Well i never !

[casey]

Well folks, went for the normal walk round the reserve today http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif got to a bridge and stood there with daughter,mrs & dogs soaking up the glorious weather, looked across at a fallen tree about 150yds in the lake & there right in front of my eyes i saw them for the very first time ever, when i told the others they both sniggered and thought i'd taken an hallucinogenic http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/shocked.gif i pointed them out ! they both still giggled, this then lead me to not actually believing what i saw http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/huh.gif so i had to take a closer look to prove to myself i was'nt hallucinating http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/wink.gif (I had heard rumours there was some in there but did'nt believe it http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif ) & i did see what i saw ! WELL I NEVER , i called Mrs & daughter over when they saw they were stunned, sunbathing on the tree in the lake was 2 TERRAPINS the size of dinner plates http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/shocked.gif & guess what no camera apart from poxy fone cam tried taking pix but they were crap http://bushcraft-educational-society.co.uk/forum/Smileys/default/cry.gif


i'll go tomorrow armed with camera and get the pictures :wink:

[Pine Fairy]

lol Casey I got excited there and thought it was some rare bird (like me). Red Kyte at least.

Did they come from the local pet shop? :)

xxx The Fairy xxx

[casey]

lol Casey I got excited there and thought it was some rare bird (like me). Red Kyte at least.

Did they come from the local pet shop? :)

xxx The Fairy xxx


i've never seen TERRAPINS living wild before so to me they are as rare as your bird, and as shocking to see :icon_tong & the ones i've seen in the pet shops are tiny, the size of a matchbox :icon_tong :icon_tong

these have been in there for years & years apparently but i assume they originally came from a pet shop :wink:

[survivor]

my terrapin which the local kids stupidly released into a lake last year was size of a dinner plate and 20 yrs old.but they will grow quicker in the wild.

[hefty]

There is lots of odd wildlife around at the moment, where i am in the chilterns there are lots of red kites as they released a few pairs some years ago and they are doing very well indeed, there was a colony of parakeets in Twickenham when i was in the met, they again must have been released by someone and are doing very well again, when i lived in eastbourne, in hampden park there was a fair few turtly things in the lake there, they were aggresive big buggers as well so i guess they were terrapins as above, and also here in the chilterns the teenage mutant ninja black squirrels are moving in especially near woburn where the safari park is, im not sure if they are a grey or red mutation though, we have a lot of mink on our arm of the grand union canal, which feed on red crayfish keeping the population down, so even when we tamper with nature, she has a way of dealing with it!!