Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: fredg on August 02, 2011, 09:16:13 PM
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This one arose out of the neglect my plants have had to suffer for a few months.
Not sure how it got into a Roscoea pot as there's no more in the garden.
Apparently the berries are edible when ripe.
I like it, I may grow some ;D
Solanum nigrum - Black nightshade
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You've written nigrinum in the text instead of nigrum, Fred.
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Yesterday I was cutting of some dead wood on my mock orange and I went to pull a branch towards me there was a squishy thing on the branch, oh it was horrible. It was straight until I gave it a poke with a stick. Why does there have to be so much creepy crawlies in the garden.
Angie :)
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Angie
If you look well
It's a beauty
almost invisible for predators
Roland
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Angie
If you look well
It's a beauty
almost invisible for predators
Roland
A beauty :o :o :o
Angie :)
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What an amazingly efficient disguise.
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It looks like a peppered moth (Biston betularia) caterpillar Angie. The industrial revolution (invented by Abraham Darby) caused many areas of the UK to lose the lichens growing on tree trunks and covered the tree bark in soot. Within a few years natural selection had changed many populations of moths from 0.1% black (a mutation) rather than 'peppered' to 90%+ black as the black moths we now better camouflaged than the normal peppered form so survived longer to breed.
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Anthony as much as I don't like creepy things I can't get over how good their camouflage is. I googled this month to see what it looks like and I have seen this peppered month on my widows in the evening.
Very interesting story.
Angie :)
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Was in Lynfield, near Blockhouse Bay, Auckland dropping Heidi off at her boyfriend's house. Decided to pop over to Avondale to look for the famed spider. Only found rainbow skinks, an Australian import. Caught one just to take its pic.
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Was in Lynfield, near Blockhouse Bay, Auckland dropping Heidi off at her boyfriend's house. Decided to pop over to Avondale to look for the famed spider. Only found rainbow skinks, an Australian import. Caught one just to take its pic.
What a relief! Now that is some really attractive wildlife.... though I suppose, being introduced, he is "skinkus non grata"? I really like that sort of critter..... just the four legs.... very nice!
;D
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I assume that's a baby Anthony, either that or you have huge fingers :o
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I thought he was about right.....http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/herpscommon/JCUDEV_009764
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That's the one Maggi. There is a series of ornamental (made of volcanic rock and don't serve a purpose) walls at the south end of the local football pitches that have myriads of them.
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I notice the national bird show was held at the local secondary school last weekend: http://www.birdclubs.org.nz/Downloads/ShowSchedule2011.pdf
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I thought he was about right.....http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/herpscommon/JCUDEV_009764
OK you're saying he has huge fingers. ;D
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I thought he was about right.....http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/herpscommon/JCUDEV_009764
OK you're saying he has huge fingers. ;D
Suppose I am! ;D
The skink is about half grown, do you think ?
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That's the one Maggi. There is a series of ornamental (made of volcanic rock and don't serve a purpose) walls at the south end of the local football pitches that have myriads of them.
Well perhaps THAT'S their purpose, to provide a home for skinks. :)
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There's a newish, nightmare inducing programme started on a TV channel here, called, simply "Infestatation." You'd love it Maggi. ;D On Tuesday night it was about a spider species, some ants and garter snakes that had invaded 3 separate homes in different American states. The families affected seemed amazing cool about them all until there were some final straw moments. In the snake case, the husband/father had been gathering up more than 40 a day on the back yard and eventually when he crawled under the house, he found a hibernation pit with literally thousands, in every size from fully grown to tiny newly hatched ones. The house had been built on top of the pit way back some time and a previous family had walked away, understandably but then put the house on the market without, apparently, notifying of the hell hole beneath. The current family, also packed up and left - and put the house back on the market!
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OK you're saying he has huge fingers. ;D
Suppose I am! ;D
The skink is about half grown, do you think ?
For the record, the last joint of my finger is 30 mm long! ::) The snout-vent length of an adult rainbow skink ranges from 40 - 55 mm.
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There's a newish, nightmare inducing programme started on a TV channel here, called, simply "Infestatation." You'd love it Maggi. ;D On Tuesday night it was about a spider species, some ants and garter snakes that had invaded 3 separate homes in different American states. The families affected seemed amazing cool about them all until there were some final straw moments. In the snake case, the husband/father had been gathering up more than 40 a day on the back yard and eventually when he crawled under the house, he found a hibernation pit with literally thousands, in every size from fully grown to tiny newly hatched ones. The house had been built on top of the pit way back some time and a previous family had walked away, understandably but then put the house on the market without, apparently, notifying of the hell hole beneath. The current family, also packed up and left - and put the house back on the market!
Was there no way of filling the pit in with concrete during the summer, when the snakes have dispersed?
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Something of the kind was mentioned but it seemed they would have had to lift the house to get at the pit. Too expensive.
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Something of the kind was mentioned but it seemed they would have had to lift the house to get at the pit. Too expensive.
It can be done! Here's a house we saw last week in Napier. By Friday it had been taken away in sections on low loaders! :o
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Here are the decorative walls. The actually continue down the central grassy strip in the street we live in.
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Something of the kind was mentioned but it seemed they would have had to lift the house to get at the pit. Too expensive.
It can be done! Here's a house we saw last week in Napier. By Friday it had been taken away in sections on low loaders! :o
Hey that's brilliant. Now I wonder I'd I could pick up my home and transport to a nice sunny place ;D
Angie :)
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Just looking through some old photos and thought Maggi would like a look.
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And a few more!
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That's you off the Christmas card list, Paul !
Great pictures though.... if some a bit on the large side. ;) Some too large to be visible, and thus terrifying, on my screen!
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I hope most of those creepies can't live in Scotland :o
Angie :)
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Angie number 3 can and does live in your house - house spider
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Number twelve lives in our house and round the west coast of Scotland, at least. It's Pholcus phalangoides the daddy long-legs spider. I suspect the rest would be found in Scotland, although I can't recall seeing the green number 1?
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Number 1 is Araniella cucurbitina and is common all over the British Isles.
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Number 1 is Araniella cucurbitina and is common all over the British Isles.
and it spins its web across a single leaf
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My greenhouse is covered in spider webs. I would hate to think that number 11 could be around me. It looks like a baby tarantula :o
Do you think there is a place in the world that there isn't snakes and spiders.
Angie :)
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You never know what may be lurking around the house or garden. The Natural History Museum lists 14 species of spider in the UK that Bite. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/identification-guides-and-keys/spider-bites/index.html
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Anthony, the American snake house was a really big, two-storied house so there would have been some logistical problems I guess. We do a lot of house shifting like the Napier one. In fact my late husband and I did one ourselves, (I mean a contractor did) about 1972 I think it was, and a smaller one than in your pic. There's a little group of 4 just arrived recently quite nearby and already 3 are fixed up and lived it, fenced, landscaped etc. They look nice but right beside Dunedin's southern motorway. Then you would have seen the old Auckland pub which was recently moved back into place on rails, having been shunted along 100 metres or so, so that roading could be carried out underneath it I think. When we saw it on TV news, it looked as if it was being moved centimetre at a time, a very slow but ultimately successful process.
