Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption          Downsizer Forum Index -> Conservation and Environment dpack ps they are called something with orb in it, pah. stripy pyjama spiders is far more useful as a name that identifies them i will get a snap of one of them, we have enjoyed them for a decade or more buzzy Orb Web Spiders? But that is a big grouping, describing the web construction. Henry dpack they were called something along those lines when i looked for a name on the web(buy one get one free ) dpack mrs b and a wee one going in opposite directions dpack i rather like that snap, not sure why but it works for me even if it is a low fat crop ed and i could have cropped better... Mistress Rose Pity in a way that young one flew in just as you had focused on Mrs. B., but it does work as you say. dpack wowser, back soon we have a little bracket the social side of that was perfect, as i typed that i felt a presence which was two sparrows in the wild garlic trough on the window sill a desk top away dpack i am very happy even if the snap has less than technical perfection being introduced to little bracket by his dad was a privilege dpack the first day out has the young one imprinted on me as being ok? lorenz his dad fetched him round to my yard, perhaps so if so i have a new gen to get to know i know how to work the chook thing but the wilders are not domesticated and a bit different to work with dpack the young bracket seems to be settling in nicely Mistress Rose Lovely pictures. The blackbirds must have nested early to have a young one out of the nest already. dpack i can look up when i thought she started sitting dpack jan 30th she had decided to keep mr brack i am fairly sure she started sitting mid to late feb they have had a very good food supply including dried mealworms as well as taking a fair toll of my invertebrates and it is quite a warm microclimate compared to many places gz Cracking photo dpack We have blackbird nests in the gardens each side of us, not surprisingly later than yours! dpack new tactics with better , easy to adjust mylar panels, the one with a door that can be adjusted to a V shape on string if upright or just swung if sideways is more useful than i expected i still need to double the light, but i have another 1.5m2 frame and a couple of smaller ones so i might get there. and the sun is better positioned to be able to reflect some of it tis a serious bonus to have another growing space(graft trees)as well i just had to tell 20 or so birds mr chompy was popping out for his post tea wee better than a surprise. the young bracket can gather seeds but still wants feeding, mr brack might be feeding more of them that are still nest or under the nest wherever somewhere nearby is, mrs brack popped in for a drink and a quick bath so i guess she is busy as well the sparrows are at various stages from active in brood nests to that is a nice bit of moss n mud wattle you found at the shops dpack not everything that flies has feathers that sort of thing is better with the macro lens but it was fun papping it, the little moths were very sneaky:roll: Mistress Rose We have seen the bluetits nesting in the fore end loader to the tractor again. We didn't think they were going to this year, but started seeing nesting material going in yesterday. The robin seems rather interested in proceedings, but no idea why. We also seem to have bluetits in the nest box poked into the creeper on the back of the house. We put it there originally for a photoshoot, but it was left although it is rather low, and the bluetits are quite happy there. Nice picture of the sparrow Dpack. sgt.colon Some great shots there DPack. dpack ta , not there yet the sparrows have graduated to invertebrate collections and small tasty leaves in the shopping so i suspect many have hatchlings in the nests a distinct change in diet and stuff being taken home from the shops every plant and crevice is being checked for critters, even the aphids on the mint are being taken(i am usually left those as they are a bit pungent, they barely notice in mint sauce but as a mini beak snack not very nice ) dpack four fledgling sparrows were brought for a first visit late today, hopefully they will be back tomorrow for a photo shoot fluffy, cute and a bit confused today, but they were doing what mum and dad suggested. Mistress Rose The bluetits have started nesting in the fore end loader of the tractor again. Luckily it is settled in the yard as it makes the set up too long with the forwarder on the tractor. There was also a robin around there, but couldn't see quite what it was up to. dpack young bracket is fine, as are his parents, she is either sitting again or has new hatchling/s going by their behaviours. i suspect sitting and maybe laying as she only pops in for water,mealwoms and seeds which she eats rather than takes home, his shopping bag is always full when he sets off unless little bracket gets very insistent and gets left to try picking stuff up for a bit. nice they trust me with him even if i have a hound at times. the sparrows seem to be sitting or with a nest full going by the noises and mostly one at time of couples visiting for food water etc still some diy with sticks and feathers and stuff yougi sammison is still around but