Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Andrew on January 01, 2007, 10:37:48 AM
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Firstly, Happy New Year.
I looked out the window this morning and this was sitting on the lawn.
[attach thumb1]
Picus viridis or Green Woodpecker.
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What a super start to the New Year. Hope it's the start of many more.
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A note for your diary and those with Sky+
Friday January 12th at 7.30pm Channel 5 - in the UK & Ireland
'Flight of the Bat'
Jake Williers visits Bracken Cave, San Antonio, Texas
home to 20 million bats that eat 20 tons of insects every night.
That equals
2857 stones or
40,000 pounds or
18,144KG
I believe it is also the same as us eating a days worth of food in one setting. And to make y'll jealous I've been there. http://www.jacksonresources.com/batcave2005/sunset2.jpg (http://www.jacksonresources.com/batcave2005/sunset2.jpg) There is a short video here http://www.jacksonresources.com/batcave2005/index.htm (http://www.jacksonresources.com/batcave2005/index.htm) including the emergence seen by radar
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Now Mark, go easy with those statistics. Remember Paddy will be lurking out there!
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In despair AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH
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Especially for the metric people.
I would expect a ton to be 1000 kg rather than 2000 pounds. That is how we do it. Maybe You call our ton for metric tone?
If not then it would be 20 000kg and some 44 000 pounds just to make the figures one more time :P
Nice bug eaters if they would eat slugs they would be even more wellcome.
Take care
Joakim
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I think you mean 1 tonne Joakim? 1 (long) ton is 20cwt which is actually 2240lb whereas a tonne is 1000kg or 2204.6lb. A "short ton" is 2000lb, and like all short measures, came from across the pond!
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I don't think the bats can count.
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Thanks for the lesson in the different ton(nes). :) I can only admit we play a bit with the inch aswell. It is suposed to be 2.54cm but there is a 2.5cm inch aswell. :) Funny that after more than 200 yeares we still have to make some confusion with weights and measures.
We will see what measurements exist in the next 200 years.
Kind regards
Joakim
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I Googled the weights
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Bats: So how much crap do these little fellows deposit each night? Now, there's a big weight whether in metric or imperial.
Paddy
(See how good I am being tonight - I didn't even say where I would like them to drop it.)
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I think you mean mass Paddy. I don't think gravity will affect the amount? All I can say is when you are watching bats keep your mouth shut :-X Now where did I put that spirtle?
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Has everyone gone chiroptera....y ;D
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these bats, Mexican Free-tailed aka here European Free-tailed, the same bat, are long distant flyers flying up to 100 miles to meet migrating Corn Ear Worm Moths, Helicoverpa zea, migrating north from Central America http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/agricultural_sciences/report-24774.html (http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/agricultural_sciences/report-24774.html) These moths fly up to 1Km high to hitch a ride noth on the wind.
A large colony of these bats lives under Congress Bridge in Austin using expansion joins to roost in. The council was going to get rid of the bats because they were "a health hazard". People started at arrive to see what the fuss was and now the emerging bats are a tourist attraction with 100s attending every night during the summer
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Jake Williers visits Bracken Cave, San Antonio, Texas
home to 20 million bats that eat 20 tons of insects every night.
They must be light eaters !
Did anyone see 'Expedition Borneo' last night? I seem to remember that the cave they were in, had 3 million bats and they ate 10 tons of insects a night or is my memory going :)
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oops repeated myself
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Big wildlife - caught a mouse in the garage - the dog loved playing with it.
Paddy
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Very big wildlife. :D We met an elk-cow yesterday near our home in Moscow. Here is a park named Elk’s Island. Sorry, image made by mobile.
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Yes, Olga, that is certainly BIG. How fast can you run?
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Maggi that does not matter they are twice as fast and BIG!
Nice shot Olga
Joakim
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Maggi :)
I wonder it did not run. :) So many people walked and welcomed it. I was so happy to see it, wanted to embrace… Husband asked to stop do not know why. ;D
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joakim,
It doesn't matter if you are not as fast as the elk, only that you are faster than the person standing next to you. :D
susan
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Susan, that's the kind of reasoning I like 8)
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That's when you find out who your friends are. ;)
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I like her rather pointed nose, quite like an anteater's. Poor cow!
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Lesley, I bet you wouldn't have said that to her face!
Olga, either your husband loves you very much or else you do not have a large life insurance policy which pays to him if you are trampled by an elk! I think he loves you!
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I was down at my local park again tother day and took a picture of
1 a male Widgeon (some spell with a D and other sources without)
Then I saw a duck that was similar in some respects but I hadn't seen before. I wondered if it was a hybrid because it had some of the features of a Widgeon , bill & feet colour etc but a head reminiscent of a male mallard. After posting it on the Wild Britain Forum I got an ID, telling me that it was a Chiloe Widgeon from S America. I confirmed this by Googling.
I wonder if they have gone wild from private collection or whether it was an escape from the Zoo which is quite close. I will ask them.
2 Chiloe Widgeon
3 Chiloe Widgeon
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I thought our Wig(d)eon was lovely but that Chiloe looks better. I take it they arent free flying?
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Didn't see it flying, just swimming but it must have flown in because I haven't seen it there before.
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Another few snaps from the local park
1 Tufted Duck
2 Great Crested Grebe always seem to keep their distance and away from all the ducks etc
3 Great Spotted Woodpecker. Whilst I was trying to take this picture I felt pins and needles in my leg and when I looked a grey squirrel had run up my leg. I had some peanuts in my pocket which I gave to it. I don't know what kind of nuts it was after. :-[
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Your grebes show one in winter plumage and one almost in the full breeding colours
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The sun brought out a peacock butterfly (Inachis io) in Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire today.
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I went to Pilling the other day to have a look at the birds in that area. It was bright but there was a bitterly cold breeze off the sea. A train of Red Legged Partridge trooped across the road and I couldn't get very close before they disappeared but managed to get a less than perfect picture. A fellow bird watcher told be the rather unpleasant tale that local 'hunters' put down seed for them so that they can get an easy pot shot at them.
There must have been about 100 Bewick's Swans grazing on the sea washed grass but were too far to get a very good picture but they obligingly flew closer but ones on the move are a bit more challenging to photograph.
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Had a trip to Blackpool Zoo the other day, which I have been meaning to do for sevral years and never got round to it. That's the trouble with things on the doorstep, they are usually left because of the 'mañana principle'.
Not sure whether these Barnacle Geese were residents or just taking advantage of the grazing, having come from the nearby nature reserve.
The Peacock was definitely their own and was busy diplaying to a common old pigeon.
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Now this is a big step down from John's photgraphs above, peacocks and barnacle geese but this is what has been my wildlife in the past week. He has now departed (this life) and will not be featuring in any further postings.
The peanuts in the bird feeders are the obvious attraction but, to be perfectly truthful, rats are never far away in the countryside.
Paddy
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You can't help admiring their agility and resourcefulness but not the sort of pet you want to encourage.
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Gone to the great bird feeder in the sky Paddy?
I love the barnacle goose. With shoulders and knees like those he could be useful in a rugby tackle.
I saw some spoonbills yesterday, great white birds who visit from Australia. Roger wouldn't stop the car to let me take pictures.
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Re the rats above, I didn't manage to catch the most interesting action. The rat would climb up the birdtable and then jump out at one of the cylindrical plastic hopper-type feeders. These had a large hole near the base which allow the birds to pick out seed or a peanut. The rat doesn't manage to do this but by simply hitting the feeder and falling to the ground it manages to dislodge several peanuts which it then eats at its leisure.
I feed these gorgeous creatures with a diet of a pelleted poison which sees them off within a few days of putting it out.
We get an occasional invasion of these creatures - when a local field of wheat is harvested, for example.
Paddy
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He was certainly one fat rat, Paddy, any bigger and he'd have been.......a politician.
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My entry in the most obnoxious vermin stakes- the Australian brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula. This one is on the lookout to pillage the cat's food. Everything is grist to the mill for these critters, roses, docks, strawberries, geraniums not to mention birds and nestlings when they get the chance. They have destroyed one of our rugosa roses that has thorns that you would not believe. I trap them when I can and now we are poisoning them.
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All well and good, David, but are YOU saving me the pelts for a rug ::)
Lesley and Roger haven't send any yet! >:(
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Is that what's in Dame Edna's mind when she greets us?
Well, looks like Maggi's luck is in. The the Chinese New Year started yesterday and it is the Golden Year of the Pig. [Click on the cranes to make them fly. Doesn't work for the pig!]
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Don't let Mr Booker know its the GOLDEN year of the pig, there could be an explosion int' camp!!!
Went to a local beauty spot called Brock, which is famous for its spring bluebell wood and took a few bird snaps. They are encouraged to come by the bird feeders left near to the car park.
Just a Chaffinch but they are still cute.
Next 2 shots of a Nuthatch.
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Hello, John, more good bird shots. You haven't been around for a while; ist thee awreet, Lad?
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Anthony,
That Dame is an Aussie not a Kiwi! We are much more forgiving of our own "children" than we are of others'!
There is much controversy here about whether it is the year of the Golden Pig or the Fire Pig! One commentator said that is in fact the Roast Pig!
Here's a pic of our neighbourhood ant-eater, Errol the Echidna (Although this is an arbitrary gender assignment: she could be Edna!) making a mess of the "lawn"!
cheers
fermi
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Yes Fermi, and so is the possum.
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Yes Anthony, that's Dame Edna's little friend. We had an English alpine nurseryman here a while back and every time he saw a road-killed possum, he squawked with laughter and referred to a "posthumous possum." Got less funny after the 10th time.
We're working on it Maggi but it takes a lot of possums to make a decent sized rug.
We (the city of Dunedin) celebrated the Chinese NY a few days ago at the weekend and I assumed it was because we have a Chinese Mayor but it seems such celebrations are universal now. Our last mayor was a Sikh and it may be that the next will be a Frenchman. No one can say we're prejediced!
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I'm just after a little rug to keep the knees warm, Lesley, I don't want one big enough to sin on.......remember old song, "I long to sin with Eleanor Glynn on a tiger skin...." ??
Besides, don't think of it as for me, think of it as a further contribution to the NZ clearance project !
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Thanks for your concern Maggi, just events dear.
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Just pleased to have you here, now, Jof!
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Maggi,
If you had been here last winter you could have had your rug. This was a a week of trapping. I think the final score was about 14 in 10 days on that particular occasion. Its a bit like cricket you know, so many runs per over. They are now all providing nutrients for the trees we planted on top of them.
I hope Lesley does not go out collecting road kill to beat this score.
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I don't think so David, one-up-man-ship doesn't extend that far. Besides the roadkills are not so nice by the time 3 or 4 vehicles have had their way with them.
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Bother! My timing is out again! I could have made a cute hat with the tails, too.Tsk! >:(
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are they all from one species?
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How do you eat them, casserole?
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Yes Mark, all one species. The Australian ring tailed possum is not here I think. It is much cuter and treated as very special in OZ but could get to be a pest here if brought in I imagine. As for eating them...it would take an awful lot of red wine added to the casserole to tempt me.
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For long tailed bush bunny casserole is good. Generally goes down fairly well if you dont cook up a tough old male, dont tell your guests what they are eating or provide them with enough wine that they dont care.
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I thought possum was eaten with grits?
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I thought possum was eaten with grits?
Anthony, I think we need Alan and Sherba Grainger for a recipe from the USA for that delicacy....and we know that Alan is well qualified in this particular field from his Pudsey Pigging, so it should be a gourmet dish! :P
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Do they know the Clampets?
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You are showing your age and television preferences now Anthony! :o
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Do they know the Clampets?
Doesn't everyone?
showing your age and television preferences
Not really, you can catch the Beverley Hillbillies on satellite TV nowadays, and who couldn't love Ellie Mae?
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And what are grits anyway? I should probably be asking this of the GC on Trillium-L! As for Ellie Mae, I couldn't, though I had a sneaking affection for Granny. Closer in personality to my own.
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Several points, here: 1) do other forums enjoy/permit this kind of chitchat?
2)L., you didn't like Ellie Mae because she kept raccoons for pets and you just wanted to shoot them!
3) If that is so, why did I like Ellie Mae, since my attraction to fur is well documented?
4) Are grits, whatever they are, the same grits in possum and grits and something I seem to have heard of, hominy grits ?
5) everybody loves granny, too
6) what does GC mean as in GC of TrilliumL?
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Maggi, I think back when I watched Granny and Ellie Mae I'd never even heard of possums. I'm quite a young thing you know so I must have been infantile then. (No comments about that please.) As for other Forums, I find both Alpine-L and Trillium-L a dead bore nowadays. The moderators of T-L in particular get quite severe if one strays into the "let's have a laugh" arena and I doubt if anyone on A-L had a laugh about anything ever. Not online anyway. The GC on T-L are the "Georgia Contingent" who do have a sort of collective swipe at other, out-of-area growers and quite a lot of private fun among themselves, and are the ones to speak with on all things southern such as local customs, food, culture etc.
I can't imagine why you liked Ellie MAe except, perhaps that she was a dumb and dizzy blonde. No similarities there? And I think grits are probably hominy grits but then, what's hominy? Not a corruption of hogmanay anyway.
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what's hominy?
I think it may be something you do to maize, but then again, it may be boiled raccoon!
I've been thinking about this Ellie Mae fixation, it must be the ditsy blonde with curls thing: then I was a nonditsy redhead with the straightest hair this side of anywhere, so she was a complete opposite, but I did tend to collect animals, too. Live ones in those days! Did I tell you Ian won't let me get a dog? >:(
No offence meant to any other Forum which frowns on off-topic comment, by the way. We just do things a little differently here. The only things we take seriously are our plants.
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Ah thinks grits is sumpt'n' to do with some kind of grain? I don't think it would have been bushy tailed possums though. I wonder if Dame Edna cooked them for her nephew Barry?
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Anything Dame Edna does is OK by me.
That's so unfair Ian. What harm could a little dog (or even a big one) possibly DO in a little suburban garden like yours and Maggi's? It's not as if there are plants to dig up, except that we know you cultivate dandelions. So what's the problem?
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From my little sojourn in Southern USA (1996/97) I learned that "Grits" (also known as Hominy grits) is a mash-sort-of-mess made from maize/corn/hominy which is canned and sold to the socio-economically deprived such as college students who vow never to eat them again once they start earning real money. None of my friends would let me buy them so I never got to try them.
Don't even get me started on squirrels(!) which were apparently also valued as a food source!
cheers
fermi
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Having stayed with the Youngs recently a dog in the Young garden would have to learn ver fast to never set foot off the paths
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Hominy grits is a sort of a porridge made out of maize. It is defined as hulled, dried maize ground up and possibly treated with lime - I tried some once and I have no desire to ever eat it again. So Fermi you did not miss anything.
There is a tradition in the southern part of the USA to eat anything that ran/walked/crawled/ slithered through the yard that morning. It is called Cajun cuisine.
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I can remember having "certain feelings" about Ellie Mae when the programme was first on. These days I might stand more chance with Granny! :o
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There was a time when there were three cocker spaniels running about this place. I admit there was some grass in those days. The dogs kept to that and the outer perimeter of the garden, unless in hot pursuit of a cat. Nowadays we only have visiting dogs, who come to spend their (owners') holidays with us! It's not hard to train 'em to keep off the beds, even if they are not used to such restrictions.
Ian thinks a dog of our own would be too much of a tie now, and with his capacity to beetle off around the countryside, that's fair enough, but I like to stay at home and I like dogs! never mind, Molly, the Westie, is coming for a few days quite soon, so that will be nice... Molly is wonderful and Ian and she are soul mates, so Ian isn't best pleased, since he will be away and so miss her cuddles! Serves him right!
David N : Too much information!
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I agree that dogs can be a burden. I too travel too much and though I miss Fowler the working black Lab and want another it's too much to ask others to walk a big dog 3 times a day
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Threaten him Maggi, no dog, no cake!
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Maggi, et al,
I have tried (via the link in the announcement emails) to unsubscribe from this thread as it has moved even farther than normal from rock gardening. It does not work. What must I do?
Carlo
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David, though i have subjecting Ian to a regular "handbagging" since 1972,he has never yet weakened on any subject I've been harping on about! He was perfectly happy when we had three dogs so I think he is just being obstinate.
As luck would have it, this very day I have heard about a westie bitch in need of a new home... watch this space!
Carlo, I am sorry we are boring you, if the link via each email is not working, then you may unclick the link in your profile preferences. I will do that for you to save you the time.
Cheers,
Maggi
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Why unsubscribe? Just dip in when you feel urge. You soon learn to avoid threads that bore you. I unclicked all the email options, so it works like any other web site. The site is what people make of it. A thread can turn at the click of a mouse (don't talk to me of mice >:(). No need to throw all your toys out of the pram.
