What was your most David Attenboroughesgue moment with wildlife?

badabing106

I was walking in nature in woodland in Wicklow. I reached a clearing, grabbed my hip flask and sat down for a rest. A herd of Wild deers walked Into clearing not 20 feet away from where I was laid. I felt like I was a camera man in a David Attenborough doc except without the camera. It was one with nature Zen like emotions overcoming me. One, two, then three of the deers noticed me, I got scared, and bounded away into the foliage

Teddington Cuddlesworth

Why did you bound away into foliage?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Mine was being among a family group of Capybara with none other than Sir David himself. I have known him well for over 50 years.

Swimming with dolphins, having a giraffe friend, running a peacock bathhouse, being chatted to by squirrels, and having a heron sit on my shoulder for a good 15 minutes while he shared my lunch a few months ago.

Will I Am Not

Found a crow and brought him to a house party. I genuinely think he loved it.

Ann_Landers

In the New Forest in Hampshire a few years back, I saw one of those cartoony looking mushrooms, the ones with the bright red cap with white spots. I have never seen anything like it. It wasn't just brightly coloured, it was glowing. It was like there was a lightbulb inside it. Most amazing thing I have ever seen. I took a photo that doesn't do it justice. I was lying on the ground completely looking at it up close. Amazing.

The photo that doesn't do it justice:

Samaris

The town I grew up in was one of the regular stop-offs for travelling circuses. Every few years an elephant would escape the grounds and go strolling down the promenade and eventually get stuck on the roundabout.

Given car vs elephant isn't going to end well for the car, it was a case of just sitting there and waiting for the safari to pass.

RayM

Hand-feeding a Kellogg's cereal bar to a grey squirrel in the car park beside the engineering building in UCD.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Standing among a vast flock of penguins in Antarctica and they just looked at us with disinterested disdain.

buried

Was walking on a local boreen a few years ago around this time of year and this huge white owl swooped down right in front of my face as if she was on the attack. It frightened the p!ss out of me and it was brilliant. It looked huge. She was totally silent too. You can see where tales of ghosts and apparitions can come from if you witnessed this kind of scene after a good few pints or whatever you're having yourself. I hear the young at night screeching for food around my house sometimes. Fantastic creatures.

Ipso

No sheep stories from our Weshtern brethren please!

Shenshen

I accidentally kicked a seal last year - not sure if that counts, I can't imagine Attenborough doing that.

I go for swims in a bay very near my house, and other people swimming there had told me that sometimes a seal comes over and just watches people swimming.
So that day I was pretty far out (about 250m from shore) and had just turned to swim back when my foot made contact with something hard and smooth. I thought at first it might be one of those fellows in the wetsuits, as they're always so concentrated on their workout, they never look where they're going. Turned around, and the there was the seal staring at me, not a meter away.
I was rather shocked and apologied profusely (I know, but come on, what would you do?), the seal just huffed, dived and buggered off.

It was only when I was swimming back and ran what had happened through my head again that I realised that for me to kick him where I did, he must have been following me. There was just no other reason or explanation why he'd be this close. So in a way the little stalker got what he deserved.

I saw him again a few times in the weeks following that, he gave me quite a fright at one point when he leapt out of the water some 5 meters away from me. And people would tell me when I came out of the water that they had seen him following me while I was out, so I started calling him the panto seal ("He's behind you!!!").
But I haven't seen him since February now, I think he must have gone off me. Or found a new hobby.

Beechwoodspark

Had a few jars with a dingo one night. He was on the fosters. Good aul craic.

Daisy78

Two years ago in Costa Rica, a female sloth, curious as to what we were doing climbed down the tree to get a better look. She was fascinated by our camera, we in turn were a bit awestruck by her.

On the same day at the beach we had a job to keep the racoons at bay, who were waiting for our backs to be turned so they could have a nose about in our bag for food:) Spent the entire time shooing them away in case they took something.

Tom Mann Centuria

Few days into our holiday we were hiking on a mountain trail in East Tennessee, got to a waterfall, along comes a black bear no more than 10 metres away. Awesome and bit scary at the same time. Have also seen a Ground Hog, humming birds, tree frogs, Katydids, wild deer, wild Turkeys and good old squirrels. Lot of other different birds too, it's been fantastic.

Oh,and Rednecks, have seen a whole load of Rednecks.

ScumLord

I spent some time studying the mating habits of the orange faced howler bird native to Dublin. Magnificent beasts.

Ipso

ScumLord wrote: »

I spent some time studying the mating habits of the orange faced howler bird native to Dublin. Magnificent beasts.

