsom/Sutton boundary. This is a very historic park, being the last remnant ofHenry VIII's hunting park which stretched from Cheam to the Hogsmilll River. During its construction the village of cuddington was flattened.

At about 2130 I noticed a strange bird call from the oak tree in my garden. Large predatory type bird not a buzzard, unusual call, loud hooting, large white beak, white underparts dark chest, now appears to be roosting in tree. Any ideas? Have got a couple of photo's but not very clear.

Geoff

I have seen a puma and her kitten while on Exmoor.

A pair of White Cheeked Pintail ducks turned up on the first week of may this year on the River Avon near Bath, they have been around ever since, usually with a resident Mandarin duck but seem quite aggressive towards the Mallards.

I live lose to the broads in Norfolk. Last year I hand reared a very sick pheasant chick (I'm not sure what it had but it had fluid in it's lungs and unlike other pheasant chicks needed constant attention, it didn't want to eat anything and had to be fed a special mixture I invented until it decided to take a few seeds at 3-4 months old). I released him in October, though luckily he still distrusts all humans with the exception of myself. In November I noticed that he had joined a group of male pheasants and didn't think much of it until one day when I looked out into the field and saw him with a Japanese Green Pheasant! As the group are not particularly wary of me I quickly rushed to take photographs, (I will try to upload one or two). Is it known to see Japanese Green Pheasants in this area? - Charlotte, Norfolk

Our next door neighbour knows we are bird watchers and described a bird he had seen in his garden last weekend.By his description and confirmation by a photo from our bird book we identified it as a Hoopooe.As a BTO member,sadly I couldn't include it in my count,as I didn't see it in MY garden-so disapointed!!!!

At the kite feeding centre near Rhyader they have a white kite visiting regularly

Marine species new to the British Isles have arrived in Guernsey including the bryozoan Watersipora subtorquata, and last year the Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus. See

For Watersipora subtorquata see

Guernsey waters have also yielded white bream, Diplodus sargus; two-banded bream, Diplodus vulgaris; guinean amberjack, Seriola carpenteri; and almaco jack and greater amberjack.

I live in the North East of Scotland and we have a thriving population of buzzards but unusually, there is a white buzzard which patrols close to the house. How rare is this? I also have two photos which were taken in the field next to my house which I would like Simon to give me his opinion on privately. His knowledge of CATS might help identify something very unusual. Is this possible?

In answer to loggergoat's question.
I remember seeing many of these in East Africa.
It's a "superb starling"

Loggergoat your bird is Purple Glossy Starling, (Lamprotornis purpureus) It is a resident breeder in tropical Africa from Senegal and north Zaire east to Sudan and west Kenya. It is clearly an escape. :-)

Stratford-upon-Avon: I have seen, and have heard reports of, sightings of a black bird, about the size of a jackdaw, with a white head. Could this just be part albino or a cross? Any ideas?

Bidford on Avon
Woken the other morning by what sounded like a screaming baby but later turned out to be a Peacock which has moved in across the road from us. Most of the time he stays in one garden and roosts' in a very large Eucalyptus tree but yesterday in the torrential rain I spotted him sitting on someones' roof, next to the chimney and sheltering under the TV aerial. He seems to be making himself right at home but must have copme from somewhere. Is there a registery for exotic birds?

Vonlinklehoffen, could it be a Daurian Jackdaw? They have white markings but generally not just thier heads.

I found a False Black Widow in my garden last week, and I live in Derbyshire.

There have been wallabies in the Derbyshire hills for over 30 years! They seem to do pretty well considering how harsh the winters can be around there.

I saw them years ago & believe they are still around. Ithink they had escaped from Riber Castle [nr Matlock Bath], formally a Nature Reserve for British and European Fauna.

on my way to work along a public footpath near some woodland, my friend and I could see a very small dog in the near distance. I have seen foxes many times in that area but my friend was adamant this was not a fox as it was black in colour. Of course after watching Springwatch on Monday night and seeing the piece on black foxes, I am convinced there are more of them around than we'll know :) This was in Stanley, Wakefield.

