Whats your most unusual British Sighting?

[marie1]

nothing nearly as exciting as all these others. saw a budgie sat in a tree in the pedestrian part of linthorpe road in m'bro last summer. just one of those double-take moments. question - everyone has pictures with their names etc. how do i put a picture on?

[blueboar]

Back in 2002, we had 3 juvinile white-tailed eagles over the site for 2-3hours.

There one hell of a bird,

[Seajay]

Mine was watching elephants walking off the train at Berwick-on-Tweed station in the early 1950's The circus had come to town!
I skipped Sunday school with my mates to watch them and friends of the family reported me.
My Nan, who was a staunch believer was upset but my Grandpa thought it was hilarious! (After the Battle of the Somme when he got the top of his skull blown off he stopped believing) I never had to go after that.

Happy days again!

Colin

[therealbobbo]

Colin,your post brings it all back,my old man was a railway man,and at night,stood on the gate,collecting tickets.One night,he took a ticket off a circus man,wanting somewhere to stay,prior to the circus comming to town!
Home he came,and us kids met him in the morning,and fired a thousand questions at him.We got a free family ticket,but it was terrifying,seeing my friend whizzing round,held by a man on roller skates,I thought he would die!
I wa salso frightened by lions and elephants!
The best thing was,though,watching the Elephants walk past our houser,holding each others tails,and being allowed to speak to those mysterious Indians,none of the other kids were allowed,1953,I think,bobbo

[DUFFY]

Glad kent marshman mentioned the Pegwell Bay Flamigos, from the early 70's I tbelieve. I was beginning to think that I may have imagined them.

My weirdest has got to be the Weasel (definately not a ferret) that I saw running down the road alongside our coach during a works outing to Southend a while back. It was around midday and was about a yard off the kerb and kept up with the flow of traffic, we weren't going that fast, for about 30 seconds. This was before I'd had a drink as well before you ask.

Ray

[Queen bee]

Well, I don't know about sighting, but the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me was when a robin landed on my head! XD I was in the chicken house, in the area where eggs from the nestboxes come down on a conveyor belt, and there was a robin feeding in the room (probably on insects) Suddenly, it flew over and perched on my head! (luckily, it didn't leave any... ah, presents :P)

[bhawk]

was at work one day when all of a sudden the falcons started screaming so i assumed a wild falcon would be flying over, when i went to look i saw two great big storks circling then flying off! never been able to explain it yet

[ogwen]

Ah well nothing as unusual as most of these ones. But before i realise they were a bit more common than i thought, i was suprised to see quite a few little egrets (sorry about spelling) in parkgate
Also one time atBeaumaris I saw a baking shark, well actually only saw a fin which someone knew belonged to it

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by DUFFY

Glad kent marshman mentioned the Pegwell Bay Flamigos, from the early 70's I tbelieve. I was beginning to think that I may have imagined them.

My weirdest has got to be the Weasel (definately not a ferret) that I saw running down the road alongside our coach during a works outing to Southend a while back. It was around midday and was about a yard off the kerb and kept up with the flow of traffic, we weren't going that fast, for about 30 seconds. This was before I'd had a drink as well before you ask.

Ray

I remember in 80's or 90's a long staying Chilean + a Greater Flamingo at Cliffe Marshes in Kent.

[Mr Mag00]

A monarch butterfly in the Purbecks, 1998 i think. we had heard their was one around so down we tracked and sure enough... stunning sight very surreal

[outdoorguy]

as with the post earlier i saw a squirrel swimming.. was walking through a flooded woodland and made it jump and it fell off the tree it was on.. was worried for a second but it swam really well got back on the tree had a good shake.. i'm sure it gave me an evil stare he he ... james

[werdnal]

An albino swallow. We have swallows nesting here every year, but a couple years back, as they were gathering in early September to head off on migration, there was a white one amongst them. Sadly only saw it briefly and it didn't put in an appearance last year when they returned to nest, so guess like most albinos it hasn't lived long.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Mr Mag00

A monarch butterfly in the Purbecks, 1998 i think. we had heard their was one around so down we tracked and sure enough... stunning sight very surreal

I remember seeing one of these glorious butterflies on Tresco many years ago. Fortunately I did see it perch briefly but there was quite a frenzy amongst the birders + 1 person shouted "There it is" in flight + that was a Chaffinch!

Did see another one not far from Syon- but that was an escape from the butterfly house there- have seen other strange things in the vicinity before too!

[badgerwatcher]

I saw a death's head hawk moth a few years ago at Sandwich Bay bird observatory that had landed in the moth traps. I held it, and it was heavy. And it looked like old Victorian velvet.
And I was at Dungeness when the Audouin's gull dropped by a year or so ago. That same day, at the next hide I watched great crested grebes doing their courtship display, and at the next hide sat for half an hour watching a cuckoo calling in a tree just by the door.
And I watched a pair of red-backed shrike a few years ago busily nesting, or so it appeared, on a wild-flower-strewn cliff face in Kent.
And of course there was the very big black cat, that crossed the road in front of the car one night in the Welsh mountains. It had a flat face and huge paws, and carried its tail horizontally as it loped casually across the road between woods.

[Kittiwake]

When I was living in Hertfordshire, I looked out of the window one day and saw a Northern Cardinal sat in the tree in my front garden. It stayed around for a couple of days, flying from tree to tree, and then disappeared and I never saw it again. Did get a few pics though.

[zan]

Probably the most surreal experience I've had was also with a dead basking shark...

while I was living in Oban, my flatmate got a tip-off through the marine lab (where she worked) that there was a large dead thing in the water near the Lochgilphead bowling club (about an hour's drive from Oban) and if any biologists wanted to check it out and try and ID it, it would be appreciated.