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What is off topic for a wildlife thread, anyway? :o :o
Sorry, Carlo, it is not just my plants I speak to. ( not that you will be reading this :'( )
Valid points here, though:
I agree with Anthony ( there's a first, surely!), if you don't care for a particular thread, or if you don't like all the email notifications flooding to you postbox , just click to read "recent posts" or "unread posts since your last visit" and you will see what piques your interest, maybe with photos, or you may pass rapidly over those posts where we are "just chatting".
Actually, "recent posts" or "unread posts since your last visit" are a good bet, anyway, in case there are new threads started that you may well be interested in, but would not have enabled emails from.
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Two days ago I decided enough was enough and for he first time I bought rat/mouse poison. They love it! I suspect I either have a lot of mice or it is slow acting? Anyway, I put a small (16cm2) dish in a hole left by a 'long Tom' in the plunge. I came out with a torch at 9 p.m. to check the greenhouse (what a wild life I lead) and couldn't find the dish. A quick scan with the torch and I realised that an area of flat sand was where the dish should be. Sure enough, it was still in position 10 cm under a covering of sand. I upturned the dish and left the blue poisoned seeds on the sand. An hour later it had been buried again. This morning, the wee sleekit, non-cowrin', non-tim'rous beasty had built a cairn over the spot!!!! The pictures illustrate this morning's work. The stones had been removed from my pots of Ophrys plants. ???
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Anthony
I either havea lot of mice or it is slow acting
I suspect that the answer is Both!
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I spotted this Cricket sps. on a Paulownia tomentosa leaf this afternoon.Although we've had warm generally dry weather conditions for the last month i've only noticed their clicking sound over the recent days.
The last pic has been edited ,(darkened), to gain a clearer shot of its abdomen .
Cheers Dave
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very nice. Not knowing very much about NZ bugs I would say it's a Cicada
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Spot on Mark.
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Anthony, did you catch your mouse or mice????????
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We are lucky enough to have a large Heron colony on an island in the middle of the local park's lake. Not so lucky if you have a Koi Pool nearby. They are just in the process of nest building at the moment and like the tree kangaroo they don't look as though they should be up trees at all. They lean out and tug at small branches to break them off for using as nest material.
Here are a pair having a rest between their efforts.
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lovely photo. They should have eggs by now. Along with Ravens and Crossbills they are our earliest breeders
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Moose activity dying down - hopefully.
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Lots of insect lovers here and maybe one or two will enjoy the pictures at this link.
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MTk3NDImbnI9MQ_3_3,00.html
Not really "wildlife" .....more like road kill insects.
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50+ frogs cavorting in my pond today!
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Out surveying today I came across a 'pond' in large dip in a field. The amount of frog spawn was amazing. The pond was roughly 120m in circumference - 120 very large paces by me. There were 3 lots of spawn that were roughly 7, 9 and 12m along the edge of the pond.
The pond
The largest amount of spawn
The spawn
and my shadow for comparison
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What an amazing sound that will be when the tadpoles are all hatched into frogs! I hope the pond doesn't drain or dry up too soon and kill off most of them.
A colleague in whose nursery my own small version resided at one time, had a large fish tank of tadpoles in his kitchen for a while. One morning he came down to make his breakast and found the house alive with hopping frogs!
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I remember when as a young lad collecting about 100 snails in a bucket and hid them in the house . You can imagine the scene the next morning. After that I was encouraged to collect sticklebacks and other pond dwellers.
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I'm surprised you weren't confined to postage stamps John!
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I thought that I would add to the wildlife forum with a few local observations. Spring has not yet arrived in the west of Scotland but things are starting to move. The Birds are starting to display and sing and their plumage is coming into full colour as the Blue Tit shows. We have flocks of about 1,000 greylags and a few Pink Feet Geese locally, feeding up before they head off for Iceland. Our resident Whooper Swan herd are busy hoovering up grass as fuel before they leave us at the end of the month.
On a visit to Dawyck Garden today - Snowdrops again, I saw a Stoat in its white winter coat, and a male Hen Harrier whilst en route. At Dawyck there was a Red Squirrel with Common Buzzards overhead and on the way home, in the middle of nowhere we stopped to look at the view and a Red Grouse popped up to see what we were doing. One unwelcome visitor in the garden was a N.Z.flatworm which must have come in a plant pot as I certainly did not bring it back with me when I was there two years ago.
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delightful, Tom. Hope you had a good birthday?
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Thank you Maggi. At 65 any birthday is a good one!!
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We've just been out for a little evening stroll with Lily the westie and we heard tawny owls calling. We used to hear them all the time but since the council chopped down all the big trees across the road we haven't heard them for ages. Nice to know they have found another home in the area, not too far away.
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Nice to hear about your wildlife ( wel not your actual wildlife if you get my drift) It must have been a cold day for the blue tit all fluffed up like that.
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good news is the first Swallows and Sand Martins are back in the UK. They were seen in South Wales but one swallow doesnt make a summer
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Doesn't quench a thirst either.
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very good
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Hi All
spent a wonderful day in the garden yesterday. Below are a few pictures taken (on the second new camera in two weeks - had problems with the first, £80, one - but actually much happier with this £125 one).
Blackbird singing its little heart out
[attachthumb = 1]
Narcissus Surpirse!
[attachthumb = 2]
As a child, I never used to see these spiders - but have been noticing them for about the last 5 years. Does anyone know what type they are?
[attachthumb = 3]
Another of the spider
[attachthumb = 4]
Fred!
[attachthumb = 5]
regards
John
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Your spider is a crab spider (Thomisidae) and could be a female Misumena vatia, John? It is found "mainly [in] southern England and southern Ireland. Usually well concealed on flowers and shrubs where it ambushes visiting insects." It is quite common in Europe.
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[attachthumb=1]
Good or Bad ?
[attachthumb=2]
It also plays dead!
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to me it looks sick
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Can't really see the upper side clearly, but the jaws would indicate carnivore. Carnivore's good.
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This video clip is just the cutest thing I have seen in ages and it is really funny, too. It is just a 13 second clip from the life of a baby panda and his mum, pay attention,listen carefully, you won't want to miss anything!
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=665245378996958000
Hope you like it as much as we do!
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Ah, bless it :D
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Andrew, using the medicine philosophy, if it tastes (looks) bad it is probably good (for you)!
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David, show Carol the panda video, she'll love it!
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stiffled laughter here someones asleep next door.
Doesnt ma panda know what sounds a baby makes
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Doesnt ma panda know what sounds a baby makes
Seems not, Mark, but to be fair , who KNEW that a baby panda could make such a big noise?
Speaking as one who scares easily with sudden noises and such ( I know, how can anyone who makes so much noise herself scare easily?) I sympathise with Ma Panda. The first thing Ian asked when he saw the clip was, had I any panda blood?
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Maggi
thank you so much for the baby panda - I think I have just woken up the whole household!
I had to watch it three times to get the full impact of ma's incredulity - and I laughed more with each viewing.
cheers
John
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I liked the one with the eejit having has jacket ripped off too ;D Reminds me of a darker episode in Dundee involving Jeremy the Sugar Puffs bear, and this could so easily have gone the same way. ???
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I hope everyone had a great day today. Chilly according to the thermometer 10C but so warm out in the sun. Lots of bees in the garden today - Red bum, white bum in various sizes and honey. Tortoiseshell too.
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Today it was getting warmer (+15°C) with lots of sunshine. Pyrrhocoris apterus (german: "Gemeine Feuerwanze") left in masses their winter accommodations and start mating... ::)
I'm not sure this is a good sign for this years gardening season... :-\
Btw: What is the English name for this insect?
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We call them "FireBugs" in English, Armin.
I don't think they have spread much beyond the very south of England, so our seeds are probably safe from them up here in Scotland! I believe they sometimes eat other insects, too.... they must enjoy a change of diet! I have read that research is being undertaken to see if a peptide extracted from these FireBugs may be useful in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria. That would be extraordinarlily useful, of course, so we may prove happy to tolerate these beasts with their markings that look like tribal face masks!
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Maggi thanks for the translation ;) and interesting comment - I thought they suck only plant sap? Hmm.
Every day is a school day...
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These are really cute bugs. I don't think we have anything like them here or not that I've come across anyway. After enlarging the pic I was about to ask whether they're good or bad, but it seems could be both.
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Lesley, usually the Firebugs suck on trees. There is a bigger Acer campestre tree (german: Feldahorn) near my garden. But I saw them occasionally in my rose bed.
The high number (thousands! :o) of insects appeared today is unusual.
I'll simply keep an eye on it...
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They are sometimes "accused" of being sap-sucking bugs, but in fact they mostly eat seed material, their favoutrite types being Malva and lime tree seeds, and they can be found eating the seeds on weeds like ragwort ,Senecio jacobaea. They do, it seems suck the goodness from the seeds, as opposed to crunching them up,but a bug that has a fairly restricted diet and which has potential for medical uses is a good bug in my book!
They do look alarming with that colouration, and can, I am told, be mistaken for quite a few other bugs, some of which will be less welcome in the garden.
We like the look of them because of their markings so resembling an Arfican dance mask.... the BD has these items as another of his enthusiasms!
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The firebugs are known to emerge in great numbers at this time of year.... it is just that they are so visible, if it happens in your garden you will surely notice!
Pyrrhocoris apterus Fire Bug
Readily identifiable by its bright red coloring and its characteristic markings, this beautiful insect can be found on many kinds of vegetation. It often swarms on the ground, feeding on fallen seeds, especially in early spring, after hibernation. It has also been known to attack other insects.
Most individual adults are short-winged, though a few long-winged individuals may occur in any population. They occur in woodland margins and clearings, and grassy scrubby places, with bare ground and suitable hibernation sites.
They are widespread in southern and central Europe, but very rare and wholly southern in Britain.
from a bug-site !
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Maggi, you are right. But I believe the extraordinary high bug count I saw today compared to years before is due to the mild winter w/o strong frost - simply too many survived. I only hope natural enemies will make the balance again later the year and it will be not necessary mankind to interfer... :-\
I believe in nature...
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Well, if they eat/suck the seeds of the ragwort, I'd just about welcome them. The farmer next to us has whole fields of the damn stuff and does nothing about it with the result that we have hundreds appear every year in the garden. Weeding out is a full time job and we still miss many which have to be spot sprayed as they get bigger.
I believe some kind of a biological control is being trialled here but it will probably take generations before there's any noticeable effect.
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What fantastic looking bugs. They look just like African tribal shields. I wouldn't mind a few in my garden if they are just seed suckers.
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Lesley, the named ragwort is it Senecio jacobaea(german: Jakobskraut)?
This is a typical short lived pioneer plant and toxic for the cattle.
As much you dig the ground as more new seedlings germ the next year!
50000 seeds per plant, can still germ after 20years I read...
Maybe that's why the farme became so lazy...just gave up ;D
It is interesting how this species wanders nearby highways. The seed glues on the rubber of the wheels and is distributed.
Interesting spreading tactics -isnt it?
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Very toxic for most animals, Armin. When we kept horses we were always careful to remove any ragwort from the fields or field margins, it astonishes me nowadays to see the weed so widespread and being left to run riot. A situation not helped by the number of "hobby farmers" and relocated whizz kids around whose country knowledge wouldn't cover the head of a pin.
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What fantastic looking bugs. They look just like African tribal shields. I wouldn't mind a few in my garden if they are just seed suckers.
John, as long as global warming continues this species wanders norths...
Another example is Xylocopa violacea (german: Blaue Holzbiene).This bee (wood bee?)is largest domestic kind of bee. In Germany it is to be found rarely and only in heat islands. Their actual circulation area lies in south Europe. Due to its special requirements the wood bee in Germany applies as endangered. However it could spread after the summer 2003 again further in Germany. A large problem of the wood bee is the omission of suitable habitats, since ever more frequently dead trees the sense of order of humans fall to the victim.
I'm pleased to present a lucky shot from bof feb2005 on an Crocus ancryencies
Keep your eyes open! ;D
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Yes, that's the ragwort species we have here Armin. I know you're right about toxic to animals, but the sheep and cattle simply ignore it and I assume horses do too as it flourishes nearby in a small paddock where a horse and a pony live. Another farmer nearby also has a lovely small herd of fallow deer and a ragwort problem as well. But he squirts the plants with a spray called "Hitman" which kills them quite literally within 3 or 4 hours. They're all dried up and brown.
I'm not at all surprised that the seeds are viable for 20 years at least.
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The bee is a beauty with that blue colour. Makes a difference from yellow bees on blue crocuses :D
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Very toxic for most animals, Armin. When we kept horses we were always careful to remove any ragwort from the fields or field margins, it astonishes me nowadays to see the weed so widespread and being left to run riot. A situation not helped by the number of "hobby farmers" and relocated whizz kids around whose country knowledge wouldn't cover the head of a pin.
Maggi, it's all of us human beings - intensionally or unintensionally - who influence our environment. Globalisation contributes to that fact exotic species spread rapidly. Sometimes these invasive species become a pest and problem(for us).
But I have a bit different view - nature always finds a new way to survive and change. I think we can learn from it.
Finally, I admit that it is quite shocking for me which low level of knowledge about plants and animals is available to our kids once they get interviewed.
Maybe teaching plans/school lessons should be revised...
brgds
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Yes, that's the ragwort species we have here Armin. I know you're right about toxic to animals, but the sheep and cattle simply ignore it and I assume horses do too as it flourishes nearby in a small paddock where a horse and a pony live. Another farmer nearby also has a lovely small herd of fallow deer and a ragwort problem as well. But he squirts the plants with a spray called "Hitman" which kills them quite literally within 3 or 4 hours. They're all dried up and brown.
I'm not at all surprised that the seeds are viable for 20 years at least.
Lesley, my opinion I expressed already. The only "hitman" I know is Bred "The Hitman" Hart - a wrestler but that's a totaly different subject ;D
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The big blue bee is called a 'Carpenter Bee' in English, but, to my knowledge, has not reached the UK.
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Anthony, thank you for the translation. You are right, it's a Carpenter Bee.
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Ragwort gives rise to chronic hepatotoxic poisoning due to the alkaloids present in the plant. All livestock are affected ie cattle, horses, sheep though sheep tend to more resistant to poisoning. In practice cattle do not generally graze the plant and paddocks become heavily infested. Sheep do graze it, especially while the plant is still young, and pastures grazed by sheep are almost always free of the weed. Most horses are too stupid to be trusted not to eat ragwort hence the absolute paranoia on the part of horse owners in controlling the plant.
Sheep seem to have a high tolerance to many toxic plants and can tolerate hemlock, ngaio (Myoporum laetum) and Solanum laciniatum. I have seen a horse poisoned by Solanum laciniatum ( it recovered) and a lamb poisoned by Rhododendron by chewing on dried twigs (very unhappy for a couple of day but also recovered). Plant poisonings of livestock are very unpredictable - somtimes animal can ingest huge amounts of a particular plant while on other occasions small amounts can be fatal,
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Hi Armin ,
I live here in the river Rhein Valley ( near Kaiserstuhl) we have this Wood Bees since more then 10 years -but we are also in the warmest part of Germany - since some years we have also "Taubenschwänzchen" = Macroglossum stellatarum + auch "Gottesanbeterin" = Mantis religiosa has visit our garden .
Friends told me that this bees are the natural pollinators of bearded Iris -I dont know if this is correct .
Many greetings
Hans
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During an excursion by car along the Mondego river in central Portugal we saw this bird of pray.
I did not get a feeling of how big it was and first thought it was of eagle size and later more of kite size.
Any possible sugestions are wellcome.
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Ragwort gives rise to chronic hepatotoxic poisoning due to the alkaloids present in the plant. All livestock are affected ie cattle, horses, sheep though sheep tend to more resistant to poisoning. In practice cattle do not generally graze the plant and paddocks become heavily infested. Sheep do graze it, especially while the plant is still young, and pastures grazed by sheep are almost always free of the weed. Most horses are too stupid to be trusted not to eat ragwort hence the absolute paranoia on the part of horse owners in controlling the plant.
Sheep seem to have a high tolerance to many toxic plants and can tolerate hemlock, ngaio (Myoporum laetum) and Solanum laciniatum. I have seen a horse poisoned by Solanum laciniatum ( it recovered) and a lamb poisoned by Rhododendron by chewing on dried twigs (very unhappy for a couple of day but also recovered). Plant poisonings of livestock are very unpredictable - somtimes animal can ingest huge amounts of a particular plant while on other occasions small amounts can be fatal,
David, thank you for the detailed explanation. I learned a lot!
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The thin tail is confusing. Kites have a long wedged tail and Buzzards have a quarter circle shaped tail. Maybe it's missing some tail feathers
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Hi Armin ,
I live here in the river Rhein Valley ( near Kaiserstuhl) we have this Wood Bees since more then 10 years -but we are also in the warmest part of Germany - since some years we have also "Taubenschwänzchen" = Macroglossum stellatarum + auch "Gottesanbeterin" = Mantis religiosa has visit our garden .
