Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Ragged Robin on September 08, 2010, 09:45:18 AM
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The river is full of ducks with fabulous plumage out swimming or hiding in the shallows
Maggi, I have started this month's Wildlife topic although there are a few September posts in August - hope that's OK
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Maggi, I have started this month's Wildlife topic although there are a few September posts in August - hope that's OK
Thanks for this, Robin! ;)
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Hi do yo remember the pictures of the tame fox that my husband took pictures off on the golf course
I am sad to tell you that it was killed not in the way that I had thought which was a farmer shooting it. No some golfer took his golf club and broke the foxes back. Another golfer seen this and had no alternative but to kill the fox. The police were called in and when the man came it he told the police that the fox tried to attack him, there reply was it is a wild animal so we don't know if we can take any further action.
The green keeper said the fox has young and he would contact the RSPCA tomorrow.
I just can't believe that anyone could be so cruel, he must have used some force to break the foxes back.
I did say to my husband it's not a good thing to pet this fox as it was better that it was left wild. I take no pleasure in being proved right I am just very sad tonight.
Angie :-[
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Found this parked at the back door for a couple of hours.
Any ideas?
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what a stunning little moth Arnold,can't tell you the sp though.
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I just did a quick Google http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_webworm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_webworm)
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Do you want a giggle?
A shop in N Ireland is selling products to scare away moles :o, woodpecker nest boxes :o and little owl nest boxes :o ::). The latter is the wrong design.
huh?
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Sorry to hear about 'your' fox Angie. There was another story in the paper today about a fox attacking someone but I don't think there is any excuse for deliberate cruelty.
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Angie it breaks my heart to hear of such cruelty :'( what a shame that there are still people who want to harm are only native dog species,these people will only be glad when the only time we see foxes is stuffed and mounted in museums.
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Wow, Mark. How did you do that?
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I can imagine some people are scared after that fox attack, but if we all decided to get rid of things that we didn't like where would we be.
The man that took the golf club to the fox just walked away and carried on with his golf game. I really feel sorry for the man that had to finish the fox of. Maybe the man could have just thrown something at the fox.
I am just glad that there wasn't a young family behind this man as it would have been so scary for them.
They are looking for the cubs , but they think the cubs will be old enough to look after themselves.
My husband feels guilty feeding the fox now.
I feel guilty if I roll a rabbit over but I am a bit of a softie and I couldn't be cruel to any animal.
Angie :(
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Arnold I just ran my fingers over the keys
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Today my swallows left there nest. I was a bit worried that they had left it so late but no they all made it.
This is the second nest that was build around the house. I waited 16 years for them to make a nest so this year I was happy. I do hope they come back next year.
Can anyone tell me will the use the same nest next year ?
Angie:)
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It's a very long journey that is getting more difficult every year. Fingers and toes crossed they should be back.
You could give them a helping hand next year by buying and putting up a swallow nest 'box'
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It's a very long journey that is getting more difficult every year. Fingers and toes crossed they should be back.
You could give them a helping hand next year by buying and putting up a swallow nest 'box'
Good idea Mark...I kept the links that you had given us for the boxes, maybe I could put a few up incase they all come back, I do hope so.
Angie :)
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Angie, I feel so angry at your fox story. Mankind's stupid and callous actions against wild - or domesticated - animals truly disgusts me.
Having said that I am also disgusted that a young man, 21 I think, or maybe 19, was this week in court given 9 months home detention for running down and killing an elderly woman on a pedestrian crossing, while he was texting on his mobile phone, now an illegal action, as it certainly should be. To my mind, killing someone while committing an illegal action should have a manslaughter charge attached.
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I have been distressed by the sorry tale of Angela's fox and like Lesley, I get quite furious about the feeble punishments meted out to those who cause death or mayhem in their cars.... especially when they are doing something truly STUPID, like texting or speaking on their phones.... it INFURIATES me to see that..... and it is all too common. What are such incidents as the death of that woman but assault with a deadly weapon?
Should have put this in the moan, moan, moan thread.... it is one of my pet grumphs.
