Wildlife encounters on campsites (1 Viewer)

[AnnB]

Apologies if this has been covered before but I'd love to hear of your encounters with wildlife on or near to campsites or wild camping spots. Many of my stop off points are arranged in order to check out the wildlife in the area (my favourite hobby is wildlife photography) and here are some of my favourite places

Craignure on Mull where otters can be seen right beside the campsite, Rosemarkie, Fortrose for the bottlenose dolphins,
Dunwich Heath proved to be a good place to see Dartford Warblers last year.

 

[Shuggy68]

wildlife

I use to love the sounds of the wildlife in the morning.i remember we where up in the north of Scotland and I heard this sound couldent figure out wat it was at first but wen I turned around it was my ex wife having a shave and scratching her arse

 

[AnnB]

Ah yes, but I wasn't really thinking of the rare sights and sounds of the wildlife within the privacy of your own motorhome!

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[Shuggy68]

wildlife

oh no sweet cheeks it wasent in the motorhome it was in the woods she was there in her welly boots stripped half naked boobs thrown over her shoulders smoking a pipe

 

[mike mcglynn]

Wildlife on site

Hi,Annb I shared my breakfast early one morning with a deer on a site on the south coast it was so tame and well used to people but was naturally frightened of dogs and did a runner when one came racing towards it but it soon came back :thumb:I wish I could put a picture of it on here but I dont know how oh:it had its head in my fruit and fibre bowl as i was eating alfresco under the awning

 

[Campercaillie]

Apologies if this has been covered before but I'd love to hear of your encounters with wildlife on or near to campsites or wild camping spots. Many of my stop off points are arranged in order to check out the wildlife in the area (my favourite hobby is wildlife photography) and here are some of my favourite places

Craignure on Mull where otters can be seen right beside the campsite, Rosemarkie, Fortrose for the bottlenose dolphins,
Dunwich Heath proved to be a good place to see Dartford Warblers last year.

First of all, you will now be aware that when you ask a serious question on this forum, it doesn't take long for it to be hi-jacked by the clowns, or those who consider themselves comedians and contribute little, if anything to answer the question being asked!!
As you rightly say, Mull is a prime location for wildlife, with eagles in particular in abundance, both golden and white-tailed. There are two sites where you can watch white-tailed eagles. One is fairly well-known: A little site on the eastern shore of Loch na Keal beside the road just NW of Gruline. (PM me and I'll tell you of another) They nest nearby and will frequently spend some time perched on the Scarrisdale Rocks a couple of km down the shore. Opposite Mull on the mainland you have the Ardnamurchan peninsula. There are quite a few opportunities for a one-night stop along the road that runs along the southern shore. This is a hotspot for pine-marten. Pack a jar or two of peanut butter and sultanas or raisins. Bait a bit of a stump or tree branch with the peanut butter and spread some raisins soaked in jam, and you will have a good chance of attracting them... but they can keep you up into the small hours.

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[WynandJean]

If you have the photos, why not put them on here for us to see?:thumb:

Wyn

 

[MHVirgins]

Apologies if this has been covered before but I'd love to hear of your encounters with wildlife on or near to campsites or wild camping spots. Many of my stop off points are arranged in order to check out the wildlife in the area (my favourite hobby is wildlife photography) and here are some of my favourite places

Craignure on Mull where otters can be seen right beside the campsite, Rosemarkie, Fortrose for the bottlenose dolphins,
Dunwich Heath proved to be a good place to see Dartford Warblers last year.

Hi Ann,
We're in the countryside not far from Gatehouse of Fleet and deer, buzzards, red kites, weasels, hares, rabbits, ducks, heron are all around us
Almost forgot, we are lucky enough to get the occasional red squirrel.
At the moment I'm trying to discourage a pair of house martins from building their nest under the canopy at our back door. Why they haven't chosen their favourite spot at the top of the front of the house this year I don't know
Yesterday I noticed a large hare in the front garden, so at least now I know what's been nibbling the plants.

Loads of different birds on the feeder at the moment, the moles are a problem in the garden unfortunately:Angry: We're about 500 yards from the sea and I know people have seen dolphins from the large campsite a couple of miles away.

There is so much wildlife around here, best thing is to come and visit our area, there is a CL at the farm just over the back from us which is in a nice situation.
And no, I don't work for Visit Scotland in my spare time
Margaret

 

[Gromett]

I love my visits to France because each time I go I get a new story about a close encounter with wildlife. Everything from a wild boar attacking the front bumper of my van to a eagle or similar flying along side me.

I have seen large and small snakes, 100's of little cute lizards. I saw my first glow worms in France which was really cool.

I also like the varieties of lichen or moss or whatever it is called... I will dig out some pictures later and post them here.

In the UK I have to settle for muntjac deer, birds and vermin unfortunately.

