What's outside

Are there any big cats in Wales? @ramblingjohn

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I’m not John, but there used to be a straying black panther on the border with Herefordshire! A couple got themselves a little panther kitten as a pet. I’m not sure how folk went about getting dangerous animals, but in those days roaming lost pets seemed to be all over the place. This one went astray while its owners were moving house and, during the move, they thought it a good idea to tie their pussy-cat (now full grown) by its lead to the washing line. Came out later to find lead chewed through and panther missing. Presumablly calling “Kitty! Kitty!” didn’t work, and they told the police.
Our next door naighbour (a Senior Member (Superintendent?)) of the Force, told my parents later that men searching were in pairs and some had police dogs. One Constable. about to complain to his ‘pair’ that he was letting the dog sniffle too close to his ankles, turned to say this and found that the sniffer was the panther!
The only other bit of this story I remember was that they called the owner to say they had panther cordoned off, please come and catch him! Owner said, “I’m scared stiff of the beast! It’s the Mrs. who can give him cwtches! I’ll send her!”

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And up to present, all manner of species appear, i know skunks have been found.
Perhaps we could have a ‘missing’ poster competition.

Cheers J.P.

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Do you think there are missing panthers are all over the place? There’s a hill near us called Panther’s Hill - I wondered if there was ever a story behind it. You generally don’t get that many panthers roaming between Oxford and Bicester, or not so I’ve noticed. I used to ride up that hill and always smiled at the house called Bryn Cath Mawr. Made me wonder whether it was big cats (on hills) that were remarkable here, or houses named after them in Welsh!

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Two more pictures from the garden today.

Raymond

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I found a stash of these in a tree stump - mewn boncyff. We had a lot of damsons that fell to the ground last year.
This is damson stone that has been nibbled.

@johnwilliams_6 shared a chart a while ago about how to tell which creature was nibbling your nuts. I assume the same rules of identification apply & so I reckon that this stone has been nibbled by a mouse (of sorts). It’s easy to lose sight of how hard some creatures have to work for their bara beunyddiol - daily bread.

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Post update: It’s back. :smile:
I’m in love with the wildlife that live all around me: mountain lions (sometimes known as cougars), bears, elk, moose, fox, rabbits, porcupine, birds of prey, beautiful hummingbirds… Love 'em all. Coyotes too, but I have a love hate relationship with them.

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And here’s the photo of our snowstorm on May 16th! My daughter and my dog playing in the snow and trying to save the Aspen trees.

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and there was me, moaning about a drop of rain!
also:-
Rebecca, I would love to know what you withdrew. I’m sure it was fine and now I’ll be left wondering for ever! Send me a PM!

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What I withdrew? I don’t understand what that means.

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Oh! @henddraig I see. I made a comment about how much I love my neighborhood wildlife and then decided I would delete it and add it to my snowstorm photo. Appears not. Haha. I’m getting used to how the commenting works here and half the time I’m using my phone. Ineffectively, it would seem.

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You have my sympathy. I have terrible trouble with my iPad! It corrects things to what I didn’t want to say and I still can’t copy or select!

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Adar yn yr ardd heddiw. Birds in the garden today. These wren chicks were so noisy, mor swnllyd, it wasn’t hard to find them.

Cywion dryw yn aros am fwyd. Wren chicks waiting for food.

Cyw Titw Tomos Las. Blue tit chick. High, exposed & alone on top of an apple tree with his head tucked under his wing for ages.

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I heard Blue Tit (Titw Tomos Las) chicks calling for food as I walked past the nest box, so attempted to get some pictures of the adults. They’re just too quick for me.

The Pied Wagtail (Siglen Fraith) which is building a nest in the ivy is much happier to pose.

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This will be my last posting of Titw Tomos Las as I don’t want to be accused of boring people, but the picture posted by @pippapritchard a few days ago set me a challenge. I had to try to get a photo of the bird emerging from the box. Much more difficult than I thought as they burst out at quite a speed.

Going in. Relatively easy. Coming out. Blink and you’ve missed it. Success.

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You’ve had better luck than me with the Siglen Fraith. They never keep still enough for me with all that tail bobbing so we’ll done @dougewart
Keep posting any photos you take; it’s enjoying & sharing what’s outside, where you are, that’s most important not the pics themselves, & there’s a lot going on tu allan ar hyn o bryd - a lot going on outside at the moment.

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PS what is the white flower? The Titw Tomos Las seems happy to have it in her front garden.

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Pyracantha Watereri Diolch am eich sylwadau @pippapritchard . Dw i ddim yn gwybod beth yw’r enw Cymreig. Thanks for your comments Pippa. I do not know what the the Welsh name is.

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diolch am lluniau gwych pawb - thanks for the great photo’s everyone.

oedd heddiw eitha dda - today was fairly good.

Hwyaden efo faint o cyw? - duck with how many ducklings?

Carpiog y gors - Ragged robin.

Tegeirian y gors deheuol - southern marsh orchid.

Hen wrach, adain braidd 'n agor - mother shipton, wings fairly open.

gwyfyn Hen wrach ar blodau meillionen wen gyda adain ar gau - mother shipton moth on flower of white clover with wings closed.

Cheers J.P.

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I don’t have a tree in my garden to blend in with so this little beauty made the best of what there is!

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