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Number 11 is a zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) and only 5 mm long. Number 7 is a lycosid, so related to the tarantula (not the great big bird-eaters that are now commonly misnamed tarantulas).
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Here are the decorative walls. The actually continue down the central grassy strip in the street we live in.
Nice walls for Ramondas, but they do seem a bit pointless given the gaps between the blocks. ???
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We all know that young birds have to learn to feed themselves but this heron has gone too far and will probably die
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/river-serves-up-full-irish-to-young-heron-2840574.html?start=1 (http://www.independent.ie/national-news/river-serves-up-full-irish-to-young-heron-2840574.html?start=1)
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We all know that young birds have to learn to feed themselves but this heron has gone too far and will probably die
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/river-serves-up-full-irish-to-young-heron-2840574.html?start=1 (http://www.independent.ie/national-news/river-serves-up-full-irish-to-young-heron-2840574.html?start=1)
Black pudding in the River Dodder in Dublin, Ha! That's heroin in a condom.
Boy, is that heron going to wake up with some headache.
Paddy
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An interesting end for a blue tit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-14416809
Paddy
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Today at the market one of my vendors told me of her cat who went next door and stole half a roast chicken from the dining table, while the owner was talking on the phone in the next room. :o He brought it home and struggled to get it onto HER table, but succeeded.
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I came across what I think is a different hedgehog. I saw it trotting along a muddy path at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, but the pics were taken at 2 p.m. in bright sunshine. It has lost a lot of spines and a triangular patch of spines at the middle back is actually detached from the skin, as you can see in the second last pic. It seems quite active otherwise! The pheasant flew as I approached the hedgehog. The final pic shows the walls in our street. The back of our car is seen on the right at the far end. The pic is looking east. I suppose ramondas would grow on the south side quite well, but I suspect they would be zapped? Beyond the bushes at the end of the street is a T-junction and across from that an expanse of grass leading down to a stream with large storm-water ponds, with more grass before the flats.
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Here's a silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) feeding on nectar from a bottle-brush bush.
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Great Silver eye shot Anthony.
Wild pigs cause a lot of damage in NZ and hunting is encouraged even in private pine forests where a permit is required.
I was invited on a hunt yesterday and 3 of us traveled up to the plantations just behind Lake Waihola 30 minutes south of Dunedin.
It's been over 25 years since i owned pic dogs and methods have certainly changed--gone are the long walk ins and slow covering of ground .
Now dogs have neck collars and vests to protect them and individual GPS transmitters ,so it's a matter of comfortably sitting on the back of a motorbike driving around waiting for the dogs to jump off ,at the sign of fresh ground disturbance or 'crossings' where the animals move across the forestry roads.
My body is a bit sore today from helping carry out a 130lb boar 300 mtrs up a steep slope...
Just a couple of pics showing our 'catch'.
Cheers Dave.
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My goodness. Plenty of ham stock there! ;D
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Dave,
It makes a change from Tegel chicken :); I am salivating just looking at your harvest of wild pork. Hope you have plenty of freezer space.
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Wow you would need a hell of a big barbecue to cook them. Makes my pork sausages a bit of a disappointment now ;D
Angie :)
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Can't stand the stuff Anthony and David (the pork not the chicken ! :o :o ;) ), it's too strong for my palate.....
LOL--I'd have your pork sausages anytime :P :P :P--Angie.
David I enjoyed the trip so much, (maybe it was an attempt to recapture spent youth ;D), I hope to repeat the experience ,so I'll put in an order for you and Belinda as my brother John who organized the trip seems to catch pigs every time he is out.
Cheers Dave.
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Crumbs. You'd need a big gun! Twelve boar perhaps? ::)
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I liked the coat Dave, very fetching :P
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Anthony, is there no New Zealand equivalent of the RSPCA hospitals? That hedgehog needs help.
Looks like a nasty skin condition (mange of some sort) has thinned her spines allowing a dog to get a grip of her and make that trianglular tear. She's a sitting duck in that state and out in the open .
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There is a branch of the SPCA in Manukau. I'll contact them.
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I have emailed a picture of it to them.
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Good score Dave . Looks like you had a fun day out :)
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Jandals I learnt the other day what jandals are. I like them too
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Say a little prayer for me.......
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This is a cute little b*****
I'm sure Anthony will know what this is but I haven't noticed it before. It is much smaller than our regular inhabitants...see photo 2.....
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Jandals I learnt the other day what jandals are. I like them too
Swweeett 8) 8) 8)
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Wild pork is amazing. It's all in the cooking, so Dave when you can get some more, we'd be starters.
I thought maybe the hedgehpg had recovered naturally after being hit be a car but your mange comment is probably better Maggi. The SPCA should be able to sort it, or have the poor little body humanely put down.
Our big, flash animal hospital is near Wellington and is for natives only unfortunately though I believe the odd exception is made in occasional circumstances. Not likely for a hedgehog though.
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Wild pork is amazing. It's all in the cooking, so Dave when you can get some more, we'd be starters.
Lesley,
Girls can do anything :) Have you read todays ODT.
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The first bee looks like a small bumble bee, similar to those in the UK and could be Bombus impatiens; the second looks quite different. Perhaps Bombus pennsylvanicus?
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Not yet David, I'll get to it after my weekly contribution to the market newsletter which I'll start in a minute.
I agree girls can do anything but having said that, when we have anything wild, like wild pork, duck, goose, rabbit etc, it is Roger who cooks it and usually he makes a pretty good job of it.
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I liked the coat Dave, very fetching :P
Was that a coat? I thought he was cross dressing and had taken to dresses, though they're usually more colourful than that little number.
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On Saturday I had an adult female swallow in my hand for the first time. It was dead beneath it's nest. Swallows are actually quite small
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Oh Mark that's so sad. Any idea how it died.
Mine stayed around this year. I am so happy. I count them just to make sure they are all still with me. At the weekend I was sitting at my pond watching them scoop over the pond a lovely sight.
I shouldn't say they are mine just because they nest at my house :D
There was something on the news about this girl having to move out of her flat in Aberdeen as she had her loft full of bats. They say that they couldn't go into the loft but there were around 500 flying about in the evening. I don't know how they managed to count all those bats as I find it hard to count my seven swallows. Never got the full story, will have to watch the evening news tonight.