Their mating ritual seems intriguing.

ScumLord

Ipso wrote: »

Their mating ritual seems intriguing.

You can find my dissertation on the subject here.

Daisy78

Shenshen wrote: »

I accidentally kicked a seal last year - not sure if that counts, I can't imagine Attenborough doing that.

I go for swims in a bay very near my house, and other people swimming there had told me that sometimes a seal comes over and just watches people swimming.
So that day I was pretty far out (about 250m from shore) and had just turned to swim back when my foot made contact with something hard and smooth. I thought at first it might be one of those fellows in the wetsuits, as they're always so concentrated on their workout, they never look where they're going. Turned around, and the there was the seal staring at me, not a meter away.
I was rather shocked and apologied profusely (I know, but come on, what would you do?), the seal just huffed, dived and buggered off.

It was only when I was swimming back and ran what had happened through my head again that I realised that for me to kick him where I did, he must have been following me. There was just no other reason or explanation why he'd be this close. So in a way the little stalker got what he deserved.

I saw him again a few times in the weeks following that, he gave me quite a fright at one point when he leapt out of the water some 5 meters away from me. And people would tell me when I came out of the water that they had seen him following me while I was out, so I started calling him the panto seal ("He's behind you!!!").
But I haven't seen him since February now, I think he must have gone off me. Or found a new hobby.

Awww but what a cute stalker to have!!

Gloomtastic!

Fishing by a lake in Cavan as a kid, the sun was setting and an otter popped out of the water about 5 feet away and walked right up to me, sniffed my foot and walked back into the water. Magical.

Bushmanpm

On a lake in Mexico, the guy in charge of this small boat is pointing out flamingos and other birds then directs the boat to some mango type bushes and starts patting at the water. His English wasn't good and our Spanish was even worse and we just thought "yawn, another bird" when fcuks me a pair of eyes on a big fcuking nose started gliding through the water straight at us. Never did find out if it was a croc or a gator but I was fcuking impressed!

mzungu

Having elephants grazing right outside my tent. Was really great to be up close and personal. I was able to watch them doing their thing from the porch in the tent. On other occasions, being right next to massive Nile crocodiles was also a highlight.

castletownman

On Saltee Island last year among thousands of various sea birds from puffins to gannets. It was mating season and as we were hiking across a kind of rocky outcrop, I must have disturbed a nesting gannet, as it emerged from it's nest wings outstretched squaking about two feet away from me. Nearly broke my neck in the scramble away.

Got aerial bombarded by seagull **** too as they encircled me when they felt I was too close to their young.

And someone mentioned seeing a bear up close. I am member of that club too. We were travelling through the Yukon and spotted one fishing for salmon in that stereotypical 'bear' way. We even got out of the car to get a proper look. Foolish in hindsight

It's amazing looking at wildlife going about their everyday business though.

Shenshen

Daisy78 wrote: »

Awww but what a cute stalker to have!!

Well, yes, and I am a bit proud of it, it's not something everybody can put on their CV, but have you ever seen what teeth they've got? I mean he was never threatening or anything, but I was still very wary...

mosi

I saw a cheetah catch an impala in Kenya a few years ago. She had a cub with her too. The following day we passed the same spot and mum and cub were still there, but a lioness had shown up on the scene. The cheetah seemed to be trying to draw the lioness away from the cub. It was bloody heartstopping, and totally felt like being in an Attenborough documentary.

Trekking to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda is another one. On my first trek, one of the gorillas in the group I visited was one of the same ones that Attenborough filmed.

bmwguy

On safari in South Africa we were driving around with a private guide having a right few beers. Did daytime safari then a night time one. As we were out in the wilderness we were getting off the open back jeep to relieve ourselves. At night the guide waited until we were in what he thought a clear area and we got off to pee. He then started shouting for us to get back in the jeep quickly. When back up he shone his torch over towards some bushes about 30m away and we could see the silhouettes and glowimg eyes of some lionesses moving towards us. Surreal.
A great white shark hitting our cage accidentally at quite a bit of speed was a bit hairy too.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Bushmanpm wrote: »

Never did find out if it was a croc or a gator

American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)

In Spanish it's Cocodrilo

Burial.