i have not seen mikki for a while, since the corvid visit with squeak:roll: she may be confined with kids but he is not doing a lot of shopping for a big family no snaps today , i have been a bit distracted vet nursing the hound, again, for a couple of days and not had a chance to settle down to it Mistress Rose Hope Mikki is with young ones. It would be sad if she was missing. Hope the dog is better soon. I haven't been to the woods for a couple of days, and haven't been out much either as I had to wait in for parcel pick up. dpack young bracket i have been distracted until today but i did notice a few interesting things boy sparrows have individual eye make up. the dots and stripes over the eye are a pretty good identifying feature it might not be fingerprints(foot shape helps with quite a lot, it seems rather variable) but i have not found 2 the same yet. it is only easy to see in decent id snaps when they are hopping about(i might try the bins)but so far it seems good as a distinguishing feature i have identified several pairs tweed might be acting as handmaid, she is shopping as well as feeding herself there are a few new ones about and quite a few old chums missing breakfast more brack news in a mo dpack i did not have enough light for a decent beak in the gape feeding snap that looks ok, nuff said the wee one moves quick if food is involved i got a moth snap i will try to find out what they are, 14mm long, slender. two pale triangles on closed dark wings, day flyers i need to find it again dpack not a technical arty snap but it does give an idea of how mr brack is feeling at the mo buzzy It might not be a technical arty snap, but it's a cracking good 'un in my view. Tells you so much about life at the bracks. Well done. Henry dpack thanks. dpack he is a first time parent , with another on the way if i read her behaviour correctly. he is doing pretty well but young bracket prefers to be fed when being shown how to feed i can remember the feeling mr brack has done a great job as a father and "house boy", she made a good choice. dpack Hope Mikki is with young ones. It would be sad if she was missing. Hope the dog is better soon. I haven't been to the woods for a couple of days, and haven't been out much either as I had to wait in for parcel pick up. i still have not seen her, yungi is pottering about but does not seem busy he is also a bit more shy than usual but that might be down to the dog's horizontal diarrhoea:roll: he is feeling better thanks, hard core antibiotics and a couple of other things as a mix seem to be working, again. parvo survivors have issues, not surprising as tis nastier than cholera and ebola at the same time.
dpack	tis the white/black pattern over the eye i refer to as far as i can tell so far they are all different and distinct there are two nest chum brothers in the local tribe, one has 2 spots the other 4 a different one has 3 small white ,2 white on a dark blob a brown and then a white smear they are very variable the hooves are quite individual as well
Mistress Rose	Those photos are good, and very interesting observations about the feet and eye patches. I suspect that if the blackbirds have another young one the present one will have to fend for itself, but no harm in trying it on a bit longer I suppose. Son got a picture of the bluetit poking its head out of the tube yesterday, but I haven't seen it yet. Saw one of them going in yesterday, so things are progressing. Interesting observation on birds yesterday. In the beech plantation there are very few birds singing, but in the semi-natural ancient the other side of the valley there are far more. Possibly more varied habitat, more suitable nest sites with tall trees for territory proclamation? That bit is a mixture of hazel coppice with assorted trees, and such overgrown coppice that there are more trees than coppice, so a good mixed bag.
dpack	when i lived in woodland, the 3 acres of over mature(3 to 5 foot trunk bases)beech plantation had far less wildlife than the mixture of ancient oak,ash,birch and acers with assorted post quarry regrowth over Millennia i think it is probably down to the monoculture and the nature of beech re food and housing compared to mixed woodland with a decent amount of oak ash and birch in it. part of that could be that the plantation was relatively flat and the other 30 odd acres was slopes drops holes etc giving a temperate rain forest with many microclimates , no agriculture ever and little human interference due to access issues to most of it if you can't fly or climb(and want to live til lunchtime) the semi natural/reclaiming quarry holes and spoil growth in a high rainfall micro climate is the most biodiverse place i have ever been. the pro ecologists found it as interesting as tropical rainforest in terms of bio diversity and density. eg the moss folk found 36 spp they knew and about 10 they had to go and check on. 5 types of bats including noctrels and 4 colonies of smaller ones, the hammer bats peeling out of a crack into a very spooky bit of the place at dusk was quite a sight bird diversity and density was very high, but the biggest difference between that and the beech plantation was the diversity of ground flora, fungi and invertebrates+loads of small critters of almost every class