We have a robust and established population of terrapins in Stanley Park Lake in Blackpool. They must have been there for at least 15 years. We also have American mink in the area so we don't get to see many voles. Of course, the park is overrun by grey squirrels. We also get many little egrets on the salt marshes of the River Wyre.

The thing is, are the egrets actually exotic invaders or inevitable immigrants due to climate change? Should we be bothered or just accept it? It's a bit more easy to see man-introduced species as invasive, but is our island mentality a bit out of touch with the reality of wandering species ranges overlapping our patch?

Hi

Had a great morning gardending only to be interupted by what I thought wa a helicopter. It was a Stag beetle flying around the garden. It was amazing an beetle that size flying through the air is a wonderful sit. Can you tell me if they can see as it appeared to flying into things a lot or is it just their size that makes flying difficult?


Tracie Fanthorpe

Ashtead Surrey

Too many lily beetles in the garden! They're cunning too - try picking them up and they'll fall off the plant upside down with they're dark underside against the soil so you can't find them!

Hello Martin,

I frequently have a vivid blue, almost transparent dragonfly landing on my lavender bush. Are these common in Britain?

Hi

I think I've seen a red throated pipit on 28th April on top of the down overlooking Lewes, by the golf course.

Is this possible?

Kind regards.

Simon

Hi Springwatch,

I have recently took this photo on holiday in the lake district.

What is it??



From Sam Forrester, Staffordshire

hello
on monday 7 june 2010 in my garden we have a bird feeder with lots of different finches visiting, however only one bullfinch, could you tell me if this is a rare species in south lancashire

john

Golden Eagle in the UK?
While on holiday in the Brecon Beacons on a single track road going west from Builth Wells we were travelling along a valley with high rocky sides. The wife pointed to a buzzard on a post next to the road. We stopped and watched it and when it flew to the rocky sides all of a sudden an enormous black bird lifted up and it dwarfed the buzzard. It stayed on the side of the cliffs dancing on the wind and settling on the side for ages before going up and over the top. The bird looked exactly like a golden eagle but was the wrong colour - black. We were told later by a warden at a red kite feeding station that it was a cross between a golden eagle and a spanish eagle(?) and belonged to a recluse in the hills where we had seen it. He said it often gets out it was up here (a few miles NW) a couple of weeks ago he said. Not quite a golden eagle but a magical moment nevertheless.

Thank you for pointing out the difference between male and female great spotted woodpeckers on yesterday show. We now know that we have a female great spotted woodpecker visiting our garden several times a day, brilliant. We also have a Jay as a regular vistitor. What a lovely coloured bird this is. There used to be two of them, presumably a pair, but only have one visiting lately but it is regularly being chased by a very noisy blackbird, is this normal behaviour and how can we tell if the Jay is male or female?

I live in Harrow and there are lots of ring-necked parakeets living in the trees in the local park. Also a beautiful Woodpecker.

Hi i live in Nottingham and have just seen at 5 pm today a Hoopoe on the field behind my house, as its not a resident to Britain, would it be nesting here or just passing through? it was feeding on something very tasty by the look of it.

My wife and I were in Norfolk recently and were lucky enough to see, and hear, a male Bluethroat at Welney WWT reserve, which is but a stone's throw from where you are. Is it still there? Also we saw two Spoonbills at the RSPB reserve at Minsmere. These could be a pair as we saw them carrying what appeared to be nesting material We also heard someone talking about Golden Oriels near Lakenheath, although we ran out of time to investigate. Perhaps you could make it your quest for next week to show some pictures of any, or all, of these birds?
Regards,
Michael Watts

A few years ago, probably 2001, I saw a Red- necked Turtle sitting on a raft of Canadian Pennywort, in Heybridge Essex!
I wish I had my camera, one alien parked on another!

Canadian Pennywort was first released in the River Cam in Essex, has spread along the rivers & canals causing all sorts of problems.
Cows have been known to mistake it for grass and end up in the canal.

turtle was probably released / liberated after it got too big as a pet - this one was 30cm across. They were all the rage as pets in the late 1980s due to ninja turtle craze.

