Night run

[arctic hobo]

I was out running last night, at about 10pm. My route went up the local hills and along through the woods, which are totally deserted at that time of night. I ran along in silence, until I half saw half felt hundreds of tiny bats rush past me, and fly up through the trees. No sooner had that happened than a huge tawny owl whooshed silently out from beside me, stooped on the path no more than 20 feet ahead of me, catching something I simply had no idea was there.
The rest of the route was comparatively uneventful, but I was struck how only a half mile from a town the wildlife is very much active, and that we may have built a concrete jungle over it but it'll always be their land.
It was quite an experience, being so close, I thought I'd share it with you folks. :)

[Motorbike Man]

I was out running last night, at about 10pm. My route went up the local hills and along through the woods, which are totally deserted at that time of night. I ran along in silence, until I half saw half felt hundreds of tiny bats rush past me, and fly up through the trees. No sooner had that happened than a huge tawny owl whooshed silently out from beside me, stooped on the path no more than 20 feet ahead of me, catching something I simply had no idea was there.
The rest of the route was comparatively uneventful, but I was struck how only a half mile from a town the wildlife is very much active, and that we may have built a concrete jungle over it but it'll always be their land.
It was quite an experience, being so close, I thought I'd share it with you folks. :)
Nice. I know what it's like when bats are that close, absolutely fantastic feeling :D

[hootchi]

I enjoy running for that reason aswell Arctic Hobo. a mile out of town in the right direction and it is surprisingly rural. Followed a female sparrowhawk the other day with not much problem because you can go much fasted than walking. ;)

[spamel]

I went with the missus to Bremen yesterday to pick up our canoe. Driving back, we took it steady, never really going above 70 kms/hour and stopped off at home to get rid of a few bits and bobs.

So far, it had been an uneventful journey. Then, we drove towards Celle, and we only went 10-20 kms, and we nearly hit a pheasant that was flying across the road, and then we saw a fox slowly stalking its prey about 20 meters from the side of the road in a field!! This is the second fox I have seen in Germany in 7 years, and believe it or not, the first pheasant. It seems that whilst we fly along in life at mach 10, we miss a lot of wildlife that is right in front of us. Maybe we should slow down a bit, and keep our eyes peeled.

Spamel

[Moonraker]

Nice one :)

We have almost the reverse situation here. Living in a very rural stone built village surrounded by wooded slopes and fields covered in wild flowers, set down in a small valley away from the modern world, it is the modern street lighting which attracts the bats right into the heart of things. They are attracted by the nocturnal insects which are in term attracted by the lights. In the summer the church outside our house is illuminated with powerful lighting for the tourist season and these really light up the whole sky and every night is an amazing show of swooping bats, gliding owls and fluttering moths which we watch from our balcony. A bit like a fish tank without the cleaning ;) And come midnight the lights all go off and we can enjoy the starlit sky properly.

As there are many limestone caves around here and abundant insect life we have summer maternity bat colonies including the the rare Greater Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis myotis) and Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros)

[Stuart]

I regularly run into my local fox whilst out at night, always fansinating to see him

when ever I fly torin (hawk) he leads me to all sort of interesting things as he chases foxes and buzzards, picks up snakes, hunts voles etc, things I would never have noticed.

[PurpleHeath]

I regularly run into my local fox whilst out at night, always fansinating to see him

when i see our local fox it's usually carrying off one of our ducks! :( at yeast we know they have a healthy population, i suppose :o

[RovingArcher]

Sounds like you had an excellent run. Thanks for sharing it.

If I might ask, do you know what the bats and owl represent in the ancient lore of your home?