UKC

Me and my wife always go for hikes whenever we get the time. Last year, we went to yellowstone national park and there while hiking, we saw a big brown bear at a distance of about 150 feet from us. It was a nervous experience but luckily the bear moved off to the jungle. Have you come across any such encounters? Eager to listen to yours.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Nearly stepped on a marmot in Charmonix once that scared the shit out of me when it leapt out from the grass just in front of me.

Also took these photos in Namibia

https://tinyurl.com/ycjnslhn

https://tinyurl.com/ycaf3fny

https://tinyurl.com/y88ozqha

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I’ve seen a brown bear poking it’s head out of a big wheely bin (about 20 meters away from me) amid a torrent of rubbish being thrown out in its quest for food, it wasn’t at all interested in me. Which was a relief. I’ve also seen them further off in the distance in the hills which is really nice to see.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda: Every saturday night, leeds city centre

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

We were in Yosemite last year and rounded a corner up on the snow creek trail and were face to face with a bear about 20 yards away. I nearly soiled myself and then my girlfriend pointed out that we were supposed to make noise so for the next half hour we basically played Just a Minute at the top of our lungs until the adrenaline died down.

It was the day Obama visited so we nicknamed him Bearack Obearma.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Ran over a badger last night, if that counts?

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I nearly got bitten by a bat when I thrust my hand into the crack half way up Valkyrie (HVS 5a)

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

We get deer and wild boar in the garden. I don't know who the culprit was, but something had a good go at our crop of butternuts. Pesky little cnuts. Plus red squirrels, badgers, skunks, weasels and a few other small critters !

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I see wild animals a lot but my most interesting recent encounter was having a bat fly straight into my face whilst out cycling in the dark!

Scared the sh*t out of me but we both came away unharmed.

Sadly saw an otter get hit by a car 2 weeks ago and had to watch its final moments, not a nice experience

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

a spitting cobra on the steps on the side of the lab i was working in.

fortunately it was quickly chased away by some dogs.

In reply to WildCamper:


I had a pheasant fly into the side of my head while I was cycling once. Came quite close to knocking me off.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda: Have seen a wolf once. Another friends has seen a bear and a wolverine, but the big 'tick' would be a lynx,

Also, while running in Colorado stopped for a pee. Came back on trail to see my comanion hopping around 'playing' with a rattler. Lots of other minor stuff too - deer , moose, lots snakes, marmots and so on

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Last ten feet of a VS at Craig a Barns, Dunkeld, had spaced the gear out coz it was well with in my grade, placing a large piece of gear and heard a loud hissing noise - disturbed an adder that was holed up in the crack !!!! Quickly skiddadled to the top, leaving the unclipped gear for my wife to remove....

In reply to Chris Harris:


Happened to me the other day on my bike too. Flew at a right angle straight out of a hedge and nearly took me block off. Saw a mink on the verge recently north of Overton. Mostly decapitated deer round these parts on the roads. House spiders in the house give me The Fear as much as any wild animal. Wish they wouldn't try to domesticate themselves. Maybe man could undomesticate them soon, pick up some advice from zebras or whatever.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Anyone seen a blue shark or a mako in Cornish waters?

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Actually, good as Bearrack was, my favourite one would be a tamandua which turned up in the carpark of bar in Costa Rica where we were having an after hours pina colada. We spent about 2 hours watching this little guy destroying termite nests in a tree. He was amazing, one of the most controlled, natural climbers of any animal I've ever seen - just totally at home.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

On a more serious note, we regularly get roe & muntjac on our land out back, alongside various wildfowl, thousands of pheasants & partridge (we live on the edge of a sporting estate), and the occasional fox that tend to have enough common sense not to stand still for too long (or go too close to my chickens). We've also got otters and kingfishers in the brook that runs through the land that dine on the wild brown trout in there.

Can't complain!

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Ever come across a question mark

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:


I saw a water rat in a park in Essex. It was shifting at a fair speed

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:


Oh yes I have seen a few fish in rivers too the excitement never ends

In reply to felt:


How does that happen? Must take a fair old whack to knock the head off a deer

In reply to nufkin:

Car going at 60 would do it. I don't look too closely. On the bike you can smell them from a way off all summer, particularly on a hill. In order of road-kill frequency I'd say round my parts it's pheasants, squirrels, deer, badgers. Rarely rabbits, hedgehogs never, all already done for. Great pickings for the corvids, buzzards and recently arrived red kites.