dpack	a small aside regarding bats, there is a church in kernow with a sunken trackway beside it, at dusk a huge colony of noctrels emerge for somewhere in the church yard and fly up the gentle slope between the banks of the trackway at foot to face level. very awesome, very reliable at dusk in the warmer 3/4 of the year and almost never observed unless one is told where to find it. i am saying nowt, see below. bats and peeps are best at a respectable distance. i will not enter batcaves for my and their well-being unless essential in an exit flight is ace to experience but not a sensible hobby. my local ones seem to have been evicted/moidoid by the development of the hotel and out buildings to make flats nearby if i had known where they roosted i would have got em listed
Mistress Rose	I don't know about other life forms, but we certainly have 5 or 6 species of bats, none of them particularly rare, a reasonable range of mammals including dormice and resident badgers, brown hares and polecats, and over 170 species of plant including about 50 ancient woodland indicator species. The bluebells, wood anemones and wild garlic are spreading into the plantation, but it is PAWS, so as far as we know has been woodland of some sort for centuries. It isn't so easy to find out as it was church land, so no details on the tithe maps sadly. Not too good on mosses, liverworts or invertebrates, but one of our volunteers is always taking pictures of things like the mosses, and takes odd bits of fallen branch (small bits) home to photograph and identify lichens. We have some unusual fungi including quite commonly magpie inkcap, which seems to be very fond of the debris under the firewood processor. There is a lot of biodiversity in British ancient woodland if people look, but then you are finding our a lot about the birds in your back garden by careful observation Dpack. I suspect that things are there if you look.
dpack	iirc magpie inkcaps grow on bonfire sites so under a charcoal processor seems a decent spot for them re diversity, i am amazed at the range of invertebrates in a small strip of urban yard there are lots i have never seen before and quite a few i have trouble finding an id for at the mo i am trying to get a decent look at these little day moths, they are a bit skittery to even eyeball let alone get a decent snap of them we have quite a variety of snails, even with the birds, i spotted a new one a few days ago, new to here but very popular with blackbirds on a wall a few hundred meters away, i only saw it once. i cant remember the name although i looked them up a few years ago. ochres and reddish browns in stripes on a globular shell usually around 15mm across iirc i have id for about half a dozen tiny ones, flat or conical all of them are river side species which makes sense as we are only 400m from the river it is a bit of an odd area with quite a few folk who are keen on wildlife, environmental stuff and "green"gardening as well as concrete and crevices in the more urban microhabitats. industrial pesticides are not a big thing round here as the nearest stuff that is farmed is sssi m8 water meadow which gets a couple of cuts or mooed and there is a lot of green space+the homestead+the buglife effect that andy managed during his time here very well. buglife organized lots of flora for bugs and habitat protection/creation as well as an education program that has taught kids and adults that bugs matter. that will have lasting effects, folk even tolerate wasps in moderation i am over 10 spp of hoverflies seen in the yard, the latest being a biggish one that has recently been expanding north from urp, common name false hornet which is a bit ott but i can see how it could come about. they do buffet people and they are quite large, seem harmless(so far) the eyespot thing has promise, i eyball ided 1spot and 2 spot as justin's(he has 4 spots) clutch brothers now i need a set of definitive mugshots to check if this method works if i can get a simple designator for the boys i am halfway there to being able to work out more about the social structure and individual behaviours the girls might have a similar characteristic that is individual to them, but i have not found it yet. i can sort of tell them apart and id a few in any circumstances but mostly by body shape,feet and general colouring/pattern a slightly odd thought but a rather relevant one, i am in the mid hundreds of spp(a very informal list and some are "that was unusual , i have no idea what it was but it did this....") that can be observed in or from a very small urban area i am wondering if all of them actually have names? most probably but some maybe not and there are quite a few "exotics" that are not usual up til recently. i am looking at sparrows as a social scientist might do, but bug (and other invertebrate) "twitching" could be a very productive study in such an environment for someone with the time and patience to do it properly counting leg hairs on something the size of a grain of rice is outside my patience tolerance bacterial counts on a gridded slide with a vernier stage used to drive me nuts so "how many whiskers on the knees" is off the menu:lol: i cant remember the attribution but "a famous" naturalist suggested that the best way to discover a new species was to study a square yard of your garden, properly. they could well be correct.