Friends told me that this bees are the natural pollinators of bearded Iris -I dont know if this is correct .
Many greetings
Hans
Hans,
just by chance I saw a Carpenter Bee (Blaue Holzbiene) today in my garden. But it was to fast to take a picture. I can imagine this 30mm lenght bee suits perfectly to the large flowers of a bearded iris. Why not?
One single Hummingbird Hawk-moth (Taubenschwänzchen) appeared this year already ~3wks ago sucking nectar on my snow drops. Very early and unusual - never saw before. Normally it is resident only in warmer climates of the mediterean area and the 1st gen. population crosses the Alps in April/May on its way to central Europe. However it rarely survives the winter in northern latitudes. But this mild winter...
Praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) is not available here. But I know of a small population of European green lizard (Lacerta viridis; Östliche Smaragdeidechse) in a sunny exposed vineyard. Very rare too and worth to be protected.
Kaiserstuhl vineyards are famous of Muscari neglectum ssp. Racemosum .Do you know and can post a picture from the wild? They should be in blossom now.
brgds
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Armin ,
Sorry but I dont know locations for this Muscari - I know only locations for Pulsatilla vulgaris and Anemone sylvestris
European green lizard are also on Kaiserstuhl - also I have hear that there breed "Bienenfresser" ( Merops apiaster).
On Kaiserstuhl grows 8-10 different orchids - it is fantasitc !
Greetings
Hans
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During an excursion by car along the Mondego river in central Portugal we saw this bird of pray.
I did not get a feeling of how big it was and first thought it was of eagle size and later more of kite size.
Any possible sugestions are wellcome.
Could be a kite with its tail closed?
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The thin tail is confusing. Kites have a long wedged tail and Buzzards have a quarter circle shaped tail. Maybe it's missing some tail feathers
Mark, Joakim, for me the picture looks on the fist view more like a black Kite (Milvus migrans migrans) because of the narrower wedged tail. Wing diameter up to 150cm. It regularly appears in Portugal. But for a precise analysis better picture is required.
brgds
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Armin ,
Sorry but I dont know locations for this Muscari - I know only locations for Pulsatilla vulgaris and Anemone sylvestris
European green lizard are also on Kaiserstuhl - also I have hear that there breed "Bienenfresser" ( Merops apiaster).
On Kaiserstuhl grows 8-10 different orchids - it is fantasitc !
Greetings
Hans
Hans, wunderful having this species. Nature observing is exiting.
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Armin ,
In earlier time we had here also "Weinbergtulpen" = Tulipa sylvestris -but today they exist only in "Alsace" ( France ).
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Hans, Tulipa sylvestries is very rare here and limited to some places over limestone in sunny vineyards.
I keep a few in my garden - still buds.
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Armin , I grow too T. sylvestris in my garden ( received from a friend ).
In the south of France I have found by my trips sometimes T. sylvestris v. australis -a really nice plant .
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Hans, I'll be pleased to see your sylvestris when open.
Just another lovely impression from today: European Peacock warming up in sunshine.
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I think the bird is as Armin suggested the Black kite.
I should have recognised it from Sweden but I am not used to spot birds on positions higher than them as I first did in Portugal. It was over the river and not much higher up than what I were. When it came above me it stared to go higher and higher up.
They have even reported sucessfull breeding of the hybrid of kite and black kite. The kite is easier to recognise with the forked tail.
Thanks for the help. I brought me camera fror taking pics of flowers and not birds so there where not the best optics on the camera. But that was the only one I had with me and the only digital I have.
Kind regards
Joakim
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One of the problems of ragwort is that it is a cumulative poison. Another factor is that animals often do not recognise it in hay. While horses avoid the green plant they soon suffer if the hay contains dry ragwort
Brian Wilson Aberdeen
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Brian,
thank you for your comment. The topic made me investigative - I found in a swiss nature magazine an article saying the same. The authors recommendation was to weed out ragwort where seen in meadows.
It seems whereever ragwort and farmers interest meet - they are incompatible!
But it seem to be a pest worldwide.
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We have red kites breeding less than five of miles from my house. Alas the buzzards prevent them from spreading too far.
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Anthony, lucky you! Red Kites are elegant like gliders in the wind...
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Armin, have you seen Rafa's photos of birds of prey, including Red Kites, in the old Forum Wildlife pages? They are wonderful; Wonderful birds and wonderful photos!!
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Maggi, no I haven't yet. Will do.
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This is a good page: http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/1078/23345.html
searching with the latin names is better because Rafa uses those.
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Calling all experts. ;D
I'd like some help in identifying some of these critters taken in Tenerife recently
1 I know the first, which is a Spanish Sparrow and has differences from our local one
2 Here's a local one caught having a doze by the pond at home
3 A 'Darter' sunning itself next to the swimming pool
4 A lizard treading carefully.
5 Bird 1 may be the same as the following but lit differently
6 I thought possibly a Chiff Chaff, which is shown to be in Africa at the same area but I'm hopeless at ID ing fluttery things even though I spend quite a time looking (You can't get them to sit next to the book like you can with flowers and the books don't have keys)
7 May be the same and probably is
8 Was up in the hills but near to some cultivated land.
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I think the last one is a Canary - serinus canaria.
Warblers are so difficult. I dont think it is green enough to be Chiffchaff or Willow warbler
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Thanks for that Mark. I think you are correct because I just Googled it and found a site showing the wild Canary in the Teide National Park, which is just a spit away.
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Just found the Lizard on the same site. It is Gallotia galloti galloti, the Canary Island Lizard.
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Here is a picture of some 2 day old Robins whose parents decided to nest in the greenhouse rubbish bin. They are great company, the adults that is, they don't mind me at all, nicking into the nest when they think I am not looking. They are both pictured bringing in supper to the little ones.
The Oyster Catchers are back checking out the field. There have been a few trial scrappings but no eggs yet, no doubt they will end up within a yard of where they always nest. They keep me amused all summer with their antics, totally confusing little dog. Last year they layed 4 eggs and 2 chicks made it to full size.
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Those baby robins really do mean Spring, don't they? Lovely shot, Susan.
I saw today where oyster catchers were making two or three trial nest scrapes in a raised bed, but no eggs yet. They're still talking about it... or shouting about it, they do nothing quietly, do they?
Five birds swept high over a small group of us, and the noise was deafening! Ian and I call them "black and white owls" because they fly around so much in the dark, calling! Very few real owls round here these days, since so many of the biggest and best trees were taken down, though since Lily arrived, we have been further afield on evening walks and have found one or two not so very far away.
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Susan, your baby robins are very cute. I have had the local Heron hit squad attacking my fish in the early morning before I get up. The surface of the pond has a white scum of dust/oil from their festhers.
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yes very nice. Their nests are great too. What starts as pile of old damp leaves soon become a mossy cup lined with fine grass and hairs
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took this photo today before spraying the nest
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Which nest is this?
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it's the entrance of a Schwegler tit nest box showing the fleas waiting to jump on to anything warm that comes near. They rest over the winter as pupa and emerge in early April to wait for birds looking for a nest site
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Mark, one lovely spring day mum was entertaining some posh friends with tea and cakes on the terrace.
After they had gone she noticed something landing on the ground beside her. When she looked up she saw the fleas launching themselves from the nest box above her. Strange the folk never came back.
By the way, how do you train fleas for a flea circus? not a joke just a curiosity from a young age.
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Would a very small whip and small cane chair be of any use? Perhaps Ronnie Corbett would act as trainer ;D Sorry couldn't resist it!
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Who remembers Michael Bentine's hilarious skits on TV with re-enactments of various battles etc. by "fleas"... involved little puffs of sand etc as they moved about , then larger ones as there was cannon fire etc.....? His commentary was great, a man of wonderful voices.
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Don't worry I have just found a site that sells fully trained fleas ;D
You won't believe haw many circuses are on the go
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Who remembers Michael Bentine's hilarious skits on TV with re-enactments of various battles etc. by "fleas"... involved little puffs of sand etc as they moved about , then larger ones as there was cannon fire etc.....? His commentary was great, a man of wonderful voices.
Before my time?
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Potty Time!
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I saw House Martins today
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I saw swallows yesterday.
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All I need now are Swifts and I've seen all the "swallows"
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What huge eyes the Swift has... I suppose if you fly about at high speed eating tiny insects you need good eyesight !
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You seen sand martins too Mark? [N.B. swifts are not related to swallows and martins, being closer to humming birds.]
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that I know and why I called the "swallows"
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All I need now are Swifts and I've seen all the "swallows"
Mark, why are you keeping the swift in your hands?
Was it hurt and recovered now?
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Armin the white edges to the feathers show it is a current year ready to emerge chick. It was removed from the nest to have a ring put on it's leg - what you can call a leg - than is only a couple of cms.
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Mark, o.k. I see.
I asked this because I found already several times weak swifts on the ground.
Mostly, just after having arrived in spring. They were full of blood sauging parasites sitting between and under the feathers. In spite of careful spraying insecticides and suppling a few drops of water (they refused to take offered insects) I wasn't able to rescue their lives and they died overnight, obviously of being already too weak. :'(
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The 'N.B.' wasn't for your benefit Mark. You know far more than I will ever know about two legged flying things.
Last week I did learn that you don't click your mouth at a free-flying kookaburra during a bird display (at Marineland, Lloret de Mar). It was sitting on a fence halfway between me and its keeper. Instead of flying to the keeper to collect a treat, it flew straight at me. Drew blood, so I looked as if I'd been bitten by a long-sighted vampire (two puncture marks on my forehead). All the way to sunny Spain tae get a Glesga kiss fae a kookaburra! ::) [After heid butting me it latched onto the hand of a poor bloke sitting behind me, before being removed and bundled away by its keeper.]
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If I were a captive Kookaburra, expected to perform for assorted holidaymakers in a far land, I'd probably get pretty ratty, too! He was likely bored stiff and thinking of good looking lady kookaburras in gum trees!
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It had been bred in the park and the keeper even got it to laugh. Could have been serious as that beak would take your eye out! ;)
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good news from the bumble bees. Also resorted to sprinkler on the garden. Set up the sprinkler and watching to see where the water reached caught sight of a queen going in to my half buried clay pot. So much for the bee box that cost £19
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here is a swift apartment block as used by some people in Holland and Germany. The holes are slightly too big. The best is 30mm high and 76 mm wide
http://www.londons-swifts.org.uk/Nestboxes%26Attraction.htm (http://www.londons-swifts.org.uk/Nestboxes%26Attraction.htm)
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I had several spp. of bum bees in the garden over the weekend, including the big red-tailed jobs. I put my three Barlia robertiana out to see if any would bee attracted. One bug queen did visit them. She looked pretty jolly odd with six antennae. I just hope she hung around long enough for the pollinea to adopt the "pollinating" mode (if only I could go to the discussion weekend - Roy Sexton and I set up a moth trap in a butterfly orchid field a couple of years ago and trapped a moth with three pollinea stuck to its eyes).
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This is a male Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia). Like all members of the silkmoth (not to be confused with the similarly endowed silkworm moth Bombyx mori) family Saturniidae, it has no mouthparts so cannot feed. It is Britain's only silkmoth. The female is larger with grey replacing the orange colour.
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it has no mouthparts so cannot feed.
good grief, poor thing! mind you, better not let this info out to the world of super models, or guess what their next craze will be?
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One for you, Anthony, to take you mind of the attack of the vampire.
Taken in the garden yesterday.
Paddy
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Fantastic. I just love crab spiders. 8)
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Hi all ,
Today we made a nice trip to buy some pumice for my potting mixes -the only possibility is a harbour on the river Rhein -they sell it ( 45 km away ) .
On this way we must drive in a really nice area with some lower mountains ( Kaiserstuhl) - there are beautyful little villages and on this time are to see there sometimes on the roofs couple of storks in her nests ....after a long time of absence are now this birds back in our area .
best wishes
Hans
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That's a great spider shot Paddy
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Just found the Lizard on the same site. It is Gallotia galloti galloti, the Canary Island Lizard.
Sounds like a galoot to me ;D
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I'm looking forward to see storks during the Czech trip
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Mark if You want to see a lot of storks Portugal is the place to go.
Around Lisbon and Coimbra there are a lot of rice fields and hence ideal place for storks. They are often 5-10 in the fields and that i nice to see. The wetland also gives room for some nice birds of pray. 8) (They always fly to high for my camera) :'(
I can report that in Hungary they have stork nest in most vilages not all occupied but some so there they are more close to people wile I have not seen stork nests in Portugal in vilages. (Maybe due to me not being in the right places.)
Hope You see the storks in the Chech republic.
Joakim
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I seem to remember a stork on a nest on a church in the centre of Vilamoura in the Algarve one October holiday. It left for places south during our stay.
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Similar in appearance to the stork is the Little Egret which is becoming more and more common around here. There were indications of one nesting quite close to me last season but I haven't seen it this year.
Paddy
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Paddy
I have the sensation with the popularity of garden ponds (with fish) that is on the rise in Sweden, the egrets are thriving too.
They are often seen feeding on the fish, regardless of if it is bass or koi. ::)
The storks are also on the rise since there is a breeding program for them in southern Sweden.
Kind regards
Joakim
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dont tell my mother! I have two Bumble bee nests in the garden. The second one is in down the gap where the soil has shrunk away from the edge of the raised bed
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Mothers have wonderful, and mysterious, ways of finding out all things for themselves!!
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you dont know what she is like. She, Verna, has learnt now not to pull "weeds" but I still have to check the bin for pots of "nothing there" = dormant bulbs.
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Hi All
I took these shots of baby bluetits last summer, but have only just joined so thought I’d post them now.
Looking at the red hot poker it’s got loads of fat buds, so hopefully I’ll only have to wait a few weeks to see this years youngsters.
Rob
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We're looking forward to the new season's blue tits, too, Rob, they are such friendly chirpy little birds, such good company in the garden. With all the warm weather then cold spells, though not for Luc, it seems, by his comments in the Weather page, I worry that there will be a really nasty return to bad weather when there are nestlings to be fed or fledgings about.... I worry about these things a lot!
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Rob,
Great photographs and the Blue Tit fledglings should be with us again soon, so more photographs for you.
A robin has nested in ivy growing on my garage wall and presents a danger to those who pass by too noisily as she can fly out suddenly passing very close to one's face. Four eggs await her return. We try to avoid passing the nest but sometimes forget and our dog stands below the nest site waiting in hope for the robin to fly and then makes a snap at her. He likewise spends much time snapping at bees.
Paddy
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Recent new Blue Tit behaviour Rob - if I remember correctly. They also go to flowering currant Ribes sanguineum for nectar
Paddy yes Little Egrets are now nesting in Ireland. Nesting sites are a closely guarded secret. The birds travel the length of Ireland every winter. It is hoped that young ones in the right place at the right time may stay and breed. I was told it's important to have a Heronry close by
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a while back I showed a nest box made from a birch trunk. It finally went up last Friday beside the living room window where I could watch the future coming and going of adults. I had to take it down because "they will make a mess of the window. Will you clean it every day?" The box was taken down and reposition on my Betula 'Jacquemontii' on Tuesday. It looks out of place but the leaves are out hiding it slightly. This evening when I got home from work I spotted a Blue Tit Parus caerulea poking about on my rockery. It was collecting moss for a nest in my nest box. If the box was big enough maybe I would have the solution to my moss problem. This use of a new box makes me wonder how many pairs of hole nesting birds fail to breed each year becaus ethey cant find a suitable nest site
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who lives in a house like this?
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Could be a wren or perhaps a robin?
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It is a Wren Troglodytes troglodytes but they, actually he, usually builds a nest of moss. This guy build most of it using Acer disectum leaves from last year and then using moss on the inside. It's position is between two big Wisteria stems. He builds lots of nests and brings her round them all and she decides which one to use. This one has eggs inside
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A large red damselfly - male.
Also a pic of the book I used to look up what type of damselfly it was.
I know nothing about bugs, can anyone recommend any modern books with good photographs to identify hoverflys, bumblebees etc?
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One more photo to show the pair of damselflies laying their eggs in duckweed floating on the pond.
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great shots
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I agree!, great shots, Rob. Bit of luck to get the hoverfly in the picture to compare scale of the two.
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I found this snuffling around my back garden at lunch time today. If it stays around then maybe I can stop my midnight snail and slug hunt.
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Don't count on it!
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May the Fourth be with you Tom. Here's this morning's Mallards :)
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Talking of birds, I was round at my parents' house in Doune one night last week. When I was leaving we heard a bird. My Dad enquired: "what was that?". "An owl" I said. My Dad then said, impatiently "I know it's an 'owl, but what's 'owlin'?" ::)
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Yesterday by a trip in the woods near river Rhein we saw two cockchafer (Melolontha ) - but I dont know which species , they are for me the first since a long time .