In reply to felt:


A couple of years ago, we saw an orca whilst fishing on the north side of the Beara (Ireland).

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Lots! This summer:

A adder on a path in the Cairngorms
A slow worm on a path in Torridon
Lots of Lizards and frogs on the hill
Otters swimming in the sea
A Sparrowhawk flew into our work window in central inverness (she was fine)
Golden and Sea Eagles
Red Kites
Lots of Seals (cragging in Caithness and swimming up river chasing salmon in city centre inverness)
Dolphins in the Firth (there was also pilot whales but i didn;t see them)

It's not a bad place to live

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

One sunny day I met a load of friends in Richmond park for a bit of a picnic. We sat near one of the ponds, and generally settled in, got the sarnies out etc.

All of a sudden, we were joined by 2 adult Swans and their brood of ugly ducklings (nearly adult), they quite happily wander out of the pond and sat in between the 7 or so of us, in among our beer, sandwiches and pork pies.

Being a little nervous of swans (especially with young) we stayed put, and made sure not to make any sarp movements, but very soon realised that they were fine with us - it made for an unusual picnic tho as every now and then they'd nick a sandwich

An hour or so later some stupid woman came buy with a dog off the lead... all hell broke lose as the 2 adults went for her dog. Woman starts screaming and moaning about the swans attacking her dog - and was rapidly told of the error of her ways. I dragged her dog away from the 2 swans and told her to never bring her dog out without a lead again as she clearly couldn't control it.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Brown bear, grizzly bear, black bear, moose, reindeer, wolverine, wolf, puma, coyote. Distances from 1m to 100m. Never carried a gun.

No worries in any case. Polar bear is pretty much the only land animal considering humans food .

CB

In reply to Cú Chullain:


I ran a marmot over once on the Col De Bonett.
It was in the road so I slowed right down, it saw me and ran back the way it came.
I sped up and at the last second it ran out and under the back wheel of my motorbike.
Bike plus me plus touring kit = 400kg so I stopped to put it out of its mysery but it buggered off down the hill and away.

We got ambushed in Spain. 2 of my pals were climbing and belaying, I was watching them, hanging around at the base of the crag.

It was getting dark, we were on the last route of the day, and we heard rustling and grunting noises from the bushes.

"That sounds like a big dog?"

"Err.... that's not a dog...!"

And then a wild boar ran at us out of nowhere.

Honestly thought it was going to eat us. Climber fell off during commotion, my pal belaying shoogled himself up the rope on the gri-gri, and I scrambled up easy ground to the first bolt where we started shouting and lobbing pebbles at it's feet until it went away. Scary, but very funny in retrospect. It is now known as the Pumba incident

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

All the time, though rarely quite as impressive as a close up bear sighting!

However, I have this theory that when I am out in the canoe or walking alone, there will always be one special moment in the day when I get close to something wild and beautiful. Yesterday it was a kingfisher on the Thames at Hurley. Today, not that wild, but I walked between several herds of red deer in Windsor Great park as the stags roared on either side. Wednesday I was within 15 feet of a stalking Grey Heron, floating alongside it. Last week a mink (OK, a nasty piece of work that shouldn't be here, but wonderful to watch) on the bank watching me watching it. The week before, a grass snake swimming a few feet from my canoe. Once, mountain biking in the woods, I suddenly found myself IN a herd of roe deer, running and leaping all around me for maybe 10 seconds. All these within 10 miles of my flat in suburban Surrey.

In the summer, I was walking with vultures in the Gorges du Tarn, a slightly odd feeling as they circled around me as I scrambled on easy paths amongst the highest cliffs, knowing that if I slipped they would see me as lunch.

Yes, when I'm abroad the wildlife is somehow more exotic, and impressive, but I still find joy and wonder in the creatures I share the woods and rivers of the busy south east of England with.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Wolves, Musk Ox, Caribou, Brown and Grizzly bears, Moose, (all in Canada) and most european mammals.

I've been attacked twice by sheep and once briefly by a cow when I didn't see her calf. Non of those were any big deal.

