My Robin Is Cuter Than Yours, But Your Badger Is Scarier Than Mine...

Things in America still surprise me on a daily basis.  As a lover of the outdoors, I used to think I was pretty good with my nature recognition - until I moved here.  When I saw my first American Robin, I was surprised.  Yes, it has a reddish breast, but it's kind of scraggly and big.

Now THIS is a proper robin, all cute, plump, and heavily featured on British Christmas cards.

Call me shallow for judging things based on their appearance, but the British robin is very much prettier than its American counterpart :)

Even a simple thing like the oak leaf is completely different over here.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the British oak leaf, all round edges, cute (for a leaf anyway), and instantly recognizable:

The American oak leaf, however, looks like this.

What the heck!  It's all spiky!  I would have no clue what tree this belonged too, were it not for all the acorns on the ground below.

I bang on a lot about all the scary animals over here in America-land, bears, mountain lions, snakes and the like.  But one animal that is supremely more scary over here in comparison to it's British relative, is the badger.  Just look at this beast, it's pretty bloody terrifying if you ask me.

In comparison, here is the bonnie British badger, aw, just look at his cute lil' face...

I did try to get a fierce photo of a British badger, but this is as scary as it gets, which isn't very scary at all really, compared to his American counterpart.

Anyway, I know what badger I'd rather encounter when out hiking in the woods, so yes America, you win the battle of the badgers.  But us Brits definitely win the battle of the birds, the cute ones anyway!