In the last years we saw still Phyllopertha horticola .
greetings
Hans
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I remember seeing these at dusk during a holiday cricket match one July in Christchurch, near Bournemouth (then in Hampshire - can't get my head round how they moved a whole town into Dorset ???). Scary! :o
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Local residents enjoying the good weather
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Great pix again, Tom.... are you sure you're not moonlighting for the tourist board ?
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Nice pics every one
Here is a mother of nine and is the ninth not the uggly duckling? 8 black and 1 white 8)
Maybe a mallard chick but I am not sure. I do not remember them as white/yellow but my memory is not so good.
Kind regards
Joakim
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she doesnt look right and may be a hybrid hence the yellow duckling that will have white feathers
lots of drakes here on the river with bare breasts from fighting. one pair were right out side the hotel door lazing and a new drake flew in grabbed the duck, tried his luck in front of her mate and then flew off. Later on I saw eight drakes on one duck almost drowning her before she flew off
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May the Fourth be with you Tom.
I'm probably missing something here, but it reminds me of a silly rhyme -
The thunder god rode out one day, upon his favourite filly.
'I'm Thor' he cried, the horse replied
'You forgot your thaddle, thilly.'
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in Christchurch, near Bournemouth (then in Hampshire - can't get my head round how they moved a whole town into Dorset ???). Scary! :o
What? I thought it was moved to Canterbury, New Zealand! ;)
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Now, we know my geography isn't all it could be, but I thought Canterbury was in Kent ?
Ruddy elections, they'll change the boundaries once too often, you mark my words!
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Mark the mother was not a mallard! She was pure black with some with feathers and more of a "diving duck" with male and female looking almost the same. The white one might be an adopted mallard and the rest her own. (That was my thought atleast.)
Kind regards
Joakim
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black and white would indicate a Tufted duck but while the male is black and white she is brown and white
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Now for something terminally cute. As a Glasgow matron would say ' Aw the nice '
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Five and ten chicks, eh? And they say the trend is for smaller families! This must be why there is such a fashion for the builders to flog "executive five bedroomed homes" ???
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TC,
What duck that? Eider?
Great photographs. Paddy
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Paddy
Yes it is a female Eider. It is hard to say whether all the ducklings belong to this female as they operate a creche system. You often see a large group of ducklings with three or four females guarding them so that they can take turns in feeding as they have to dive to some depth for crabs or shellfish.
Once the males have mated, they "swan off " and spend the Summer in all boy groups.
Maggi
The Pen swan actually has 7 cygnets and is living happily in a large detached pond at Ardrossan. Food is supplied in abundance by the local housewives who guard them jealously. Also, the male Swan is a force to be reckoned with as some inquisitive dogs have found out to their cost !
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Eiders are well known utilisers of the crèche system. Having seen their waste products I have come to the coclusion they must have cast iron backsides! :-X
A note about feeding wild fowl: the ducks on Linlithgow Loch are suffering malnutrion because of the amount of white bread they are eating. White bread (and for that matter, lettuce and tomato cucumber [oops - tomato shouldn't be fed to tortoises, but I use cucumber skin dosed with vitamin/mineral supplement as a treat] in connection with tortoises) is designed for human consumption and is therefore devoid of any useful nutritional content.
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If anyone would like to feed "their" water birds with a more sensible diet, try this link:
http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_details.php?area_id=2&group_id=12&nav_id=25&prd_id=314
Duck and Swan food, the blurb says: Developed in association with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), this balanced food contains a the vitamins, minerals and trace elements needed by ducks, swans and geese to keep them healthy. The specially developed food is far more beneficial to wildfowl than bread and should be sprinkled on the bank or shallows for ducks, and in deeper water for swans."
This from CJ wild bird foods, a company we use for our bird food supplies.Delivery is very quick and prices reasonable.
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Not got a pix. yet but a slow worm has taken up residence in our garden! We found it out sunning itself early yesterday evening. Hopefully there is more than one of them and it wil eat some of the bugs and beasties.
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That's great, Carol! I don't think there are very many Slow Worms about nowadays, so I'm glad to hear you have them in the area. I haven't seen one for years.
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Slowworms (Anguis fragilis) are specialist slug eaters. Like all native Scottish reptiles (we have three), they retain their eggs and produce them with fully formed young which hatch almost immediately (ovoviviparous).
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I could have sworn all worms were pretty slow.
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We have lived in this garden since 1990 and never seen a slow worm in the village although they are resident just a few miles away in Culbin and near the River Findhorn.
How come one has suddenly appeared? If there is this ne do we assume a Mummy and Daddy and assorted siblings are also hanging out in the garden?
Considering the number of slugs in the garden this year, how do I go about teaching the slow worms to recognise how tasty they are? We should have the fattest slow worms in the Scotland!
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Lesley, the 'slowworm' is neither a worm nor slow. (http://www.mickcoplen.com/slowworms/Slowworms.htm)
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Nice pic of the swan & brood Tom
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A few more bird shots for all you nature lovers....all captured on Fuertaventura and Lobos in the spring...
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...Oops sorry..missed one....
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Came across a group of House Martins collecting mud for their nests as I was photographing plants at Dunure
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great bird photos. Arent House Martins cute?! Most people dont realise how blue they are and have hairy toes. Way too many people knock their nests down
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This evening I was painting (with Cuprinol) the garden fence when a pair of Roe deer trotted past the house. One (the buck) decided to retrace his steps and head back into the woods. The doe headed off down the path towards my children's primary school! Photos taken in the gloom, so pretty grainy.
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Lesley, the 'slowworm' is neither a worm nor slow. (http://www.mickcoplen.com/slowworms/Slowworms.htm)
Thanks Anthony for this very nice website. I think they're beautiful and would certainly like my place, if we had them, being wild and untidy as recommended. I'd already gathered they were not worms as such but didn't realize they were legless. (Not from the usual cause though apparently.) The babies are very cute.
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Those bird shots are brilliant Cliff, and not a buttercup in sight!
How do you tell a house martin from a swallow from a swift? We have one but I'm not sure which. They nest in the eaves but seem rather darker than the one above.
Mark, still some improvement needed in your portrait. I think I'm missing the big grin ;D
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quite easy Lesley
House Martin
In flight looks black and white with a white rump. Actually 'blue' and white
Swallow
in flights looks black and white with tail streamers. Atually 'blue' and cream with brick red forehead and chin. It's a very elegant bird
Swift - not related
in flight looks black with a pale chin. Actually bronzy brown. The boy racer of the bird world
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Thanks Mark. Ours have the brick colour on their heads but I've not seen the white underparts, just look quite dark. I'll have a better look next time, but they're mostly away by now.
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Where do the antipodean swallows etc go to spend their "winter" ?
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This link may help http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/welcomeswallow.html
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thank you, Mick, yes, useful indeed.
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Lesley
You only have one Swallow in N.Z. the Welcome Swallow - Hirundo Tahitica. See the picture attached. The U.K. Swallow is somewhat alike. Swallows can be recognised by their long tail streamers.
The only two Martins likely in your area are the Fairy Martin and Australian Tree Martin which are rare Australian vagrants. They are distinguished by their squarish tails and white rumps. I saw one Fairy Martin near Twizel.
Swifts in N.Z. are rare tropical stragglers. Much larger birds with crescent shaped wings, white throats and fly much faster than the Swallows.
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Strange that the New Zealand Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) is not migratory. Is it found on Tahiti?
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Thanks Tom, and Mick for the website. Yes, that's our little lad all right. I probably haven't noticed the white because I always see them in flight or on the power lines, against the sky, in silhouette in effect. I'll look more carefully when they're back. Ours do migrate away from here but perhaps only as far as the (so-called) warmer North Island. We had just a couple 10 years ago but there are many dozens now, perhaps 100 or more, and they make a right mess around the house and sheds. I still like them though.
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Lesley compost heap comes to mind
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The N.Z. Welcome Swallow is actually Hirundo neoxena, a superspecies of Hirundo tahitica. According to the books, they can form large flocks in the Southland outwith the breeding season
I saw the Pacific Swallow in both Rarotonga and Fiji, so presumably they can be found on Tahiti.
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....A few more images from Fuertaventura this spring.....culminating in a wee teaser for all you naturalists. Please remember that there IS a zoo on the island and some images were taken in this impressive establishment....
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Your wee teaser looks like a camel Cliff?
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Now don't give me the hump Mr Darby.... :D
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;D ;D ;D
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I think these are the luscious and furry lips of a giraffe in Cliff's teaser pic. What about these assorted budgies.... colourful or what?!! Especially like the first one, I must get a jacket that bright.
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Right...that's it....the teasers will get decidedly harder from here on in....Maggie, you take the prize....two weeks on a schooner in the Aegean including flights.....how the heck will you cling on to that slippery glass?
I gave Diane the tickets before she got slightly inebriated in Prague...hope she hasn't lost them for you?
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Bad news.. Diane didn't lose the tickets, she gave them to Julia for safe-keeping.... wottamistakatamaka !
I was going to wear rubber gloves, by the way... to hold on to the schooner... not that I've ever been that fond of sherry... :-\
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budgies?
8 is a Red-tailed Laughing Thrush - Garrulax milnei - not a Thrush but a Babbler like our Robin and Redstarts
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Yes, budgies.... catch-all term for brightly coloured birds .. I thought you were an expert? :P
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1st and second show a Green Jay - Cyanocorax yncas
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I was half right ::)
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Luscious lips indeed Maggi. Can't you just feel them nibbling round your ear? Makes me shudder all over to think of it :D
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Just noticed that once opened the Dunlin is actually a Turnstone
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Really cruel that is Mark....opening birds..... (but I knew that you would leave no Stone unTurned...thanks for the identity check). The pretty little thing didn't hang around long enough for me to ask.
So, is this of the same ilk?
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Yes. Depending on when it was taken they are either moulting in to or out of breeding colours
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Saw my first Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) yesterday. I'm not convinced they survive our winter, and the freshness of this specimen indicated an early summer migrant from the continent. Alas it didn't stay long enough for a pic. I did find a Peppered Moth (Biston betularia) on my house wall. This is the moth in the example of natural selection in action, although it is known that industrial melanism has affected at least 100 species of moths. The other pic is of a North American Robin Moth (Hyalophora cecropia). This lonely female is awaiting a mate, but the dozen or so cocoons in a cage in the greenhouse remain firmly dormant.
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both are very nice especially the American one. Why doesnt she fly away?
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She's still there Mark. Silkmoths (Saturnidae, of which our Emperor Moth is the only British example) do not feed and need to conserve their energy. She will fly once she has mated. Gene Stratton-Porter , in 'Moths of the Limberlost', dramatically tells of a large female she put out one night on her porch at Limberlost Cottage in Indiana. By midnight hundreds of males had been attracted from miles around by her scent. Apparently she mated with a small, scruffy but persistant male. Having mated she will fly off and lay her eggs and die within a week. Unmated, she could live for three weeks. Mine is still on the wisteria waiting. :(
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you never know! someone unknown to you might have a recently hatched male. I know you've said in the past but how is it you are able to buy these? Do you buy caterpillars or cocoons?
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It's a while since I have caught up with the super pics on this thread. I particularly like some of Cliff's birds and the crock pot. Also the Robin moth on the Wisteria (green with envy of Anthony on both counts, never seen the moth and my Wisteria has failed to flower AGAIN despite fulfilling all the cultural advice)
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These came as cocoons from a friend in New York. This is a good place to start: The EntomolgicaL Livestock Group http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/index.html
John, my sister-in-law bought two wisterias over 18 years ago. They didn't flower so 12 years ago she dug them up and for a few months they sat in a couple of roughly dug holes in my garden. I then planted them and they have flowered every year since. ::) Two summers ago I let one grow further along the pergola and last year it produced very few flowers at this time, but, as in France (I have noticed) it produced a few in August. Last summer I pruned it in June, July, August and September: in fact, every time it produced a new set of long, whippy, metre-long shoots. It got another prune at Christmas and they both have been amazing this year. :)
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Really cruel that is Mark....opening birds..... (but I knew that you would leave no Stone unTurned...thanks for the identity check). The pretty little thing didn't hang around long enough for me to ask.
So, is this of the same ilk?
This looks exactly like our native (endemic) banded dotterel, Charadrius bicinctus.
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3 counts of sad wildlife news from my garden. The two queen Bumble bees have failed to make nests. The gales of last weekend have caused the tits to abandon their chicks possible to to being scared when the tree was almost blown down. Maybe the the winds meant the parents coulnt find enough food
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Put this in 'flowering now', but it should be here: Just managed to snap this Honey Bee (Apis melifera) in the bulb house visiting a Bug Orchid (Anacamptis fragrans). Its head is covered in pollinia.
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My bee was back again today. :)
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"MY" bee?
Becoming possessive, Anthony?
It is a particularly good-looking bee I must admit.
Paddy
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'New bee or not new bee....that is the question'?
On that 'sad' note we will take our leave and depart for that great land across the water ('No! Not the Isle of Wight'!)....we are visiting Utah, Nevada and California as a 30th anniversary treat to ourselves and hoping to see a wide range of mountain, desert, forest and coastal plants (though a very dry Spring may lessen the opportunities somewhat).
Please keep up the good work while we are away....post, post, post.....and let's get some of these persistent lurkers involved....
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A must stop off place is Moab in southern Utah. I have only been there in the September but the surroundings are spectacular. Arches Nat. Park, Canyonlands, Colorado river, Dinosaur footprints, High mountains, petrified sand dunes....... GREAT place. Must go back.
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Just been looking out from the office at a nest box. At first I thought there was a wren feeding young.... Then I saw a twig being taken in.... Thought thats strange I am sure they are going in more frequently that taking in nest materials... Then looked closer it was a sparrow taking in nesting materials into the same box as the wren is feeding young. Must go and have a closer look now ???
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Anthony was very much on my mind last evening when I watched a super TV programme called (forgive me) "Bite Club - Buggin' with Ruud" and subtitled "Island of Giant Bugs." Ruud (pronounced rude) Kleinpaste is a Dutch New Zealander and known here affectionately as "The bug Man" who has educated us all over a number of years, about the endearing qualities of all kinds of spiders, insects and creepie crawlies generally. This programme is in a series and I've not seen the previous episodes but will look for the remaining ones, for sure. He was in Papua New Guinea and I'm so sorry I have no pictures to post because his co-stars were incredible beetles, spiders, flies (one with eyes on the ends of very long stalks which reached out each side of its head) and utterly bewitching butterflies. The superstar was called the Queen Alexandra Bird Wing Butterfly, with glorious colouring and a wingspan in the female of 25 cms, a little less in the male. It is very rare nowadays apparently, due to logging in its only habitat.
I think this programme may have been made by the Discovery people or similar and perhaps it's viewable somewhere on the Internet. I highly recommend it if you can access it.
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Definitely want to see that. Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) is one I want to see in the wild. I have a fabulous book by a Japanese Doctor called Hirokasu Matsuka (who describes himself as "a collector of tropical diseases") with photos taken near Popondetta in PNG. The caterpillar feeds on Aristolochia alexandrae and grows to 5" long.
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Here is a speckled wood butterfly - pararge aegeria
It was sunbathing on a bag of compost when I managed to take a quick snap
Rob
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Oh, dear, I had just calmed down after reading about bugs with eyes on stalks and was trying to rationalise that ten inch butterflies would be lovely to see, when Anthony posts this photo of a giant fuzzy caterpillar... AAGH!! I am now too rattled to appreciate Rob's lovely speckled wood butterfly!
I will have to start looking at the photos on this thread only when I am feeling strong....perhaps if I kept a fly swat to hand by the pc I'd feel safer? Thank goodness forthe more manageable bugs we have in Aberdeen...I can live with most of those quite well!
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Good news. I have just been watching this years baby blue tits.
Here are a couple of photos. It's head looks a bit bedraggled so I think it must have just used the bird bath!
Rob
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that would be an adult. the young have much paler colours or dad would drive them away once fledged
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Thanks Mark. Looking at last years photos I noticed the colours weren't as bold, but I thought maybe it was the sun washing out the colour as it was a much brighter day last year.
How old do you think this one is, as I thought the feathers on the back looked a bit downey?