However the most frightening animal encounter was whilst I was in some high pasture in the Picos De Europa. On my own walking through high pastures grazed by cattle, when two enormously large dogs started barking at me and started to lope across the grass towards me barking all the time. No owner around and I knew that these were shepherd's dogs left to protect livestock from predators. And these dogs were enormous. Great Danes on steroids.
I was calculating my options on what to do to prevent me being ripped to shreds. I'd no plan A and no plan B. Plan C was chuck my rucksack down and hope they'd be distracted enough to loose interest in me. A brief; "Good dogs" said in a nice friendly tone, didn't stop them either. They approached to within about 20 meters when they obviously made sure I got the message and cleared off quickly. Which I did with some relief.

I can honestly say its the only time in my life I've been seriously scared of death by being eaten and ripped apart (not necessarily in that order).

In reply to nufkin:

I could tell you a story about that. Kinda long, can't really be bothered at the mo

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Charged by a big bull elephant in Zambia, in the pre-dawn as I was getting up for a game drive in a backpackers campsite/lodge called Flatdogs. The fastest 100m I ever ran, into the shelter of the toilet block. The only thing I could recall from my guidebook’s helpful game encounter sections was that an elephant was much faster than a human, but couldn’t turn well, so zig-zagging the entire way.

Waving my hat at a king cobra in an open tank in a snake farm in Chang Mai, helpfully labelled in English “ I am harmless, get as close to me as you like” until a member of staff ran over shouting “no, no, no”: they’d rotated the snakes, but hadn’t changed or understood the sign. I did wonder when it reared up and its hood came out!

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Saw a groundhog once.
Saw a groundhog once.
Saw a groundhog once.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

A friend of a friend had a polar bear stick it's head inside his wee tent, very large head in quite a small space I imagine! He tw*tted it on the nose with his cooking pot and it left. What happened after that I don't know.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Been to Alaska fishing a couple of times, the Kanektok river and seen big grizzly bears on the banks fishing for salmon. We move elsewhere.
Remember arriving at Anchorage airport where there's a stuffed grizzly and polar bears and realising how big they are. No TV program prepares you for their actual size in the (stuffed) flesh.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Vultures in the Pyrenees
Badger in back garden
Rabbits
Hares
Squirrels
Hedgehogs
Marmots
Buzzards in Snowdonia
Ibex in the Alps
Izard in Pyrenees
Seal at Colwyn Bay
Mrs. Num Num in the Alps...

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Couple of years back I was boogie boarding alone at St Agnes. I was out the back of the fairly big break and a huge seal popped up only a few feet away, and boy did he look scary!

For the next twenty minutes we played. Each time I kicked off for a wave I could feel and see him zig zagging in the wave a couple of inches below me. Between sets I sat on the board and he would nibble and pull at the fins on my feet every few minutes ("come on you dullard...catch a wave..."!).

People on the beach saw all this and he only backed away when a few other surfers came out! Magical.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I encountered a wallaby at The Roaches in the early '70's. I was terrified, thought I was going to die. Love to reprise that experience (base of Maud's Garden).

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

My most memorable moment was watching a Pine Marten forage in the high tide line while just behind it an otter chilled out in the sea, that was at a croft near Diabaig.

Mrs D wins though, she lived on a game farm in Botswana for a few years with her then husband who was a professional hunter. Many stories of Leopards on the doorstep, Crocodiles at the bottom of the garden and puff adders on the kitchen.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I spurned on a stoat. Does that count?

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Awesome photos.

Also, I'm glad you're still on here.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Snakes in Australia whilst bush-walking. Often had a comment from people coming the other way "Ah, watch out for that Tiger Snake about a kilometre back up the track - he looks p*ssed off". Cue some very nervous walking!

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Had an owl check me and Kelp out twice on a summit camp in Scotland. Came swooping and circling around.

A vole sheltered by my boot one very wet and windy day. That was so cute.

Seen foxes, deer and various birds. Some lizardy things. All in Scotland.

Keds, midges, ticks and spiders.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Close encounters with Lions, rhino, wildcats and baboons

Never come across them though...didn't have the time

In reply to Rich W Parker:

It had smelled the Pringles in winter in the tent and he bashed a tin pan then shot it in the arse with a flare gun. Cool dude with quick thinking, till it got misty and then the thing was annoyed.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

The little robin or robins at Wyndcliffe Quarry every winter have been a delight.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I see kangaroos, wallabies, goanna, possums, echidna, on a regular basis when walking my dogs at the local nature reserve.

