Here and There: Wildlife adventures at home and abroad

By Adrian Middleton

‘Here and There’ takes a light-hearted look at the author’s favourite wildlife moments at home and abroad, including some of the unexpected encounters he has had along the way.

It starts with an appraisal of the relationships between man and animals leading to a look at wildlife around the home, garden and the surrounding countryside. Adventures abroad track big cats such as lions, tigers, jaguars and pumas, colourful birds like bower birds and hummingbirds, snakes whether or not poisonous and lizards, also butterflies, moths and other insects. A review about natural colour variations is included and relates to albino badgers through to black adders and others.

There is a special look at mammals like ourselves and more primitive ones including monotremes (such as echidnas) and marsupials (such as kangaroos) and the differences between warm and cold-blooded animals. A study about the effects of heathland fires on wildlife makes for special observations too.

Joint visits onto Dorset lowland heaths especially with young people looking for snakes and lizards and other creatures provides the most enduring memory of all, and is the overall motive for writing this book, recognising that the future of our wildlife will eventually rest with them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Aug 28, 2025
• ISBN: 9781836289869

Adrian Middleton

Adrian Middleton is a Yorkshire-born Veterinary Surgeon who has spent time in both practice and with the government. Career and wildlife interests have enabled him to travel abroad a lot. He is the co-author of a book on badgers. Nowadays he enjoys gardening, music and to spend time surveying reptiles and other wildlife.

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Cover of Here and ThereHere and there. Wildlife Adventures at Home and Abroad. By Adrian Middleton

Copyright © 2025 Adrian Middleton

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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ISBN 978 1836289 869

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(www.arccompliance.com).

This book is dedicated to the memory of my wife, Vireen, who accompanied me regularly on my wildlife excursions.

I also dedicate the book to my great-grandson Eli, who loves all animals past and present and shows much interest and concern for wildlife in an ever-changing world.

Contents

1

WHERE THE

JOURNEY BEGINS

Introduction

The inspiration for writing this book stems from all the young people I have met over recent years, sensing their eager anticipation for what wildlife we might find on our expeditions into the countryside, including our lowland heaths. It was obvious from the word go that here were people who loved wildlife of all kinds and could not wait to see more. Nothing escaped their attention and their curiosity knew no bounds. We were going to get along.

Brought up in the countryside must have stirred what I believe was my innate interest in animals, whether tame or wild. This never lapsed even when I was eventually obliged to live in big cities full of other distractions.

Practically any strange object that moved has been an immediate source of curiosity to me, even when later discovering some of the animals were commonplace. In addition, there is always the challenge of animal identification and the chance to delve into animal behaviour, sometimes leading to a long-term study in its own right. I have never felt the need to search for rarities, although there have been occasions when a rare creature comes my way and leaves a special memory. Nevertheless, I have also welcomed the opportunity to visit unfamiliar places, perhaps drawn simply by curiosity, where the regulars may well be commonplace but as interesting to me as any rarity. All creatures in these circumstances are gold as far as I am concerned.

This interest began to emerge when I was still at primary school. My first encounter was with a large black slug in some grass on the way back home. I wrapped it up in a dock leaf and took it with me to show my parents. They were somewhat aghast, especially as there was slime everywhere. I was dismissed. But I was soon to become interested in caterpillars too, often brought to me by friendly folk in the village in the East Riding where I was brought up. This was around the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, when a crowd of villagers gathered to watch the ceremony on our black-and-white television. Fortunately, I had my caterpillars to entertain me, even though some of them escaped unnoticed up some curtains and had to be recovered, somewhat furtively.

I have always liked snakes, and when the opportunity to look after a couple of grass snakes came along, the temptation was too much. I tended them as best I could, but finding food wasn’t straightforward as this involved catching small frogs and fish in the local pond. After a couple of years I ended up having to release them back into the wild. Hand feeding a tame wood pigeon was an endless challenge too, given its large appetite and constant demands, until it eventually flew away.

