Laugh if you want, but this city dwellers has a serious question about animals and getting spooked when alone at at a dark site ....

[MKHACHFE]

15 hours ago, Alkaid said:

The most fantastic sound when out at night is the Owl. I’ve had some wonderful nights with just me, scope, stars and Owls hooting.

My wife and I can very often hear an owl at night from our bedroom. We love it and wonder where it goes on the nights we can't hear it. 

 

Beats the sound of the  neighbours cockerel any day..

[MKHACHFE]

15 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The big stuff doesn't bother me. Owls, hedgehogs, mice, bats et al, bring them on. Finding a spider perched on my shoulder though gives me the heebue jeebies. Although it's probably the midges and mossies you really need to be scared of!

Couldn't agree more with what you said..can't stand spiders and I usually "dust" myself off every 15 or so minutes, in case one has wandered onto me...

I do not want to suddenly find one on my face thank you very much. No no no. Give me a big badger suddenly appearing any day over a spider. 

[MKHACHFE]

11 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

If the OP can enjoy being "dive bombed" by bats then there is little else to fear.  I have seen Adders at Kelling.  (Sorry Carole!)    😀

Well to be fair to my little aerial friend, he has never given me reason to think he's going to hit me. I trust his "skills" enough to not be concerned. 😀

[MKHACHFE]

7 hours ago, JamesF said:

..and foxes often sound like someone is murdering a baby..

Yes they can indeed. Thats about the only wildlife you find in central London and I am very well aquatinted with the awful sounds foxes can make. If one didn't know what that sound was, it would be very easy to be terrified. 

How can something so cute make such an awful sound???

[Rusted]

I can live with screaming hedgehogs, barking deer and contralto foxes.
The flying foxes just bounce of my duvet hood over an oiled wool, bobble hat.
The salopettes even take care of rabid, marauding cats of a winter's night.
It's the Great White Sharks leaping clear of the pond that unnerve me.
Quite honestly, that's the only reason I built a two story observatory...

[Nigella Bryant]

I have quite a few spiders living in my observatory, large one's and sometimes they drop on me, had one once fall down the back of my neck, did I jump up and fling it off. Also my cat's will suddenly jump through the shutter opening and foxes stroll by, bat's fly over, usual UK things. Sometimes my heart does miss a beat and the adrenalin rises. I do take my phone with me and I lock myself in, lol. Astronomy is a lonely thing, lol. 

[carastro]

URGGGGH spiders, have a phobia of them.  I am aware they are in my obsy, but try to ignore the fact.  Occasionally I see one run across the floor in the day time and try to catch one in my spider picker upper and put them outside. 

It's when i sit at the laptop and one suddenly appears on a thread in front of the screen hanging in front of my face that I panic.  

I have to say though, that they seem more frightened of me, but I could not cope with one landing on me unless it was really small.  Shudder at the thought. 

 

Carole 

Edited October 27, 2019 by carastro

[ApophisAstros]

17 minutes ago, carastro said:

URGGGGH spiders, have a phobia of them.  I am aware they are in my obsy, but try to ignore the fact.  Occasionally I see one run across the floor in the day time and try to catch one in my spider picker upper and put them outside. 

It's when i sit at the laptop and one suddenly appears on a thread in front of the screen hanging in front of my face that I panic.  

I have to say though, that they seem more frightened of me, but I could not cope with one landing on me unless it was really small.  Shudder at the thought. 

 

Carole 

Apparently at night when you are asleep , you swallow on average 2  a night, hence the horrible taste in your mouth in mornings.

Roger

[carastro]

Quote

Apparently at night when you are asleep , you swallow on average 2  a night, hence the horrible taste in your mouth in mornings.

Roger

thanks for that, Yuk!!

[Skipper Billy]

15 hours ago, JamesF said:

I think the most aggravating thing you're likely to come across in the UK is blood-sucking insects

Do HMRC have night shifts now ??  😉

[WanderingEye]

31 minutes ago, apophisOAS said:

Apparently at night when you are asleep , you swallow on average 2  a night, hence the horrible taste in your mouth in mornings.

