Nature

[The Monk]

the ones from the local paint factory are red (well they come in a variety of colours)

cheers Jeff, you certainly know your Elephant shrews mate, then again you live nearer to Africa than me

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Yeh, yeh very funny Woody, so I missed the space bar. I guess that shows how important it is to achieve clarity in one's writing eh?

Monk, I was being serious there. A couple of years back you reported a case of the ranulus virus, or red sore disease in your garden frog population. I was just wondering if it had cleared up or not.

like this one:

http://www.fishingmagic.com/gallery/image.asp?sp=&v=8&uabn=227&uin=853

 

[Mithrandir]

vole or rat, it was still good to see it, and because of the debate made me read a bit more about them, if you are interested look here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/268.shtml

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

There's no debate Mith, it's definitely a Water Vole.

....but the world and his wife calls em Water Rats

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

BTW They're described as having, "a round body and a short, fat face"

Whaddaya know, I'm a Water Rat!

...err Vole

 

[Mithrandir]

ok debate the name grass snake and slow worms, which are in fact lizards,

common name and scientific genus are not always synonymous


I have called them water rats still, have done for 40 years, see no need to change


and hammy I am a water rat too by the description,

which is strange as my first wife often called me a rat!

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

Are you sure a Grass Snake is a lizard Mith? That's a new one on me. I was aware that our little native Slow Worm is actually a legless lizard, but had no idea a Grass Snake is.

 

[Emmo (Angling Trust)]

I think the grass snake is a true snake, I may be wrong. See loads of them during the summer, especially early morning and evenings.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Watching a stag swimming between 2 islands on Loch Lomond. Some of the stags there aare pure white and this was one of them. Watching an osprey swooping down for a popped up perch - I pulled it out of the way just in time!

A grass snake is a snake. A slow worm is a legless lizard.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

Literally of course - its not had too much to drink!

 

[Mithrandir]

maybe I was not clear, slow worms are lizards and grass snakes are normally found feeding in ponds and rivers, not really grass.

As grass carp feed on weed mainly, not grass.

I just think the names we use are funny as they have very little to do with the reality.

anyway, lets not hijack this thread, I love the nature side of fishing, I sometimes think I could just sit on the bank and watch the wildlife and not bother with all the hassle of baiting and casting

 

[Peter Bishop]

The best wildlife/back to nature moment I've witnessed whilst fishing was in the back of a car parked in our club waters car park at the end of a night match.

She was a big ginger bird in her twenties; he was long haired tatooed biker(?)in his thirties and they were going bang at it in front of 15 voyeuristic anglers who cheered at the point of climax!

Beats kingfishers and otters any day....

Seriously, once watched two stoats scrapping behind me. Frazer V Ali paled into insignificance.

 

[The Monk]

yeah I`m with you on that Peter!

hammy yeah the red frog I`d forgotten about that, no not seen any this year mate, i`ll keep my eyes open though.

Thanks for the link Mithy

yes a grass snake is a true snake, I used to keep a few snakes, Spanish grass snake and a Dice snake. Horsehoe lake run by the carp society is full of grass snakes, they are amphibious of course and travel over water and on land. the slow worm is a legless lizard (which by coinsidence is how my second wife used to describe me)

 

[Wolfman Woody]

".. a legless <u>lounge </u>lizard ..."

I believe you said once, Monk!


Sorry, Hammy. I got the wrong end of the stick completely. It was more than a space that was missing. You should have been a little more clearer in your second sentence by refering it directly to water rats. I honestly thought you were thinking that shrews were water rats etc....... Ok, you got me.


I once read in an old AT how to tell the difference between a vole and a rat whilst they are swimming. The vole swims along with much of it's back out of the water, I believe that youngsters can still suck on the teats of the females. Whilst the common rat swims with it's back very low in the water if not even on the waterline.

The angling papers were full of this usefull information at one time.