Rob
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it, as most adults at this time of year, will look rough after raising up to 10 chicks. Your bird is 12 months or over. Assuming your bird raised 10 young that gives 12 birds from one nest. If all live and all others from nests in the UK and Europe there will be a population explosion. This wont happen. Using the example of one pair and 10 chicks by March next year both adults but no young survive, one adult and one young or two young. The vast majority of young die within days of fledging especially if the weather is bad. Sparrowhawk eggs hatch when tits fledge to cash in on the abundance except this year. If you are watching Spring Watch BBC1 8pm Monday to Friday for the next two weeks you will have heard how Tits and Sparrowhawks are out of sync this years due to the tits nesting up to three weeks earlier than normal
Highlights of the programme can be seen here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch/index.shtml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch/index.shtml)
Spring Watch web cams
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch/webcams/bb_rm_console.shtml?nbram=1&bbram=1&clip=nhugsenc01_4x3 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch/webcams/bb_rm_console.shtml?nbram=1&bbram=1&clip=nhugsenc01_4x3)
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Central Scotland is a Speckled Wood free zone. Not been seen hereabouts for well over 100 years. It is found in the north west and along the Great Glen, where it has almost white spots.
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Can anyone identify this butterfly. The picture was taken in Arduaine gardens in late April. The butterflies were in deep woodland and kept flying up to the treetops.
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Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria - quite common along overgrown paths, hedgerows and open woodland
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Anthony, the bird wings are now found only in a single valley (with arisolochia) due to logging so probably the place you mentioned. I don't recall the name. Ruud had to have an armed escort as there are so many bandits in the area and people, especially foreigners are considered fair game for robbery, kidnap and murder.
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Notice how much lighter the spots on Tom's Speckled Wood buterfly are. Originally described as Pargarge aegeria oblita, it is now lumped in with the English (Northern European) subspecies P. a. tircis. The nominate form (P. a. aegeria) has orange spots is found in southern Europe.
What a shame paradise has to be spoiled. >:( One of the most beautiful Birdwings is appropriately names Ornithoptera paradisea. It is one of two 'tailed' birdwings, but they are still discovering new races of this and other Birdwings in West Papua (erroneously called Irian Jaya: it should never have been given to, sorry, annexed by Indonesia - but that is another sad story >:( >:(). The problem with these huge butterflies is they need a large area of forest to thrive e.g. the caterpillar of the second largest birdwing O. goliath, prior to pupation, climbs down its 100' Aristolochia vine and bites right through the stem, which is very corky and often over 1" thick. This kills the vine so when the butterfly emerges it has to search elsewhere for foodplants. This ensure dispersal of the adults. The abundance of this species has been improved (they are much commoner now than 20 years ago) by butterfly ranching for pupa and specimen sales, whereby locals can make a living and maintain viable populations at the same time. Alas, Ornithoptera alexandrae is CITES appendix 1, so it is illegal to trade in it in any form. In the eyes of the Papuans it is therefore worthless.
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Had a fabulous view of a Red Kite (Milvus milvus), which was flyingliesurely over my parents' back garden in Doune, Perthshire, four miles from my home, yesterday. What a shame most of the fledgelings will be poisoned by idiots in the name of 'game' conservation.
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Anthony,
What a wonderful experience! It is years since I have seen a kite, mainly because I have not being going to where they are to be seen. With birds of prey in mind, one of my most enjoyable bird spotting experiences was watching a perigrine falcon prey on fulmars on a sea cliff.
Last week, in Glenveagh National Park, County Donega, the first golden eagle in a century hatched in Ireland. This is part of a programme to reintroduce the species to Ireland and the birds which were introduced came from Scotland.
Paddy
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For those who do not know what a Red Kite looks like, here is a photo I took down near Loch Ken.
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what a stunning photo
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Marvellous photo Tom. I tried to fetch my mum's camera, but only succeeded in ripping the sleeve of my very favourite shirt on the kitchen door handle. :'(
Been watching bum bees lately. Watched one servicing some purple irises. Between flowers it used its middle legs to wipe off the pollen stuck to its back and pack it onto its pollen 'baskets' on its hind legs. Yesterday I watched a red-tailed worker trap itself inside the slipper of Cypripedium 'Philipp'. After about five minutes of trying, it finally managed to squeeze out through the gap at the back. I watched land, and it was clearly not a happy bunny as it went mental trying to clean off the pollen smear. :o Of course, if it learned from its 'mistake' then the flower lost out.
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Interesting day today. First, I had four Painted Ladies (Cynthia cardui) in the garden, indicating a massive migration from the continent this year. Then, a swarm of bees down the road: worth a silver spoon, I reckon? Certainly local bee keeper Magnus Peterson was pleased when he arrived to claim them. :)
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Just back from a trip to Oxford Natural History Museum to look at the famous swift colony. Saw a Red Kite or two - actually 20+ common as muck between Oxford and Henly on Thames
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I saw a hornet in the garden today.
It must be 20 years since I last saw one. Thankfully they are rare around here.
I wonder if the warm weather is encouraging them to move north, or if it will be 20 years before I see another?
No pics as I went back into the house rather than annoy it!
Rob
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I saw a hornet in the garden today.
It must be 20 years since I last saw one. Thankfully they are rare around here.
I wonder if the warm weather is encouraging them to move north, or if it will be 20 years before I see another?
No pics as I went back into the house rather than annoy it!
Rob
We have here every year hornets - thats not a problem !!!
Sometime they breed near of our roof and they visit us if we eat outside on our terrasse
No fear ;D
Hans
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I heard an unfamiliar bird in the garden and went to investigate. It was, as usual, hiding amongst the tree foliage but then flew up onto my Radio FM aerial. Wasn't expecting such an exotic, nor that its weight would dislodge my aerial.
Can anybody identify this Parrot please?
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Ring-necked Parakeet...Psittacula krameri...
an escapee, no doubt...
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It's probably the blue form of the Indian Ring Necked Parakeet, ...P. krameri manillensis...
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Carlo was spot on. The U.K. name is Rose-ringed parakeet. They are reaching plague proportions round the London area and are ousting native birds from their nest sites. With global warming, it won't be too long before they cross the Scottish Border.
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When I lived in Callander, Perthshire in the early 1970s our milkman had a free-flying Ring-necked Parakeet, until it landed on the perch of a tethered Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) belonging to a neighbour. :-[
I note the resident breeding area of the Ring-necked Parakeet 20 years ago was the Home Counties and The Wirral. If it spreads as rapidly as the Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) - which, according to my Grandmothers bird book (c. 1953) "is spreading rapidly throughout Europe and it is only a matter of time before it reaches the UK" ::) - then it should be an urban resident in most of the UK very soon.
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Thanks Carlo, Tom and Andrew for your information. I must get my aerial reinforced in preparation for the possible invasion. I wouldn't mind a flock of them flitting about and don't mind the collared doves, which are constant visitors but the wood pigeons clomp about all over plants in pots and snap off summer bedders are less welcome.
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Psittacula krameri and its subspecies/hybrids (german name: Halsbandsittich) are well surving in our German climate and populations still spreading along the river Rhine. Strong populations are found in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Wiesbaden and up to Heidelberg. The original birds escaped from the zoo of Cologne. I believe having heared it happend in the sixties of last century. They are easy to dedect- you just have to go to public parks with many old trees. Their prefered breeding and sleeping areal. They are very noisy and fast flyers.
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This is one of our local butterflies, but I'm not sure if it is an import or a native.
I think we used to call them "painted ladies" but it's different to the one Anthony posted.
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, your butterfly is an Australian native called the Meadow Argus (Junonia villida). Its larvae feed on Plantains, Daisies and Gentians etc. It is related to the American Buckeye (J. coenia). The Australian Painted Lady is virtually identical to the European one (Vanessa (formerly Cynthia) cardui) but is now called Vanessa kershawi.
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And of course Fermi, you can see any number of painted ladies any day, up the length of Collins Street in Melbourne. Elsewhere too.
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That happened to us when we got lost after a night at the opera in Italy last summer. We took a wrong turning and it took us two miles before we found a gap in said strumpets to allow us to turn round. ::) Some were only wearing a smile! :o
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I'm pleased to see and learn the name of the Meadow Argus. I saw one on dying hosta leaves at Don Schofield's garden. Needless-to-say it kept flitting so I didn't get a photo but that above was definitely IT.
Perhaps they were from the chorus Anthony.What opera had you been to?
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Thanks Anthony.
When we were kids I went butterfly catching with a friend and when he told his mum we were looking for painted ladies she just laughed and said we were too young!
I think I knew the names of most of the butterflies when I was young but the information has been overlaid with plant names since then!
cheers
fermi
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La Bohème at Torre del Lago, an open air theatre built on the edge of a lake north of Pisa and next to Puccini's house. We had stayed for the post-opera first night dinner, which didn't start until half past midnight.
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Our internet speed is back up; it's still slow but fast enough for us to follow this thread with continuing interest.
This insect appeared in the centre of a Peony emodi flower. Crawled all over the stamens and stayed long enough for me to get a photo. It's the first time we have seen one like it. Any guesses as to its identity?
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Since posting the above I have more or less figured the name out as I poked aropund the web.
Is it a Bee Beetle in a family called Trichius ?
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I have never seen this bug before, either. The furry fringing is quite other!
I found this, which look very like yours: http://bugguide.net/node/view/21492
Trichiotinus assimilis
Off now to read up about these bugs!
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I think you nailed it Maggi. In looking at the link you sent me to they are hosting a study session in July about 50 miles from here. I'm off to find out more. Thanks Maggi for the help.
-Rob
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Whatever, it's rather cute don't you think? especially if he's on a pollination binge.
Last night's episode of "Bite Club" (just so you don't get too comfortable Maggi), was about what Ruud Kleinpaste called Housemates, in the USA. They included the daddy long legs spider, centipedes, lady bugs (birds), stable flies - appalling things - and cockroaches. He proved - by having all of them put onto his body, that they all bite, sometimes viciously. The ladybirds don't like cold so winter over in a particular sheltered valley in the southwest and are present in enormous numbers clustering together to generate warmth. Collectors come with buckets and scoop them up by hand or with shovels and sell them, a thousand or so in a small bag, to gardeners for aphis control. I also learned that aphis give birth to live young which already have the next generation of young inside them, as they themselves are born. This is terrifying! Then he went onto killer bees. He was well protected from these but still got over 30 stings through very thick socks and had swollen and stiff ankles as a result, and expected the pain to last literally for months. I kept feeling "things" crawling through my hair for ages afterwards.
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Gee, Lesley, how can I thank you enough for this summary of the Bug programme?
[attach=1]
[attach=2]
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sounds great hopefully it will come to a Sky channel soon. The stable fly must be different to out stable fly. Ours fly in triangular patterns under lights, dash off to chase a potential mate and come back again.
In Cork I was bitten twice by the same type of beetle that got me in the Czech Republic and yesterday in my own garden another got me.
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The stable flies Mark, were blood suckers. Ruud put his hands through those cloth tubes into a glass box with about 200 flies. The guy with him counted at least 50 at a time on his hands all sucking furiously. They put down a thick, hollow spike into the flesh and we could see their bodies swelling and becoming red as the sucked. As they withdrew, the blood came up leaving a puddle on the skin and more flies came along and sucked up these. Utterly disgusting. How he could do it..... But this is a guy who is happy with tarantulas crawling over his face and any other creepy you can think of.
Sorry about all that Maggi but we all need a little spice in our lives lest we get too comfortable ???
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Lesley, I'm all for spice in my life.... coriander, cumin, garam massala, ginger... none of which have legs!
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No pictures available, but I heard on the news that approx 100 vultures from the Spanish Pyrenees have been spotted in different locations in Belgium - specialists say they left their home area looking for food. Due to mad cow disease, spanish farmers seem to have been forbidden to leave any dead cattle out in the mountains as they used to do in the past...
I'm very sorry for the birds, but I don't think they'll find anything that suits their diet out here. :-\
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Interesting news, Luc and I agree with you, I don't think that vultures will enjoy or thrive on a diet of chocolate, chips and beer!
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;D ;D ;D :-X
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I see there are increasing reports of the vultures attacking newborn calves and foals and accused even of killng the mothers, also, as a result of their desperation... also the situation is worse because the number of vultures has risen so much in recent years.
I wonder if the vultures could be re-trained to eat slugs and snails? Since huge sea creatures like the basking shark have evloved to eat plankton, you'd think a vulture could adapt to smaller snacks ?? ::)
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Just yesterday I wrote a bit for the blog on my website (see below) about rattlesnakes coming down out of the hills and into the gardens of suburban Los Angeles because drought is driving their prey to search out the comfy irrigated gardens of their human neighbors...
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Lesley, I'm all for spice in my life.... coriander, cumin, garam massala, ginger... none of which have legs!
But some have a really vicious bite though Maggi : :P
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Above, Carlo mentioned his website, and gives a link. I hope all Forumists will look at it. There's so much of interest there, not just alpines, all sorts of things. I enjoy it very much. The only thing is, Carlo, do you still have time for gardening? :)
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Lesley is too kind. The website is (as most are) a labor of love...and I don't always have the time to do IT justice, but I DO have time for gardening...it is how I make my living after all (doing it for someone else, that is) and it's where the inspiration for most of my blatherings comes from.
I'm pleased to hear that it is being enjoyed and invite everyone to dip a toe in,
Carlo
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Before few minutes I could make a picture of a "Taubenschwänzchen" (Macroglossum stellatarum) in our garden ,this little animals comes every evening in this time -they visit Centranthus ,Lavendula and similar flowers .
It was very difficould to make a pic because they fly like hummingbirds .
Greetings Hans
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Looks like a humming bird hawk moth Hans
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=2198
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Yup...I think of them as shrimp with wings...
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I havent seen any yet nor Painted ladies.
Carlo how are the Geraniums I sent you? They should be flowering by now
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Hans,
Congratulations for the difficult hawk moth picture. What a pretty German name for this moth - Taubenschwänzchen = little tail of a dove. I came along this fascinating day active sphingidae when I noticed from a Spanish publication that it is the only pollinator of Viola cazorlensis. Unfortunately it visits my region only during long hot periods.
Gerd Knoche
Solingen, Germany
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Hello Gerd ,
Thank you for your compliments ::)
I did not know that this animals also pollinate Viola !
If you like so I could catch some for you and send it to Solingen .
Greetings
Hans
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I have a problem Wood Pigeon with a taste for my 'bulbs'. It's digging quite large holes to get them. At first I blamed a cat until I saw it in action this morning with the evidence. Can you guess what it's eating?
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On our trip to see the orchids, I took pictures of a moth and butterflies for interested parties. The tiny Chimney Sweeper moths -3cm across- were in their dozens, feeding on clover. I had to get within 30cms of them - not an easy task. The expletives have been deleted !
The other two are the small heath and the ringlet, unless anyone knows differently. My butterfly book was published in 1970 and contains all the species in Europe which can be confusing
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Hans,
Thank you for your offer - unfortunately the flowers of Viola cazorlensis are over - no seeds expected. But please catch some of your carpenter bees and your bee-eaters plus a little bit of your surplus sunshine and send it to the north.
Gerd
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Gerd ,
No problem with carpenter bees -we have enough ,but I never saw a bee-eater here in my garden .I know they are descriptet from the "Kaiserstuhl" -if you visit me again so we could look for it.
Have you problems with the wether last nigth ?
Greetings
Hans
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Hans,
ok, please send me the whole Kaiserstuhl and I'll have a lot of interesting plants and animals.
No problems with thunderstorms here so far.
Gerd
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Gerd ,
Do you think your garden is big enough ?
Here until now 35 mm of rain ......
Hans
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I thought that people might like to see something a little more sinister than the pretty butterflies and moths that have been posted lately. This chap was basking on a road side in the Kielder forest (English side of the English/Scottish border for our overseas readers). I suspect that he/she may have recently shed his/her skin as the markings on the body were immaculate.
Adder (Vipera berus)
Peter
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That's a great shot of an adder. I have never seen one basking in the sun, I've only caught glimpses of them disappearing into the undergrowth.
Rob
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My only previous experience was seeing 'something' disappearing under a tuft of grass. Lifting up the grass (as you do, when you are young and foolish) revealed a large adder coiled up and glaring at me from a distance too close for comfort. The grass was hurredly replaced (dropped) and a hasty retreat seemed in order.
This encounter was rather more leisurely, and a long lens gave some sense of security! They are meant to disappear into the undergrowth when they sense the vibration of footsteps, but both my wife and daughter walked past within two feet of this one and missed both seeing it and scaring it away.
Peter
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He/she is beautiful Peter. I must admit to a sneaking affection for snakes, though with another admission that I've not seen one in the flesh outside of zoos. I have a photo of my mother with one of the Australian species draped around her neck, head and tail in her hands so it couldn't get a purchase to coil.
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A picture of ants farming aphids on a cosmos flower stem taking between the showers yesterday
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For something different and a bit more cuddly than snakes, here are some of the creatures round the waters of Scotland at this time of year
Shag and young.
Puffin with fish
Arctic Tern
Minke Whale.