dpack
gz	Just Brilliant
dpack	birds on a wire these ones have promise for doing arty printing stuff with
dpack	in other wildlife news mr and mrs brack are doing fine, young bracket is becoming more independent and the sparrows are busy there is some diy going on, wolf fur seems popular, which might be an issue for the slug control experiment if somebody lands on my cucumber umm pets huh the sparrows are on clutch or feeding nestlings if i have interpreted the activities and noises correctly the boys feed as a team, then the girls feed as a team. only one pair feed together and tweed seems to be helping out somewhere as she is shopping as well as dining the other local colony is keeping to its own patch the bluetit/s(hard to tell if it is 1 at a time) are hunting for insects but are not comfortable as the sparrows are quite defensive of the territory i got some id eyespot snaps that need a close look to see if i might be correct. it might be a bit more complex(or simple)than i thought if left and right sides of the face are not the same
buzzy	You also need to know if eyespots are stable through moults. I have an idea that the yellow (gold) mark on Goldfinch wings might be individual. I will investigate when I have the time. Still trying to cope with being on my own. Henry
dpack	manly hugs mate the through the moult thing is a good question the last flush of last year's ones are only just getting full adult plumage i do not know if young ones have eye spots, yet. if you have noticed a potentially distinguishing thing with finches it might be we are onto a way to make observations into data regarding which one did what iirc orca folk identify them by patterns and scars patterns and feet seems a good direction to explore my thinking was a definitive characteristic is a fair target for AI checking a bulk set of snaps for who is present and then doing a human what is it doing? as the second level of analysis even without AI but with a set of mug shots and a bit of familiiarity it seems plausible to know which one is which
dpack	data without a solid id method is not really data, although the observational stuff from knowing a few of them is quite interesting
Mistress Rose	Hugs too Henry. Your observations on goldfinches and Dpacks on sparrows could turn out to be very interesting. As you say, Dpack, study a square yard or metre of your own garden/yard and you will find all sorts of things. Even with plants, I know in the woods roughly where to look for particular species, so check every so often if they are making an appearance. The magpie inkcaps don't have anything to do with the charcoal, but grow on debris from cutting wood as it is the firewood processor which cuts and splits wood to make firewood from lengths. The bluetits were active again yesterday, but refused to play when son tried to get a picture of them. There were two of them in the trees nearby, but although one had just visited, the other refused to visit, so assume both went off looking for nesting material still. I know the ings are a very interesting place. We had a look at them when we visited York, and found some yarrow is it, that they are encouraging for the beetle.
sgt.colon	More manly hugs for you Henry. We were out on a walk the other day and saw this chap/chapesse mooching across the road. We were watching his when a guy on a bike came shooting down the hill and missed it by millimetres. I then pick it up and put it at the side of the road.
buzzy	A chapesse, I would say, and pregnant at that. I think a Great Crested, but can't judge the size precisely. You did a splendid job rescuing her from her perilous journey. Thanks people for the hugs. Yesterday was not a good day, but most are better. Henry
buzzy	I think whale watchers identify some by the black and white patterns on the underside of the tail flikes, and I heard a talk where the seal people were looking at identifying Grey Seals by the spot pattern on the head. Seems eminently suited to an AI solution, pattern matching, and obviates the need for invasive marking. Henry
dpack	i had considered asking the rspb ringing folk to colour code them with easy seen ring combos but it seems far too intrusive and a nightmare in practical terms both in numbers, churn between sub colonies and new fledglings as well as netting the poor things which cannot be much fun for them. when i was about 9 i had an ace junior school teacher who introduced us to practical bird ringing, net and pliers stuff and delta blues i dought such things get done in a post SATS age. if the eyespot thing does seem to be a defining characteristic the AI route for who is in the snap would be very useful for social studies. the sparrows have turned very invertebratecidal and seem keener on wee critters than seeds at the mo some seem a bit puzzled as to how to "catch and prepare" their quarry but they are enthusiastic i take this to mean they have nestlings in need of fats and proteins
dpack	More manly hugs for you Henry. We were out on a walk the other day and saw this chap/chapesse mooching across the road. We were watching his when a guy on a bike came shooting down the hill and missed it by millimetres. I then pick it up and put it at the side of the road.