I have also done quite a bit of research on Japanese Knotweed - it is a real pain - can grow through concrete and also devalues land!

I live near the Golden Valley and have seen a black swan take of from the river and fly over the countryside for quite some time. It was definitely the Australian?South East asian bird as it had striking white flight feathers

Not an exotic species but my daughter and grandchildren found two tiny blue tit chicks behind the bath panel in their bathroom. There were no adults or any sign of a nest.

One we let go flew off and seemed in reasonable health but I had to lift the other chick out from under the bath. It was very small, weak, couldn't fly and wanted feeding. I put it in a hanging basket sitting in a cotton wool nest and tried to feed it but it was very difficult. Its condition was deteriorating rapidly. It died about an hour later.

After much investigation as to how these two chicks managed to get into the upstairs bathroom and behind the bath panel we found a crack in the harling and think they must have nuzzled their way through a very narrow gap into the bathroom. There is no other way in that we can see. We are baffled.
Jim Watson
Fife

My husband says have you looked into the article recently in the Daily Mail stating that there was definitely evidence that there were leopards in the Forest of Dene. What is your opinion on this?

A few weeks ago we saw a black swan on the shore at our caravan site on the north antrim coast in Ballycastle (opposite Rathlin Island). I have some photos on my mobile. Is this umusual? It seemed to be exhausted and we phoned the USPCA who seemed to think it shouldn't be there in the first place...

Whilst out walking near the test in Southampton we spotted a little egret. I got photos, but I thought they were normal to see in the UK?

Hi having trouble posting a message in the correct area. Just watched the article on Mute Swans, we have a 22 year old pen who has hatched eight cygnets every year. |This year layed 10 eggs hatched 9 and reared 8, one taken by a buzzard. She is has a ring so we know her past. Been on the farm since 1996.

A REAL STAR OF THE SWAN WORLD

best wishes,

Linda

My daughter saw a quite big, white bird with fluffy feet on the roof of a house near our home. Not sure what it was, could it of been exotic? We live in Staffordshire.

Hi, this is a bit exotic, our garden in Bramhall Cheshire has this evening got 5 young peacocks in it, 2 males and 3 females! I have called RSPCA and local police but the only thing missing locally is a parrot! One of the males has an injured left leg.

So far they have eaten half a kilo of Robin food we put out for them.
Any advice?

Rich

If your still looking for black (mellanissic ?) wildlife. There is a colony of black adders lives at the top of the beach in Hallsands Devon. Just turn over a few stones carefully and there they are!!!!

I think Martin mentioned sightings of crocodiles this evening. Here's one I saw a few years ago at Barcombe Mills a few years ago while photographing damsel flies. I can't begin to tell you how relieved I was when it turned out to be just a rotting fence post.

why is my woodpecker grubby looking eg sandy under belly ,red rump etc but no white spots, just sploges of white, linda

We live in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex and on our neighbours fence during the bad weather was a beautiful egret.....stunning to see one up close.

Whilst on the Broads last year,I came accross a large Terrapin/Turtle. It was in a small dyke just off the river Chet at Loddon. It was about the size of a dinner plate and hauled out on a log sunbathing. It seemed quite happy in its adopted environment and gave the impression of being well established there. I saw no evidence of family groups or breeding. Local wildlife wardens were unaware of its presence in that area or more widely on the broads. Any other sightings? What effects, adverse or beneficial might established colonies of these animals have.

I conducted the first research project on the Isle of Man wallabies about 2 years ago and produced the population estimate and conducted and assessment of their potential impacts on the site they live on (which is an important Ramsar wetland site). So the figure of about 100 they quoted on the show was mine, quite a proud moment for me, although i suspect this may now be a little lower after 2 severe winters since i conducted the survey. They are Bennett wallabies, originally from New Zealand, so quite well adapted to our temperate climate. I also discovered a few Parma wallaby on the site, though I suspect these were not a breeding colony.
I came to the conclusion that the colony wasn't causing any significant damage to the site and may infact be beneficial in maintaining a diverse habitat structure. There may have possibly been a cull if I had found otherwise!