 

[Janet (AT)]

Last summer, I was sitting quietly fishing alone on a small pond in the grounds of a local National Trust property, when what I can only describe as a stretch hamster appeared from a hole in the bank. It proceeded to climb over my feet then climbed into my groundbait bowl and helped itself to lunch. It then sat on the edge of the peg and began to clean itself before wandering off back to its hole.

It was, of course, a weasel, but I had to check my wildlife book when I got home, just to be sure, as I'd never seen one in the wild before. I was completely frozen to the spot, not wanting to scare it off.

Made a good day's fishing even more memorable.

 

[Frank "Chubber" Curtis]

Some of my most memorable moments were when I used to fish in Scotland. Had a big stag come down to drink about 25 yards from me and a golden eagle fly only a few feet over my head. Both these incidents happenened while fishing the Inchrory Estate water on the Upper Avon above Tomintoul. That place was really wild. I also sat for a couple of hours one day watching fresh run salmon leaping a waterfall. Absolute magic. All that was missing was the grizzlies.

 

[pcpaulh]

Kingfishers are always great when you watch them dive of a branch and come uup with a little fry flapping about in there mouth.

I've had a barn owl (I think) sit on the other side of the River Medway to me. It was about 5.30 and pitch black, well it wasn't really as it was a full moon. Anyway when I moved to my bag to try to get my camera it flew of into a tree 20 yards away. It sat there having a conversation with its mate who was on the other side of the field for 30 minutes before flying off.

On the same lake my dad was talking about earlier I had 10 monkjack run across the dam bridge on the other side of the lake.

Whilst piking last month with my Dad we spotted a Bittern. The twitchers told us they were pretty rare and theyd been looking for it all week!

Loads of god stuff happens whilst fishing but I'd be here all night if I carried on at the rate I'm going.

 

[Fred Bonney]

Far too many to mention,but the most memorable,and I've probably put it on here before .
I was sitting on the bank of the Chelmer, and immediately opposite me, a Stoat,up on his hind legs, calling for, I assume it's mate,somewhere behind me,returning the call.
Only last week,doing a bit of gardening, and a Barn Owl,which was quartering the field next door to my house,flew straight towards me, and just over my head.I saw it's every detail.

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

"I once read in an old AT how to tell the difference between a vole and a rat whilst they are swimming."

What a pity the AT isn't still filled with such informative detail Woody.

The tiny farm pond where I caught my first stunted roach was running alive with Water Voles when I was a kid. They'd criss-cross the water surface the wholer time we were fishing, and the banks were riddled with their Galleries. It's one of those things we took completely for granted.

I've been back to that pond for a wander only last week. I took the camera and the long lens in the hope that there might be one or two still in attendance, but alas no joy. As I understand it, alongside the obvious culprits i.e farm chemicals, the mink is given much of the blame for their demise. There's no mink on that pond mind you, so I'll have to put it at the farmer's door.

It's a tragedy. They're such a captivating little creature.

I know AT editor Richard Lee has been known to look in on this site occasionally in the past. How about a little column space dedicated to the wildlife an angler might expect to encounter on the bank? Maybe a few pictures and some words outlining each animal/bird/insect's place in the ecology of the water? I think the editors would be surprised at the level of interest there is in such things.

 

[David Craine]

Over the years I have so many memories of nature at its best, many of the messages on here are identical to mine, feeding birds, kingfishers parking themselves on your rod, watching wild (or escaped) mink on the banks,the memories go on... My own favourite is fishing very early one morning in the Florida Keys, just as dawn was breaking, and seeing a fish eagle dive and take what looked like a Bonefish from no more than 20 feet from me .... stunning. I would love to see a Stag swimming a Scottish Loch, but thats not very likley as I dont visit Scotland much.
Another "nature" memory, although I was not fishing, is when I was doing an evasion Course in the forces, it was a hot day, and we had all camm"ed up and gone to ground in Bracken. I was so knackered that I fell asleep, lying flat on my belly with my arms in front,rifle across the arms, when I woke up I saw an Adder had taken up position between my arms, and was coiled about 2" away from my face looking at me, I almost S..t myself.I just lay there and gently blew at it, it slowly uncoild and slithered away into the Bracken.