Angie :)
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I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat. It's a top floor, dormered flat..... girl got her self worked up by finding a bat in her bathroom. She said she wrapped herself in a towle after a shower and then felt something moving.... looked in the mirror andthere wasa wee bat looking outfrom the towel!
She's horrified, moved back to her parents' house, complains that bats are treated more favourably than people.
I can't help feeling that as she is still able to ensure any holes into the actual rooms of her flat are closed off so the bats should no longer be able to get into the rooms (though, of course, the entrance/exit holes to the roof space must not be interfered with) that she hasn't got a lot to complain about. ::)
Witters on about thinking she'll never feel secure in the place again.... not much maintainance work done on it to be "secure" in the first place if there are holes from roof space into rooms!
I've no sympathy with her, can you tell?
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Magpie Moth
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Angie I think she came in too late and misjudged the nest and hit the beam
How to count bats? 1----2,3--4,5,6------7-8-----9,10,11,12, ....
The bats are unlikely to be in the attic so someone should go in a seal the gap behind the beam tht sits beside the gable wall - simples
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Not yet David, I'll get to it after my weekly contribution to the market newsletter which I'll start in a minute.
I agree girls can do anything but having said that, when we have anything wild, like wild pork, duck, goose, rabbit etc, it is Roger who cooks it and usually he makes a pretty good job of it.
I did not mean just cooking it Lesley as I am sure Roger is pretty capable. http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/172477/swine-times-women-pig-hunt (http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/172477/swine-times-women-pig-hunt)
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Thanks for the link David. Go Girls! But their pigs are small compared with the Newfoundland dog which clobbered Roger a couple of weeks ago. Not attacked him, just greeted him, as someone it knew from dog walks. He (Murphy) weighed, we were told, 89kg. He looked it too. Roger is not yet fully recovered and has compression fractures in his spine as well as major bruising and some slight kidney damage. The doc at A and E was an Irishman also called Murphy so I had a little fun at his expense but Roger wasn't in a state to appreciate it. Laughing hurt badly.
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I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat.
Maggi , I was going to send you Roy Cropper's email address , but I appear to have misplaced it :-\
Bats are cool . They are the only native mammals in New Zealand . So our only mammals can fly and most of our birds can't . That's Antipodea for you .
When we lived in Fiordland I become involved with the bat research team , doing menial tasks for them . Helping to put up live capture nets and lying on my back
underneath large , dead , red beech trees ( Nothofagus fusca ) counting the bats leaving the roost just on dark . I counted them exactly the same way as Mark Smyth does .
We even had them staying for short stays in our house and it was nice to have them in my hand before weighing . They only weighed a few grams and were just small mice with wings . Haven't scanned the photos yet
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Jandals,
And aren't some of your bats in the process of reverse-evolving back to ground based mammals? I know that one wildlife documentary showed that they now spend far more time on the ground than on the wing, wandering around amongst the leaf litter hunting. Fascinating to see the flying returning to land-based, even if still some generations off. ;)
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Paul both NZ species of bats forage on the ground because, I think, due to the lack of predators but these days cats are a major threat
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/NZBirdsAnimals/Bats/ (http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/NZBirdsAnimals/Bats/)
These days I count this way. click--click click ------click click click -click using a tally counter
I was out last night checking a building for bats before the roof comes off. The have a £multimillion grant to fix a 1600s stable yard and pleasure gardens. They are trashing the place for wildlife. In July I checked and there were no bats and now a large roost has moved in. The borough council, builders etc will not be happy. I had a meeting with the top man a couple of months ago. He isnt in to wildlife and sees them as a hindrance
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Hey mister tally man, tally me a bat. Nah, doesn't work. ::)
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I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat. It's a top floor, dormered flat..... girl got her self worked up by finding a bat in her bathroom. She said she wrapped herself in a towle after a shower and then felt something moving.... looked in the mirror andthere wasa wee bat looking outfrom the towel!
She's horrified, moved back to her parents' house, complains that bats are treated more favourably than people.
I can't help feeling that as she is still able to ensure any holes into the actual rooms of her flat are closed off so the bats should no longer be able to get into the rooms (though, of course, the entrance/exit holes to the roof space must not be interfered with) that she hasn't got a lot to complain about. ::)
Witters on about thinking she'll never feel secure in the place again.... not much maintainance work done on it to be "secure" in the first place if there are holes from roof space into rooms!
I've no sympathy with her, can you tell?
Maggi I heard the full story. I am with you, can't she just block up the holes, she could just put up mesh on the vents temporary. As for saying she can't see the flat being the same, god it was only a bat. Think of all the people that have been woken up by a robber in their home. It's only a wee bat.
Angie :)
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Silly girl! She should thank her lucky stars she doesn't have racoons in the attic, or mice in the shed and wheat silos. :o
Roger has just gone to bed but said he was sure he saw something dark move on the floor in front of the sink. He did. It was Cain. ;D
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I have at least 10 years experience of visiting householders because they have a bat in the house or a bat roost.
Some observations
why us?
by far it's the women who complain
women move out - with the children
everyone moves out
what will the neighbours say?
where's the box to take them away? Sorry you have to keep them until late summer.
will we get compensation?
we cant sleep
the baby cant slepp
will we get rabies?
will the children get sick from eating the droppings?
I'll burn the house down if you dont get them out
there's a bat on the window! On the glass? Yes - I go and it's a moth
bats are mating on the hanging basket! Really? - I go and it's two poplar moths
Funniest of all is when I went to a house where a bat is in a bedroom. They had sealed all cracks around the door and a towel was under the door. When I went in they closed the door behind me. I didnt find the bat and she said she threw her shoes at it and it's under the pile of shoes in the corner! It wasnt a bat
but one of her ankle length tights that my mother calls pop socks
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Has the attach function disappeared for everyone or just me?
johnw
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Hi John . They are doing maintenance and you should be able to do attachments in a day or two . I think there is a note in the Members area somewhere
Cheers
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Yes , Mark , I bet you have seen some funny things . If someone found bats in the family home in New Zealand the humans would be removed el pronto . The property would be surrounded with a predator proof fence and entry into the surrounding suburb would be by permit only . ;D
Paul I think the move by the short tailed bats to feed on the ground isn't working for them now and their numbers are lower than the fliers . We had the long tail bats at our place and the transmitters on them showed that they would fly 10 km or so to feed on insects above the manuka shrublands .
Also on animal evolution . Before they were hunted by helicopter red deer would run uphill away from danger . Now many of them have learnt to run downhill into the forest to avoid being shot from above
One last thing ( before I make you nod off ) is a wee story on counting moths
The bat researchers needed a method to work out how many insects were out each night and they came up with the following idea
Each night they would drive up the road an hour after dark at a steady speed for 15kms and count the number of moths . On a cold rainy night this number would be zero and on a warm pre-rain night , thousands . This job became very popular with me because 15km away up the road was our nearest and only neighbour . The pub .