On another note, we have Red-eared terrapins on the site I work on near Kings Cross for the London Wildlife Trust. They do cause a problem eating much of the amphibian and fish life in our pond and we have seen them breaking into coot nests for eggs and may even have taken cootlings. fortunately there is little chance of them breeding as I believe they need 30 days of +25C temps to incubate or some such. Also many are probably now reaching very old age so it should be less of a problem in a few years

Last year whilst walking my dogs near to a local lake I spotted a turtle basking in the sunshine on a discarded tyre within the lake. I couldn't believe my eyes and thought I'd gone mad. When I told me husband he thought I'd gone mad too. 2 days later both of us were walking the dogs and hurray the turtle was there again soaking up the sunshine. Not seen him since though..

I have some very exotic looking Rosemary beetles living in my Norfolk garden. They are beautiful, but do damage the rosemary bush.

On a wider note, a Lesser Flamingo has been spotted flying around Norfolk last week, escape or wild??

5/07/10 19:04, London NW2, Just a few minutes ago, we sighted a small bird we have been unable to identify. Exotically restrained colouring. About the size or a Blue Tit, fine beak, Azure blue tail and breast with a slate grey head and back. Very fine feathers. Feeding around the shrubs. Clear view but couldn't get a picture before it moved off, still hoping it's around the garden and next time we'll be ready.

,AS I WAS LOOKING THROUGH WEB SITES TO FIND OUT WHAT BIRD OF PREY i HAD SEEN ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT TURNS OUT TO BE A BUZZARD ,SAYS THEY HAD SEEN A EAGLE FROM 2004 TO 2008 DONT KNOW IF IT WAS IMPERIAL EAGLE OR IG IT BELONGED TO SOMEONE OR ESCAPED ,WONDERED IF ANY ONE ON THE ISLAND HEARD ANY THING . AREAS UP ON VENTNOR DOWNS,CULVER DOWNS,

I have had a HUMMINBIRD HAWKMOTH in my garden today.
I have planted an area for the insect life of many wild flowers.
The moth was on the red valerion.
Has anyone else seen one this year
I live close to Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

We have had many unusual insect in the garden I have never seen before.
I love and live in my garden

Liz

While working in my poly tunnel on Sunday 11/07/2010 around dinner time, a butterfly which caught my eye came in, I tried to take a pic but it wouldn't settle. after looking at a lot of pictures on the web, the one that very closely resembles the one I saw was named as a ' Queen of Spain Fritillary ', a very rare visitor from over the channel. Is there any other common British butterflies that i could have got it mixed up with ???

We were walking by the canal at Goytre Wharf this afternoon when I saw a goose like bird that looked like a Turkey. It took me a while to find this bird on the web but it is a red faced Muscovey Duck that are native to Mexico and non migratory. However, it does appear that they are sighted over here and in the Forest of Dean.

This morning my children shouted to me that there was a ferret in the house. It turned out to be a polecat! A very pretty looking creature - but are they dangerous? Is it likely to visit indoors again?

Date: 31st July 2010
Place: River Calder, Stanley, Wakefield
Sighting: Little Egret - pure white, slightly smaller than a grey heron with blackish legs and gold feet.
I have a video of the bird wading in the river near to where we live in Stanley.

Tim Gibson

I have been out delivering today ,between Laneshawbridge and Howarth ,and to my astonishment a medium sized Kangarooo hopped across the road in front of me,has anybody else had a similar experience in this area of Lancashire/Yorkshire

Carole in Derbyshire. The Wryneck no longer breeds regularly in Britain but is fairly regular as a passage migrant, particularly on the East Coast. Up till the early sixties they did breed, a friend remembered seeing them in an apple orchard in Kent in the fifties. They are still fairly common in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe where the agriculture is less intensive. Last year saw them breeding in a hotel garden in Poland.