UK Marsupials

[GNC]

A great band.

Chris Spedding was in one of the wallaby suits, I believe.

 

[escargot]

This is a fine thread to which I thought I'd previously contributed. Seems not.

The handful of times I've mentioned wallabies elsewhere have mainly involved our town's local legendary urban ones that're normally seen late at night by returning revellers and dismissed as drunken yarns.

Anyway...

Last night, out taking his usual cycling exercise, Techy saw a wallaby.
It jumped out of the hedge on one side of the road, hopped along the tarmac on its back legs past him and shot back into the hedge further along. He copped a good look at it.

This was on the ancient lanes of deepest rural Cheshire, where he rides loops round a particularly quiet area.
It's a typical Cheshire landscape; flat with brooks and ponds, and there are fisheries and a bird sanctuary nearby.

The lanes are with twisty with high hedges so there little visibility into the fields. Anything could be living there.

Techy will probably be out again tonight, same route, so will be watching out for his new pal Skippy.
I wonder what they eat? He could leave it a snack.

 

[RaM]

Came across a dead one a few years back here on the Fylde coast, been hit by a car,
think there's been a long established colony round the Stoke area? think they are
grazers eating the same sort of things as rabbits and such,

 

[escargot]

Came across a dead one a few years back here on the Fylde coast, been hit by a car,
think there's been a long established colony round the Stoke area? think they are
grazers eating the same sort of things as rabbits and such

Poor wallaby.

The Staffordshire wallabies are, or were, known to inhabit the hilly Staffordshire Roaches area. Stiff winters are believed to kill them off but they somehow come back.

I'm wondering about the one Techy saw. The area would be ideal for wallabies.
They've allegedly been seen in nearby Crewe too, normally by drunks late at night.

It was right in the middle of this area, on the lanes between Kinderton and Bradwall -

Google map of wild Cheshire

 

[catseye]

Can confirm, they graze. And they do seem pretty immune to weather, so I can see how a population could well survive over here. Not as big as kangaroos, so needing less food and having less bodymass to lose heat over. Not many natural predators as they are big enough to put off even the most determined fox.

 

[escargot]

Can confirm, they graze. And they do seem pretty immune to weather, so I can see how a population could well survive over here. Not as big as kangaroos, so needing less food and having less bodymass to lose heat over. Not many natural predators as they are big enough to put off even the most determined fox.

Yup, we were thinking of leaving it some nice carrots or summat that grazing animals like.

Hold on - kangaroos, carrots, time of year...
I'm getting a song. A song about kangaroos. Six kangaroos. Ones you might leave... carrots out for.
Six kangaroos, accompanied by a bearded man who gains access to homes at night and takes an interest in children...

 

[Xanatic*]

Are we sure it was a wallaby and not a womble?

 

[RaM]

Even if the Wallaby's don't fancy the carrots something will thank you for the treat.

• To supplement the diet, root vegetables such as sweet potato, carrots, and produce like apples can be offered occasionally [6][7] as hard vegetables help clean the gums and teeth of grass pellet remnants and also provide vitamin A [6].