Having been brought up on a farm, I was introduced to cows, sheep and pigs, and the birth of their young ones, at an early age and decided I wanted to be a veterinary surgeon. I qualified at Liverpool University and went into practice and then worked for the government. I was able to retain my interest in wildlife and occasionally combined this with my work when wild animals were involved. Both work and pleasure also enabled me to travel abroad regularly, including a year in Australia.

It wasn’t until I retired, however, that I could truly immerse myself in wildlife, a passion that had been nurtured for years. While my interests were broad, badger watching had occupied much of my spare time until eventually I felt the need for a change. Though I had always been fascinated by birds, mammals and butterflies, I found myself drawn to reptiles. They seemed less represented or studied by naturalists, despite the attention they received from a few dedicated specialists. It was then that I decided a trip onto the heath looking for them was a good idea, so I chose a very hot midsummer’s day which I thought would be ideal (not actually the case, as these pages will disclose). I saw practically nothing, over hours, except the tail end of a lizard as it scurried across into deep cover.

My connection with reptiles deepened quite unexpectedly. One early morning, I was bird watching from a hide on a large estate in the Purbecks, Dorset. The estate warden stopped by on a routine check and we fell into conversation about marsh and hen harriers. Then, casually, he mentioned he had just seen a smooth snake. This alerted me. Of many an animal, the smooth snake was a total enigma, something I would only ever read about and certainly never encounter. It is, after all, our rarest reptile and also very secretive. I confessed to having never seen one, and the warden must have sensed my excitement because he said, Come back on Thursday, meet me at the gate and I’ll show you one.

It was an offer I could not refuse. True to his word on the day, we drove off together onto the heath and he pointed out a well-camouflaged reptile. I recognised it instantly – a smooth snake. I can recall my exact words: Thank you! You’ve made my day. In fact you’ve made my year! For the next few months after this I went snaking with him and, when I finally received the necessary licence and approval, continued surveying for several years on this estate, sharing visits with the warden and sometimes going on my own.

This book, written later in life, recounts my experiences with wildlife both near and far – from the familiar and elusive to the bold and dangerous. It’s not just about the animals I have encountered, but also the people I’ve met along the way. Above all, I hope this account inspires younger generations to develop their passion for wildlife and the natural world.

A Brief History

Initially I would just like to draw your attention to the wild creatures with whom we share our everyday lives, some more in need of our help these days. This is a time when we seem to be living in something a bit like a global village, in which technology has made communication much better and it has become easier for us to travel to distant places.

There are many fascinating animals in our world and I want to introduce some of them to you, hoping this will encourage you to develop your interest in them. Maybe in the years to come you will be able to help them by making the places they call home more secure.

Before we travel further afield and consider wild mammals, birds and other creatures, we are going to a farm, the sort where we may be able to find domestic animals of all kinds as well as wild animals. It may seem a little strange to start by briefly looking at animals that are not wild but fully domesticated. We must remember, though, that a long time ago people used to be what we call hunter-gatherers, and several of the animals they saw followed them around and were eventually encouraged to stay with them. Some developed into the farm animals and pets we are familiar with. There are still a few people today who live this sort of life, largely isolated in quiet, out-of-the-way places, away from the hustle and bustle to which most of us have had to adapt in our everyday lives.

Down on the farm there may be cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, and there may be one or two horses as well. Horses used to be very common on farms before tractors were available, but nowadays we mostly see riding ponies, not carthorses. Rather exceptionally, the horse (including the pony) has only one free-living relative, although it is not entirely clear that domesticated horses originate from it; this is Przewalski’s horse, once found in faraway Mongolia and there again now after reintroduction from reserve stock. Of course, some once-tame horses, including ponies, now breed and run wild in various places like national parks, maybe near where we ourselves live.

Dogs and cats are likely to be around as well, accommodated in many of our homes.

The canines, of which there are more than thirty, include the wolves, foxes, jackals, dogs (including the domestic dog, also the dingo of Australia and the dhole of India) and the coyote. The relationships between various animals means taking a close look at their DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) to determine how closely related they are.