Well , it's hard work counting moths
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A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching"..... ???
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Has the attach function disappeared for everyone or just me?
johnw
It is as Mr Steve Jandals said, John. No problem but that function is disabled to allow some much needed site maintenance and updates over the next copule of days.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7717.new#new
Mr Steve Jandals .... tee hee.... got me singing Mr Bojangles..... ;D ;D
( feeble what makes me smile when I need chocolate....)
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A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching"..... ???
I'm surprised the bats hung around with all those humans screeching....... ::)
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A local news story here recounted how a man had got permission to get rid of a bat roost in his roof because "they couldn't stand all the screeching"..... ???
Must have been a very noisy man. Wonder why he screeched so much.
Apparently frequenting caves where bats live can give humans a serious and occasionally deadly lung disease from the inhalation of urine and faeces dust. In the "Infested" programme on TV last night, a woman and her family got the same disease from the leavings of a racoon infestation in their attic. She almost died, the others were less infected but the mess made of the house was appalling and the ceilings even collapsed because of constant wetness. (hysto something tosis)
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My bats have gone quiet. They must be out catching insects. When I am sitting at the computer I can hear them behind the wall chirping and scuffling. They can be quite noisy but not enough to disturb me. On a warm day I can hear them chirping away in the daytime as well, both in the wall at the front of the house and at the gable end on the west side above the greenhouse. We have occasionally had one in the house. Last time was last year when we were having a new fire put in and two came down the chimney. We chased them around for a bit and eventually they went out when we got them into the kitchen, opened the window and put the light out. No panic here when a bat appears.
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Hi John . They are doing maintenance and you should be able to do attachments in a day or two . I think there is a note in the Members area somewhere
Cheers
Thanks so much. They'e probably installing a computer like the one the National Weather Service has, certainly will need one that size with the number of jpegs on the system.
johnw
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Roma you see you are a true country lass, no fear.
Now if it was a room full of spiders I wouldn't go in but I do think bats are cute in their own way.
Angie :)
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Pleione pot today in greenhouse, some of the bulbs were lying on their side so I went to push them back in and the pushed out again, can you see why ?
Angie :)
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Is there a frog or a toad hiding in there, Angela? :o
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Yes Maggi. I got a bit of a scare but I suppose it was nothing compared to the scare the poor toad got when he saw my big face. I think he was trying to keep warm but I sent him on his way.
Angie :)
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I got a fright with a toad a few years ago. I picked up a bag of loose compost with some begonia tubers in it and the compost started moving. It was a toad waking up from hibernation.
On another subject . Yesterday I saw a Speckled Wood butterfly in my garden. I went back into the house for my camera but it had gone. It is not supposed to be in this area. I did see one a couple of years ago at Ballindalloch castle.
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Crossbill eruption / invasion
Reports are suggesting the UK will soon be hit by an erutption / invasion of crossbills from Scandinavia. Numbers suggest 100s of 1000s of these stunning birds massing in southern Scandinavia with large numbers already in Denmark.
Looks for small red, males, and green, females that look like parrots.
http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__11008 (http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__11008)
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Two-barred crossbills it seems. Have seen no evidence of this up here.
Map of observations so far in August this year in Fennoscandinavia:
http://www.artportalen.se/fennoscandia_birds.asp?speciesid=776&year=2011&month=8 (http://www.artportalen.se/fennoscandia_birds.asp?speciesid=776&year=2011&month=8)
The same map for the whole of August last year:
http://www.artportalen.se/fennoscandia_birds.asp?speciesid=776&year=2010&month=8 (http://www.artportalen.se/fennoscandia_birds.asp?speciesid=776&year=2010&month=8)
Let me know if you can't see these maps.
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That's a wonderful mapping system Stephen. My first thoughts when looking at the August 2010/2011 maps was that it could also reflect the population density of the observers, but checking back over the previous months it shows dramatically how the birds (or at least the records if the birds) are moving south.
Either that or nearly everyone in southern Sweden was still in hibernation in June - and I don't believe that they would miss the midsummer's eve parties. ;D ;D
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Thanks, Peter! Why on earth doesn't the UK have anything like this? You have a far higher density of birdwatchers than over here....and it stimulates interest...there are similar systems for plants, insects and mammals...
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I suspect that there may be something similar - on the subscription only sites. :(
I used the Scandinavian maps to follow the crane migration through the year; absolutely fascinating, I could waste hours playing about here. :D
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Another Saturday another wild pig .... :)
James ,(on the right), my daughter's boyfriend experienced his first pig hunting trip yesterday,(He's hooked !! ;D).
As part of his initiation he was 'allowed' to carry out a 30kg sow earlier in the day ,however he baulked at having to lift this biggie .... :o
Luckily we only had to drag the animal about 10 metres onto a forestry track and easy access to the motorbike.
Cheers Dave.
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My goodness Dave, there must be a fair amount of pork scratching a living in those woods! :o
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there must be a fair amount of pork scratching a living in those woods! :o
Someone has to bring home the bacon.
johnw
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My goodness Dave, there must be a fair amount of pork scratching a living in those woods! :o
;D
Someone has to bring home the bacon.
johnw
John that's why we take along a young fit fellow :D.
Although hunting methods are so far advance nowadays with all the electronic stuff ,pigs seem to be more prolific than ever Anthony .(So it looks like I'll be in a position soon to fill requests for meat .... :D ).
We initially thought that one dog was away mucking around ,(the wind was strong and we couldn't hear any barking),so it wasn't until a second and third dog showed up on the GPS system as being in the same place we realized they were on a pig.....
In my days in a similar position because of the weather conditions most likely you wouldn't get the pig and with an animal that size probably end up with a dog badly injured or even killed.
Just looking out our dining room window i see it's sunny but trying very hard to snow--actually i think it is snowing .Crazy weather. ???
Cheers Dave.
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Crazy weather indeed: yesterday we had 19oC; today it was 9oC!
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Dave,
You are really getting into this pig hunting: considering how crook the weather has been this weekend I am surprised that you have stirred far from the fireside though I suppose it was not snowing on Saturday. Snow and sleet all day here with a big clap of thunder and some lightning at one stage.
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Toolie that's a huge pig
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You cant eat pork this month-no "r" in it! ;D
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You cant eat pork this month-no "r" in it! ;D
Isn't that oysters?
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Anthony - Any idea who this big fellow might be, I noticed him slowly struggling to cross a path in the yard today. Luckily I had a camera in hand.
johnw
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I'm pretty sure that's Dr D. Brash, one of our politicians. It's low enough and ugly enough. Step on him!
15cms of snow on the ground this morning and the outside temp is -4C. We had some more snow overnight and the noise of the wind in the gum trees is really scary. It's all supposed to go on until mid week.