ace , well done for helping a pregnant lady across the road.
i am pleased to announce you have been awarded the phib medal.

i have a dreadful confession, one of the main reasons i did not continue my chookmobile experiment, although it worked from a chook keeping perspective, was the awful toll on the newts.

i am very fond of phibs sgt.colon

Thanks DPack

It's the first one I've ever seen in real life so it was even better that I was able to save its life from a crazy cyclist. dpack

dpack

slow worms are rep/snakes rather than phibs, but they are very ace as well dpack

the detail might not show at that res but 3 boys, all have different eyespot patterns

at least 2 others have other patterns.

for boy ones this might work. dpack

mr brack started shouting "my land" at 3.34 am

not really an observation but it is getting well into spring Mistress Rose

You did well to save the newt, regardless of type. They migrate rather a lot; our pond got inhabited by them when they found ours rather than another pond they were heading for.

Another good picture Dpack. As you say, if they all turn out to have different patterns that stay on moulting, it will be a good way of non-intrusive ID.

We are hearing quite a lot of birds proclaiming territory here at the moment. sgt.colon

Great shot DPack. The birds are doing the same here but must they do it so early in the morning? dpack

the boys are feeding and gathering invs

the girls feed and drink

nestlings seems plausible

a fledgeling was out, but was taken home asap Mistress Rose

At least they don't do it all night like nightingales or a misguided blackbird we had near our first house that thought because the streetlamp was on the early hours of the morning was a good singing time. Where my parents lived when they were first married just after WWII was right out in the country, and the nightingales used to drive Dad mad singing all night. He lived with his parents during the week as he worked in London where they lived, and he was glad to get home for some quiet in suburbia. sgt.colon

You've made me feel a little better thanks MR. I'll stop my complaining. dpack

jackdaws wired on coffee cake, squawking and bouncing a phone wire up and down at 2 am was quite a party dpack

we have a squab

the sparrows are feeding on high fat/protein stuff, mostly taken home by boys and swallowed by girls.

of the 4 core pairs i recon 3 have things in the nest, the 4 th still feed together so they might be on the way for first or perhaps starting second

there seem to be 3 spares not paired, tweed, a girl and a boy
i sort of suspect they are tweed's nest mates from the last batch of last year.
none of them seem fully mature or particularly "healthy" but they made it through winter and spring
tweed has almost certainly been doing handmaid.

not seen curly for ages

some "successful"ones seem to have rather deformed feet, so perhaps my idea of deformed is within the usual and useful range of foot shapes

two that are pretty much the same strikes me as normal for feet, a few of these sparrows have very different hooves each side

the magpies are also rather interested in high protein snacks sgt.colon

Should I still be putting fat balls out for the birds at this time of year? dpack

yep, they do need fats, mealworms are even more popular than block stuff Mistress Rose

Our robin won't take dried mealworms but likes them in fat pellets.

There is a blackbird singing away outside at the moment, and he starts up pretty early in the morning. Heard a thrush yesterday in the wood, and what might be a blackcap. Also chiff chaff and several others unidentified. The bluetits are getting on well in the fore end loader, but not sure what stage they are at.

Went looking round one area for flowers as I had to wait for some people for a meeting about the power line work. Early purple orchid, sweet woodruff, Solomon's seal, yellow archangel, red campion, wood and germander speedwell and twayblade were the most noticeable. sgt.colon

Thanks DPack, I'll pop some more out and then have a look at picking some mealworm up.