Cats are often divided into the big ones, namely lions and tigers, leopards, pumas, jaguars, cheetahs and snow leopards, and the smaller ones, such as ocelots and jungle cats; all amazing animals, once seen, never forgotten.

Also living today are a small number of animals which appear to have links with the dinosaurs of yesteryear, for example the tuatara, a lizard-like animal.

A photo of a dhole

Dhole (David Cox)

We must mention also that millions of years before mankind existed, planet Earth was unsuitable for life as we know it, but after a period of time tiny life forms developed and eventually the dinosaurs came along, the remains and other signs of which are still being found today. Only recently, as an example, the skull of a huge plesiosaur, an extinct reptile sea monster from 150 million years ago, has been found by a palaeontologist, halfway down cliffs in Kimmeridge Bay on the Dorset Jurassic Coast. It is hoped that more of its remains will be found and that these, like various other remains, will help to put together the pieces of the bigger jigsaw. This will include a variety of dinosaur species, like Tyrannosaurus rex, and others which were not dinosaurs, including some that were able to fly, like the pterodactyls. It is now also thought that some tiny mammals and others were able to develop alongside the dinosaurs, again helping to fill in this picture.

A photo of a coyote

Coyote (Connell)

In our country, we have also lost animals that died out naturally during the last ice age and those that were unable to return when we became an island, cut off from the rest of Europe by rising sea levels. Others, for example the wolf, died out because of persecution at the hands of man. In more recent times there have been deliberate reintroductions of animals such as beavers and bison, whilst others escaped from private land, like wild pigs which now roam free.

A photo of an ocelot

Ocelot (Connell)

In the vicinity, there may be all sorts of farm buildings and possibly a garden, surrounded by grassy fields or land where crops are grown, with associated hedgerows and perhaps woodland. We shall be looking at these. There will be one or two wild animals living in and around the farm buildings, maybe rats, mice and birds, such as house sparrows and various pigeons, but like as not there will be many more in gardens, an important sanctuary for a variety of other wildlife.

Before we travel to some foreign countries, let us start by looking at some of the animals close to home, whether we live in a big city with skyscrapers, a smaller town or perhaps a village with gardens, rural countryside with woodlands and farms, or maybe along the coast.

2

AT HOME

WITH NATURE

About the House

What seems like yesterday, setting about household chores, I went to the utility room to run hot water. Whilst removing an unwanted bowl from the sink I noticed a small bundle of fur underneath it. I didn’t have much time to think, but it was a bit like a large bumblebee. It was only when I scooped the creature up that I realised it was a bat! It appeared completely lifeless. Things did not look good.

In something of a quandary, I decided to give it a thorough examination and fortunately found no evidence of injury. It appeared to be a well-grown youngster. It remained very quiet so I took a photograph of it to obtain some record to help identify what species it might be.

It clung on to my hand tenaciously – the first encouraging sign of life I had noticed. But what next? I placed it in a small but airy box, where it remained all day, still barely moving. Late that evening I opened the box up fully, and also the back door nearby, hoping for the best that it would fly away. The next morning the bat had indeed gone. Later on in the day, towards dusk, I went out and was pleased to see two bats flying round and round together for a while near the utility room door. Hopefully this was the mother reunited with its offspring. I concluded the young bat was a common pipistrelle and that it had slipped through a crack in the utility room ceiling but, unable to find its way back to a possible roosting place in the roof space, had been forced to hide. After the young bat’s rescue, I like to think there was now hope that all was well once again.

A photo of a common pipistrelle in someones hand

Common Pipistrelle

I do see other bats flying around the house and garden, including the long-eared and the noctule. The description of the long-eared bat speaks for itself. The noctule is quite considerably larger. I don’t see bats in the house much, but their droppings, full of insect remains, are obvious when I look on the loft floor. Speaking in general terms, the various kinds of bats have different ear and nose shapes and wing patterns. As you may know, many bats use echolocation to find the insects they eat. This enables people to use detectors which pick up the different sounds the various bats make; this helps identify which species is involved. Some bats don’t need echolocation because their food supply is stationary; examples need to be those abroad – practically all fruit-eating bats.

