Garden Railway Forum

I was in my modelling room yesterday afternoon and glanced out the window.
And this wallaby and joey were checking out the viaduct.
This is only the 2nd time I've seen a roo in the yard.
I was too busy grabbing my camera to notice the joey in the pouch at the time. But the pic turned out well for a 20x zoom, hand held, through the window.

Cracking picture Greg, and a beautiful animal.

The most exotic creature I've had in my garden were a couple of greater spotted woodpeckers on the feeder.

Rik

What a beautiful photo of a beautiful animal.

Taken at 20x times handheld is surely skill isn't it. I would have been so blurry it would have looked as though the animal would doing about 200mph.....

That is a lovely picture Greg, Thansk for sharing.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:20 am The most exotic creature I've had in my garden were a couple of greater spotted woodpeckers on the feeder.

We get those very frequently.
We used to get a lot of hedgehogs too but sadly not for the last 18 months. We leave the CCTV camera on in hope and few months back it caught a young fox cautiously sniffing its way down the path at the side of the house, stopping at the back corner, looking round before deciding it was too risky and going back again.
In the 23 years I've lived here thats only the 2nd fox I've seen.

Isn't it surprising what you find when out on a walk. This morning my mate and I encountered these two specimens. Not equal to Greg's garden railway visitors, but hailing from the same part of the world. Who says we don't do exotic in Cheshire..... Rik

FWLR wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:36 am What a beautiful photo of a beautiful animal.

Taken at 20x times handheld is surely skill isn't it. I would have been so blurry it would have looked as though the animal would doing about 200mph.....

Thanks Rod.
I think most of the 'skill' with the zoom, is the anti-shake' stuff in the camera.

Rik, the emus (that's pronounced eemyou not Emoo as the yanks say) would make a mess of the track if they visited. great pic, but what a weird thing to see on a Cheshire farm. What next? Tasmanian Devils????

gregh wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:56 pm what a weird thing to see on a Cheshire farm.

My sister-in-law was raspberry picking on a farm in Somerset, and rounded a corner to find a wallaby sitting in the next row, munching away on the fruit. Apparently he lived in some sort of children's zoo on the adjacent farm but knew where there was a gap in the fence so made a daily trip next door to eat raspberries...

Great picture by the way Greg!

Was she hoping to hop onto a train?

No exotic animaals in the garden but we do hear the gibbons from across the way.

Don

A lovely picture Greg. When travelling last week in Buckinghamshire, we saw a dead wallaby beside the road
The most 'exotic' creature we have had in our garden is an otter, who has emptied every pond in our village of fish, including mine! My neighbour caught it in action in the early hours at their pond (their photo)

Mmmm, I would have put a steel grate over mine I think Phil. The cost of fish nowadays is huge, especially of you have Koi. My older brother has huge fish that are worth in the region of 2 to 3 thousand pounds.....

Our three goldfish in our little pond are only about £10 each, they have grow though to about 7" and boy are they fat....

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:20 am Mmmm, I would have put a steel grate over mine I think Phil. The cost of fish nowadays is huge, especially of you have Koi. My older brother has huge fish that are worth in the region of 2 to 3 thousand pounds.....

Our three goldfish in our little pond are only about £10 each, they have grow though to about 7" and boy are they fat....

We used to have a well stocked ornamental pond at our previous home, but the small pond here was just to accompany the railway. A steel grate would rather spoil the aesthetic, so we shall not restock now.

The local Heron cleared our pond of fish completely, including several large Koi. We have decided not to chance it again as it wouldn't be possible to protect them, even with steel grating......

That is a bit big Peter. Don't think I would like to try and wade out with steel grating....

Nice looking pond though..

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 10:08 pm

FWLR wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:20 am Mmmm, I would have put a steel grate over mine I think Phil. The cost of fish nowadays is huge, especially of you have Koi. My older brother has huge fish that are worth in the region of 2 to 3 thousand pounds.....

Our three goldfish in our little pond are only about £10 each, they have grow though to about 7" and boy are they fat....

We used to have a well stocked ornamental pond at our previous home, but the small pond here was just to accompany the railway. A steel grate would rather spoil the aesthetic, so we shall not restock now.

When I am talking about a steel grate Phil, I mean really small gauge and it could be sited just below the water line so it wouldn't be seen, also plenty of hiding places for the fish so birds like Herons can't see them. If they can't see the fish they are less likely to get at them.