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Dave I am glad I don't have anything like that pig in the Forrest behind me :o I would never come out my front door.
Lesley keep cosy, and eat some nice comfort food, it helps ;D
Angie :)
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I'm pretty sure that's Dr D. Brash, one of our politicians. It's low enough and ugly enough. Step on him!
15cms of snow on the ground this morning and the outside temp is -4C. We had some more snow overnight and the noise of the wind in the gum trees is really scary. It's all supposed to go on until mid week.
Do you mean the one with the red fur coat that Dave posted or the black thick-skinned one that I posted? ;)
johnw
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I meant yours John. I wouldn't insult any pig, wild or otherwise by comparing it to the other. :o It's only because he was born 70somthing years ago and not at the beginning of the 20th century, that he's not one of Adolf's henchmen. A b.....d of the first water and frightening with it.
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Has anyone noticed high numbers of wasps this year?
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Yes indeed, in fact we have a nest in the compost heap and David was stung about 5 minutes ago. We have also had a nest in the loft for the third year running and our neighbour has them too!
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Lots of wasps this year but it will be remembered as the year of the ant - or maybe the year of the foxes: Last night they took Mary's crocs from the back door. I found one in the garden with two bites taken from it. This has happened before. Also, the night before last, one of them dug a large hole in one of the beds, exactly where Galanthus 'Godfrey Owen' was planted. I found bulbs and labels and replanted adding a mulch of leafmould. A hole was dug in the same place last night.
Any suggestions for getting rid of foxes? I do miss my dog who kept them at bay for so many years. Fortunately, our hens and ducks are well fenced in and have not been touched to date.
Shooting is out of the question - too close to neighbours and main road - but I would consider poison but don't know what to use. Any suggestions?
Paddy
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Paddy -
Not Godfrey Owen! :o
Try what they do here for raccoons getting into garbage cans. Soak a rag in strong bleach and place it in an open container, place near the plant. The container will stop any bleach from dripping into the soil. It seems to break the habit of their visits to that site and works for at least a short time. It's now frowned upon here as it posed a risk to the refuse collectors.
johnw
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Has anyone noticed high numbers of wasps this year?
Yes, Mark - I have had 2 nests to get rid of. (I know wasps are beneficial, but I am allergic to stings) Both nests in the ground. 1st was successfully destroyed by treating after sunset when all in bed. The second nest still active after several attempts with the powder, - I eventually put a shovel full of soil over the hole. Thought this had fixed it until nearly 3 weeks later, when another large hole appeared alongside and nest v. active again. Same treatment given plus a bucketful of soil this time. Fingers crossed and still monitoring daily for further activity.
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Maureen I would have never believed that wasps made nests in the ground until i saw yours. I watch bubble bees going into my drystone walls but never seen wasps making holes in the soil. Not really keen on wasps.
Hope you have killed them all now.
Angie :)
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Angie we have wasps here that make holes in the ground. Kind of like a very round funnelshape but at ground level. We also have wasps that make mud nests on our beams and walls.
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Paddy this morning on the way home from the school bus pickup point at 8am a fox ran across the road. Glad I have not let the chooks and ducks out yet. Rain all night so the river out the front is flowing nicely.
Anthony where do orb spiders go after they have spidered/manned their webs for months? Noticed one on one of our windows has left and also one that was somewhere else have gone.
Frogs jumping over the road on our way home last night and then noticed lots of croaks in our pond last night.
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Angie we have wasps here that make holes in the ground. Kind of like a very round funnelshape but at ground level. We also have wasps that make mud nests on our beams and walls.
Pat I had never seen this before. I did once have a wasps nest in my bird box.
I love listening to the frogs in the pond at night. Mine are all quiet this time of year.
Angie :)
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Lots of wasps this year but it will be remembered as the year of the ant - or maybe the year of the foxes: Last night they took Mary's crocs from the back door. I found one in the garden with two bites taken from it. This has happened before. Also, the night before last, one of them dug a large hole in one of the beds, exactly where Galanthus 'Godfrey Owen' was planted. I found bulbs and labels and replanted adding a mulch of leafmould. A hole was dug in the same place last night.
Any suggestions for getting rid of foxes? I do miss my dog who kept them at bay for so many years. Fortunately, our hens and ducks are well fenced in and have not been touched to date.
Shooting is out of the question - too close to neighbours and main road - but I would consider poison but don't know what to use. Any suggestions?
Paddy
Wow, a death sentence for chewing a shoe and digging up a plant!?! I hope you will reconsider! I wouldn't be surprised if your dog did worse at times! Sorry, but I can't stand to hear of such intolerance for wildlife!
Further, kill off the few predators that can actually survive in our presence, and then you will be dealing with their prey - mice, voles, etc. - in your garden!
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Pat, many spiders die after they have mated and laid eggs. Orb spiders lay many batches of eggs, but they tend to live for less than a year. I remember catching Nephila spp. in Bali in 1985. They were everywhere. In 2004 I could only find them at the Bird Park or Butterfly Park. I suspect spraying (for mosquitoes) killed them all off in Nusa Dua? Short sighted really because the predators of mosquitoes are killed and after a while the mossies become resistant and you are worse off than before! ::)
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Lots of wasps this year but it will be remembered as the year of the ant - or maybe the year of the foxes: Last night they took Mary's crocs from the back door. I found one in the garden with two bites taken from it. This has happened before. Also, the night before last, one of them dug a large hole in one of the beds, exactly where Galanthus 'Godfrey Owen' was planted. I found bulbs and labels and replanted adding a mulch of leafmould. A hole was dug in the same place last night.
Any suggestions for getting rid of foxes? I do miss my dog who kept them at bay for so many years. Fortunately, our hens and ducks are well fenced in and have not been touched to date.
Shooting is out of the question - too close to neighbours and main road - but I would consider poison but don't know what to use. Any suggestions?
Paddy
Wow, a death sentence for chewing a shoe and digging up a plant!?! I hope you will reconsider! I wouldn't be surprised if your dog did worse at times! Sorry, but I can't stand to hear of such intolerance for wildlife!
Further, kill off the few predators that can actually survive in our presence, and then you will be dealing with their prey - mice, voles, etc. - in your garden!
Don't worry, Lori, I'm not the killing kind; just very annoyed at the moment with a hole dug in the same spot in the garden for the third night in a row and right among clumps of snowdrops - ones only planted a year or two and, so, in small numbers yet. The loss of a few snowdrops from larger clumps wouldn't bother me but the loss of scarcer ones in the garden does. By the way, a fox usually sits at the top of a flight of steps which is only about ten feet from where I sit in the house in the evenings and he looks at me and I look at him. The local wildlife and I have co-existed in peace for many years though I have to sympathy for rats and set poison each autumn. The annual influx of rats will come shortly as fields of cereal around us will be harvested shortly. Now, if the foxes could keep the rat population under control we could have a very happy arrangement in life.
