# What Lives In Your Garden?



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Well obviously here we have lots of stuff that can kill you... the back end of our garden has a 'bush area' where things get pretty wild but the other day I was looking out the front window and saw this guy... hes a Bluetongue lizard and was 1.5-2ft long - hes a fat bugger so Im not quite sure what he been eating, Im hoping it was some of the nasty spiders we have lurking round the place!







Hes not harmful to humans btw....


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

I uTubed the video I had of this guy and the quality came out rank as expected with their compression but if you fancy a look its here:


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

JonW said:


> hes a Bluetongue lizard and was 1.5-2ft long












Nothing exciting in my garden just hens from next door and a fox that comes most nights. If he can't get the hens then he tries to exhume my cat.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Hedgehogs come most nights to eat the cat food, not at the moment though i assume they are still hibernating

Can't seem to get birds though (story of my life). We have a feeder and table etc well out of reach of the cat but they still wont come.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

We used to get Foxes in the garden in the UK, and also had hedgehods having it away on the patio (it seemed to be thier breeding ground, wtf?!







) - here we also have fruit bats in the trees at night (huge ones!), Possums on the roof and spiders like you wouldnt believe {shudder}.... the Lizards are the best of the bunch


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

My last garden had a hedgehog and the odd grey squirrel.

There was also a regular Jay visitor, and in summer there were about 6 bats flying around but no idea where they lived


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

What about these, cute or what?


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## Alas (Jun 18, 2006)

Great pic - Markf.

We have a large selection of birds in the garden as surrounded by trees and live in the wilds a bit. The odd deer, loads of grey squirrels and the odd visit from a pine marten that I've been unable to get on camera. First you know about him is when you hear him trying to get the top off the bin. Great fun at 4am.


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

Don't have a garden but there's a fair bit of, ahem, 'wildlife' on the streets of South East London most evenings!

I do have this beauty in my bedroom though...










Vasuki the Cornsnake - she's a bit bigger than this now, I'll have to take another pic soon. Also got an aquarium in there and we did have a couple of mice over winter but they've, erm, 'moved on' now









Edit: Apologies for the pic - it's a quick 'phone photo


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

rondeco said:


> Didn't know you had Racoons oop north


We don't







That pic was taken at my uncles in Cosmopolis WA, they arrived every morning while I was there. Normal to my relatives but not to me!


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

I don't have a garden where I live but I still see some interesting things from time to time. I've had some big wierd spiders in my house - all legs with teeny tiny bodies, I doubt they're dangerous but I don't like 'em so they get pitched outside pronto. There's a small wood near my house & I regularly hear an Owl hooting late at night.

We get quite a bit of wildlife at the college I work at because of the big campus. There are bucketloads of rabbits & where there are rabbits you'll get foxes, weasels & stoats. I had a close encounter with a stoat (or possibly weasel) a few months back when it nearly got into the teaching block where I work! I do now wonder if there was something wrong with it, or if it was lost or maybe just a young inexperienced animal, because it was as bold as brass & it was very very easy to get within a couple of feet of it! It didn't seem unduly alarmed by me & my bosses presence & it didn't seem to have any difficulty moving around. I followed it for about 15 mins before I had to do something (lecture to prepare for) & then lost track of it.

I often see some sort of bird of prey patrolling a bit of rough ground that we have on campus. Not sure what it is because I can never get close enough to identify it - some sort of harrier I think - anyway I expect it'll be looking for mice/baby rabbits etc.

Another memorable encounter was when I rescued a bat flying up & down one of the corridors inside the main building - this corridor has doors at both ends so it couldn't get out. Apparently you've got to be careful with bats because their bite can be quite painful & they can carry rabies (or some such nasty) - also I think it's against the law to catch them! I did ring the local RSPCA for advice but everytime I rang them there was no reply (bit ***** really), in the end I decided to catch it myself. The poor thing was obviously knackered & distressed as I managed to catch it quite easily in a butterfly net! I put it outside in a quiet spot under some trees & when I went back a couple of hours later it had gone. What amazed me is that there were students walking up & down this corridor completely oblivious to a bloody great bat (well it was tiny actually!) flying around their heads!!


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## dapper (Jun 18, 2004)

Snapped these two beauties in the back garden last summer:


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Dunno what's in my garden, apart from when Heron goes out. Or my kids go for a smoke. There's an ashtray out there yet I spotted a tab ends on the pebbles today







:nono:


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Dunno what's in my garden, apart from when Heron goes out. Or my kids go for a smoke. There's an ashtray out there yet I spotted a tab ends on the pebbles today







:nono:


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Like I said a few weeks ago, we're now infested with mating (







) frogs & toads since cleaning out the pond a month back...

And this is what happens after mating.... frog spawn everywhere. I need to pop out at lunch time to buy them some more aquatic plants; there just isn't enough greenery to support all these egg-laying mums and there is much more to come I fear. But I love my frogs & toads.


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