I've was stood outside for a bit earlier on and there were 2 bats flying around, and the birds are singing, (one in particular is very small and singing it's head off, i think it's a wren), we seem to have more birds than we have had for years.

A few times recently we have had a hedgehog in the passage, sometimes have frogs and i have seen foxes regulary and hear an owl occasionally.

We also have squirrels and many magpies which i would rather get rid of a few.

What do you have in your garden??

I've was stood outside for a bit earlier on and there were 2 bats flying around, and the birds are singing, (one in particular is very small and singing it's head off, i think it's a wren), we seem to have more birds than we have had for years.

A few times recently we have had a hedgehog in the passage, sometimes have frogs and i have seen foxes regulary and hear an owl occasionally.

We also have squirrels and many magpies which i would rather get rid of a few.

What do you have in your garden??
Yes, I like to go outside at night and sit there looking.We had a lovely owl last night sitting on top of the telegraph pole, outside our house.

I really only see birds in mine. There are a couple of nesting blackbirds that think they own our garden and pace out their territory. Its great to watch, keep trying to get photos but they don't stay still for long enough whenever I've got my camera there.

The other day we had peacocks (well peahens I think). There’s a thread about it, there are on the loose all across S6. I did manage to put some pictures up of those, see the link in my signature.

We get mice nearer winter as we border fields n woods.

They are very difficult to shoot so I have to lay traps.

If only they were as obliging as squirrels who sit and look back at you down the length of your rifle.

Birds, Foxes, and Hedgehogs. I've only seen these around. Plus field mice. Which is a headache for me. I wish I didn't live so near a field now. :(

Do slugs count ? Lots of snails too.

I have a magpie or two (or more) which come to drink from a container in my back yard garden. They are very welcome, as they eat the snails. :thumbsup:

I also get butterflies, and yesterday, a beautiful bright red moth - though I've no idea what it was, as I've never seen one like it before.

Everything on the list except moles (no lawn). It's been great the last few weeks with the birds bringing their young 'uns to sit on our shed roof while the parents go to and fro from our bird feeder. And it was great to sit out on Saturday evening - watching the swifts circle higher and higher in the setting sun, then watching the bats swooping about when it got dark.

:clap: we have 6 swifts - the first I've seen in the 8 years we've been living there

:clap: we have 6 swifts - the first I've seen in the 8 years we've been living there

They must have been on t'internet - thought they'd give this new place called "Rovvrem" a try - owt'd be better than Rotherham :hihi:

Longcol, why do pigeons fly upside down over Rotherham?


cos there's nowt worth crappin on :hihi:

Eastern brown snake
Redbelly black snake
Tiger snake
Brush tail possum
Butcher bird
kookaburra
Satin bower bird
kurrawong
Australian magpie
Southern cross spider
Goldern orb spider
Red back spider
Funnel web spider
Trapdoor spider
Plus lots of lizards.

My garden backs on to the National park. :D

Eastern brown snake
Redbelly black snake
Tiger snake
Brush tail possum
Butcher bird
kookaburra
Satin bower bird
kurrawong
Australian magpie
Southern cross spider
Goldern orb spider
Red back spider
Funnel web spider
Trapdoor spider
Plus lots of lizards.

My garden backs on to the National park. :D
Show off,lucky you.Kookaburra is a real sexy bird.

There are a couple of bats up Foxhill (Pipistrils *sp* i believe)
We have frogs + toads
Birds
Squirrel (lil bugger) nicking all the bird nuts.

Last year we put feeders out just to see what we could get into the garden. I now spend part of every day just watching the birds come and go. We have loads of sparrows, green finches, tits of all descriptions(oo err missus), nesting blackbirds, and we had some gold finches, but they have not been for ages. Its funny how you miss them when they're not around - and so beautiful too. Luckily, we also have bats in the evening. We've a field mouse that clears up the dropped seed, so all in all, we don't do bad really.

We get lots of birds in the garden, mainly:

Sparrows;
Blackbirds;
Tits (great, blue);
Doves; and,
Swallows.

We also get a few bats which are great to watch too. Apart from that, we get a few butterflies, bees and plenty of snails. We have put down some feeders and are incorporating new plants in the garden to encourage insects which in turn will encourage more birds etc.

I'm at my Mums at the moment and last night as we were drinking gin and tonics on the back garden there were loads of House Martins flying up to the eaves of the house. Not sure if they were looking to build more nests for a second brood or were hunting insects.

We get lots of different bumble bees, hornets and other nectar insects, as they like the foxgloves and comfrey. There are lots of Orb Weaver spiders, which are beautiful creatures. I've seen some quite rare butterflies - can't remember which sort but they were brown and yellow. There are frogs and toads in permanent residence. I've also seen bats.

We get some squirrels now and then too as they've taken up residence around here lately. I have heard a fox about too. Then there are lots of birds - magpies, blue tits, blackbirds, thrushes and even wood pigeons.

A few weeks ago I looked out of the front window at about 3 in the morning to see a fox calmly trotting along the middle of the road. Very beautiful it was too.

The street is also used as a bug-chasing corridor for a colony of swifts (or swallows, or martins, or whatever the little birds with pointy wings and tails are).

In the garden, there's the usual mix of birds: sparrows, wood pigeons, chaffinches etc. We used to have a huge colony of starlings nesting in the leylandii hedge a few doors down, but since the hedge disappeared, so have the starlings.