John, I'm going to try your deterrent tonight - bleach-soaked cloth in an open container. Would bleach on the soil cause problems?
Paddy
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Maureen I would have never believed that wasps made nests in the ground until i saw yours. I watch bubble bees going into my drystone walls but never seen wasps making holes in the soil. Not really keen on wasps.
Hope you have killed them all now.
Angie :)
Angie,
We have an introduced pest species here in Australia called "European Wasps" (Vespula germanica), which are wrecking biodiversity in places (they're starting to invade up into the mountain national parks near here). They consume so much food that where they have been established for some time there is only a fraction of the insect diversity left........ and they live in the ground with nests that may be up to a couple of metres across and weigh a tonne or more (I think I recall reading this somewhere?). A single nest can have well more than 100,000 individual. We've found a couple of them in my little canberra suburban block before.... one in a wall cavity and the other in a maintenance pit for the telephone lines. You find them by watching the constant stream of wasps flying in and out. Not fun at all. :o
Paddy,
Re your fox problem..... what about putting a piece of wire down in the area where the fox is digging, to move it to somewhere else? That would at least save your rare snowdrops. 8)
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The wire is down already, Paul. That was one of this morning's jobs. Will put down the bleach-soaked cloth this evening.
Paddy
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Hi Paul,
I heard of such pests in Australia - do you know the reason for introducing wasps in the past?
In Germany only 2 wasps species Vespula germanica and Vespula vulgaris eat from human dishes and can get an annoyance.
The wasps die with the first night frost in autumm, only young queens hybernate the cold winters. Therefore nest sizes remain small with populations of ~1000-3000 individuals with a seasonal peak in August. Very rarely larger nests are reported.
This induces me to bring up an old tale. When I was a boy I made an instructive experience with wasps - it was a hot, shiny mid summer day and I was going to fish in a pont. After arrival at a slope of the pont I prepared my equipment. I cast my rood and I sat down relaxed, exactly between two nest exits...
I just noticed a wild humming, numerous wasps orbited me and I've felt a first sting :o In a moment of panic I threw away my fishing rod and run away as fast as I could :o. The wasps guards chased me ~30-40 meters (!) and stung me while running...Ouch!!!
As a result I had about 30 stings in both of my calves. Immediately plenty of ice and ointment was consumed to lower the terrible itching...
Overnight, my calves became not only fire red but swollen twice the size as normal... ::) Please refrain to sneer now - I looked horrible. ;D
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Maureen I would have never believed that wasps made nests in the ground until i saw yours.
I see more underground wasp nests than in trees or buildings
When I was younger my friends and I used to throw stones at underground wasp nests to see them swarm
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Paddy -
Not Godfrey Owen! :o
Try what they do here for raccoons getting into garbage cans. Soak a rag in strong bleach and place it in an open container, place near the plant. The container will stop any bleach from dripping into the soil. It seems to break the habit of their visits to that site and works for at least a short time. It's now frowned upon here as it posed a risk to the refuse collectors.
johnw
I wouldn't be surprised if many refuse collectors would benefit from an application of bleach! ;D
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Armin,
Not a deliberate introduction, but an accidental one as far as I know. No natural enemies here, so they breed like crazy I think. Interesting that yours die with the first frost. Apparently our winters aren't cold enough here to kill them off, yet we definitely get to at least -6oC every winter (usually lower), so maybe ours are a colder tolerant strain? Because ours overwinter here they produce the massive colonies. I'm guessing that in warmer parts of Germany yours would overwinter? If not, then why the heck do they here. :o
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Please refrain to sneer now - I looked horrible. ;D
I had to laugh and can imagine you running. A trick I used to play on my friends when we were bombing wasp nests was to tickle a neck with a grass seed head. The pretend wasp would send panic through everyone
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Paul,
interesting question why yours can overwinter in spite of frosts. Maybe just due to the large nest sizes they are able to warm the nest like bees do? But wasps do not hoard food like bees. How can they find food in the cold period?
Here there are a lot of natural predators i.e. hornets and a lot of parasitic wasps weaken the colonies, too.
Mark,
I can laugh about it, too. Jaunty youth time. Interesting was that only my calves have been stung. Not a single sting in any other part of my body.
And yes, my friends and I played a lot of pranks too. To bomb hornet nests with water pistols was a special challenge!
Today I know how beneficial hornets are and I protect them.
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OK something a lot more placid than wasps.
The kangaroos were closer to the house when I first saw them (they visit regularly) but they heard me trying to creep around the side of the house. I have made the photo a large resize so that you might be able to see the joey poking its head out. I saw it outside the pouch but it hopped back in to safety. If I had been able to take a photo of the joey out you sure wouldn't like to have something that big get back in your pouch.
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Paul, there aren't any warmer parts of Germany. Curious how, even in the Mediterranean areas, nests don't overwinter. Even in New Zealand, nests can be huge, with the world record being held by a New Zealand nest. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1299744/Britains-biggest-wasps-nest-nearly-big-car-pub-attic.html Even this nest would have been occupied by a queen and her offspring for one season. In their normal environment the nest disintegrates in the autumn and only the queens survive the winter, hibernating in a shed or attic. The workers just die off. Take an organism out of its range and strange things happen. The density per km2 of the Australian brush tailed possum in NZ is far greater than it ever was in its native land. You may get -6oC Paul, but not for weeks on end and with most daytime temperatures below insect flying temperatures from November to February inclusive.
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Pat that's so lovely, it would be so nice to watch them 8)
Angie :)
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Got this photo this morning..... Ian, the Christie kind, removed it from the shower where it was trying to get a free clean with Ann!
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a wee pipistrelle of some kind.
This week I was also sent a photo of a bat. This time it was hanging on a wall. A pip also
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Looks like we could be starting a collection of "Bats on harled walls" pix!
Is "your" bat two tone?
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no, just wet
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The fox story: no digging last night as the site was covered with a wire mesh and bleach applied to provide an unpleasant smell. However, two plant labels, metal on 40cm long strong wire spikes, were taken up but recovered and returned to position. Mary's missing "croc" was found at the front gate.
Funny foxes!
Paddy
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and run away as fast as I could :o. The wasps guards chased me ~30-40 meters (!) and stung me while running...Ouch!!!
I also ran away as fast as I could, but still got stung 6 times. Still itching 2 days later
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Wasps sometimes fly out and sting if you get within a metre of the nest, even if you are not disturbing them.
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Mary's missing "croc" was found at the front gate.
