Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Anthony Darby on January 01, 2013, 09:44:15 PM
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One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver.....here are the family of five Aussie magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) that have graced our football pitches at Greenmount Reserve for the last few weeks. Their nest is in a big old pine tree at the northern edge. Thankfully, not one of the dozen or so huge ones that the council felled and sold. This is the only one left. The dead tree is a puriri (Vitex lucens). I think the local skylark population may suffer if they settle in the area?
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am lucky if I see few Siskin in March most years, but have had a small flock of about 20 Siskin & Lesser Redpoll for several weeks.
also seen lots of Woodcock over xmas, not so easy to photograph.
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No Redpolls in my garden this year.
Did everyone watch Africa on BBC and Galapagos on Sky? Two fabulous programmes. Wildlife on HD is unbelievable
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Hello, is this a Peregrine Falcon or Merlin?? or maybe something else?? Photographed at the nursery yesterday morning.
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Male sparrowhawk.
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I didn't think there was such a thing as an ugly red squirrel but this is one. He was around for a while in the summer then disappeared. I saw him again a few weeks ago and he reappeared a few days ago. The tips of his ears have been chewed off so he doesn't grow ear tufts and he has also lost the tip of his tail. I don't know if it happened when he was a baby or if he's been fighting another squirrel or if he's been caught by a predator but he no longer looks cute.
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Roma maybe it is getting pox
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Maybe not the best time to mention these little chaps !! ;D ;D ;D
[attach=1]
They seem to propagate to 45 and then self destruct !!!! ;D ;D ;D
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Yeh Roma, it doesn't look that cute. Is it part albino? it looks a bit pale on the nose and eyes?
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We get the black crickets in the garden later on in the summer. Here small crickets call all year, but I've not seen what is calling. Not seen many grasshoppers (lower pic is not cricket) at all. Big green bush crickets on the manuka bushes later on too. Lots of tiny mantids in the garden at the moment.
Maybe not the best time to mention these little chaps !! ;D ;D ;D
(Attachment Link)
They seem to propagate to 45 and then self destruct !!!! ;D ;D ;D
Crickets more prolific yesterday. ::)
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This beggars belief! http://www.philstar.com/2013/01/05/893588/bluefin-tuna-sells-record-1.76m-tokyo (http://www.philstar.com/2013/01/05/893588/bluefin-tuna-sells-record-1.76m-tokyo)
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Saw my ugly squirrel again today. He is definitely sick. I think it is a respiratory infection. I nearly tripped over him coming out of the garage after putting the car away. I followed him round to the back of the house with him stopping then moving off when I got close. He did climb up to the nut feeder and ate a few nuts. I was able to get much closer to him than is usual with the squirrels. He's not part albino, Susan. They do have very short hair or hairless areas round the eyes and his eye rings are bigger than most. I think he's rubbed hair off his nose burying peanuts.
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There is an inland Little gull Larus minutus just now in N Ireland. I've been so see it twice now. It's so cute.
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Saw my ugly squirrel again today. He is definitely sick. I think it is a respiratory infection. I nearly tripped over him coming out of the garage after putting the car away. I followed him round to the back of the house with him stopping then moving off when I got close. He did climb up to the nut feeder and ate a few nuts. I was able to get much closer to him than is usual with the squirrels. He's not part albino, Susan. They do have very short hair or hairless areas round the eyes and his eye rings are bigger than most. I think he's rubbed hair off his nose burying peanuts.
Roma how is the squirrel, did you see him/her today. It does look a bit sad but at least it is still eating.
Angie :)
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Roma are there any squirrel experts near you? What if it has pox and it spreads to others?
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Mark, I've just emailed the Grampian squirrel group. I hope they check emails. Their website does not seem very active. Only two news items for this year. Two people sending in squirrel sightings.
It's definitely a boy Angie :-X
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Hedgehogs round us have mange. They respond to treatment and a coating of baby oil to soften the skin. The ones I have seen look awful.
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It's definitely a boy Angie :-X
Roma I won't ask how you know ;D ;D ;D
Anthony I took this one for you, most of them just scrambled away as I walked past them but this one maybe thought he was photogenic.
Second picture, this is how I feel after the festive season.
Angie :)
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Your lizard is Gallotia galloti Angie, which is a large Tenerife wall lizard. The tortoise looks like it might be from Aldabra?
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Anthony I quite liked the lizards. I don't find them scary at all not like worms or spiders.
Angie :)
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We went out to Muriwai Beach today. Black sand so hot Heidi had to be carried through the dunes to the car. Lots of small Portuguese men of war stranded by the tide. I spotted a tiger beetle feasting on them. This beetle was very fast and flew off after the photo was taken. That's a gannet colony in the first pic - spilled over to the mainland from the rocky island. http://www.aucklandnz.com/destinations/muriwai (http://www.aucklandnz.com/destinations/muriwai)
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What interesting animals and insects! And we have more common Corvus monedula :)
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ringer friend set up last week and had a busy day, lovely to see the Siskins & Redpolls so close.