We just get tits, sparrows, blackbirds and jackdaws around here. The odd pigeon and I have seen a couple of goldfinches, so contemplating getting some niger seeds. dpack

millet on the stalk is a good one for finches buzzy

Goldfinches like sunflower hearts enough to squabble over them.

Henry dpack

they like fat hen as well Mistress Rose

If it makes you feel any better Sgt. Colon, we had a blackbird singing all yesterday. Got quite fed up with it in the end, particularly when I was trying to listen to other bird song to get an ID on one I had heard.

We have a lot of pigeons, but not sure what sort they are. We get lots of wood pigeons in the wood and have heard a turtle dove a couple of times. dpack

SD has just reported that york has these bees

scary looking was the opinion, i will find out at some point if they are buzzy

Has SD got photographic (or other ) evidence that these have been found in York?

Hernry dpack

might have, i will ask. sgt.colon

SD has just reported that york has these bees

scary looking was the opinion, i will find out at some point if they are

I bet that's created a bit of a buzz around York.

I know, I'm going...... gz

Any idea what this one will be? Will my veges be eyed as food?! Slim

Doesn't look dissimilar to a cutworm. Was it curled up under the soil?

Just had a porcupine waddle up to the house and hide under the steps when my daughter shouted at him. Party of me enjoys the visit, party of me feels a quick dispatching now will save long tedious quill removal from dog and/or cat.... gz

Under a mat we use to cover a garden table buzzy

SD has just reported that york has these bees

scary looking was the opinion, i will find out at some point if they are

I bet that's created a bit of a buzz around York.

I know, I'm going......

As I began to read your words sgt.colon, I was expecting to read " I bet that's created in a lab in Lancashire"

Henry dpack

not yet re hard evidence for the over enthusiastic bee.

her last id was spot on with the false hornet one, when i saw the picture she got, after a few days, and checked it out that was the beast
i will ask if she can snap or trap one, they strike me as a bit invasive.

printmaker as well as a bunshop manager so she has a good eye for detail having practised on the birds and hounds and flowers etc.

breaking news from birdtown

young bracket is MIA at the mo but tt thought he might be with a group of juvenile blackbirds and a juvenile cuckoo 100M away on the green.

update young bracket has returned to camp just now and is sitting on the gate lintel.
that is nice, his dad was looking for him a while ago and even asked me if i had seen him

breaking news is ace sometimes

true to form the cuckoo on the green was ignoring lockdown advice and sitting on a bench surrounded by "chums" dpack

just saw a smallish frog in the yard, seemed busy hunting Mistress Rose

We seem to have a fox in our garden. Husband thought he saw one the other evening, and now it has tried to bury something in a newly planted out bed. Foxes are a pain. dpack

not a good snap , i am having issues with the new photoshop suite update

there are better ones, young corvid's parents did a very good job of interference and there was a scared pigeon involved.

better snaps of grin as well dpack

only just maybe sorted pootering issues and these were papped fast with the wrong lens but it was a sight to behold. dpack

the full fat have a lot more body but this gives an idea of the shapes and moves dpack

it was a little tense for several involved Mistress Rose

I once saw a rook learning to fly. It had the idea of the flying but the crash landing in the hedge with wings and feet out wasn't exactly elegant. Both parents were there encouraging and making remarks. dpack

this one had made it to the tv aerial, just, mum and dad were trying to get it to have another go when grin showed up.

they resisted by flying at grin, away from grin as a potential meal and by getting in the way of the swoops.
brave and effective

i suspect the reason grin gave up was not them but the surprised pigeon who flew into the airspace during the furball making an easier target dpack

busy in bird town

ed for misplaced line dpack

I'm am not sure of the grins' area but they seem to cover this patch closely about every week to ten days

usually sunny with the sun to the south or west, ie where it was in those grin and young corvid snaps

i have seen them hunt and practice locally around the area in all weathers and lighting, but the yard hit is usually in very specific conditions.
a bit like me and fish i spose, if i know those conditions work in that place to catch that dinner, that is what i will do.