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This furry white moth was on my deck this morning. Does anyone know what it is? Also, is the moth being parasitized? From afar, the dark part on the back looked like a marking, but once seen in the enlarged closeup photo. it looks like parasites :P :-\.
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Another one, a pretty white and yellow moth (or is it a butterfly?) on an Allium. Any ideas about what it is?
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Mark, this seems to be a Small White (Pieris rapae) - common (and a pest) in Europe and introduced in North America.
Gerd
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Another one, a pretty white and yellow moth (or is it a butterfly?) on an Allium. Any ideas about what it is?
Plenty of them here as well. They are a major pest on any brassicas. I once saw them on a mountain at about 1200 metres and wondered what they were doing there as there were no suitable food plants growing at that altitude. I realised they were being blown over the mountain from a paddock of turnips below. Enjoy them while they are still a novelty.
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Mark I think your moth has a bat dropping on it
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I think this went over peoples heads. Ireland has no moles, no little owls and woodpeckers are very rare
Do you want a giggle?
A shop in N Ireland is selling products to scare away moles :o, woodpecker nest boxes :o and little owl nest boxes :o ::). The latter is the wrong design.
huh?
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I think this went over peoples heads. Ireland has no moles, no little owls and woodpeckers are very rare
I certainly didn't realise that Mark - we get all three in our garden.
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It's been a poor year for the more attractive migratory butterflies, not helped by the fact that mass mortality of Buddlejas last winter! However, this weekend two Red Admirals turned up (picture), lots of Silver Y moths and also a resident (but very rare here) Peacock butterfly.
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all I have seen this year are tortoishells. No peacocks, red admirals or painted ladies
Gail do you have a nest box for your little owls? The one at work is half open but they actually nest in holes
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Another golfer seen this and had no alternative but to kill the fox.
What a dreadful story Angie. If I would have been the other golfer my next step would be
[attach=1]
Or would this have been to cruel ::) ::)
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Angie,
I deeply regret the unlucky destiny of your fox. But this sad end is what I feared already.
'The man' is a villian and a most dangerous one at that. The dimwits will never die out!
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Gail do you have a nest box for your little owls? The one at work is half open but they actually nest in holes
We've put a nest box up for the little owls but so far they have ignored it, although it has been used by a family of starlings, twice by great tits and once by hornets!
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Angie,
I deeply regret the unlucky destiny of your fox. But this sad end is what I feared already.
I to feared that this fox wouldn't live long.
Luit I liked that golf swing ( or would this have been to cruel ) ::) ;D ;D :-X
Angie :)
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I think this went over peoples heads. Ireland has no moles, no little owls and woodpeckers are very rare
Mark I never new this either, I wasn't sure what you were meaning. My woodpeckers make an awful mess of my trees in the garden.
Angie :)
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I think this went over peoples heads. Ireland has no moles, no little owls and woodpeckers are very rare
I was with you on that one Mark. They sell little owl boxes here in Scotland too! 8) They just blanket bomb in these stores and don't do their homework. A bit like Roy Lancaster at a Gardeners' Question Time recorded in Dunblane. He was asked what to plant in a mixed hedge and suggested planting Buckthorn to attract egg-laying Brimstone butterflies. Brimstones are not found in Scotland!
I checked the swallows in that structure along one of the weed killed tracks owned by Kippendavie Estates. The nest used last year was empty, but there was another with a cold addled egg in it. There was also a dead swallow on the floor of the 'shed'. SEPA is apparently not interested in doing toxicology on it as it is not a raptor and proving that is was the weed killer would by nigh on impossible. It could be coincidence but poisonous aerosols, not to mention biomagnification of toxins wouldn't help! ???
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I was with you on that one Mark. They sell little owl boxes here in Scotland too! 8) They just blanket bomb in these stores and don't do their homework. A bit like Roy Lancaster at a Gardeners' Question Time recorded in Dunblane. He was asked what to plant in a mixed hedge and suggested planting Buckthorn to attract egg-laying Brimstone butterflies. Brimstones are not found in Scotland!