The dogs are trained to ignore them.

http://www.fatbeetle.com/galleries/Canberra%20Roos%20Gallery/slides/roos%20...

My wife has a hand-trained kookaburra which visits us each day to be fed.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Had a standoff with an izard on the bad step on Pic Billare in Cirque de Lescun.
We were two adult males, unroped, and eventually it charged past us to freedom. Glad we weren't roped, actually.

In reply to Tom Valentine:


Eddie?

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

- Black bears on Vancouver Island last spring. Superb!
- Eagles and Ospreys on Vancouver Island flying low overhead!
- A pair of blue ducks in New Zealand. This was eagerly awaited for many weeks of tramping. The other people on one of the tramping trip saw them while we all went out to explore, and we had just chosen the wrong river branch. Then a few weeks later, high up on a mountain river, I casually glanced into the blue pools and saw a pair bobbing there. Brilliant! Then they sped off - one like a seasoned kayaker, the other jumping up onto rocks every now and again, looking over the edge judging the drops and rapids before committing to the jump.

In reply to SenzuBean:

I was once charged by a black bear. They're not that big, so I stood up tall, raised my arms, leaned forward and roared. And it fled. A small crowd cheered. My mate was watching admiringly from his tent and managed to get a photo.

Well, that's what should have happened. What actually happened was this:

I was once charged by a black bear. Even though they are not that big, I found that I'd turned tail and was fleeing before I'd even registered that I was being charged. A small crowd, consisting of an old lady, a dog and the bear itelf, turned their faces away in silent scorn. Meanwhile, my mate was watching from his tent and pissing himself laughing - and didn't get a photo!

PS I spent a couple of happy summers working on the wonderful Whio - nice to be reminded of such a pleasing bird and the landscapes it inhabits.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I punched a Baboon after it stole my sandwiches in Kenya.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I inhaled a sawfly while negotiating the crux of a climb at Stanage. I’m not sure which of us was the most surprised.

In reply to bouldery bits:



Cheers

Yeah, took some time out for a while, not enough to achieve escape velocity though.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Confronted by a white bull in Sutherland, Scotland
Confronted by an aggressive reindeer in Greenland
Scorpions in my shoes in my house in Oman
Manta Ray flying past my windsurfer at head level in Oman
Red back spider ran across the back of my hand in Western Australia
Black bear in a tree above me in the Canadian Rockies - luckily had bear spray with me
Black bear ten yards away on path up to Glacier Point in Yosemite
Numerous encounters with snakes, armadillos, coyote etc in TX
Rattling rattlesnake on path in TX
Attacked by hundreds of fire ants on Enchanted Rock in TX, whilst rappelling
Raccoons in my house in TX
Foxes almost everyday in Hertfordshire

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I have an underwater picture of a young seal biting by flipper while I was out snorkelling.
A hyena and I scared each other when he poked his head round the corner to nab some food from the kitchen while I was prepping tea. We both jumped, fortunately he then ran away.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

We have deer and badgers in our garden. They may not be quite as exciting (and the badgers are actually bloody destructive) but coming down in the morning to the sight of a deer nibbling our apple trees in the early morning light is quite special.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I think the most bizarre one for me was standing in Lerwick Tesco's car park watching a pair of sea otters playing.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Settling down once to watch a performance at the Minnack Theatre in Cornwall, while watching many dolphins skip about in the water below, lit by the full moon behind. Magical.

Apart from that, I always treasure the times when I come across a heron while out running, most recently last week at Rilla Mill on the edge of Bodmin Moor. I love the way they fly slowly away, much as buzzards to when you disturb them.