having a peregrine as part of the flock is unusual but i(and perhaps "we")can cope with that. it has not been unsustainable so far.

i have done environment management to make it hard to get a swoop to feeding ones under the brambles, not impossible but hard.
take your corvidkid for a spin to the aerial is beyond my control

they are feeding a chick up high on the minster about a mile away( a mile is about 2 mins lay gain knowledge and/or gain altitude flying)
when the young one fledges all 3 will be over here for a spot of afternoon tea(and a few crash landings from junior)regardless of conditions Mistress Rose

Good action picture. We now think we have a robin nesting under one of the trailers and a wren in the log stand. Haven't seen the bluetits for a few days, but son may have done as he had his camera trained on it for a while yesterday. In the garden we have a pigeon nesting in the wisteria on the back of the house near the bedroom window and a magpie pinching eggs from it. As we have too many of both species not sure which I want to win that particular one. dpack

just id snaps today, i was busy when it was lit or interesting

we did have a youngish starling, not a fledge, pop in for a snack

bit rare round here dpack

"hello Clarice" gz

Next door's under the tiles starlings seem to all have fledged and moved into the other side's laurel bush aka bird tenement..along with the goldfinch, blackbirds, wren and collar doves! dpack

rather charming and "tame" in two days from first meeting,

i recon it has become separated from the flock as usually they travel as a mob.
it seems healthy and happyish

if it hangs around i am going to teach it some choice rebel tunes

"off to dublin in the green" is within the capacity of a starling or perhaps the Planet G(even the walkways are made out of hemp) crusty classic,"i like spanking ", either of which it could teach to others when they are reunited

i am starting to really enjoy this bird thing, gathering potentially useful knowledge and getting closer to getting images i can work with for "arty" stuff

PS arty stuff, in the terms i am thinking of, has different criteria to wildlife snap or id snaps

the rest of them are doing fine, i think there may be a flush of sparrow fledglings fairly soon, plenty of shopping and a few bits of diy might indicate that Mistress Rose

Starlings are great mimics. When I was a child our next door neighbour used to put yesterdays paper in the chain link fence for my parents to read and wolf whistle to let them know it was there. Of course the starlings picked it up, and both Mum and I went out several times to find it was the bird and not the neighbour.

Glad your other feathered friends are doing well. We haven't seen the bluetits lately, but son says there are more eggs than there were, so they are probably at the increasing the clutch size and will start sitting when they have enough. dpack

clarice turned up with a chum, they did not pop in but at least there are now 2 of them to keep each other company Shane

Had this rather attractive fella in the garden yesterday. Scarlet dragonfly, according to t'internet, but goes by the local name of scarlet darter.

Shane

One of our palm trees is in full flower right now, too - never seen it like this before!



It's a shame I can't upload to a resolution high enough to see the detail of the flowers, as it's looking quite stunning! Mistress Rose

Good picture of the dragon fly. Some red darters stopped a development in our village some years ago, as they are quite rare, so the pond they depended on (actually a new pond) couldn't be drained and built on. Probably a good thing in may ways as there is a sink hole somewhere nearby, and draining the pond with the sink hole already under a car park or petrol station (I hope it is not under the supermarket) might be a bad idea.

Do your palm flowers smell? One drawback with going to Torquay for a holiday in June was the Torbay palms flowering as we both hated the smell.

Husband had a mad attack of gardening yesterday and as well as mowing the lawn, which produced a compost heap of cuttings, he cut his way to the beehive near the house. He is now talking of relocating it to the woods, so it may finally go this year. dpack

nice insect snap, rare enough in the uk i have never seen one

the palm looks ace, do palms have their own ecosystem like say an oak or apple tree might? Shane

Do your palm flowers smell? One drawback with going to Torquay for a holiday in June was the Torbay palms flowering as we both hated the smell.
No idea whether they smell, partly because the air stinks of bougainvillea at this time of year (they are in pretty much every garden in the area in large quantities), and partly because all flowers smell like burning nostrils to me (shortly followed by reduced lung capacity)!

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