Roger

Edited October 27, 2019 by WanderingEye

[Carbon Brush]

25 minutes ago, carastro said:

thanks for that, Yuk!!

Is that why (having snacked overnight) sometimes it is a little while before you feel ready to face a big breakfast?

 

[Phil Fargaze]

I was out at night on holiday at the Isle of Wight enjoying the dark sky when a big grunting badger came past me, oblivious to my presence it seemed. Scared the socks off me though! I`ve got a bat detector which comes in handy to help decide if I am being buzzed by a bat instead of some kind of giant flying nocturnal insect with fangs. The worst thing for me back home is when the cat decides to jump in the observatory half way through a crucial observation and takes great delight walking on the laptop and tripping over the cables. 

[PeterW]

Night vision.... turns the darkest night into day, nowhere for the undead or other face hugging beasties to hide. 
One starparty there was a loud rustle and expletive mumble... a fellow observer had fallen off the path into a Bush!

 

Peter

[ApophisAstros]

19 hours ago, Rob Sellent said:

I'm sure they do but the good news with adders is that they can't multiply

That statement just doesn't add up...

Roger

[bish]

I only hear things (foxes mainly) when I am in a suburban garden. Out in the countryside things seem to keep away. I can"t watch the Blair Witch Project before going camping though. 😂

[MKHACHFE]

13 hours ago, carastro said:

URGGGGH spiders, have a phobia of them.  I am aware they are in my obsy, but try to ignore the fact.  Occasionally I see one run across the floor in the day time and try to catch one in my spider picker upper and put them outside. 

It's when i sit at the laptop and one suddenly appears on a thread in front of the screen hanging in front of my face that I panic.  

I have to say though, that they seem more frightened of me, but I could not cope with one landing on me unless it was really small.  Shudder at the thought. 

 

Carole 

 

 

I hear you...really, really hate them as well, unless they are really tiny.

I know one will crawl over my face at some point...and then I will sell my telescope and take up another indoor hobby. 😂😶

[Rusted]

I wonder if FLO do spider catchers in anodised matt black?
You could easily lose your dark adaptation with that green thing!

 

[johninderby]

1 hour ago, Rusted said:

I wonder if FLO do spider catchers in anodised matt black?
You could easily lose your dark adaptation with that green thing!

 

With a built in red light. 😁

[Rusted]

6 minutes ago, johninderby said:

With a built in red light. 😁

Nah, I'm seeing a "planet killer" laser hidden in the brush head "for greater safety."

[Moonshane]

The most scary thing I used to hear was my cat scrabbling up the fence. Got me every time. The most horrible thing I saw was a slug on my beer, thankfully spotted before I put it to my mouth.!

[fate187]

hedgehocks can be loud 😂. The worst jump scare I had was when doing astrophotgraphy. I was looking at the laptop, so my eyes were not dark adapted and I couldn't see very good. Suddenly the neighbor stood some feet away in front of me dressed in white shirt and underpants. I noticed him only due to some faint noise he was doing on the grass. Damn that was scary. Turned out he couldn't sleep and went right through the hedge to have a look... 

Also animals on waters can make pretty "interesting" noises at night 😶

[LukeSkywatcher]

I got spooked once by a set of glowing eyes down the end of the garden. Yep, it was a cat high up in a tree. Another night, the same cat jumped down from shed roof next door and landed beside me. That nearly made me pop my clogs.

[MKHACHFE]

I've decided to wear Bluetooth earbuds and drown out the hedgehogs, foxes, cats, sheep, owls and anything else mentioned in this thread. If I can't hear it, then it's not there...right? 

Lol. Thanks again to everyone for the interesting replies to my original question. 

[sheeprug]

In the UK don't underestimate the danger of the tiny deer tick, bites of which can carry Lyme disease, or as recently reported, the tick-borne encephalitis virus.  I never used to take too much notice of warnings about ticks here in Suffolk, but I recently discovered that 2 work colleagues had contracted Lyme disease whilst walking in the local heathland, and one didn't notice it until he'd become quite ill.   I guess at nighttime we're pretty well covered up and it's dark, so the risk is small.  But since it's not a problem you want, make sure your legs are covered!

SR.