Isn't the reason that Brimstones aren't found in Scotland that Buckthorn isn't available for them? So, if enough people planted Buckthorn following Lancaster's recommendation, they might well start appearing. I've planted Buckthorn in my garden, Brimstones have reached my area over the last 10 years and I've already had two sightings in my garden...
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Stephen that is probably right, but Rhamnus catharticus is found in south west Scotland but the brimstone has been recorded there. You would need a continuous corridor of buckthorn hedges to drag them north and Dunblane is well over 100 miles from the Scottish border. The brimstone's current distribution seems to peter out in the lake district. I have two species of buckthorn in my hedge and Dobbies Butterfly World in Edinburgh tried a planting regime in and around Edinburgh 20 years ago with a view to introducing brimstones. When the publicity dried up the manager at the time (Martin Feather) dropped the project. I wonder what they did with all the remaining buckthorn plants (apart from the two they gave me)? Being a butterfly that hibernates outdoors our damp winters may not be favourable to its survival, but then this also applies to the comma?
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I was with you on that one Mark. They sell little owl boxes here in Scotland too! 8) They just blanket bomb in these stores and don't do their homework.
And here, all the garden centres are associated with certain chains, all North Island orientated and local garden centres are required to take what is distributed, regardless of the fact that much of it is quite unsuited to our climate in the south. We get tropical and semi-tropical stuff foisted onto us and it will all die as soon as a frost hits it but unless you KNOW the plants, you buy them because they look nice on the labels and no mention is made that they are tender.
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It is amazing what people will buy. Supermarkets here sell water softening agents and all sorts of stuff for getting rid of limescale and people buy it, even though nowhere north of Yorkshire has hard water! I wonder how many mole scarers Mark will sell in a week. He could make it a project? ;D
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It is amazing what people will buy. Supermarkets here sell water softening agents and all sorts of stuff for getting rid of limescale and people buy it, even though nowhere north of Yorkshire has hard water! I wonder how many mole scarers Mark will sell in a week. He could make it a project? ;D
Ha!! I also laugh at the limescale stuff on sale in my part of Portugal - acid soil, granite, soft water ... If I lived down in Coimbra/Lisbon, it would be quite another story, of course.
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I think this went over peoples heads. Ireland has no moles,
Do you want a giggle?
A shop in N Ireland is selling products to scare away moles :o,
huh?
Mark,
obviously those scarers work! ;D
cheers
fermi
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Isn't this meant to be an activity for spring?.... :-[
In my garden this week.
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It's nearly spring John! ;D Maybe they mate before hibernation?
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Why wait anyway ... ? ;D ;D ;D ::)
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Never pass up an opportunity, eh Cliff? ::)
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Walking near Wells Next The Sea we came across this charming fellow. Appeared to be munching away on the remains of a grasshopper. He didn't move, even when the camera was only 6 inches away. A bank vole, maybe. Could anyone confirm the I/D.
Mike
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Super shot Mike!
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Super shot Mike!
i agree.
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Great picture, Mike - if they would stick to eating bugs and insects they'd be on a winner!
Hard to tell what exactly he is, Myodes glareolus (formerly Clethrionomys glareolus) or Microtus agrestis but Josef Hlasek has some super shots of both.....
http://www.hlasek.com/ccsavcihlodavci1an.html
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Walking near Wells Next The Sea we came across this charming fellow. Appeared to be munching away on the remains of a grasshopper. He didn't move, even when the camera was only 6 inches away. A bank vole, maybe. Could anyone confirm the I/D.
Mike
Certainly cute little things, but oooHHHHH, the stuff they can do around the garden %$#^&! The voles, moles, and shrews are incredibly active this year, moreso now that cool weather (mostly at night) has arrived. I'm off to war, C..H...A....R.....G...E!!!!!!!