Paddy
I thought from your previous posts Paddy, that Mary was starting a collection of crocodiles! A dangerous pursuit in view of new grandchildren. Tell her to try little fluffy things, like kittens. ;D
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Take an organism out of its range and strange things happen. The density per km2 of the Australian brush tailed possum in NZ is far greater than it ever was in its native land.
Couple of nights ago I saw an Australian RSPCA programme which included an item about a man who was keeping two brushtail possums in captivity. He'd had them since small babyhood from mothers who's died or something and had raised them by feeding from an eyedropper to begin with. They were in great condition and obviously very happy but keeping native animals in captivity is illegal and the RSPCA guy had to remove them. Then because they couldn't fend for themselves in the wild, they were to be euthanazed. I though "how silly is that? Protect them by keeping them in the wild then kill them off because they had come from captivity, instead of letting him keep them." In the finish he was able to become a registered native animal carer and so was able to keep them but had to commit to feeding and housing in such a way that they learned to become self sufficient, and then they had to go into the bush. So sensible solution after all. I also thought. "Lucky possums to be in Australia and not in NZ." They would have been shot on sight here. Or Teddy would have had them. ;D
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and run away as fast as I could :o. The wasps guards chased me ~30-40 meters (!) and stung me while running...Ouch!!!
I also ran away as fast as I could, but still got stung 6 times. Still itching 2 days later
Arthur,
happened just recently?
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I noticed yesterday that there was a lot of hoverfly activity around the flowers of a hosta, probably as a result of the sunshine (a rare commodity recently in these parts) stimulating increased nectar production. Having taken about 70-80 photographs (couldn't have done that in the days of film!) whilst having a cup of coffee in an attempt to obtain some decent pictures of hoverflies hovering, these are a few of the ones that were reasonable.
I think that the species is Episyrphus balteatus.
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Peter,
brilliant photos, I like them. Professional photographers make thousands of shots and only the best of the best are published ;).
Thanks to digicams one can make many shots and erase the bad ones afterwards on the PC without a financial loss.
I think your species identification is correct.
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Really nice images Peter, professionally done.
Angie :)
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Just wondered if anyone are still seeing any Swifts. I am seeing them on a daily basis including 7 today in my local colony. Hopefully i will record them in September. I find that the last hour of daylight is the best time to see them.
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Gary, 150 were seen over a few hours last week crossing from Scotland to N Ireland via Galloway and over the Copeland Islands. The 20 miles crossing is nothing for a swift. It's possible Scottish swifts drop in here while on migration to feed over Lough Neagh. At the weekend 30 were seen at Lough Swilley or Inch lake in County Donegal.
Some birds still have chicks http://www.mybitoftheplanet.com/ (http://www.mybitoftheplanet.com/) click on diary 2011 and scroll down for updates
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Masses in honey and bumblebees in my garden today and lots of hoverflies. Lack of butterflies
I went off twitching yesterday for an Osprey, Hobby and two Slavonian grebes. Didnt see the Osprey so going back tomorrow.
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a herring gull has learnt to catch bats that emerge from their roost under ridge tiles
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AffGN5OYCFY[/youtube]
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Brings a whole new meaning to fast food......
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Mark,
I noticed that some bats flew quite close to the seagull and I wonder if they were "mobbing" it in the manner some birds will a predator?
Paddy
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Paddy if you look closely they are emerging from the gable apex also and as they fly towards the camera it looks like they mob the gull
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Ah, I see, Mark. Paddy
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I'm so excited. I've just seen something over here I havent seen in 30 years. It's also 1% of the N Irish breeding population.
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A Barn owl. It gave me goose bumps all over
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A barn owl gives goose bumps? What does a goose give? Barn owl bumps? :D Sorry to be flippant Mark. You're very fortunate. I think they are magnificent creatures and I would love to see a real one, not just in a TV programme.
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There's nothing more special that watching a Barn owl hunt at dusk on a summers night,it's a shame it will be a rarer site in the future.
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Estimates say there are 100 or less barn owls in N Ireland
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I found this Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar when weeding on Sunday. I had to dash inside as the rain came on heavy as I picked it up. I returned it to a willow herb when the rain went off. Last year was the first time I saw one and expected never to see one again.
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Good find Roma. I have only seen one.
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Mark, we are very fortunate to have barn owls very close to us and regularly see them in the evenings, even coming on them on the road on occasions. The best sight we ever had was watching a barn owl "quartering" a boggy field. It was amazing how it flew the length of the field, moved across a little and flew back down again before repeating the action a little further over. A marvellous sight.
Paddy
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I used to see barn owls quartering on our Norfolk Broad holidays. Frequently see them in the headlights of the car in and around Dunblane. I remember a barn owl roost in the craig at Craigforth near Stirling. I was still at school and a couple of friends and I were looking for a kestrel's nest. We didn't find it but disturbed the owls and a nesting mallard. There was a 60' drop onto a steep bank of nettles and trees below the ledge we, and the mallard nest, were on and the barn owl roost was just below it.
Elephant hawk caterpillars also feed on fuchsia.
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We have a very sophisticated barn owl. Twice while watching the BBC Proms we noticed the barn owl sat on the porch guttering watching the TV.
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Smart barn owl. We'll be having the Proms concerts here very shortly but not on TV unfortunately, only the radio, but better than nothing. The ONLY classical music we've had on TV in years was a doco about the NZSO's wonderfully successful trip to Europe some months ago (standing ovations in Vienna!) but for some inexplicable reason the person who narrated it and interviewed conductor and players and others, was the most sleazy and unpleasant person imaginable, a "personality" on NZ TV but just crap really, making pathetic jokes with sexual and totally unacceptable content, in the context of the event. I can't imagine why such a person would have been chosen to front the programme. It spoiled it for just about everyone who saw it. Sorry, this is a genuine moan, not wildlife at all, except that I was and still am wild about it. >:(
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I thought that before August finished, I would post a couple of wildlife images from a trip to France (Haut Savoie) and Switzerland earlier this month. Didn't go for the photography particularly, only took 800-odd photos. ::)
Firstly a couple of Dragonflies
1. Anax imperator male. Taken in Lausanne Botanic Garden during during a short foray from the hotel after a day confiend to bed with food poisoning. It was good to get some fresh air, but my feet got sunburnt through my sandals. :-\
2. Coenagrion pulchellum perched on a mooring rope in Lausanne harbour.
3. Great Crested Grebe and Chick, Lausanne harbour - I posted a couple of grebe photos earlier this month from my sickbed - we did at least have WiFi!
4. Edible Frog, Lausanne Botanic Garden (in their one an only pond)
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And a few more...
5. Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis). This chap was happy to pose in the sunshine whilst I changed lenses and carefully moved closer.