There is a very good scene in one of Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books in which one of the small characters (Sorry, I forget the book or the character) hears the sound of wolves, and, thinking of them as one might a pet or a cuddly toy, goes out to find them. When she actually does she is terrified. Jansson makes a really good job of conveying the 'wildness' of the wolves.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Probably my favourite experiences are from diving. Whale shark was very nice. 8 manta rays at once all checking us out was pretty cool too. I quite like finding rare nudibranch they are awesome

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Wolf in the Pyrenees, as well as multiple marmots and vultures.
Fresh bear prints outside the Cabane about 1km south of Lac des Bouillouses, Pyrenees.
Fresh deep roundish prints c.30-40cm diameter with claws in the snow, Oulanka, Finland in March. An early rising bear or maybe a wolverine.
Shortfin Mako (I am assured by a shark geek) off Arisaig from a sea kayak.
White sided dolphins in the Inner Sound from a sea kayak.
Huge whale (Minke, Sei or more likely a Humpback) doing a full breach and splash from the Barra-Oban ferry.
Beautiful and quite large male Asp viper drinking from a stream in the Queyras, a couple of weeks ago.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I can see why you asked this as there aren't many left.......especially compared with domesticated animals which have had the excitement bred out of them.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Saw a bear briefly in Japan whilst walking back from climbing, it saw us and ran away.

I think the rarest animal I ever saw was a Kingfisher in my local park, there are signs that they exist but I'd never seen one, but taking the dog for a walk one day, I saw a flash of bright blue in the undergrowth and managed a small glimpse of it. Looks somewhat exotic and out of place for West London, hoping to see another one day.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I've never seen an otter and would love to. I live by the river Camel where they are reputedly to be found. When is the best time of day/year to go looking for them, and how much stealth is needed?

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Almost stepped on a large adder basking in the sun on a path above the Cornish coast this summer!

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

We're going whale watching next weekend, it's an annual trip for us. (One which I will greatly miss when we leave.)

Photos from last year's trip;

http://www.fatbeetle.com/galleries/a&j/slides/ww1.jpg

http://www.fatbeetle.com/galleries/a&j/slides/ww2.jpg

http://www.fatbeetle.com/galleries/a&j/slides/ww6.jpg

In reply to mbh:


Go somewhere quiet on the coast with a rocky shore early in the morning or towards dusk.- any time of year. You'll find them easier to spot on a really calm day. If you've the patience just sit and watch for an hour or two. They're very short-sighted, so don't worry too much about being seen, especially if you're not moving against a skyline - but they may smell and hear you. Sea kayaking in west Scotland I see them regularly, but I should imagine that there are plenty on the coasts around the Camel. I'd go looking in rocky coves between Trevone and Port Quinn, with Port Quinn itself as the best bet. They're in the rivers too of course, but harder to see there - I heard them whistling at night (but never saw them) wild-camping on childhood holidays by the River Allen. They are very rewarding to watch - well worth the effort.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Used to climb in Canadian Rockies every summer. Regular bear (often the scary kind ,,,grizzlies that is) encounters. A bear grubbing around our tent as we bivied on a high, remote meadow under Tarrant Buttress was scary. Walking down through a forest at dusk, returning from scaring the shit out of ourselves on the Lowe route on Temple, I heard a rustle in a tree and turned to see a small bear cub at head level about 10' away.... kind of a sick feeling knowing the mother couldn't be far away.

Currently working on a new cliff in the Las Vegas area...routes starting from a narrow, hard-to-access terrace above a lower cliff band. One day, out of the blue, a really big mountain lion turd appeared on the ledge...not comforting.

In reply to Fruit:


You must have been pretty quick I saw a macaque steal a woman in our group's sandwich lunch. It was really fast and was on a tree branch in no time. It chewed them all up then threw them all away apparently in disgust leaving us all curled up laughing

In reply to Wicamoi:

Thank you for that.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

San Gabriel Mountain Wilderness, California. 1976.

As I stepped off a boulder l almost stepped on a rattle snake. It shook its rattle as my foot hit the ground. I immediately broke the Olympic and World records for the triple jump. I glanced back and saw the serpent, under the boulder, about 30cm from where my foot had landed. My heart was pumping out of my chest. I decided the safest path would be to continue up the valley wading in the creek. In less than 10 minutes I came out of the water after seeing several smaller snakes swimming down-stream.

The most recent, "wow" wildlife moment for me was watching a humpback whale, slowly making its way along the near-shore by Port Angeles, WA.

I prefer bears to ticks, and I have yet to see a cougar - that's one I'm not sure I want to see, considering the poor behaviour of house cats.

My favourite creature is the humble alpine Pika. It is a treat to see them scurry around with bouquets of flowers in their mouths, readying their nests for the winter.

In reply to profitofdoom:

It shocked him too, they were very nice sandwiches, roast impala.