Bonxie threat display
Adult Gannet
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great bird shots, Tom
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According an article in our local newspaper the Spanish vultures arrived in Germany recently. The turn to the east was a bad decision because a new outbreak of birdflue was recorded here too. Poor vultures - they better apply for asylum in a zoo.
Gerd Knoche
Solingen, Germany
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Great bird shots Tom. I've yet to see a Puffin face to face. I live in hope.
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Really fabulous shots, Tom. How far off the coast was the Minke whale? How exciting to see a Puffin. Still isolated by snow at my place so am really enjoying the forum at the moment.
Susan
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Great series of brilliant shots Tom - thanks very much !
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I'll keep the butterfly theme going with a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) that I snapped in the garden this morning
Rob
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I've just seen a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) hoping around the lawn, like the one at the start of this thread. Yesterday was the turn of a Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos) in a tree and unable to get a clear view. On Sunday I saw a Barn Owl (Tyto alba) flying.
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Really fabulous shots, Tom. How far off the coast was the Minke whale? How exciting to see a Puffin. Still isolated by snow at my place so am really enjoying the forum at the moment.
Susan
Susan,
The Minke Whale was taken from a boat on the way to the Isle of May in the Forth estuary, however, they appear in the Clyde estuary from June onwards and can be seen easily from the shore, depending on the location. The closest I have seen them from land was at Turnberry lighthouse where they can be about 400 yards off shore. Again, it is a matter of luck being there at the right time. Just now, we are waiting for the Basking Sharks to turn up although the weather has been cold for the last two months. We went from 27c at the end of April to 11c today - at least we don't have the terrible rain and floods affecting the English midlands. I am patiently waiting for the better weather to arrive so I can get up to N.W. Sutherland for a spot of Birdwatching and seeing Primula Scotica in flower on the Cape Wrath peninsula. The picture shows the location.
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there is a leutistic Puffin on Rathlin off our north coast. The black feathers are yellow as are the feet
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We have 10oC here today! Not seen Primula scotica in the wild and find it ephemeral in my garden. :(
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16c here
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Tom
You may be disappointed over the Primula scotica. We were up there a couple of weeks ago and the first flowering was over. We only found two flower heads. A wonder it ever is able to reproduce, we have hardly ever seen seed pods in this interval between the two flowerings. Much to our surprise Sutherland has had a long dry spell. In the Lochinver area we were walking over moorland consisting of sphagnum, peat and heather that should have gone squelsh at each footstep but instead only went crunch as the ground was so dry. In the 10 days until the 21st we only had rwo hours of light rain. Plenty of orchids though.
We did get back to find the garden full of wildlife, Not only the pests such as grey squirrels, rabbit, pigeon, crows, snail, slugs fieldmice etc. all busy munching our things but also the anual delight of the Great Spotted Woodpeckers bringing their young to our feeders. Now the young can feed themselves. At present we are using nearly 2 kilos of peanuts a week for the two feeders most of it for the woodpeckers but the garden is also alive with other birds including tits, finches and the occasional raptor.
Brian Wilson Aberdeen
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Brian,
We will have to take a chance. From visiting the area for over 42 years, the Primula Scotica average flowering period is usually early July. The best place to look is on the area between the golf course and the cliffs. Bettyhill is another good spot. The Primula S. came into flower in my garden in Ayr about 7 days ago with some still left to flower. If the flowering is over, it does not matter. There are plenty of other things to see. If the bombing range on Garvie Island is in use, this can be highly entertaining.,
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Aaaaarggggh!!!!!
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Tom
The attached pic of Primula scotica was taken on 9th july 2004 Strathy point although there are numbers of other good sites
Brian Wilson
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What a brilliant picture of Pr. scotica, it looks far more robust on the screen than it does on the show bench, which I have to admit is my only experience of it. The colour looks better too.
Shelagh
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I have split off Cliff's fab fotos from the holiday he and Sue have just had in the Usa, to its own page : see here for beginning of that thread : http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=611.0
Enjoy!
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I just found a bumble bee nest in my strawberry bed. :o The question is, how much do I really want those strawberries? :P
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Dunno, Anne,....... how far is it to the nearest "pick your own" farm?
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above ground or under? They are the most gentle of bees so either way pick your own
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I believe bumble bees can sting, but as Anthony says, they're very gentle and seem too silly and "bumbling" to bother. I regularly pick them up in my bare hands to put them outside when they've come in a door or window. I wouldn't be avoiding the strawberries.
Reading a notebook yesterday, a collection of short esays from a local botanist, I discovered that NZ has
about 40 species of native bees. All are solitary and none either stings or makes honey. The smallest is just 2.5mm in length. I have at least two species here, little tunnelling insects whose homes are visible as small holes on the surface of the sunnier parts of my rock garden.
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Australia also has a number of native bees which is one good reason not to introduce bumblebees! Unfortunately I haven't been able to capture some of the fascinating "blue-banded bees" on camera - yet!
I'll post them here when I do!
cheers
fermi
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Lesley - it wisnae me that said bumble bees are gentle (not!). Attack is not a defence they use and you would have to grab one (or stand on it) to be stung, but they can get annoyed when you are trying to persuade them out of the greenhouse. :o
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It's a joy to observe all the butterflies on my 3 Buddleja scubs in full blossom now...
Melanargia galathea.jpg
Melanargia galathea wings closed.jpg
Melanargia and bee.jpg
Inachis io.jpg
Inachis io closed wings.jpg
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Lovely pics Armin. Nice to see the Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) in your garden. I think the nearest colonies of this butterfly to us are around York? Strange it hasn't spread north yet, being a grass feeder so not restricted by foodplant, or for that matter, habitat?
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Strawberry jam duly made! I'll try not to annoy them. Marbled whites around York, eh? I'll be on the lookout.
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I agree with Antony (yes it can happen ;))
Bumble bees are nice to have around. They do not sting unless you more or less sit on them. They pollinate, but are said to sometimes take a short cut to the nectar by biting the spur of a flower. I never caught them doing that but i often find holes in the spurs of Corydalis. It is interesting to note that there are no Aconitums where there are no bumble bees.
If you poke at them with a finger they usually just rise a hind leg and wave: "please go away I am busy". I would just be careful not to damage te nest when picking the strawberries.
I also agree with Hans on the hornets (if that is Vespa crabro). They are quite friendly unless you disturb their nest. If they seem to be too close, they are probably looking for a fly or something else edible that sits on you. They are known to have snapped away a fly that sits on a human.
Some of the insects are quite nice to have around. We have a kind of beetle that actually will dig a dead mouse into the ground. They excavate under the mouse until it has sunk under the surface. (sorry no picture and you would not like to look at it anyway)
I like the beetle in the picture the colour is nice and it is fashinating that they fly with the front wings - shell - what is the English word? closed. I forgive them that the eat a little of my roses and peonies.
Göte
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Shell or wing case is OK but Carapice is the word. I would have thought that all beetles fly with with the wing cases open
Here is a visitor to my garden last week. On the other side half of the front wing was missing, maybe a bird caught it, leaving it flightless. Ghost Moth Hepialus humuli
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I think it's actually elytra, Mark. That's a lovely moth, it looks like it's wearing a fur stole.
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yes you are correct
Elytra - The modified first pair of wings in a beetle, which fold down over the abdomen and protect the flight wings when not in use
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And Anne, or anyone who has a bumble bees' nest in their garden, PLEASE don't water it if you can avoid. I once did, in a clay bank which I was trying to soften before digging. When the digging started, I found a nest which had been filled with water and all the bumbles were inside, drowned. I still feel terrible about it.
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Lesley - have you SEEN any newsreel pictures of this part of the world recently? I'm not going to be watering any time soon - but will avoid that area anyway. It's on a raised veg bed so stayed high and dryer during the monsoons. They haven't objected to my harvesting forays yet, and have built a little mound of fibrous vegetation over the nest, which I'm trying not to disturb.
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Elytra it is. Carapace is the plate covering the thorax.
Your peacock butterflies are way ahead of ours Armin. Yesterday I found some fully grown larvae on some nettles half a mile up the Sheriffmuir track from my house.
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Yes Anne, we have seen the UK flooding but I thought it was a bit south of you, more around the Midlands where Mick lives.
We have major flooding in the north too over recent days, some areas receiving 350mm of rain in just 36 hours. No loss of human life fortunately but massive landslips with power lines down, houses washed away and smashed by falling trees and general heatbreak and horror for those concerned. I moan about our southern weather but I'd much rather be having frost and snow which don't do much damage than the terrible flooding which is more and more becoming a frequent event in the country's far north.
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Really jealous of the butterflies posted. This year there has been hardle any in the garden. Perhaps due to the weather but also my new neighbour took out all the nettles and other weeds that had been there for donkeys' ears. I used to curse the weeds because they spread to my garden but I will be sorry if it means no butterflies.The other downside is that the mare's tail has more light and is rampaging under the fence, marched 2 metres beneath cold frame and path and is coming up in borders. Incidentally, he does appear to have run out of steam and the weed population is on its way back.
Here are a few pics of things seen in the last week or 2.
1 How do you like the hat? (Pic taken through the double glazed window)
2 Black Headed Gull at the beach taken at sundown.
3 Cute Coot Chck and parent
These last 2 I need help with. I went to the St Annes Nature reserve to see what remained of the orchids after the dismal weather (shouldn't moan, we have escaped very lightly) but most were nearly over and rather tatty. The sun was very low and the birds were a long way off, hence the poor quality but can anyone put a name to them please. Ther is a possibility that it is the same bird taken in both shots as the lighting was very challenging.
Incidentally Anthony I got no reply from my email reminder about the Calypso
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Triffic pics John. I'm just remembering the Calypso too, although I hope to be doing a real one soon ;D
A sparrow hawk shot through my garden the other day, but it was clearly on a mission and didn't hang about. Seen loads of ringlets and tortoiseshells. Weather has been not bad (having to water the hanging baskets and pots). Amazing how memory plays tricks ::). I could have sworn that my Lilium nepalense was late this year, but checked and it is a week early. :)
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John the last two are Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis, I think, and female Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus
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Here is Green Bottle, Lucilia sericata, taken yesterday with the new camera
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What is this nasty seen in National Botanic Gardens, Dublin?
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Thanks Anthony and Mark for the ID. I will try to get a better shot next time I go.
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What is this nasty seen in National Botanic Gardens, Dublin?
It looks like a perfectly innocent spider to me Mark. Aren't most spiders benign? in the garden at any rate ::) and to humans of course. It's probably waiting for some little fly or beetle to become lunch :)
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not when one is scared of them! Their bite is, allegedly, the same as a wasp sting - ahhhh!
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My wife has arachnophobia but less than it used to be. I must have carried out countless thousands of spiders, by hand, during our nearly 40 years of marriage. I like spiders for the job they do keeping down the fly population. In all this time I have never been bitten. So don't worry.
Incidentally, Pat has one of those spider catchers with a long handle and a clear plastic pyramid shaped container at the end with a sliding door. She uses it when I'm not around.
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Your spider is Pisaura mirabilis Mark, which is relatively common in England. Not seen it here. It sun bathes and lays its eggs in a tent in vegetation. The female guards the nest until the youngsters disperse.
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exactly what it was doing
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Great photo of the green bottle, Mark - the new camera obviously works very well indeed. And spiders are not nasties! >:(
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Well.... TOO GOOD a photo of the greenbottle, for my liking! I can do without such clear details of all those hairy bits :P
I have to say , Mark, you probably needed a new camera like I need a new pair of shoes! Naughty naughty!
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well ...
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I thought that it might be a pleasant change to see some larger wildlife. I've just returned from a trip to Denmark and thought that the following photos may be of interest (plant photos to follow tomorrow on the 'Flowering now' pages):
White wagtail - male (Moticilla alba alba) in Lund Botanic Gardens. Ok, so it's in Sweden, but only a short ferry ride.
Red eared terrapins in Copenhagen Botanic Gardens. Not really "wildlife" as it's a north American species, but obviously thriving there, as they do in ponds in north east England near my home where they have been dumped by their owners once they outgrew their tanks.
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - both in Copenhagen Botanic Gardens
Peter
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Just a few more:
A magnificent slug, species unknown, but magificent in size (6-10 cms long), colour and due to the fact that I saw them eating other slugs (I need some for the garden!)
Lesser Black-backed Gull, adult and juvenile (Larus fuscus)
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
All taken 'in the wild' - including the slug.
Peter
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Peter your Black-backed Gull maybe a Greater Bb due to it's pink legs. Lesser have yellow legs but I know Scandinavian gulls are larger and slightly different in colour
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Oops, that'll teach me to try posting images at midnight.
Peter
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In Sweden we have a black big slug that keeps in the forests and harms nothing in the garden.
Then we have a brownish big one that is more rare (at least in my area and does not visit (my) garden.
Both are in the 10 cm range.
However, in the last few years we have got the Spanish species which is orange. We call it "Murder slug" because it eats other slugs at least dead ones.
Unfortunately it also murders everything else in the garden. (OK i exaggerate - it does not kill large trees ;)).
Unfortunately it has no natural enemies and it likes the climate here much better than in Spain.
It is probably one of the worst pests we have got.
I do NOT think that you need one for your garden.
Göte
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This is a similar situation to that of the NZ flatworm which has become a real problem in the UK. Here, where it is native, it is no problem at all, eating only other small sluggy things and not the earthworm on which it apparently feeds in the north. Moreover, it is rarely seen, and does no damage at all, so far as I'm aware, in our gardens. I see one occasionally curled up under a tray of plants when I move it but I've never seen one on the move (except when I put it in the sun) or eating anything.
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It's the middle of winter here and for some reason we still have swallows nesting/roosting in our carport! Gone are the days when we come out one spring day to find "the swallows have returned to Carport-strano" - because the silly things never leave! Maybe it doesn't get cold enough here?
I risked my camera lens to get this shot for the forum!
The second pic is of one of our Aussie robins at a neighbour's place - sorry, I couldn't get much closer to it.
cheers
fermi
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15 swallows is good. two adults and 13 young for the season. Are they resident?
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Hello, this is Rhinechis scalaris
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A handsome snake, Rafa. I think his name in English is 'Ladder snake'.
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I thought that this might be of interest to the older members of the forum who can remember "A Ring of Bright Water". This statue is a memorial to Gavin Maxwell who wrote a series of books on keeping otters in Glenelg and latterly at Kyleakin in Skye. It is on the Monreith headland in Wigtonshire, near the family home at Elrig. Quite an understated but moving tribute to a man who gave pleasure in his writings, to millions.
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I think it otter be better known .... then people might tarka more notice of such a beautiful statue!
OK....I'm making the appointment....Dr Fritzheim, 10.30am...I'll bring the medication.
Look after Sue....she deserves better!
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It certainly IS of interest Tom. "A Ring of Bright Water" is a beautiful and moving book, one of my old favourites.
I like Rafa's snake too. Their total absence from NZ is perhaps the only reason I'd like to live somewhere else - Australia for instance.
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I have to confess...when I first read Tom's "this might be of interest to older..." and saw the thumbnail of the otter statue...it looked like a dinosaur--and I wondered where we were going....
(shameless 'Wildlife 2007' post: read "Squirrel Angst..." at my website for a gardener's take on the furry beasts...).
Carlo
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Hi Mark,
As I was trying to intimate in the text, the swallows should be just visitors, but they don't leave! we started with a single pair a few years ago (just after the carport was put up)and the numbers have grown. During the summer there can be about 4 dozen of them roosting all over the carport. It means a lot more car washing!
Leslie,
as pretty as they are Aussie snakes are best admired from a distance! Or preferably in a photo!
I think my fondness for Scotland started when I read Gavin Maxwell's books.
cheers
fermi
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I've got a plastic bowl in the garden which has filled up with rain, and caught this pic of a frog using it for a quick dip.
Rob
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"Twenty froggies went to school
Down beside a rushy pool.
Twenty little coats of green..."
For the remaining lines of this delightful verse, email me privately. It is is entirely "clean" and was the verse my mother used (and so did I) when applying Vicks Vaporub to small chests to relieve the miseries of a cold in the head. Every household should know it. :)
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- insert swear word - cat damage
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Fermi which swallow are they?
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meet a Nathusius' pipistrelle
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Do you wear gloves to handle the bats?
It looks like a bare finger in the back ground, but it's not in focus enough to tell.
Rob
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every time! but I lie. I dont use gloves because it's not fair on the bats. The best and only glove I would use is the pig skin glove that fighter pilots use. The chances are being bitten by a rabid bat in the UK and Ireland is very slim because only one species is known to carry it and it stays away from people. The Myotis bats - Daubenton's, Whiskered and Natterer's - raely come in to contact with people. So far the disease is confined to the Daubenton's bat but it doesnt stop me visiting a huge roost that I can walk in to
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I have just googled rabies in bats and it seems a very tiny risk.
Strange that it was in the back of my mind as a risk, I guess the media give bats an unfair reputation.