6 Decticus verrucivorus. Known as a Wart Biter 'cos apparently that's what they used them for. :o Also it's a female, the long bit sticking out the back is it's ovipositor. :o :o
7. Possibly a field grasshopper, but I don't know the species. Anthony..?
8. High Brown Fritillary (Arginnis ardippe)
All of these were taken around St. Gervais-les Bains, nr Chamonix
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Such an attractive picture of the young Grebe.
It was good to get some fresh air, but my feet got sunburnt through my sandals.
Good grief, Peter, you're English.... don't you know you are expected to wear woolly socks with your sandals? :o ;D
By the way... in view of the amount of travelling you ( and your camera) have done this year, I felt you really must have a title.... so you are now officially our "Camera- toting Gadabout" 8)
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Spot the bird.
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Where, I can't see anything.
Angie :)
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Neither can I :-\ I've blown up the image, searched up and down, back and forth.... I cannot spot any bird... I'm quite glad that the picture is not a jigsaw puzzle... it'd be pretty tough!
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I think it is about 11 o'clock from the stone on the bottom right.
Sharon
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Well, I know you Illingworths are great birders and photographers, so I guess if it is there you can spot it, Sharon..... but I still can't see anything :-\
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I've extracted "something" from around the area Sharon suggests.... if I really squint I can almost convince myeself there's a bird there .... almost!
I though I was looking for a wader of some sort, though this "bird" looks more duckish.... :-\
[attach=1]
This is the area the first blow up was taken form....
[attach=2]
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Fascinating! I wonder how many of us are peering at Michael's photo?
Can't only be the 15 showing in the counter at 18.40pm, surely?
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Here it is
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b****y h**l, no way was I ever going to spot that!
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Ha! That's great! Sharon was spot on.... but what I thought wasa beak is its tail! :o :o :o
Great shot Michael, well done... and three cheers for Sharon's sharper than sharp eyes 8) 8)
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So there I was on "holiday" ( sorting out aged family) in Scotland, putting together a flatpack in a bedroom in mid afternoon.
Up goes the cry "Eeeeeeek there's a bat in the living room eeeeeeek". So there's this large ( for a bat) flying mammal flapping around the room trying to find the way out. Up steps your hero ( yes me, what do you mean hero?) to try and guide it out through the conservatory. The bat takes an immediate liking to me ( now that's understandable) and lands on my lower lip.
Now at this point why do I immediately think of the SRCG forum, when there's this bat hanging upside down on my face?
Anyway, after a short rest (where's the camera when you really need one) the bat managed to navigate its way out and back I go to the flatpack.
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I think I need to go to spec savers ::) ;D
Angie :)
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;D ;D ;D
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But can you see the other one?
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But can you see the other one?
:o :o :o :o I hope you're kidding?
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Too easy, I am :P
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I found the second bird ;D
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Thanks Fred for the laugh.
No way could I spot that bird. Reminds me of the kildeer birds I saw in an Oregon cemetery.
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I was talking about the first photo not the tweety bird.
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Buzzards and sparrowhawk poisoned in Ireland
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Publications/eWings/eWingsIssue23August2011/BuzzardsfoundpoisonednearRoscrea/tabid/1194/Default.aspx (http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Publications/eWings/eWingsIssue23August2011/BuzzardsfoundpoisonednearRoscrea/tabid/1194/Default.aspx)
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Can anyone ID this for me please. It's about 2 inches long and looks quite intimidating although it posed nicely for the photos.
Thanks in advance.
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a green cicada?
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So there I was on "holiday" ( sorting out aged family) in Scotland, putting together a flatpack in a bedroom in mid afternoon.
Up goes the cry "Eeeeeeek there's a bat in the living room eeeeeeek". So there's this large ( for a bat) flying mammal flapping around the room trying to find the way out. Up steps your hero ( yes me, what do you mean hero?) to try and guide it out through the conservatory. The bat takes an immediate liking to me ( now that's understandable) and lands on my lower lip.
Now at this point why do I immediately think of the SRCG forum, when there's this bat hanging upside down on my face?
Anyway, after a short rest (where's the camera when you really need one) the bat managed to navigate its way out and back I go to the flatpack.
Thanks for the chuckle, Fred, though I spent quite a long time wondering why you were putting together a flapjack in your bedroom. ::)
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I've had many bats land on me but never on my face
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Can anyone ID this for me please. It's about 2 inches long and looks quite intimidating although it posed nicely for the photos.
Thanks in advance.
A beautiful cicada! Our (Auckland) green ones are about half that size. There is a wee one in the New Forest in England but none further north.
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Mark, i see you have been doing a little twitching lately. Just wondered if you went for the Semipalmated Sandpiper at Castlerock Today?
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Thanks for the ID folks. John B (arilnut) put me right on this. he couldn't believe I'd been over here 6 years and never seen a cicada. It's true!!!!! I'd heard them by the millions but never actually seen one. I guess the term is 'blinkered'
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Mark, i see you have been doing a little twitching lately. Just wondered if you went for the Semipalmated Sandpiper at Castlerock Today?
Gary I got a text telling me about it and the marsh harrier. Castlerock is about an hour north from my house so there was no guarantee it would be there. The harrier is the same but south east from me. If the sandpiper is reported tomorrow I might go.
Did you see it on the nibirding blog?
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Mark, I check out Birdguides every day which covers the British Isles. If there is anything within a reasonable distance i often go for it. I used to set off anywhere in the country at one time but keep it more local these days.
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... during a short foray from the hotel after a day confiend to bed with food poisoning. .
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4. Edible Frog, Lausanne Botanic Garden (in their one an only pond)
Peter, I hesitate to ask how you knew it was edible, especially in view of you having the food poisoning before taking the pic!
cheers
fermi
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Gary I cant afford to go too far these days but did go to see the Hobby three times
The third bat on the forum in a week. It's a Soprano pipistrelle trapped by my massive fingers. This is the UKs most common bat and the one most likely to be seen flying in a garden, entering a house or getting stuck in ladies hair.
Photo taken by Phil Heron
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I hesitate to ask how you knew it was edible, especially in view of you having the food poisoning before taking the pic!
Only going by the common name ;) - should have called it by it's Sunday name Rana esculenta
It didn't actually look edible, being a hideous shade of blue-green. I thought it was a badly painted plastic child's toy until it moved.
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Cute, Mark!
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I am? Thanks
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;D
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It was fascinating watching this over loaded bee this afternoon. He inspected each flower slowly but thoroughly - acting like an overloaded plane. He came peeping out looking like a child with ice cream all over his face - he even took time to lie on his back to collect the pollen. NOW I understand why there is no pollen when I want it. :o
Looks like we don't need the middle eastern bees to pollinate. This is the first year that I have really noticed the bees in the aril flowers.
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I was out looking for bats last night and heard Robins, European type, singing and ticking. A sure sign autumn is coming
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Lucky, lucky bee to have such a collecting ground. :D