Fed a stray puppy some kebab meat on the walk home from town after a night out. I knew twas love at first bite. Dog ended up sleeping in the kitchen in a makeshift bed I made of throw pillows and an empty food box you'd get in Lidl to carry your shopping out in. C*nt p*ssed everywhere but ended up keeping him after nobody claimed him from ads I put up

buried

Burial. wrote: »

Fed a stray puppy some kebab meat on the walk home from town after a night out. I knew twas love at first bite. Dog ended up sleeping in the kitchen in a makeshift bed I made of throw pillows and an empty food box you'd get in Lidl to carry your shopping out in. C*nt p*ssed everywhere but ended up keeping him after nobody claimed him from ads I put up

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooyeaaah

Ken.

Possibly 5000 or less left in the world and I got close enough to do this. Also got to hand feed one of them but the photo got deleted by mistake.

Burial.

buried wrote: »

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooyeaaah

Ha! Jees been a while since I heard that tune...goosebumps every time.

buried

Exceptional track. That 'Street Halo' EP. Beyond the Beyonds, the whole lot of it

Burial.

buried wrote: »

Exceptional track. That 'Street Halo' EP. Beyond the Beyonds, the whole lot of it

Yeah actually think it might be my favourite work of his. Always thought that 'Unite' track would fit in well in that EP too. Another stellar track.

Summer wind

One evening a few months ago I was visiting my dads grave. A fox trotted down the path towards my dads grave and stopped about 2ft away just looking at me. He walked over so close I could have touched him and stayed a few minutes. Then just looked up at me again and trotted off. Lovely special few moments.

Years ago I was on a primary school tour to Dublin zoo. We were at the seal enclosure and we were standing on a timber fence watching the seals swim. My lunch bag fell off my shoulder and landed in with the seals. One of the seals was very inquisitive and started nosing around it. A man I'd never seen before jumped the fence and got it back for me so my sandwiches were saved:D

corner of hells

Summer wind wrote: »

One evening a few months ago I was visiting my dads grave. A fox trotted down the path towards my dads grave and stopped about 2ft away just looking at me. He walked over so close I could have touched him and stayed a few minutes. Then just looked up at me again and trotted off. Lovely special few moments.

Years ago I was on a primary school tour to Dublin zoo. We were at the seal enclosure and we were standing on a timber fence watching the seals swim. My lunch bag fell off my shoulder and landed in with the seals. One of the seals was very inquisitive and started nosing around it. A man I'd never seen before jumped the fence and got it back for me so my sandwiches were saved:D

Was the man David Attenborough?

The Princess Bride

A few years ago, I'd a clocking hen who hatched chickens.
After they were born, she gathered up the eggshells and packed each one tidily and tightly into another leaving very little mess.
Watching how she taught these wee chicks to feed and gathered them under her wings was impressive.

No antenatal classes for her, just nature at its best.

laserlad2010

2008 - Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia.

Our local guide took us on a walking safari deep into the jungle from where we were staying. We saw monkeys up in the canopy, and countless colourful birds.

He suddenly stopped us and motioned us to be quiet. He'd heard a rare call of an endangered bird. We all crept quietly towards the spot, listening... listening... cameras at the ready...

Just then I accidentally let out the loudest fart ever. Cue uproar from the wildlife around, my guide and my friends. I've never lived it down.:(:(

griffin100

Was driving down the Mullet Penisula in Mayo about 20 years ago when something on the shoreline caught my eye. Pulled in and walked down to shore and there was a young common dolphin stranded on the shoreline. I tried to put him back in the water but it was low tide so it was only a few inches deep for miles out. So I picked him up and put him in the back of the van wrapped in a wet blanket and drove him for 20 mins to Blacksod where I put him back in the sea and off he swam.

Loveinapril

I am a beekeeper so often feel like I am Dr Doolittle when I am with them. The best moment was during my first trip to an apiary, a brand new bee emerged from a cell and I put my hand out and it climbed onto me. Having studied bees for ages, getting to meet a newborn that close up was very cool. Especially as I didn't know whether I would panic being surrounded by 20,000 of them.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

A bird landed on my foot and tried to take the hairs from my large toe for its nest. Campsite in Italy, lots of people around so the little fellow was quite used to people.

Another time a bird landed on my head, as I was sitting on a rock, it was probably his rock. I asked my girlfriend if something is on my head and she started laughing. Anyway, the bird chilled there for about a minute or two and then flew off. It was in the middle of nowhere in Norway, and my OH managed to get a picture of it. It was a real WTF moment.

Jakey Rolling

While winter walking in the snow on a Scottish mountain, we stopped to sit on a large rock to have a cuppa. After a while we noticed a couple of hares watching us from about 20 feet away, well camouflaged in their winter coats. We then looked around and counted at least twenty of them scattered around - the freaky thing is they weren't the least bit scared, they just sat there giving us the evil eye!