'The report revealed just 2% of one species of bat - the Daubenton - could carry the rabies disease after antibodies were found in its blood.
Deaths from bat rabies are extremely rare and since 1977 there have been three deaths in Europe attributed to EBVL infections, including that of Mr McRae'
Rob
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It's recommended that bat workers wear gloves. I've seen people using thick leather gardening gloves that are so unfair to the bats. I'm sure all the members have used them in the past for pulling nettles
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Having a predilection for posting items that have a tenuous link with the subject matter, here goes again !
Yesterday was a beautiful warm Summer's day - at last -so we went to Turnberry lighthouse for a spot of sea watching
Some porpoises off shore and the usual Gannets etc. The paddle steamer Waverley turned up on its way to Ailsa Craig - a trip we had taken a week ago. So this feeds into a few shots of the Craig. Even from the half mile from the shore, you could hear the passengers enjoyong their trip "doon the water" as the Firth of Clyde is known to Glaswegians.
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Mark,
That Nathusius' pipistrelle is such a cutie!! I wish we could easily find bats around here, but they're not that common a thing hereabouts unlike you guys up there. I see in the UK magazines the adverts for how to build shelters for the native bats, and the native bees etc. That would be so cool. We don't have many of the little solitary bees here, although there are a few. We get plenty of wasps, but they're mainly the larger colony types you don't want to mess with. Wish we could have bat boxes inhabited here. Then again, if we could I probably wouldn't be as interested in them because they were common!! ;) I'm a fickle one I am!! 8)
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I'll photocopy plans for bat boxes for you. Australia has some cute and ugly bats.
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Mark,
I honestly don't think we get a lot of bats around here, at least I've never heard of anyone finding bats about the place. Do you think it would be worth setting up a nesting place for them just in case? It would be SO cool to have some move in. I have seen on extremely rare occasions bats around the street lights chasing insects, but it isn't something I have seen very often. Maybe a couple of times in the last 10 years. Then again it isn't like I exactly go out looking for them.... I don't stand out looking up at the street lights much, or I think they'd lock me away and throw away the key!! ;D
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Paul said ‘We don't have many of the little solitary bees here, although there are a few.’
Here is one from my garden although I didn’t know what sort of bee this was until I looked at images online.
It’s a wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum). The females use the ‘wool’ from plants to line their burrows.
The second photo shows a wasp helping itself to my fruit tree. Is it a German invader as it seems larger than the native wasps?
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Just been reading the discussion about bat gloves - our local bat workers use very soft golfing gloves, but it's really difficult finding one of each hand, especially in ladies sizes.
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Mark,
sorry for the delay, but I had to look up the name in a bird book!
It appears to be the "welcome swallow" (not that it's very welcome in our carport!) - Hirundo neoxena.
I thought they might've been barn swallows but apparently these visitors from the Northern Hemisphere down come this far south!
Paul,
if you want some fruit bats please apply to the RBGMelbourne!
cheers
fermi
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Hello,
Can anyone tell me what these orange beetles are? (This is my first attempt at attachments so I hope there is a photo.) There are an awful lot of them around -- and soon to be a lot more judging by the goings on. I cannot see any evidence of damage by them but I do not want to assume that this makes them benign. Much appreciated, thanks.
Len
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They are Soldier Beetles, Rhagonycha fulva
I dont know what they do but they are always about in big numbers at this time of year http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o252-commonredsoldierbeetle.php (http://www.plantpress.com/wildlife/o252-commonredsoldierbeetle.php)
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Great shots Tom - that Gannet taking off is a beauty !
Thanks
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Coincidence there, Len, I saw two of these beetles, similarly engaged, the other day..surprised to hear you have the same beetles in Canada as Scotland! I didn't know what they were, either! Thanks, Mark!
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They are Soldier Beetles. I dont know what they do but they are always about in big numbers at this time of year
It's pretty obvious what they do Mark.
By and large, they appear to be friendly, pollinating presumably and preying on slugs and snails, flies etc. In general, more good than harm? I haven't seen them in my part of the world.
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Many thanks for solving the beetle question Mark. Oddly, they were the photo of the day today (July 26) on my desktop widget for UBC, you can see them here:
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/ (http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/)
So glad they are beneficial too.
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Here is a photo of a little bumble bee to go with the wool carder bee I posted earlier in the thread.
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Lovely bee Rob. They look more cuddly from a greater distance but a bit Quasimodo-ish from close up. Mind you most of us look better from a distance ;D
Come on you bug people. Please put a name to this dragonfly for me. It conveniently settled on the Loosestrife to enhance the photograph but often when I reduce pictures I get a blueish tinge to red/purple flowers, which isn't there on the full size file.
The side view is just for ID help
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Just found a dragonfly website. Could it be a Common Hawker female?
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Haven't a scooby what your gragonfly might be, John.... but what a super photo.... it is so detailed I find myself admiring the beast .... most unusual for me with bugs!!
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Lovely images Rob and John,
A far less exotic subject from me this time..... was this jackdaw (Corvus monedula) impersonating a magpie to get the much maligned Pica pica into even more trouble? :)
....or is this whitening of the plumage more common than I realised?
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Random thought, here.... James Cobb, in a Journal article(??) mentioned a hybrid bird he had ringed....can't recall what it was, something small...... but might this chap be a hybrid? The blue sheen on his wings is much more magpie than jackdaw, isn't it? Our jackdaws are resolutely black and the fact that there is the blue sheen as well as the white patch suggests to me that this bird may be a hybrid... anybody know any more about this possibility?
We can get Blackbirds with white patches, which can be fairly extensive... thought at first it was just a fluke, or due to accident but we had a dynasty of them, over several years, though there are none about at present.
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I'd prefer jackpie to magdaw Maggi.....there certainly weren't 4 and 20 of them in Hebden Bridge where the image was captured. :)
I can't really believe that a cross has occurred....more an aberration in this particular bird I suspect.
Anyway...what are you doing trawling the net on your anniversary....get yourself ready for the day out and evening meal that Ian has planned?
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John I really like those dragonfly pictures. What size lens did you use?
I've looked in my dragonfly book for an identity and the migrant hawker seemed the closest.
A quote from the book 'note the almost non-existant antehumeral stripes'.
The antehumeral is the bit behind the eyes.
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no not a hybrid bird but just a random white feather. I see many with white feathers including a pied Rook that I havent seen around for a while. All Covids, I think, are mainly blue/purple and not black
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Cliff, perhaps your Jackpie has just been promoted to Corporal from the ranks. ;D
Thanks for the kind comments about the Dragonfly.
Rob, I have just looked again at the Dragonfly website
http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk
and though I find it difficult to distinguish between Common & Migrant Hawker, it does seem to resemble the migrant a little more.
I took the picture with my Nikon D200 using a 70-300 zoom lens set at the the 300mm end.
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You should get corporal punishment for that one John..... :)
From the sublime to the ridiculous now....
Three images captured on the moorland not twenty metres from our house.....
Is it a baby rat, mouse, vole or 'kangaroo' ??? ..... (those back legs look fairly powerful)....?
....And no clever answers saying 'It's a RABBIT' please......
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Good question Cliff. It looks like it may be on the way to mouse heaven. It may be a wood mouse or field mouse
I would like to know from language experts ... when does an animal name have a capital letter?
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It actually hopped away quite healthily Mark....I think it was trying out the 'statue' defence mechanism?
Still not too sure WHAT it was .... anyone help please?
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Your beastie is a bank vole, Cliff.
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Cliff, I think it is a Bank Vole. There is a picture here
www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/gallery/showimage.php?i=41198&catid=searchresults&searchid=60711
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Maybe but Cliff's shot shows a animal with a very long tail
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I'm told by husband, "That's why it's not called a Short-tailed vole."
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I'm happy with that Anne and John (many thanks)....but which bank?
I suppose it would have to be the Bank of Scotland! ::)
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That little bank vole is absolutely adorable!! (great pics Cliff!!) What a cutie!! (The bank vole, not you Cliff!! ;)) It resembles as least superficially some of the native hopping "kangaroo mice" we get in Central Australia I think..... I didn't realise that other countries had hopping mice as well. Those back legs certainly do look powerful.
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I have just discovered that the Bank Vole's "real" name is Clethrionomys glareolus.... now, I know very few common, or english, names for flowers but I know very few latin names ( almost none.... well, okay none) for animals... this chap shows me why. A classic case of the name being bigger than the critter :-X
Voles are very cute to look at but have enormous appetites , plus, they bite!
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I would go with bank vole, but it is rather grey in colour. My description says "upperside has a characteristic reddish colour with more or less grey on the flanks; rather long tail" - a bit like the ruddy vole that's found in the arctic - but what else can it be with tiny wee ears like that?
On the theme of Latin names: how's this: Craseonycteris thonglongyai (I wouldn't dwell on its pronunciation, or the meaning of the specific name) for the world's smallest mammal. The Bumblebee Bat from Thailand.
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That's right. Smaller than our wee pipistrelle
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Here's more on the bat with a 3cm/1.25" body and 8cm/3.25" wing span
http://www.thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Chiroptera/Craseonycteridae/Craseonycteris/Craseonycteris-thonglongyai.html (http://www.thewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Chiroptera/Craseonycteridae/Craseonycteris/Craseonycteris-thonglongyai.html)
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I was at Crom Esate in Fermanagh last Thursday giving a lecture on bats. I like the venue because it has all 8 species of N Irish bat present, Pine Martens, lots of dragon flies and butterflies and Swallows that think they are House Martins. They nest in the corners of the farm and stable yards and it the barn louvres
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A few mundane items from a short walk taken today in Healey Dell Nature Reserve, just a quarter of a mile from our house in Whitworth, Lancashire. England.
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Moorhens, Cliff, or as we call 'em water hens
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a tame Green-veined White flutterby Pieris napi
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Mark,
it looks a lot like the "Cabbage White" that decimates the trpaeoleums as well as the Brassicas!
cheers
fermi
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Cliff, Coots are always bald :D
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Here is a photo of a coot I took at Slimbridge last week.
It is a great place to visit as the birds are tame and don't mind posing for the camera.
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We get moorhens around the local lakes etc as well. Obviously they've been carried around with people, or else they just spread naturally very effectively. It's always funny watching them in the water, totally dwarfed by the black swans in competetition for the handouts, yet usually beating them to it (and occasionally being beaten by them literally!! Anyone standing between a black swan and food is usually in for it!! :D)
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There's a Black Swan here in Strangford Lough right now. It's not a dirty Mute but a true Black Swan
Fermi I'm not sure if that white also eats cabbages
I was in America yesterday and took a shot of these rodents
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they are actually escapees from a private collection
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The Green-veined White (Artogeia napi) does eat brassicas, but not usually cabbages. More usually Cardamines spp.; Nasturtium officinale (Watercress); Lepidium heterophyllum and Lunaria rediviva (Honesty). It is not regarded as a pest species.
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Today the first ' flowers ' of my Kalopanax pictus (Araliaceae) began to open. They have an immense attraction to bees and now there are thousands of these insects visiting the tree (and me when sitting nearby).
I don't know the reason for this preference. Anthony, do you have an explanation?
Gerd Knoche, Solingen
Germany
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The flowers must be nectar or pollen rich.
Lots of butterfly activity in the garden today - Tortoishells, Red Amirals and many Whites including this Large White. All were very nervous
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Whether pollen or nectar, they seem highly attractive to bees. Perhaps they are dependent on bees for pollination and therefore, being trees and (perhaps) having individuals widely spaced, they need to draw pollintators from a distance?
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Two snail collecters, 5 & 6, were in the garden today making a collection for their bug box. I didnt tell them the snails had a feed of blue pellets yesterday
One asked "what are those swimming in the sea?" He was referring to Daphnia in my water butt. Ahh, bless!
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You should tell them Mark. If the snails die the lads may think they themselves killed them if they don't know the cause of death, and be discouraged. You may be inhibiting the development of future scientists! ???
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Mark & Anthony,
Thank you very much - today after some rain tonight there are only a few visitors.
Gerd
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The other day in the greenhouse I noticed this,
[attachthumb=1]
I guess a type a spider, but I have never seen one like it before.
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EEK! Looks like a cross between a spider and an aphid... I can't say I've seen one before, either. :P
I trust the Bub Buff will enlighten us.
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looks like a Harvest Man
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I'm with Mark on this. The clues are one body part (spiders have two) and the long thin legs, giving its other name 'Daddy-long-legs spider' (order Opiliones). They are predators and unlike spiders, eat rather than sook.
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hmm... I see from this page : http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/wildlifegarden/atoz/h/harvestman.asp that they are likely to eat our "baddies" so, when I meet one, I'll say hello, nicely!
By the way, Mark, some of the shells of your snails would make lovely earrings!
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for me or you?
Me! Wallis Simpson, the late Duchess of Windsor had some fab snail shell earrings, set with gold and some with diamonds, too, in her collection! Maggi
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Are we discovering a secret of yours, Maggi? Judging by the fact that Ian's bulbs are posted out in jewellry boxes, he must be keeping you well supplied! Maybe we should have an avatar photo in full regalia!
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OOps! No, really, ::) that was just for you, Anne, ::) other bulbs go out in plastic food cartons! And no, we do not eat vast quantities of Chinese takeaway food, the cartons can be bought very reasonably, by the boxful, at a local supplier!
I do have a reputation as something of a Maggi Magpie, I must admit... there are too many around this forum who could tell the truth if I tried a porky, so I'll come clean.... "my name is Margaret and I love sparkle".... it's an addiction I am happy to live with though, so no helpful suggestions about twelve-step programmes, thank you!
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Maggi, I think you are going to have to change the picture from you in the Kag to the one with the tiara and dripping with jewels. ;D
Here are a few more insects taken recently
1 Butterfly Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) trying to be a Rhododendron Blue in my garden.
2 Butterfly Peacock taken at a garden centre where we go for a coffee.
3 Butterfly Peacock again but what is the plant it's on? I know it but can't bring it to mind.
4 Fly on Rudbeckia Herbstsonne, which is often covered with insects just sitting sunbathing. I think many flying insects are attracted to yellow, hence the old sticky fly paper.
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John,
I suspect your peacock is on Vitex agnus-castus (Chasteberry).
Carlo
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No-one would recognise me in a tiara, John!
I love that shot of the rudbeckia... I got a nice birthday card with a similar shot, though not nearly so good!!
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Carlo, I disagree, look at the foliage... this is a perennial... some sort of Catmint? Nepeta sp ?
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Might it be on an Agastache?
Sue
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Beautiful clear rudbeckia John.
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Sue, I'm voting with you on this one!
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Me too. Great photos, John. The butterflies at last seem to be showing up in the garden. It's been a very poor year for them.
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Ok. Suitably chastised. Vitex is blooming here so I've had it on the mind...and when I saw the Buddleja-like inflorescence and the exserted stamens....I jumped where I ought not to have! Must be this bloody sinus infection...
I concede...
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Must be this bloody sinus infection...
Really? Me too... have you any remedies to help you cope with the damn thing... I get them all the time... misery, bloody misery.
By the way... chastised.... Chasteberry... very good!
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referring back a page to Mark's post :
« Reply #483 on: August 12, 2007, 11:43:14 PM » and his pic of some snazzy snails....
here is a photo of some of the snails, Cuban Tree snails, in some cases, used to make glamorous earrings for the late Duchess of Windsor in the 1960s ... I love 'em.... the earrings, that is, not the snails but when you see what you can make of the little ba------ds it seems a great revenge for all the plants they've eaten!
[attachthumb=1]
click the pic to see them more clearly.
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If only I had the lobes! :P
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If only I had the lobes!
I know, David, they're just not your style.
These, on the other hand......... ::).............
[attachthumb=1]
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Me to a T the pink goes with my eyes.
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;D Don't know what I'm laughing for, I've had a bloodshot eye for weeks now, since an eye infection and it doesn't seem to be shifting :'(.. maybe I'd be better with these pink creations instead? :-\
I think the principle of recycling snails into jewellery is a sound one, though... they have to be useful for SOMETHING. Our large Mutisia oligodon hybrid , a climber with small ivy-like leaves and pink daisy flowers is home to many millions ( yes, I'm convinced there are that many!) of the shelled menaces... all brown and boring... not a decent earring to be had from the lot of them.
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I presume you take the squidgy bit out first? :-X
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Anne,
Of course you take out the squidgy bits - a very light sprinkle of salt and a flavouring with some crushed garlic, all lightly sauteed in butter. Yummy!
Paddy
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Thanks Sue (and others having the same problem as me,furtling about in the mental cobwebs). I think it is Agastache urticifolia from the nettle shaped leaves.
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Well...only because football has been referenced here (or somewhere near) before, I'll let you know that I'll be seeing wildlife of a different sort tomorrow night when David Beckham and his mates come to New York to play my Red Bulls. Even if he's not the player he used to be, it'll be a cultural event...as well as a sporting one.