I am becoming something of a blackbird specialist and friend at the moment :thumb:

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[Campercaillie]

If you have the photos, why not put them on here for us to see?:thumb:

Wyn

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White-tailed Eagle (Isle of Skye)

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Pine Marten (Ardnamurchan)

 

[haganap]

Wonderful subject.

We once awoke in Scotland to see a very very large bird of prey in the field next to the van. We were wild camping high up the North West coast. Sadly I don't know what bird it was but it was fantastic.

Then last month, Whilst on a lovely CL in the Peak District, I walked 5 mins with Tara to find an absolute gorgeous herd of Dear and a Stag. Sadly they did not stay for long, but long enough for me to marvel at how beautiful a Stag looks. :thumb:

 

[The Dudess]

Not sure if this counts, but whilst we were on a campsite in Lefkada (Greece) a few weeks ago we were sat outside at dusk and I saw some moving flashing lights in the bushes and thought it was a cat with one of those flashing LED collars on. After watching the lights for a while and seeing how they were moving around it was obvious that it couldn't be a cat or an animal of any kind. Eventually we realised that we were seeing fireflies! Over the years we have travelled extensively in Greece and other countries in Europe but have never seen these before. Amazing little insects.

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[camocam1]

go to Rosemarkie to watch the Dolphins but not seen much else out and about, although we get red squirrels and wood peckers and pheasants in our back garden quite often. have a couple of good shots of the squirrel and if I can figure out how to upload them I will post them later

 

[MHVirgins]

go to Rosemarkie to watch the Dolphins but not seen much else out and about, although we get red squirrels and wood peckers and pheasants in our back garden quite often. have a couple of good shots of the squirrel and if I can figure out how to upload them I will post them later

No doubt someone will come on and tell you, but I am assuming that you upload it as an attachment from your computer..........not sure if this mallard photo will upload or not.
I'm ok with links etc but not good with photos

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[MHVirgins]

Gosh, it's worked, amazing:thumb:

Very tame Mallard outside the mh at Lower Wensleydale last week

Margaret

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[jaygee]

Parked overnight in a car park high up in the Segura de Sierra national park in Spain.
About 1 am I could hear someone creeping around outside - Tony very bravely got the torch and went out to look. As he opened the hab door he came face to face with a wild boar
Their eyes met - Tony let out a shriek and jumped back into the van, the boar let out a shriek and shot off across the car park

 

[MHVirgins]

Parked overnight in a car park high up in the Segura de Sierra national park in Spain.
About 1 am I could hear someone creeping around outside - Tony very bravely got the torch and went out to look. As he opened the hab door he came face to face with a wild boar
Their eyes met - Tony let out a shriek and jumped back into the van, the boar let out a shriek and shot off across the car park

I wonder who got the biggest fright?

 

[makems]

In Taghazoute, Morocco we woke up one morning to find ourselves surrounded by a couple of hundred camels!

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[makems]

Just to prove it was the morning, here's one of Gwen in her nightie and dressing gown with a camel.
Gwen's the one in white!

And there was one little fluffy albino camel

 

[MHVirgins]

Wow, fantastic photos, thanks for posting:thumb:

 

[camocam1]

red squirrel in the back garden

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[Ridgeway]

Ours are usually smaller and Insect oriented. Our 3 youngest, especially No2 daughter is fascinated by insects, butterflies and moths. We now take "bug explorer" kits with us including a pooter and collect/release and find some amazing creatures.

We take a selection of books along so that we can ID as we go although some we photograph and ID later on.

Butterflies are a favorite and we have found some pretty spectacular Swalllowtails and also some very nice Hawk moths.

Also when I'm fishing I see some nice wildy things. Few years ago on the Dordogne river I was fly fishing for Chub when I saw a Grass Snake also fishing. It had it's tail wrapped around a tree route and was almost dangling itself completely over the river edges and lunging at fry, it caught more than me on that evening.

 

[magicsurfbus]

Black Squirrels in the forest Aire at Biscarrosse-Plage

Red Squirrels on the campsite near Pont du Gard

A large chameleon-type lizard lurking in the undergrowth on the campsite at Penmarc'h (Brittany) - I've never worked out what that was doing there.

A full-sized doe ( a deer, a female deer) running across an Aire at Fougeres then off down the main road.

I watched a small snake catch a fish while it was swimming across the Vezere river at Les Eyzies de Tayac, but that was some way from the Aire.

The only place in the UK that I've seen glow-worms was at Beeston castle in Cheshire when I was working on the archaeological dig and camping in the castle grounds.

 

[Ridgeway]

Black Squirrels in the forest Aire at Biscarrosse-Plage

Red Squirrels on the campsite near Pont du Gard
.

The blacks are reds if that makes sense, they are a dark phase of red squirrel that seem to be more common in mainland europe, very nice to see them.

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