In reply to loose overhang:

Had a macaque jump on my back in Simla, Garhwal, it tried to bite the back of my neck but got a mouthfull of Rab fleece.
Bit of a scrap to get it off, loads of people around, a bit of a scene!
Its become the ' get this f-------n monkey off my back' incident!
Same trip, a week later near Naini Tal, a leopard took a big dog from the house we were staying at overnight, woke up to pad marks all over the veranda. A few years later the place was on the TV with Ben Foggle staying in wild places (the Stephen Lal episode).

In reply to cb294:

Forgot the most dangerous encounters: Wild boar (if they feel in any way threatened, sows with piglets will attack anything that is not up in the trees at the count of three). Coolest was a school of Beluga whales chasing salmon up a small inlet in northern Alaska. About one hundred whales breathing and blowing not ten meters from where we were sitting. Of course, the spare roll of film was in the tent a km or so away....

CB

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Whilst I’ve seen numerous wild animals in the U.K. the best encounter was one my daughter had whilst snorkelling off the Galápagos Islands. A friendly seal / sea lion, not sure which, decided to play / swim with her. She had my rather expensive waterproof camera with her attached to her wrist by a strap and unfortunately the seal thought the camera a tasty snack and took a bite at said camera. No harm to daughter but a nice set of tooth imprints in the alloy body of the camera and it stopped working.
Best bit was on returning home and presenting me with broken camera. I took it to a well known camera store to find out if it could be repaired. The look on the assistants face when I explained how it came to be damaged. Needless to say camera was written off.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Nice thread.

I work in Somaliland regularly and have the great pleasure of seeing herds of tiny dik-diks rushing around (the baby ones are about 19 cm high), lots of giant tortoises (incredibly big), troops of baboons (the big ones are pretty scary).
Someone photographed a leopard in the capital city Hargeisa the other day.

I also enjoy seeing the more mundane camels, goats and odd-looking Somali sheep with their black heads and white bodies: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/17/cc/75/17cc75cde74845c3558c936ad686d3fb.jp...

In reply to Fozzy:


I see your badger and raise you my penguin

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I once disturbed a hare whilst skiing off piste near Aonach Mor. It ran off downhill and I skied with it for about 500 metres...fantastic.

No it wasn't wearing skis!

In reply to felt:


Sharks (other than basking sharks) don't really show themselves unless you've attracted them to the boat by fishing. I'm lucky enough to have seen a Thresher shark threshing on the surface, and have a large Porbeagle under the boat having just bitten a 10lb pollack in half which my mate was reeling in. Other cool things I've seen from my boat on multiple occasions - basking sharks, Seals, Dolphins, Whales and Sunfish. Nearly ran over a sunbathing whale on a fishing charter in South Africa. Watched a seal chasing and eating Grey Mullet in crystal-clear waist deep water in Herm.
Land-based wild creatures seen at close quarters - Coyote at Joshua Tree, Marmots and Chamois in the Alps, Scorpions in the Alps and RedRocks. The usual UK urban wildies - badger, fox, deer, squirrel but also black squirrels in the Alps.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
When I was a kid I spent most of my summers with my Grandparents in Camus Croise, on the Sound of Sleat. Quite a few of the crofts had small rowing boats pulled up around the bay and my Grandfather had an old but seaworthy boat that we used for fishing. No lifejackets , a single set of oars and a bucket for bailing out any water in the bottom of the boat. And like many islanders of their generation neither my Father or Grandfather had ever learned to swim. I vividly recall being out in the boat one morning with my Father when I was about nine or ten. He was rowing us across the bay in calm water , about a quarter of a mile from the shore at Barabhaig, trailing a few hand lines, when I saw this enormous black shape coming up silently just below the boat. It was the biggest and most terrifying thing I had ever seen. And it was right below the boat. It moved off to the side of the boat, just below the surface and was so close I could have reached out and touched it. If I'd been brave enough. It was so big and so close that it was difficult to get a real sense of scale. But it was a lot bigger than our little boat and I was so scared I was almost afraid to look at it. Even now I just remember its size and colour. My Father tried to reassure me ( a bit unconvincingly ) that it was a harmless Basking Shark and we would be fine. But we were a long way from shore and I was convinced that it was going to capsize our boat and us with it. And then just as quickly as it had appeared it slowly disappeared into the depths. Perhaps it was simply checking us out, or we just happened to get in its way. But I can't remember ever being quite that overawed by something since. It quite literally took my breath away. My only regret is that I wasn't brave or curious enough to look at it a bit more closely and take in a bit more detail.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Loads, and this is a great thread. While waiting for a shot at a stag which lasted about two hours, as it was a sunny windless day and the deer were eating, crunching down on their fill. We were so close to them that we couldn't speak, we were getting fed up but couldn't do anything about it, and any movement was done in ultra slow motion. Suddenly, a shadow appeared to our side, we felt a blast of air and heard a whoomf, we raised our heads to see a golden eagle in full stop mode, deciding to abort it's kill as we must have looked too huge, about ten feet above us, wings outstretched. It shimmied off to the side and flew away and we followed it with our eyes. Turned back to look at the stags and they were all running away, alerted to our presence. We went home empty handed that night, but thrilled with our sighting. Another eagle time, and I'll be careful here, a keeper had built a crow trap below a crag which held eagle nests. He left meat to tempt a crow and left it alone, telling us proudly what he'd done that night at the larder. In the very early morning, one other and myself went to destroy it. A crow was already trapped, skreching it's frustration which only got louder as we approached. As my pal set about wrecking the cage, I saw something moving fast approaching us. At the moment the crow flew off, this eagle went between me and my pal at our head height at top speed and again I felt the wind pressure change with a fast moving big bird. The crow got away, and so did the eagle. We had a silent laugh to ourselves in the larder that night, hearing our keeper complain that bastard bird watchers had wrecked his cage. On a bit of a roll now so one last one. Repairing a hill road once, with pinch bars and shovels, and heard that whoomf noise above our heads, we looked up to see feathers raining down on our heads and as we turned we could see a pigeon drunkenly trying to stay aloft, trailing a cloud of feathers, and as we looked further along, there was the peregrine, executing a wide turn to have his second go. He missed again and the pigeon made it's way into the safety of the wood. The peregrine pulled up and over the trees and disappeared from sight. These big birds are great, and every one of them is precious. So are all the rest though. I once spent a good half hour watching a magpie flip our coconut suet feeder round a branch with her beak, She would twist her head and body to take a grip of the string in her beak, flip it and time a trap to the string with one of her feet, and then repeat until the feeder was next to the branch and eat her fill. It wasn't a smooth operation and sometimes when she stamped her feet she'd let the string go, dropping the feeder to the bottom again, and so she'd start again. Magical.

In reply to the abmmc:

Similar here, we were recently dive bombed by a juvenile white tailed sea eagle forcing red crested pochards under water right in front of us (it will force the ducks to dive until they are exhausted, and then pick them off the surface, although this one appeared to be practising as it also dive bombed bird watchers for fun). You can hear and feel the air pushed before the eagle as it spreads its wings and pulls out of its dive, and can see all its hand feathers bend and twist in individual detail. It is amazing how big these birds are close up, wings spread easily bigger than a thermarest mattress!

Weird contrast with their embarrassing, whiny calls (even though American White Headed Eagles are even worse in this respect).

CB

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Used to see a kingfisher fairly regularly, by the pond round the back of our old office. Get lots of herons by the canal at home. Have had moles under my tent on a couple of occasions (there's one campsite I use quite a bit that has a mole problem).
Been chased down the Welland by a swan - watched it have a go at a couple of other boats later, think there must have been a nest somewhere.
Confronted by a stag in Glen Etive - it strolled casually into the road and gave us a look that said, "What is your noisy tin box doing in MY glen?" Not sure who would have won in a fight between a rather large stag and an ancient corsa ....

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Saw a white hind in the New Forest at the weekend. Like a ghost deer.

In reply to captain paranoia:

Wow!

In reply to the abmmc:

Refreshing to see someone giving crows/magpies the same respect as eagles/hen harriers and the like.

In reply to Rich W Parker:


I imagine his wee tent quickly turned into a poo tent

In reply to jasonC abroad:


Don't be afraid to look for them on the tidal Thames - I've seen 3 hunting in rockpools on the beaches here - I've rounded a lump of rock to see them zooming off. The only places with fish in them here are garden ponds and very deep flooded quarries, so the rocky beaches offer shallow clear water where they can see their prey.

