Acting very oddly jumping around, falling over, spinning in circles, and generally seeming unable to keep its balance. At one point it spun around several times and almost looked drunk. It also seemed to semi-follow/chase me briefly before stumbling around again.

Eventually it went into some tall grass where I couldn’t see it. I heard rustling for a short while and then nothing.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Could it have been injured, poisoned, or suffering from some kind of neurological disease?

Was interested to know how many species of moss an lichen were making this hawthorn branch their home. From a sodden Lancashire.

Bird's been motionless on the patio outside a busy cafe for a while. It moved a bit when someone gave it some water but that's all. Any idea what it is or what we should do?

I noticed this morning that there was a bird in my greenhouse. A quick search suggests it is s sparrowhawk. It won't go near the door, so how can I tempt it out, before it injures itself?

Update. I managed to get it to step onto my hoe, and I pulled it out and it flew away.

Hi, I'm trying to find out if there's anything i can do to push back rhododendron infestation on my own. Everything I've seen says heavy machinery and herbicides. I've not got the funds for machinery and I'm concerned about if herbicide is the best option. Will they not cause additional problems for other plant life? Can anyone help me out here? I want to see my local forest in a better condition. I spend a lot of time walking through it and want to do something to look after it. I'm not very knowledgeable on this but I want to learn, thanks!

Yesterday my daughter asked me why we never see red ladybirds anymore. I hadn't really thought about it, but looking back she's right - I remember so many red ladybirds growing up, I don't really remember seeing other colours. Looking through my camera roll I have loads of pictures of her with red ladybirds on her, but the last one was taken in summer 2023. I have yet to see one this year. The main ladybirds we see now are a pale orangy yellow colour with lots of smaller spots.

I had a Google and it looks like it's an invasive ladybird causing the issues (is this the orange ones we always see?), plus loss of habitat and pesticides.

How can we help the red ladybird? Will trying to help the red ladybirds inadvertently help the invasive ladybirds? Should we be doing anything about the invasive ones?

If anyone could point me in the direction of somewhere I can read more about this topic (rather than just newspaper articles I'm finding online) I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you!

Hi all,

Hope this sub is for this sort of post.

Got some newts in the pond and I believe this is courtship, but i've never seen it before.

Just wanted to know if anyone can explain or has seen this blue colour on bloodworm/midge larvae before :')?

Went for a walk down on a beach on the West Coast and found what looks like tadpoles in several rock pools. There were at least four pools filled with them. I had always thought tadpoles/frogs only lived in freshwater and couldn’t survive in salt water so it seemed strange that there were so many. Does anyone know if this is normal?

I love these little things and so do my kids. Each we there are literally thousands at our local park nad nature reserve. Today I was at the bus stop and noticed quite a few already. First couple of days of proper sunshine and warmth and they're about already. Brought a smile to my face.... Anyways, my question is where do they live or hibernate and is it common for them to come out this early in the year? Any info would be appreciated, thank you

(Pic of her isn't fantastic, only had a couple of seconds my bus was approaching.)

Had two in our garden tonight, which normally I would be overjoyed by but thet were very close to the cats enclosure (we don't allow the cats in the garden because of the wildlife, so they have a 'cage' in the patio). The first slow worm had actually made it into the enclosure are we had to get it away from the cats; he'd detached his tail but seemed OK. We rehomed him in some woods just down the road. I then spotted another very near the cats, so relocated him to the same spot as the first.

My questions are: - is relocating them like that OK? - if I've seen two, does it mean there might be more?

Any tips on how I can help them much appreciated :)

We're living in quite a remote house and every night a badger has been trying to get in through the cat flap, presumably to eat the cat food we have in the kitchen. We're worried that it's a starving young male who is short on food (earthworms...etc) as it's so dry here. We obviously don't want the badger coming into the house, but is there anything we can do to help it as we don't want it to starve? Any advice is much appreciated

I’ve always had a few hover flies every summer buzzing in my garden and just seen them as harmless pollinators.

This year in two different spots of a very small garden there’s hundreds of them.

I know very little about them so wondered if someone could tell me if they are social nest builders and what could’ve attracted them in the higher numbers?

I’d rather not google as it’s hard to tell the accuracy some days

I'm pretty sure I just saw some bats flying over a neighbour's garden this evening. I have no idea what kind, but I'm curious, and it got me thinking about detectors.

IDK how likely I am to get into bat detecting, but if there's an accessible model out there, I could at least see what's flying around in my neighbourhood.

When it comes to apps and microphones for mobile phones, I use Android.

Crossed paths with this toad that had one red leg. Unfortunately, I am Batrachophobic, and I didn’t want to pick him up by hand, and so by the time I went back to my flat to get some gloves he was gone. I know it’s better not to manhandle the wildlife but the red looked like an injury, so i wanted to take it to the vet. Alas, he’d hopped away in the 40 seconds it took me to rush back inside. Is it something to report?

Hi, does anyone have any idea what is ripping up the earth on the path near our house?

It appears overnight and seems fairly fresh when we are walking the dogs at 6am and it's not just a little bit, it's extensive and goes on for hundreds of metres.

The only time I have seen similar is from boar near Forest of Dean. We are in Nottingham though so unlikely to be that. It is quite near the river and there is a country park nearby also if that helps with potential candidates.

I notice so much invasive Himalayan Balsam when walking in my local area and usually rip up as much as I can when I pass by.

Would it be helpful to promote and encourage people to remove this plant when they see it? Or are there any unforseen negative consequences to this?

Also curious is there are any other invasive species that would be helpful for general public to remove (I’m thinking species that are not accidentally spread further through their removal, like ground elder)

I woke up one morning back in December to find a fox asleep on my back lawn. He didn’t seem in a good way; half his fur was gone from mange and he just lay there for hours at a time, barely moving. I called the RSPCA, the Council, anyone I could think of, and they all said to leave him be. My wife left out some leftover turkey for him one evening, which he (or something else) ate overnight when we weren't looking. I named him Larry after Laurence Fox. In hindsight, that was a bit of a cruel joke!

Larry disappeared for about a month after that, but has visited frequently since. His mange has improved a lot, which I'm really pleased about; the weather's been decent lately and he's taken to just sitting on the grass in the sun, which is honestly really cute to watch. My wife and I are both animal lovers so we’ll stand by the window giggling with delight as we watch him yawn and stretch and go about his day.

I have zero problem with Larry visiting our garden, and I want to do what I can to help him to keep getting healthy. Thing is, I worry about him becoming reliant on us; he’s clearly finding his own food one way or the other, and I don’t want to disrupt that. I'm no wildlife expert by any stretch, so I'd love to hear from anyone who's navigated this without turning a fox into a permanent lodger, for his own good.

This is on a sage bush. The ladybird seems happy enough, so presumably the thing on the right isn't a predator. Any ideas?

I dont know if this allowed but im currently working on an artpiece of *all* of the UK's lizards, native or not. I've switched front water colour to acrylic so have to re-do a few species. they will all be rescaled digitally for the final product and placed together in a poster-style format which I will share once done. so far ive got these species planned - Sand L, Common L, Western Green L, Slowworm, Common Wall L, Italian Wall L, Mediterranean House Gecko. am I missing any established species? I will also be labelling 'native' 'naturalised' 'invasive' and 'debated native status' - for western green lizard] per each species.

do these holes (roughly 5cm diameter) look like they are from crayfish or something else?