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A funny thing happenened when I was out stargazing

TimX524

By TimX524
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TimX524

TimX524

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One of the perils of stargazing in the New Forest is the New Forest ponies.

Most of the time, they are harmless beasts, and watch us setting up our telescopes and twiddling bits from afar, swishing their tails.

One evening, however, a bolder horse decided to investigate what these humans were doing with the lights and things.  He came among the telescopes and stood there for some time.

As large quadrupeds are the natural enemy of telescopes, none of the telescope owners were willing to tackle said horse.  It might bumble into one of our precious optical instruments and do a lot of damage. 

The beast decided to take a closer look at one of the devices: of course, he chose mine.   :sad:

When the horse had come among the group of telescopes, I was rather nervous, and had stopped setting up.  I had left my telescope (a Schmitt-Cassegrain) in its parked position.  My case of eyepieces (my pride and joy!) was closed by the side of my telescope.  I was holding my bag of wires and stuff.  The horse had a good look about my set-up, and decided that my case of eyepieces was just the thing.  He started licking my case of eyepieces!!!! :shocked: It must have tasted salty or something.  I waited a bit for it to get fed up.  It just carried on licking my eyepiece case. 

Of course, my colleagues at the site were no use at all, and found it absolutely hilarious. 

After it had been licking my eyepiece case for a minute or so, I get fed up and waved my arms at the animal.  It started, and trotted off.  Fortunately, it didn't tread on my telescope, or anyone else's.

When I got home, I inspected my eyepiece case, which although a bit grungy, was none the worse for its escapade.  I did need a good clean though.

Has anyone else had any strange occurrences when out stargazing?

T

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JamesF

JamesF

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I haven't made it out of the back garden yet. Not too much excitement there...

Oh, I don't know.  We get foxes, pheasants, badgers, bats and all sorts of other wildlife out and about when I'm observing in the garden.  I'm not desperately keen on the first three as they tend to make sudden noises having been quiet for so long you don't realise they're there.  Sitting near a tree when a roosting pheasant suddenly takes flight making an alarm call is enough to require a change of trousers, but it's great to have the bats flying about and hearing them hunting. On Sunday night when I was out there must have been a vixen in the field in front of the house.  Certainly somewhere very close.  She was absolutely howling the place down.

James

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jam1e1

jam1e1

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Was out the other night with scope around 9pm, heard buzzing sound like a bee, was quite strange as was at night. Located behind drainpipe, noise didn't stop so got ladder out and torch, climbed up and found out it was a spider wrapping up a large bee or queen bee for tea! It's abdomen was quite large and hadn't seen this type before, so made up a spider collector using jar and bamboo stuck. Googled it and turned out to be what appeared to be a false black widow spider! They aren't deadly but can cause nasty bite if have reaction to bite, although they don't usually com into contact with humans and only bite if provoked. Took video of it too :)

Welcome also

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HIP3802

HIP3802

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Hi, Tim, and a warm welcome to SGL! I too, live in the country. For me it is the Roe Deer running through the garden that cause heart-stopping moments, or the pterodactyl like screech of the herons which seem to come from nowhere and are guaranteed to stop any observing for a while!

Martin

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JamesF

JamesF

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Hi, Tim, and a warm welcome to SGL! I too, live in the country. For me it is the Roe Deer running through the garden that cause heart-stopping moments, or the pterodactyl like screech of the herons which seem to come from nowhere and are guaranteed to stop any observing for a while!

Oooh, I've seen Roe deer in the fields around us and found hoof-marks where they've jumped the fence into our orchard, but I've never actually had one bold enough to come close to the house.  Perhaps just as well.  I know if one got that close I'd end up wondering how much space there was in the freezer...

James

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iam4208

iam4208

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One of the dark sky sites I use is also frequented by dog walkers, courting couples and people congregating for shadier activities. Fortunately, I learnt very quickly from one near incident when I walked over to a parked car, thinking it was a fellow observer. It became very obvious very quickly that the couple inside were patently not here to look at the stars. As I hurried back to my car, they drove off.

I tend to only go there if other observers are going to be there!

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Pete Presland

Pete Presland

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Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :smiley: a couple summers back during the very early hours of dawn, i saw a group of deer appear out of the cornfield in front of me. they crossed the bridleway into the other cornfield never to be seen again, at least not that morning anway. it was nature, it was beautifull!

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Zakalwe

Zakalwe

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What a great story :grin:

A few years ago a chap on another forum emigrated to Africa. He was out stargazing and turned round to see this:

Nellie-1.jpg

The bull was sneaking over a 4-foot high fence to get a drink from the swimming pool. Apparently the elephant was absolutely silent.

Can you imagine that sneaking up behind you? :eek: :eek: :eek:

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Welcome to SGL.

I do get the occasional hedgehog snorting and grunting in the undergrowth, but cats have a "here be dragons" approach to our garden (due mainly to our neighbours, I do not mind them). Down-under I did have some creatures moving around in the undergrowth and skittering up a tree. Could be quite startling, but the most ferocious thing I spotted was not much bigger than a grey squirrel. No snakes appeared, I am glad to say.

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