There was another occasion a long time ago when the plumber had to replace piping in the main part of the house, so there was a fair amount of tapping on the pipes going on. I had to visit the loft and to my surprise found several bats flying around. The noise appeared to have disturbed them.

Luckily – I say luckily – one or two alighted on the walls, and it was plain to see they had long ears. There are two sorts of long-eared bats, but I assumed these were the common ones. On one or two other occasions I have found bats flying around the landing, but I leave them to sort themselves out. I remember at another time a former neighbour’s son caught a bat in his anorak as he was cycling home – unfortunately it died subsequently.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that normally bats should be handled with gloves on. As a precaution, if one is bitten by a bat or an abrasion is contaminated by bat saliva, do consult your medical doctor straight away, as some bats may carry rabies of one sort or another.

Many years ago, I was bitten by a bat but didn’t know which species. At this point, it is relevant to recall that someone had been bitten by a bat in Britain quite recently and had unfortunately died of a type of rabies, so this created a problem for me. After discussions with my doctor and various other national authorities, it was decided I should have the rabies vaccine (rather than antiserum), especially as the bat species was unknown and although I was vaccinated against rabies, the history was ambiguous. That entailed me going about fifty miles each way to collect the vaccine from the dungeons of a hospital. Everything else was plain sailing.

It is not unusual to find mice (often field mice rather than house mice, surprisingly) in the attic of a house, especially in winter when they come searching for food and shelter; sometimes it is a shrew rather than a mouse which pays a visit. These small creatures are very adept at climbing up walls and find house creepers especially useful when trying to find their way into lofts.

If you’re unlucky, perhaps your visitor will be a brown rat obliged to vacate its summer residence, maybe in some hedgerow near where its regular food supply has been harvested. I recall my first encounter with a brown rat. It was in my pre-teen years at school, when as a reward for good behaviour (?) I was given routine responsibility for the small flock of hens supplying us with eggs. The chicken feed was kept in a large hessian sack in the woodshed where I ventured every morning before lessons. Part opening the bag with my hand, searching for the scoop, I grasped a large warm and furry wriggling something or other. The brown rat, as it turned out to be, leapt out of the bag and disappeared into a nearby stack of wood. Some people might have fainted, but I was fine about it – but then I wasn’t bitten.

Some birds may choose houses to build their nests, maybe under the eaves. House martins and swifts come to mind, and swallows love outbuildings. Sometimes house sparrows or starlings may also use holes in the walls or perhaps creepers growing nearby. The recent trend by builders to install swift nest boxes in the roofs of the new houses is very commendable, especially as this species is in decline. It is possible to obtain special ready-made nest boxes to install for other birds too, whether on the house, say for house martins, or maybe for robins or blue tits in some other favoured place.

Butterflies and queen wasps may overwinter behind curtains and suchlike places, and just occasionally a moth may also fly in, attracted to the lights. There are usually clothes moths about the house anyway.

There was an occasion when, in the early summer, I had noticed swarms of wasps flying around under the eaves of the house. I let them be. Later, in the early autumn, a visitor told me, much to his consternation, that dozens of wasps had been attracted to the lights in the loft where he was working. To his credit he carried on until the job was done, and I was able to make sure the loft hatch was properly closed so the rest of the house was secured from any invasions by these particular guests.

A few days later, in sunshine which had cleared an early frost, I noticed several wasps feeding on variegated ivy growing on the southern aspect of the house. The insects’ general appearance reminded me of the loft ones. I was to learn from Ian Cross, a knowledgeable ecologist, that these were all male German wasps. Identification of this sort of wasp required a more careful examination, including looking at size, shape and habitat rather than just the markings on their body. I kept an eye on them, but as frosts increased and winter set in, the wasps disappeared.

A bigger surprise came when