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A friend in Howard Beach, New York sent me this pic of a possum that chose a site 3 feet off the ground in a pine tree in the local primary school yard to sleep over night.
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A friend sent me this picture for ID. I'm sure somebody here will recognise it.
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Its Alucita hexadactyla, Roma, the Twenty Plume-Moth. ( I have assumed your friend is in the UK? ... There are over 100 related, similar, on Continental Europe !!)
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1288 (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1288)
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Thank you, Ron. That was quick. It was a friend of my friend who took the picture. She is French but lives here, so I assume it was taken in NE Scotland.
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Saw a flock of about 20 Snow buntings feeding in field in the Pentland hills today. I've been walking there for years and have never noticed them before. Maybe they stood out more in the snow.
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Winter visitors, hello all we have been surrounded by around a feet of snow here for a week the roads are good but the nursery is still in winter mode, I have enjoyed many bird visitors with Bramblings, Siskins, Goldfinches, Gold crests Woodpeckers and this week Long tailed tits usually 4 or 5 at a time so will post some pictures, as usual they always come in when I do not have my camera but caught them today, cheers Ian the Christie kind
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2 yellowhammers were under the feeders today, first time I've seen them in the garden but not quick enough with the camera.
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Lucky you Richard. You can keep them coming by putting out groats and wheat
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You can keep them coming by putting out groats
Crikey, fussy eaters or what....won't they touch more up to date coins ;D :-X 8)
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Lucky you Richard. You can keep them coming by putting out groats and wheat
Main problem is the 6+ pheasants that gobble up everything first thing, plus numerous pigeons, have a ground feeder cover but only robins and dunnocks will use it, need to rig up something more finch friendly that the food hoovers can't get to.
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A sheep wire cage would be easy.
What kind of pigeons?
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I planted a dozen sunflowers in the spring. These are now nearly 9' tall and the first ones are being raided for seeds by a family of greenfinches.
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Very impressive height. There is some along a boundary fence nearby and I was only thinking yesterday that they would be ruined if a flock of white cockatoos or galahs came visiting.
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A sheep wire cage would be easy.
What kind of pigeons?
Woodies, and lots of them! Can get plenty of wheat from the farm but the more food I put on the floor the more hoovers arrive, looking at making a hanging feeder table that the big stuff will have trouble landing on.
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Here's some pics of the greenfinches at my sunflowers. We have monarchs in the garden all the time and there is a swan plant in amongst the roses and sunflowers, so they are egg laying.
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Here are a couple taken through the lounge window. The monarch emerged this morning from a chrysalis I glued to an outside wall light as it had stuck itself to the handle of a swingball bat and the children wanted to play. ::)
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Anyone know whet there beetles, seen sheltering en mass from the sun in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.
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Its Chauliognathus lugubris, Anthony. The Plague Soldier Beetle.
Aptly named I'd say, going by your pictures. :o
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It seems these large gathering of beetles are for "social" purposes....... ;) ::)
Not knowing these beetles, I'd have feared they'd be foliage munchers, but it appears they are beneficial beasties : "Every spring I marvel at the numbers of insects devoured by soldier beetles. They’re real troopers in the war on damaging insect in my landscape......."
http://www.wildworldofpests.com/?p=231 (http://www.wildworldofpests.com/?p=231)
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It seems these large gathering of beetles are for "social" purposes....... ;) ::)
Not knowing these beetles, I'd have feared they'd be foliage munchers, but it appears they are beneficial beasties : "Every spring I marvel at the numbers of insects devoured by soldier beetles. They’re real troopers in the war on damaging insect in my landscape......."
(http://www.wildworldofpests.com/?p=231)
Some soldier beetles, in the adult and larval forms, are major consumers of other insects. Indeed, the larvae of this species live in the soil and feed on soft bodied invertebrates, however the adults feed on pollen and nectar.
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Stonechats - miserable day, driving rain and low light
Redshank pulling a ....?
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These British soldier beetles feeds on Aphids etc. in the adult stage, and slugs, snails, their eggs etc. in its larval stage. Very much the 'good guys', ;D ;D
How many people have squished them as a ' Lily Beetle' I wonder, ::)
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/red-soldier-beetle (http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/red-soldier-beetle)
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/red-headed-cardinal-beetle (http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/red-headed-cardinal-beetle)
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Thanks for the info. I have now Googled them as I goggled at them last Friday. :o
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Something not quite right about this, albeit black and white, photo. I think I know what it is?