My neighbours have a pond, so I occasionally see toads wandering around. They're obviously not too hungry though, as my slug population is absolutely thriving.

Oh, and I had a family of tiny little mice make a home in a stack of clay flower pots in the shed last Autumn. They left behind quite an impressive nest made of shredded bits of my protective plant fleece and scoffed an entire bag of bird seed/lard balls I was storing in the shed for the winter.

We get a robin that comes each year, all the usual birds, some very large wood pigeons (one flew into our new fence recently and died :( )

We also get foxes because they take residence near the university bins and visit us on their travels (looking for bones that the cats or dogs have left in the garden). Hedgehogs, we get but don't see much.

Never noticed any signs of moles though.
We also have lots of bats around which I think are awesome when they fly around your head.

Rabbits we also get a lot of as they live in the park and sometimes makes their way this far but not often.

The cats invite their friends the fieldmice in and if it's Smudge who's brought them in, she lets them go so we have the fun job of catching them and putting them back outside.

Don't see lots of it at the moment as we're having walls and fences put up but once all the building work is over I'll be able to enjoy our garden again!

In my exgarden there are newts, the man doing the garden said he had not seen one for 30 yrs. They had set up home beneath a log of wood near the pond.
Also slow worms too.

hazel

Nice to see people have and are enjoying it, as most of Sheffield have such small gardens. A few years ago we hardly had any birds and nothing else and now it seems to be thriving.

We also have swifts or swallows and they did seem to be a week or so early this year, blackbirds, crows, magpies, pidgeons, doves, thrushes, tits of all types, and a few others i haven't figured what they are yet. It is so good to hear them singing away. Though they aren't eating enough slugs.

People putting other, can you please tell us what they are, i can assume a fair few are mice, which we have also had, not seen any recently though.

Eastern brown snake
Redbelly black snake
Tiger snake
Brush tail possum
Butcher bird
kookaburra
Satin bower bird
kurrawong
Australian magpie
Southern cross spider
Goldern orb spider
Red back spider
Funnel web spider
Trapdoor spider
Plus lots of lizards.

My garden backs on to the National park. :D

I see the word "spider" a lot, which would worry me.

we've got loads of frogs in our garden! this makes it very hard work cutting the grass!

I see the word "spider" a lot, which would worry me.

It would worry me too as would the word snake !

Weve got bats at the moment they always turn up this time of year .I was lucky enough to see a weasel in the garden ,but only saw it the once !

The biggest threat to the wildlife in our garden is next doors cat, which we call "Tinkerbell the Destroyer", it's just a killing machine.

Does anyone realise that there is actually a shortage of sparrows ? Seriously,this is a fact, I dont know why this has happened,but just look, and realise that you dont see many now.!:huh:

See my post above.

The biggest threat to the wildlife in our garden is next doors cat, which we call "Tinkerbell the Destroyer", it's just a killing machine.
No its not just next doors cat Nick,thats caused the shortage of sparrows.My husband did tell me the reason this week,but I forgot what he said.

We have quite a good selection of birds including sparrows Pattricia, but you are right about them being in decline. We have a pair of collared doves that have become very territorial and see the one and only magpie off when it tries to visit. Mid -air scraps are quite spectacular!We have seen a spotted woodpecker and we also have a pair of Jay's visit. Lots of blue/other tits and finches and wrens. Their is an owl nearby and I love to hear it. I heard a cuckoo a few weeks back but not recently. We have hedgehogs and a fox that comes right up to the house. There was a dead mole on the front last week......but touch wood no damage to our lawns. Then there are mice and there was even hamsters found on the loose a couple of years ago! The mice have set up home in the shed........evidence shown in shredded hanging basket material. As for pond life........we have 2 ponds. One is totally wild now and did contain newts so I suspect they will still be around somewhere. We have a huge compost heap which no doubt contains all sorts. Both ponds are full of frogs but I suppose there might be a toad or two as well but I haven't noticed any toad spawn for a few years now. I haven't noticed any dragonflies or mayflies yet, and up to now not so many butterflies. I have only found one ladybird which is a bit worrying as these are under threat as well! I think there seems to be a few more bees this year which is good. Oh......we have resident bats as well.
I love being surrounded by so much wildlife and try to do all I can to encourage it into our garden. We have quite a big garden with lots of hedging,shrubs and trees and live close to woodland so it sort of spills over into our garden.

Mr Blackbird who uses the tv aerial as a lookout and song post and seems to have two wives, a squirrel who eats all the walnuts off the tree in season, blue tits, great tits, longtailed tits, an occasional thrush, a nest of wild bees in a bird box on the shed, at least one toad, frogs, maggies, wood pigeon and collar doves, saw a treecreeper once, wrens, resident robin, hedgehog, peripatetic fox, a single bat! red admiral, white admiral, small and large tortoiseshell, peacock and cabbage white butterflies, lots of small moths and butterflies, hundreds slugs and snails damn their eyes! innumerable insects of all types beneficial and inimical, and all this within a stone's throw of all the endless traffic of chesterfield road.

Mind you, I don't do any gardening and all the fruit on the various trees gets left so they all have a feast come the autumn - and lots of visiting cats too/ nearly forgot them :D