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Tag: animals

  • A cricket sits on a rock.

    Found GCAYFMG Mรฉs enllร  de la via II (13) - Granja Fortuny

    This checkin to GCAYFMG Mรฉs enllร  de la via II (13) - Granja Fortuny reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs. Retreived the cache from beneath its insect guardian (pictured). TFTC!

    Read more (21 words)

    • Checkin
    • to GCAYFMG
    • posted 14 August, 2026
  • Drinking a coffee while editing a podcast episode in the beautiful Ullswater valley, and this lovely little pied wagtail came by to say good morning!

    Full image of Pied Wagtail (motacilla alba yarrelli) atop a dry stone wall.
    Alt

    Pied Wagtail (motacilla alba yarrelli) atop a dry stone wall.

    • Note
    • posted 25 May, 2026
  • A lamb hides behind a sheep in a grassy field.

    Found GCBMA9M #03 Northmoor Loop

    This checkin to GCBMA9M #03 Northmoor Loop reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs. QEF when the GPSr dropped me right on it.
    AltA lamb hides behind a sheep in a grassy field.
    The dog complained that I wouldn't let her go play with the lambs while I retrieved โ€ฆ

    Read more (44 words)

    • Checkin
    • to GCBMA9M
    • posted 2 May, 2026
  • It's my final day in the cute garden office of the AirBnB we're living in, this week, and every time I step through the door I catch a glimpse of our small, sandy-coloured dog squatting in the garden.

    Except the dog isn't even here. My brain keeps getting tricked...  by this statue of a pig:

    ๏ปฟ

    • Note
    • posted 8 April, 2026
  • Watercolour painting of a giraffe's face, wearing glasses.

    Cold Giraffe

    My mum painted a cold giraffe onto a postcard and sent it to me.

    Read more (166 words)

    • Article
    • 1 comment
    • posted 9 March, 2026
  • A brown horse with a white forehead star, wearing a blue jacket, walks in a circular pen in which arms encourage it to continue moving.

    Horse Gym

    My current temporary home - and, necessarily, office - is directly next door to some kind of "horse gym": a contraption a little like a huge revolving door to encourage one or more horses to exercise by walking around it.

    Every now and then my peripheral vision registers that there's a horse outside the window and, for the dozenth time, I look up from my work and glance around to barely catch it vanishing off on yet another lap.

    Read more (79 words)

    • Note
    • 1 comment
    • posted 9 March, 2026
  • A collection of badly-drawn horses run across a gradient background.

    gradient.horse

    Michail Rybakov's gradient.horse might be the second most-amusing use of a .horse domain name I've yet seen. Draw a horse and let it run wild and free with its friends in the gradient plains of your browser window!

    Read more (123 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • 4 comments
    • posted 18 January, 2026
  • A flock of sheep on a green meadow with a shepherd holding a rainbow flag.

    Gay sheep - what the FAQ?!

    About 1 in 12 rams (and a similar proportion of ewes) show a strong preference for other sheep of their same sex. To save them from being destroyed by breeders, this German farm is rescuing them and adding them to their queer flock.

    Read more (332 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 16 January, 2026
  • Pencil sketch of a dog chasing its own tail.

    Dogspinner

    Dogspinner - by Lu Wilson and Flora Caulton - is the Monday morning distraction you didn't know you needed.

    Read more (96 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 13 October, 2025
  • Found GC2CWQ7 #036 Just Northamptonshire

    I walked to a different COUNTY one morning before breakfast, just to get a geocache!

    Read more (164 words)

    • Checkin
    • to GC2CWQ7
    • posted 9 August, 2025
  • How do birds hear the calls of species of bird other than their own? Is it like background noise that they can talk (sing) over, filtering out everything but the calls of their own kind, like how you can talk over the murmur of a cocktail party until the second somebody says your name? Or is it more like something they consciously observe and work around, like waiting for your turn to speak in a group conversation flitting between several different topics?

    Full image of Early springtime view of bare trees over green-brown fields under a sky dappled with clouds.
    Alt

    Early springtime view of bare trees over green-brown fields under a sky dappled with clouds.

    Either way: is such communication strategy an instinctive or a learned behaviour? It seems likely that at least part of birdsong communication is gained after hatching because birds from noisy cities are louder than their country cousins (although you wouldn't know it, to listen out of the bedroom window of my rural home, this morning!).

    Just a moment's curiosity for the morning.

    • Note
    • 1 comment
    • posted 7 March, 2025
  • Today, while I cooked dinner, I introduced my two children (aged 10 and 8) to Goat Simulator.

    Within half an hour, they'd added an imaginative twist and a role-playing element. My eldest had decreed themselves Angel of Goats and the younger Goat Devil and the two were locked in an endless battle to control the holy land at the top of a rollercoaster.

    The shrieks of joy and surprise from the living room could be heard throughout the entire house. Perhaps our whole village.

    • Note
    • 1 comment
    • posted 9 December, 2024
  • Not quite ready for wintering indoors, our village's hardy sheep are enjoying pasturing in the large field near the school this beautiful but chilly morning.

    Full image of Warm colours break through scattered clouds from a winter sunrise over sheep grazing in a scrubby pasture.
    Alt

    Warm colours break through scattered clouds from a winter sunrise over sheep grazing in a scrubby pasture.

    • Note
    • posted 2 December, 2024
  • Face of a bat, hanging upside-down.

    Firsts and Lasts

    I was listening to the bats flying silently above me while I watched the Perseids, the other month. When was the last time I was actually capable of hearing their echolocation? I simply can't remember, because it didn't feel significant at the time.

    Read more - about 3 minutes (602 words)

    • Article
    • with an accompanying podcast
    • 1 comment
    • posted 14 October, 2024
  • Something I've long enjoyed about Automattic gatherings is the opportunity to meet some the most diverse characters you'll ever find in one place.

    But today was the first time I've ever been at a beachside disco that was attended by a foraging racoon.

    Full image of A slender long-tailed racoon stands on wooden decking in front of lush tropical vegetation.
    Alt

    A slender long-tailed racoon stands on wooden decking in front of lush tropical vegetation.

    • Note
    • posted 7 October, 2024

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