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These assorted small furries can certainly do a lot of damage...... often times, I believe (luckily I have not experienced this myself) under the cover of snow.... where crops ( think Janis R's bulbs) and lawns ( or whole golf greens) can disappear while the little chompers are at work while we can see nothing other than the soft undisturbed blanket of snow..... :(
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These assorted small furries can certainly do a lot of damage...... often times, I believe (luckily I have not experienced this myself) under the cover of snow.... where crops ( think Janis R's bulbs) and lawns ( or whole golf greens) can disappear while the little chompers are at work while we can see nothing other than the soft undisturbed blanket of snow..... :(
Yes, each spring as the snow/ice recedes it's disheartening to see the network of a bazillion zig-zagging tunnels working through the sod and garden areas. However, you should see the earth they're pushing up now, amazing how quickly they can move into an area and the amount of soil they lift up in just a few days. The quick advance on lawn areas is an annual event each autumn as the temperatures cool.
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Ant-lions, or antlions, do you get them? I was reminded on this picture perfect (but still VERY DRY) day, that the ant-lions are out in force, with our drier-than-dust soil pitted with small circular funnel-shaped depressions, ant-lion mini death-traps. These creatures have an amazing metamorphosis, but at the current larvae stage they are most insidious hunters.
Inspecting the soil for any sign of fall blooming bulbs (yeah right.... need some rain first) I spied an ant struggling at the bottom of the pit, held by the emerging pincers of an ant-lion. There's no escape, as the sides of the bone dry funnel depression collapses in on itself if an insect tries to crawl up and out... every movement leads inevitably to the center point and the pincers, surely the inspiration for the Star Wars movie scene and the sand-pit monster, where Luke Skywalker and Jabba the Hutt have their final showdown.
Just for fun, I gently poked little twigs at the center of the pits, and the ant-lions jump out to grab what they perceive as prey. Some links:
Antlion traps:
http://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Antlion_trap.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ant_lion_8785.JPG
Antlion images:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&expIds=17259,17315,23628,23670,25834,25856,25900,26328,26425,26446,26515,26569&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=antlion&cp=5&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=n1KSTJaDIoOBlAfCuKmpCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCgQsAQwAA&biw=1272&bih=828
Antlion sites in Australia, shows eggs and lacewing phase as well. Talk about camouflage, even in the lacewing phase!
http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Antlion/Myrmeleontidae%20family/.html
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_lacewings/Myrmeleontidae.htm
Book, The Mighty Ant-lion
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2006/08/the_mighty_antlion.php
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No ant-lions in the UK Mark. I think central France would be our nearest.
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No ant-lions in the UK Mark. I think central France would be our nearest.
That is quite near enough, thank you! :P :-X
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(http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/szita-4.jpg)
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Here are some examples for ' Bees- and Birdhotels ' (especially for Armin)found today at the 'Naturschutzhof Nettetal ' near the Dutch border.
Especially the sparrows were enthusiastic about the tower!
Gerd
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Hi Gerd,
thank you for showing this excellent samples of how every forumist easily and with only few effort can support endangered populations of wild solitary bees and birds.
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Armin, you´re welcome - I'm glad you like the samples!
Gerd
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Some Forumists have commented to me about an email they have seen about this
dolphin pilot whale slaughter.... I was sent this video link too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5nb3VsMRbc .... horrible, brutal, deeply distressing.
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These aren't dolphins but pilot whales that are being slaughtered in the Faeroe Islands. I'm afraid there are still some very primitive peoples out there. There is some poetic justice though, as the earthfirst website says: "Ironically, this practice, called grindadráp, is diminishing the population of 5,000 islanders. Many of them get sick and die from high mercury levels in the whales. Mentally retarded children are reportedly being born at alarmingly high rates".
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Thanks for the correction, Anthony.... I found it so horrible I wasn't looking closely enough to make sensible ID, but I realised as I read what you said that you are right.
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Thanks for this Maggi. Asked to forward it to friends I felt maybe the Forum could reach the most people in the shortest time. Whether we, away from the scene can do anything, any more than we can about the slaughter "for scientific purposes" of whales in the Southern Ocean is problematical. But we certainly can't if we don't know about it.
Under the circumstances I can't feel sorry that the islanders involved are suffering.
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my garden very popular in the butterfly community in this year
(http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/rcs.jpg)
(http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/lepe.jpg)
(http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/pvaszem.jpg)
but they do not have patient to stay in line for a photo ;D (http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/kere.jpg)
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I founded the rigth topic so move there ::)