ArchXStanton

Watching one of those lizards that runs across the top of the water,they can fairly move

Ken.

Jakey Rolling wrote: »

While winter walking in the snow on a Scottish mountain, we stopped to sit on a large rock to have a cuppa. After a while we noticed a couple of hares watching us from about 20 feet away, well camouflaged in their winter coats. We then looked around and counted at least twenty of them scattered around - the freaky thing is they weren't the least bit scared, they just sat there giving us the evil eye!

You have been clearly marked for death. Dibs on your stuff when you snuff it.

Tornaxx

Addilynn Rough Sieve wrote: »

Standing among a vast flock of penguins in Antarctica and they just looked at us with disinterested disdain.

If they were disinterested, they wouldn't have had disdain.

diomed

On a walking safari in Africa I spotted a giraffe in a clearing. The clearing was about 600 x 1,000 yards. I told the group. No one could see it. I spend a few minutes trying to explain it was in the exact centre of the clearing. I borrowed a camera stand and used it as a pointer so people could stand behind me and get a line on it.
Feck sake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_giraffe#/media/File:Giraffa_camelopardalis_thornicrofti.jpg
It is a subspecies, Thornicrofts Giraffe, only about 550 exist, none in captivity.

Celticfire

Was visiting in Florida and went out to the large pond that was in front of the house. Watched from an embankment that was about 10ft up from the water as tortoises swam and a baby alligator just sat there in the water. The little bugger was no more that 2ft long. Next thing he swam towards me and it was the most instinctual reaction ever to get the hell out of there...... gone like a scalded cat...

Baron Kurtz

Teddington Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Why did you bound away into foliage?

Thanks for this. I'm genuinely in bits at this comment :pac:

Lady Haywire

Three stick out for me, being on a kayak in the middle of a lake with three otters diving under me and whistling. When I whistled back to them they even replied!
Watching a hare give birth in front of the kitchen window and then tuck it up in long grass and bound off to another section of the field (presumably to have another one)
Third isn't really wildlife but it sticks with me. I'd trained a calf for showing and she used to do this funny thing when she was nervous, she'd press her head against my tummy and try to hide her face. I sold her on and she went for breeding and two years later I got the chance to go see her again in Sligo. I walked into the field and she sniffed at me, then pressed her head against me the exact same way she used to as a calf. I started to blub like a baby

SeaFields

Being an angler I'm constantly out and about in the countryside. It amazes me the wildlife we have very close to, or even in urban areas, and people generally have no idea its there.

In Ireland , most memorable possibly was watching a peregrine falcon vrs magpie. The falcon was young and unable to kill the magpie but still strong enough for the magpie not to be able to get away. They tussled on the grass for ages before the falcon flew into a tree. The magpie flew away but only made it about 100 feet before it dropped stone dead. I sat only about ten feet away from the fight.

Abroad it was being in the middle of a pride of lions cleaning themselves having just had a kill. We were out early just after dawn. Spotted the remains of a wildabeast before vaguely seeing a lion in thick cover by some trees nearby. Watched for a few minutes before we saw there was actually a few lions there. Our guide took off and parked out van, totally against the rules, right in the middle of them. It was only us there and was the most unreal experience ever. Got some spectacular photos.

Being waist deep in water at the beach, and watching an otter stalking, then killing, a salmon.

I was a young child at the time, but the image has never left me.

The otter was less than 10 feet away when it caught the salmon.

Another one was meeting a dog badger at dusk in a narrow laneway, also when I was a child.
It was snuffling along, and passed within 6 feet of me.
I froze when I saw it, but I don't think it even noticed me, it was that intent on whatever scent it seemed to be following.

A third was witnessing what seemed to be a stoats "funeral procession". (We called them weasels at the time.)

There must have been about 2 dozen of them, with about 6 of them carrying a dead stoat on their backs.
They came to a stone wall, and literally passed the carcass up the wall by alternating in groups of two at the front, and edging the carcass onto the lead pairs backs. It was amazing to watch, until one of them saw me.
There seemed to be something like a "guard" troupe, because when the first one saw me, it made this hissing sound, then a whole group of them responded with what might best be described as a cross between a bark and a growl. They actually turned towards me, and looked threatening - so I cleared off and left them to it.

What's weird is that I took these sights very much for granted at the time.
I wonder how long I'd have to spend looking for these animals now, and whether I'd ever manage to see those things again, no matter how long I spent looking?

LisaLee

Went to see Barbary macaques in Gibraltar and they stole my Tuc crackers!