It isn't happening at Madison Square GARDEN...but at the MEADOWlands across the river (really in NJ).
I know...but I had to try to connect it to gardening somehow...
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Will you have the exquisite pleasure of seeing La Belle Victoria as well Carlo?
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Carlo, I am pleased to see that you enjoy the beautiful game. You must try to get over to the UK and see some proper football! ;D ;D
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Will you have the exquisite pleasure of seeing La Belle Victoria as well Carlo?
Well, he's better have his specs on, if that girl turns sideways she disappears! I'm sure she will be there, though: not going to miss any chances for photo opportunities to help establish American star credentials... not to mention bit of NY shopping!!
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I hardly think she'll miss a trip to NY...but with over 60,000 expected, I doiubt we'll have a chance to visit. She's certain to stand out in the crowd...
David, "the beautiful game"...you should see the children play in Mexico, coursing up and down dirt fields in their bare feet, clouds of dust swirling....
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David, "the beautiful game"...you should see the children play in Mexico, coursing up and down dirt fields in their bare feet, clouds of dust swirling....
Carlo, that's probably why very good English (Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Northern Irish) players are in such short supply these days. Unless kids today are kitted out in the most expensive shirts and boots they don't want to play.
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Half our players seem to be hobbling about on broken feet at the moment, so much for the designer boots!!!
Here are some more wildlife pics.
The Damsel flies were taken by the canal. I wonder how the male Damsel Flies feel about being given such a sissy name. It doesn't seem to have emasculated this one, doing what comes naturally.
I found these rather attractive Tulip seedhead in the garden, mainly because they were caught i a shaft of sunlight. When I put the macro lens on to photograph them I noticed a spider lurking.
Look away if you are an arachnophobe.
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John,
GREAT spider picture. I, for one, find them very photogenic.
For those who care...great match last night Red Bulls 5 Galaxy 4. An exciting back-and-forth affair. Beckham: two assists and solid (if unspectacular) play in a losing effort...and NO Posh sitings...
Going out on the lake today to view the gardens from the water...
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The spider is a rather slim Araneus diademata, the so-called Garden Spider. There is a very nice Araneus sp. found in the USA which has bright orange thorax and femurs.
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Garden Spiders scare me! On Friday I had to evict lots from inside the greenhouse
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I knew I could rely on you to give an ID Anthony. Cheers
Be gentle with them Mark. Remember all the good work they do in ridding us of disease carrying flies.
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... of the shelled menaces... all brown and boring... not a decent earring to be had from the lot of them.
Would these be any better Maggi.
[attachthumb=1]
I have some empty shells of the stripped one and had not seen a live one for a while, but when looking for the yellow one I had seen on a plant a few days ago, there it was !
The large one does not need much searching for, it seems to be everywhere. I was reading an article the other day about snail farmers and it mentioned about there being a lesser/greater, small/large one, is this the edible type ?
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A slimy rainbow if ever I've seen one!
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yes the big one is for eating but not unril the gut has been cleared using oats
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The large one (Helix aspersa (common or garden snail) is indeed eaten most commonly, but the edible snail served in restaurants and tins is H. pomatia.
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Andrew, the yellow and striped ones are much prettier and more to my taste, if you'll pardon the pun!
It seems that Cuban Tree snails and the marine snails have very much thicker shelss, so are easier to convert to jewellery wear than the thinner, more fragile, garden versions.....I think a lot of shells would be required to allow for breakages!!
A woman on telly yesterday said it was a waste of time to collect and kill the slugs and snails in the garden... as many of us do on our nightly hunting expeditions... she said just use nematodes or pellets... suggested that slug-pubs, containers with beer in to drown the brutes were liableto kill beneficial critters, too... what a misery she is..... even if the overall numbers are not greatly affected by our hunting, surely credit must be given for effort and the morale boost to the gardener for having at least TRIED to combat the slimy hordes?
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I think they are finally under control in my garden by using pellets. Could we not club together to get Vine Weevils genetically modified to eat 'em?
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That's not a bad idea, Mark.... Ian's solution was to have the slimy fellows genetically modified to only eat weeds ::) I wonder if there's a boffin somewhere working on this, even now?
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At last the sun came out and I decided to see what else was feeding on the flowers. The Verbena bonariensis always has the insects lining up to drink the nectar.
1 Painted lady never used to appear in my garden but now is a conatant visitor but am not sure what has changed to attract it. Perhaps the host plant for the caterpillars has been changed nearby.
2 Small Tortoiseshell are, as usual, abundant on the Verbena.
3 Holly Blue seems to prefer the Rudbeckia
4 Red Admiral on the Phlox.
5 When I went back to the conservatory for a res,t, I found it had beaten me to the couch.
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great shots John. Butterflies in my garden this year are very flitty
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No 5 is a peacock John.
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I think it might be a peahen - sorry, Anthony, couldn't resist!
Paddy
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Super pictures John. Many thanks for posting....great minds must think alike though, as we went to Parceval Hall in the Yorkshire Dales to take some late summer images and I found myself concentrating on the butterflies and other little winged creatures...though some blooms did feature as well.
Just a sample of some of today's piccies....
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Final batch from Parceval Hall today...
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What wonderful pics. You in the north do butterflies much better than we do. Or rather, you have so many more kinds. It's great to see these, many thanks.
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Super pics Cliff but I don't know about the 'great minds', perhaps 'like minds think great'. It's a long while since I went to Parceval Hall, it's a lovely tranquil place.
Thanks for the correction Mr D. I diddn't see it with wings open, it flitted whilst my back was turned.
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Cliff,
Absolute corkers of pics. The colours in the flutterbies are just beautiful!! WOW!! Nothing like those around here..... ours are predominantly boring, well compared to those anyway.
I must dig up a pic of our strange delta-wing insect we get around here. It looks like a butterfly to a degree, but when it lands it's wings fold in separately, giving it the appearance of having 4 smaller wings, 2 flat, and 2 at an angle from the back. I never have worked out what it is and it has been damned hard to photograph as the little beggar is FAST and darn fidgety. 8)
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Lesley there must be great looking butterfly species down there.
And mentioning down there I read recently that we are supposed to be at the bottom but early scientists put us at the top
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Gorgeous photos, Cliff. Thanks so much for sharing them with us!
Chloe
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We have very nice butterflies Mark but the most spectacular were mostly introduced in some way. We don't have the gorgeous peacock or the painted lady for instance, or any of the fritillaries (only fritillarias :)) Among our natives, we have a beautiful blue rather like the holly blue in John's pic but it's little more than a cm in width. Then there are little tawny orangy ones, which live in the mountains on the tussocks so they're beautifully disguised.The biggest of course, is the wonderful monarch, introduced and down this way only after several mild winters in a row as the pupae can't take our frosts. I haven't seen one near Dunedin for at least 5 years.
If up is top, then you're at the top, we're at the bottom but that's OK, we're ahead ;D ;D ;D
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The most gorgeous one is your native Red Admiral Lesley. You should have Painted Ladies as, like the Monarch, they are tremendous migrants? Monarchs even reach the UK from America in certain years.
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Many thanks for all the kind comments...just a few more from our trip to Parceval Hall to finish the subject...the moorland scenery in this part of the world is quite spectacular.
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....And on to the end....
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Did you put the Peacock's eyes above the seed pod on purpose to look like a face with sad eyes and trout pout lips? ;D
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well spotted John
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Lovely thought John....wish I had spotted it!
...And now for something completely different! A day out at Tropical World in Roundhay Park, Leeds (Tuesday 28th August) and a range of butterflies, ducks and flowers (and an odd mouse)....certainly NOT alpine fare, but the images may brighten someone's day?
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Second batch from Tropical World....
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Last batch....must get an evening meal.
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Cliff the ducks are Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris
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Thanks Mark....you are a mine of information.
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Dont know about a mine maybe a small tunnel
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The tropical pitcher is a tropical Aristolochia sp.. This genus is the food of the largest butterflies in the worl, the giant birdwings of New Guinea and the surrounding islands. Some are indeed named after the butterflies whose larvae feed on them, such Aristolochia alexandrae.
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Once again, my thanks Anthony....another 'tunnel' of information.....
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I was once called a bottomless pit, but I suspect that was a reference to my eating habits (my nickname at primary school was 'Dustbin'). ::)
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Cliff,
A great sequence of photographs. Would you mind saying what equipment you used when taking them? What lens type, for example? Automatic or manual focusing?
Paddy
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What super pics Cliff. I'm not a mouse fan but that little striped guy is very cute. Gorgeous butterflies too.
The duck's name must qualify for the months ago thread about long and complex names. One to be practised regularly.
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Thanks Paddy and Lesley,
They were all taken with the Nikon D80 - AF-S NIKKOR 18-135mm lens combination....all hand-held (not EVEN my usual belly rest with this camera), though I do tend to utilise walls, trees, fences, etc. whenever possible. I use auto focus as much as possible, but tend to override it if I'm trying (manfully) to be what might loosely be termed 'artistic'.
Quite pleased with the camera, so much so that I have purchased the 70-300mm lens as well....but, as I have already mentioned, I wouldn't do without my trusty Nikon 995 for close-ups at the shows.
As a guide I took 54 shots today at Tropical World....I felt 24 were suitable for posting, another 15 could possibly have made the grade, 10 were just average and certainly not good enough to post and 5 were deleted during checking. Hope this helps?
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An artistic Booker, surely an oxymoron!!! Has anyone posted one of those on this link yet?
Shelagh
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I once had a friend called Shelagh....
....but I suspect she just called me a 'cow-like moron'? :o :)
....unless she is simply suggesting that I am a rhetorical figure in which an epigrammatic effect is created by the conjunction of incongruous or contradictory terms!!!
....Doh!
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Cliff,
Many thanks for the technical information. The camera is certainly doing its work for you with or without belly support.
Isn't it the great advantage of the digital camera that one can afford to take the extra shots and later discard them without any thought of it being waste.
Paddy
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Millions more shots being taken around the world Paddy....millions more people enjoying this 'affordable' photography. Wonderful.
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Cliff,
Yes, I remember poorer days when my photography was almost exclusively in B & W. I did manage to economise by buying bulk rolls of 35mm film and only printing those photographs I really liked. At that time I did my own developing and printing, great fun but digital photography beats it all. The one drawback I see is that when I worked with film I always took great care with each shot to ensure good photographs, taking more care with lighting, framing, composition etc. With digital there is the temptation to shoot away with a certain assurance that some of them will turn out well and anyway much can be done on the computer now also.
Paddy
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I agree Paddy, but I still believe there is still an element of image selection in any kind of photography (and every artistic endeavor for that matter) that comes quite naturally to some people and not perhaps as readily to others? Perhaps a 'photographic eye' is an apt description? I'm sure that digital media and computer manipulation can't always make a purse out of a sow's ear.
I still TRY to make every shot count, but even in the bad (good) old days of transparencies I would only achieve satisfying results with two thirds of my shots.
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A picture of a Painted Lady enjoying the late summer sun
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Small Tortoiseshell TC!
In my garden today were Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals, a Painted Lady.
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I do exterminate many pests in the garden but always try a more humane approach if possible eg. teaching snails to fly across the main road to rough but new pastures.
Mice I trap in a humane trap and let them go at soe distance from the house. I was told that they have homing instincts and so I got to thinking that perhaps I was catching the same ones over and again. I decided to start marking them and so far have not caught the same mouse twice over the past 2 months.
One poor little baby was trapped in the night and we had a downpour. When I opened the trap into the waste bin (for the marking process) it was almost dead with cold so I spent about half an hour warming it gently with a hair drier until it revived.
Especially for Lesley ;D
Here are the pictures of the marking process.
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ahh little meeces
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Small Tortoiseshell TC!
Thanks Mark,
When naming the thumbnails on the computer I crossed the names between Small Tortoiseshell and Painted Lady !
This female Sparrowhawk has been haunting my garden, trying unsuccessfully to catch some of our Sparrows who live in a thick cotoneaster hedge. She is so tame that I can approach within 10 feet and she doesn't pay any attention to me.
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Terrific pic of a sparrow hawk Tom. I read an article in yesterday's Independent by Richard Ingram, and I quote: "used by now to seeing red kites circling menacingly [sic] over my house, I was pleased to see a picture of a dead one in yesterday's Independent". The half wit then goes on to blame the RSPB (and the EU) for the demise of small song birds: "you don't have to be an ornithologist to work out that the decline of the small bird might have something to do with the increase in the numbers of the large ones, especially when one is actually sparrowhawk". He finishes with "the kites, buzzards and sparrowhawks are the ones who are going to get the protection of this poweful and influential charity. Perhaps in the future they should make it the RSPBB - the BB standing for big birds". Clearly the guy is clueless. Without a healthy population of prey items (only one of the above predators eats birds), there would be no big birds.
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While drinking a coffee on my terrace something singing loud in my rose bush... I carefully approached to I find the sound source.
A green grashopper (Tettigonia viridissima), female. Our largest grasshopper species and only one eating other insects.
When I tried to catch with my hands to get a good photo it was quickly climbing and jumping in the branches to escape while I got a big thorn in my finger...
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John if that poor little mouse - the one you so humanely revived - comes back to eat the corms of your finest crocuses, I shall be the first to say "it serves you right!" :-X
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Can some one please name Cliff's 'Tropical Lampshade', hopefully clicking the link below will give you a reminder :-
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=155.0;attach=27576;image
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Andrew,
It's a Hoya...I'd have to dig around to find out just which species...
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Andrew they make a great house plant trained around an inside window frame. I may be able to get you a plant or cutting
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But the honey in the flowers drips down onto the windowsill or whatever's underneath the plant so can be really messy as well as beautiful. And after a while the dust on the leaves looks dreadful. Not possible to dust and polish every leaf even if my obsession with house-keeping extended further than the occasional quick flick around the accessible surfaces.
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It looks pretty much like Hoya carnosa.
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Lesley, I'm afraid unintentional neglect has already had a devastating effect on my collection. One doesn't realise the amount of work one does to maintain a collection of plants until no longer able to do it and the decline is rapid. :'(
I gave away most of my show plants in the hope that they would be kept in good condition. So not much of note left to feed the meeces but I do still maintain the vigil to protect what is left.
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I think the Hoya is H. carnosa, I used to grow it, and H. bella. Loved them for their sculpted flowers and delicious scent though, as Lesley says, they are messy, sticky-dripping everywhere.
Funnily enough, last weekend at the local Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen flower show, there was a nice Hoya on show in the houseplant section. It wasn't a species I knew ( and, now, of course, I cannot remember what it was) but the sad thing was, it had no scent. Couldn't believe it, I thought they all had good fragrance. I've noticed that Clivias seem to have stopped being scented, too !! None of mine are fragrant nowadays and they are a fond memory of my childhood, when I looked forward to the scent as much as the blooms. Strange old world, ain't it?
If the Hoya at the butterfly world had no scent, would the butterflies still be interested? Doesn't more scent equal more nectar, as a rule? :-\
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John, I know all about non-intentional neglect and I haven't the excuse of ill health or absence from home. Either it's too much else to do, or just plain laziness. Too large an area to care for and far too many plants in pots wanting to be planted out, so I'm the last person on earth to be "blaming" anyone else for plant losses, from whatever cause.
I have this lovely mental picture of you, small, damp and shivering mouse in one hand, Pat's hairdrier (I doubt if you need one :D) in the other, and a warm, tropical breeze gently drying the little creature out so that he may soon be released across the road into the waiting paws of the neighbour's cat.
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My mother had a very large Hoya carnosa trained around three sides of a large patio and the local bellbirds came to drink the nectar. Sometimes there were 20 at a time all slurping and singing at once, the noise deafening.
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Thank you Carlo et al, for identifing the Hoya. The reason for wanting to know, was that I inherited one.
I have been smelling something in the conservatory recently and it suddenly clicked it was that and not the sarracenia which I also have in there.
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Not sure if Hoya nectar is meant for butterflies, as they often get their proboscises trapped and there they remain. John, mice will find their way home if they aren't taken at least two miles.
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They certainly like heather Anthony....I captured this image this afternoon on the moors near our house...the bees were also captured today under a warming late summer sun on the lavender in our garden.
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Not sure if Hoya nectar is meant for butterflies, as they often get their proboscises trapped and there they remain
Bit daft to have the plant at Butterfly world, then?
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Lesley, you're right that I am finding it more difficult these days even to grow hair :'(
Anthony, I will let you know if I trap one of the marked ones returning from less than 1/2 mile.
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The cat that made this hole unearthed Tulips and Dactylorizas. It maybe thought it was a rabbit
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Careful there Mark...what that cat deposited in the hole might just look like a dislodged rhizome....
(poor Dactylorhiza. the bulb is much easier to just pop back in...)