We phaffed about long enough trying to decide whether to go and look or not that by the time we'd loaded our dive kit into the car and started down the road it was getting dark. Once we got there, the sun was completely down so we got into our drysuits for a snorkel until we found teh carcass... which is *much* creepier than you might think!! It took about 20 minutes to find it, and another 10 to build up the courage to go anywhere near the thing (bearing in mind we didn't know what it was at that point, and were by then scared of sea monsters\creepy things getting us You'd never know we were marine biology graduates!). Once we did get in for a look it was pretty fascinating and I got a bit of footage and a couple of photos that confirmed it was a dead (smallish) basking shark.

Very entertaining experience (if a little random!)

[Chris_Sabian]

Juvenile Rose coloured Starling, luckily people who knew what it was were about

[witham]

We have a large avairy and in the flight we used to have a few minature chickens and some little Quail, we had got down to just two gereatric Polands, (the ones that look as if they've got pom poms on their heads), one day last year, I saw one leaping about and falling over and I said to my husband 'I think that chuck is on its way out', thinking it was having a stroke or something, when we went out to check I saw something clinging to its breast although with it dancing about my O.H. missed it. When he went into the pen, and picked it up there was a Weasel firmly attached to its body, he had to hit it with a rock he picked up from the floor for it to release its hold, while he was checking the chicken to see if it was ok, there was such a fluttering and a squeaking he turned round and the flaming Weasel was attacking one of the Quail, he put the chicken down and went to rescue the Quail but it was too late it was dead, they are highly strung little things and we think it had a heart attack as it wasn't bleeding or anything, without going into too much detail thats how the Weasel ended up (deceased). We still don't know how it got into the pen we couldn't see any holes unless it got through the avairy wire. My husband felt awfull afterwards but felt that's all he could have done as if he had caught the Weasel and released it, it could have found its way back to its source of food. We had found Quail dead recently and have since thought that perhaps it had been getting in for some time.

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by therealbobbo

Some years ago,I was walking,on Ilfracombe pier,(which was demolished,during the year of the pier),when a young lad,who was fishing,reeled up an octopus,which dropped off,just before it could be grabbed.His bait was still on,so he went down again,and the octopus grabbed the bait again,and managed to drop off,again,never to be seen again!
During the same holiday,when I was walking round the Capstone,in Ilfracombe,I saw a Bonaparts Gull,which was flying backwards and forwards,along the cliff,probably looking for a mate.bobbo

Now you cant get much weirder than that !

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by ogwen

Ah well nothing as unusual as most of these ones. But before i realise they were a bit more common than i thought, i was suprised to see quite a few little egrets (sorry about spelling) in parkgate
Also one time atBeaumaris I saw a baking shark, well actually only saw a fin which someone knew belonged to it

Ok maybe you can ?

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by witham

We have a large avairy and in the flight we used to have a few minature chickens and some little Quail, we had got down to just two gereatric Polands, (the ones that look as if they've got pom poms on their heads), one day last year, I saw one leaping about and falling over and I said to my husband 'I think that chuck is on its way out', thinking it was having a stroke or something, when we went out to check I saw something clinging to its breast although with it dancing about my O.H. missed it. When he went into the pen, and picked it up there was a Weasel firmly attached to its body, he had to hit it with a rock he picked up from the floor for it to release its hold, while he was checking the chicken to see if it was ok, there was such a fluttering and a squeaking he turned round and the flaming Weasel was attacking one of the Quail, he put the chicken down and went to rescue the Quail but it was too late it was dead, they are highly strung little things and we think it had a heart attack as it wasn't bleeding or anything, without going into too much detail thats how the Weasel ended up (deceased). We still don't know how it got into the pen we couldn't see any holes unless it got through the avairy wire. My husband felt awfull afterwards but felt that's all he could have done as if he had caught the Weasel and released it, it could have found its way back to its source of food. We had found Quail dead recently and have since thought that perhaps it had been getting in for some time.

Hmm, probably not the best thing to post on a nature lovers site? I wonder of you had used the good old fashioned "Chicken wire" to fence your run? which is stupidly named and totally inadequate to keep chickens in...foxes will bite through it with ease (easier once rusted) and a Weasel will fit through the mesh easily. So this poor creature died trying to naturally get food due to mans incompetance....sad.

[galanthus]

Originally Posted by ogwen

Also one time atBeaumaris I saw a baking shark, well actually only saw a fin which someone knew belonged to it

Was the fin sticking out of the oven

[witham]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Hmm, probably not the best thing to post on a nature lovers site? I wonder of you had used the good old fashioned "Chicken wire" to fence your run? which is stupidly named and totally inadequate to keep chickens in...foxes will bite through it with ease (easier once rusted) and a Weasel will fit through the mesh easily. So this poor creature died trying to naturally get food due to mans incompetance....sad.

Galvanised avariy wire is perfectly adequate and is far more suitable than even the smallest chicken wire, we have kept chickens and avairy birds for many years and have always done everything possible to protct our birds including wiring the ground under the soil etc, so you can't say we were incompetent without knowing all the facts, I would have thought it was far sadder for the poor quail which it attacked and killed. People put Mole, mouse and rat traps or poison down all the time to protect their property, (which we have done) or shoot other forms of vermin including foxes, Rabbits, hares etc (which we haven't) and is discussed all the time on here so why should this be any different.

[dragonfly]

when I was only a lad I worked on a farm a two headed lamb that lived for about two years