In reply to Toerag:

This, and get familiar with their call. They are more common than you think, but harder to see than may be expected from their bright plumage. Often they fly up and down a bit of riverbank, landing on branches overhanging the water. When they keep close to the bank while flying they are often concealed from above, but can easily be heard.

CB

In reply to Big Ger:

Some amazing snaps.

In reply to Cú Chullain:

Really amazing pics. Wish to visit Namibia sometime.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Thanks, here's some from this weekend's trip;

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kKmBVy0qBVMHUEdcX0RancB2O_blsfemXVA8_wtAe...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5eWFA3qhVlQO45QzaJRJumkUJzGbYKSOmWUg-ZYl...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ErC5Fj5AkNaEcj1EKVkAiRNYRH7Ufo0dvxn8SBM2E...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Z110gujAKSjU4358NmEWxHOH4k3eEPXHTntR7H1Sy...

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Is there 'Jungle' in Yellowstone.

In reply to Jim C:

yes.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

First time I saw otters in Scotland was magical. We'd stopped at a long rocky beach by the side of the road. My wife-to-be was scanning the distance with binoculars when an otter popped up literally at her feet. Watched it catching fish and feeding for the next half hour.

Went to Borneo and hired a boat in one of the estuaries. Basically £50 for a speedboat and crew for the afternoon which was pretty good going. Saw lots of birds and on the way back thought I saw a crocodile in the water. Turned out it was a family of giant otters - 10-12 of all ages - lots of squeaking going on.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I'm very lucky to live in a place where you can see a lot of pigeons.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Just been watching a couple of rats on the bank of the Sheaf, one did quite an impressive chimney climb up the retaining wall.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

I'd forgotten about this :

about 20 years ago, fishing for trout, very early morning, in a small mountain stream ( Rio Isabena / Aragonese Pyrénées) a desman crossed my path as I was wading, slowly up-stream. The small, rat-like desman is found only in the Pyrénées and parts of Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desman

better photos on French Wiki

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desman

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

One of my most magical moments in the mountains was when trekking on Mt Meru, Tanzania with my children aged 4 and 7. With our armed ranger escort, we had seen large piles of poo which was still steamy and fresh. Those responsible then strolled across the trail without a care in the world... . three elephants about thirty metres ahead. We managed to keep quiet despite our excitement...... I can still recall the ground shaking although they were moving with great stealth.
This encounter trumped the sightings of giraffes, zebras etc.

In reply to Dave Perry:

I think near death experiences from monster dogs in the Picos must be very common. I too nearly had to abandon a rucksack to make my escape. I managed to retreat to a shepherd's hut outside which was half a cow carcass dumped for their feed.... I was safe inside but feared I may have had to stay for days before help arrived! Eventually, the beasts got bored and headed back to their normal guard duties.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:

Plenty of all varieties in various parts of the world (bears, wolves, birds of prey, otters, etc etc) but the most memorable was closer to home. Last winter I had driven as far as I could along an estate track to bivvie up for the night, to make a 10km walk-in about a 3km venture, aiming to ski at first light on slopes I had looked at for two years, knew got the sunrise, but were an absolute pig of a walk-in. The discovery of the estate track, and a quick chat with the landownder, and I had cracked it. I had an alarm set early to head off before sunrise, but was woken early anyway.

An entire herd of red deer stags had come down from the hills to graze, and were just chilling out around my car as I sorted breakfast. As the first dawn light came, it was clear there were loads of the beasts just enjoying a still morning in the valley. I think the combination of the whole story and a whole load of these majestic animals really resonated with me. Special.

In reply to James Jackson:

Wow, a great a experience I must say.

In reply to earlsdonwhu:

Wonderful. What an experience.

In reply to Sanjeev Nanda:
Had 3 giraffe run across the road in front of our minibus the first evening I was in Kenya.

Also saw cheetahs one morning, some babboons and elephants just along from our campsite in the Masai Mara, a couple of scorpions and snakes on the site, spiders, zebra, antelope/gazelles not far away. We also saw lots of other animals in Amboseli safari park and a semi-tame water buffalo in the grounds of the hotel we went to a couple of times.

Had a couple of seals pop up close to me when I was kayak surfing in Cornwall, which was pretty cool.

Also wild kangaroo, koalas and feeding kookaburra in Australia

Worst experience was probably when the cat dropped a live rat in the middle of the living room floor! That was an entertaining chase - not!