Nature watch.

[sonyc 5,520]

On 03/05/2022 at 22:10, Mr Apples said:

Heard the first Cuckoo of the spring today. 🤪😎

Apples

Just logged on after quite a while away (for the pup thread) so wanted to mention that I've heard our first Cuckoo last week and last night saw two of them. Terrible fliers aren't they!

And not just Spring but Summer too perhaps? Our neighbour was looking for the Swifts this morning ...they usually arrive on the 10th May every year (we live on top of a high stone bank and they soar above it for weeks...you can hear their shrieks if the wind is in the right direction). Anyway, a day late but they're here!

And finally, on a dog walk this chap (maybe a chappess?) just sat there watching us closely. Tawny I think. About 11.30 in the morning. Second photo is a close up but you lose sharpness.

[Midlands Yellow 3,986]

32 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Just logged on after quite a while away (for the pup thread) so wanted to mention that I've heard our first Cuckoo last week and last night saw two of them. Terrible fliers aren't they!

And not just Spring but Summer too perhaps? Our neighbour was looking for the Swifts this morning ...they usually arrive on the 10th May every year (we live on top of a high stone bank and they soar above it for weeks...you can hear their shrieks if the wind is in the right direction). Anyway, a day late but they're here!

And finally, on a dog walk this chap (maybe a chappess?) just sat there watching us closely. Tawny I think. About 11.30 in the morning. Second photo is a close up but you lose sharpness.

I’m jealous, always hearing them but never seen one. 

[Mello Yello 2,296]

Owls are my favourite.....Luv 'em....absolutely luv 'em....

[horsefly 4,301]

46 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

I’m jealous, always hearing them but never seen one. 

One tip for seeing a tawny owl is to listen out for the alarm calls of blackbirds. If there are several of them sounding particularly loud and frantic it is often because a tawny is in the area. For some reason they have a particular fear and dislike of tawny owls, despite them being no genuine threat.

Edited May 12, 2022 by horsefly

[Midlands Yellow 3,986]

On 12/05/2022 at 13:13, horsefly said:

One tip for seeing a tawny owl is to listen out for the alarm calls of blackbirds. If there are several of them sounding particularly loud and frantic it is often because a tawny is in the area. For some reason they have a particular fear and dislike of tawny owls, despite them being no genuine threat.

I’m on the lookout for that scenario. I’ve mimicked their sound before and had a call back. 

[horsefly 4,301]

2 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

I’m on the lookout for that scenario. I’ve mimicked their sound before and had a call back. 

Cool! There are usually several blackbirds involved, and they sound louder and more frantic than usual. When it first happened in my garden it was just about coming up to dusk and they were making such a racket I was motivated to go outside and see what was up. There sitting in a specimen Leylandii was a tawny owl ignoring their efforts. 

[SwindonCanary 455]

Hedgehogs are very mucky, I've got to clean there eating quarters every morning. 

[Herman 9,768]

6 hours ago, SwindonCanary said:

Hedgehogs are very mucky, I've got to clean there eating quarters every morning. 

At least you get them. I haven't seen an alive one for a very long time sadly.

[Pockthorpe 531]

Currently watching bats 🦇 darting about in garden. Almost sure they’re Pipistrelles.

They were here when we moved in over 25 years ago. Have never known where they come from. Put a bat brick up last autumn above my conservatory. Clever bats have found it , I know that from the bat **** collecting underneath . Have spent hours trying to see them coming out or in - no luck so far ! 
Bloody amazing creatures aren’t they ? 

[Herman 9,768]

First I've heard of a bat brick. Sounds like an ingenious idea.👍

[Pockthorpe 531]

1 hour ago, Herman said:

First I've heard of a bat brick. Sounds like an ingenious idea.👍

They look like a concrete block with slits in.If I knew how to upload a photo I would ! Got it online from Greenwood’s Ecohabitats.I should have probably better described it as a bat box really, it attaches to an outside wall/tree.As opposed to a bat brick you can get that has holes in that allow bats into the roof void. 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Pockthorpe

[FenwayFrank 2,459]

https://www.greenwoodsecohabitats.co.uk/shop

[sonyc 5,520]

18 hours ago, Pockthorpe said:

Currently watching bats 🦇 darting about in garden. Almost sure they’re Pipistrelles.

They were here when we moved in over 25 years ago. Have never known where they come from. Put a bat brick up last autumn above my conservatory. Clever bats have found it , I know that from the bat **** collecting underneath . Have spent hours trying to see them coming out or in - no luck so far ! 
Bloody amazing creatures aren’t they ? 

Weird things. We had one just 'arrive' (*) every early summer for well over a decade low flying over about 4 or 5 back gardens in the gaps between all the boundary trees at great speed. Flying in a kind of figure of 8 and you could almost time his flights because they were so regular.

Strange little fellow and somehow other-wordly! 

 

 

* https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/bat-makes-record-breaking-1500-mile-journey-from-russia-to-french-alps/

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by sonyc

[Pockthorpe 531]

45 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Weird things. We had one just 'arrive' (*) every early summer for well over a decade low flying over about 4 or 5 back gardens in the gaps between all the boundary trees at great speed. Flying in a kind of figure of 8 and you could almost time his flights because they were so regular.

Strange little fellow and somehow other-wordly! 

 

 

* https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/bat-makes-record-breaking-1500-mile-journey-from-russia-to-french-alps/

 

I had no idea some of them migrated so far. I’m even more impressed by them now. The ones I see do a sort of figure of eight too , they’re so damn quick I have no idea how many there are of them. 

[Herman 9,768]

On 18/04/2022 at 17:24, ricardo said:

Mason Bees, interesting creatures.

https://www.ecolandscaping.org/03/landscaping-for-wildlife/beneficialspollinators/attract-mason-bees-no-protective-gear-needed/

We have the perfect locations for many of them to thrive. Interesting to watch them work.

[Herman 9,768]

Baby spiders.

[Mr Apples 1,320]

Saw my first seasonal triple bill yesterday of Swallows, Swifts and House Martins all flying together.

Apples

[dylanisabaddog 4,930]

https://www.keeptheban.uk/post/breaking-illegal-raptor-persecution-on-the-hilborough-estate

[FenwayFrank 2,459]

How’s this for a moth 

 

[horsefly 4,301]

Despite numerous available open foxglove flowers, this little fella was determined to prise this bud open. Also, the more close-ups I do, the more I realise just how important hairs/ filaments are to so many things in nature:

 

[Van wink 2,994]

This chap appeared in the garden last night……noisy ****😁

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,415]

On 23/05/2022 at 22:45, dylanisabaddog said:

https://www.keeptheban.uk/post/breaking-illegal-raptor-persecution-on-the-hilborough-estate

These fockers have history 🤬

[Herman 9,768]

On 23/05/2022 at 15:33, Mr Apples said:

Saw my first seasonal triple bill yesterday of Swallows, Swifts and House Martins all flying together.

Apples

How do you tell the difference, from a distance? One of them was flittering around work but not sure what species. 

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,415]

Swallows long forked tail blue/black with a white chest.

Martins very black with a stunted forked tail and a white rump.

Swifts fly (soar) high up swept back wings body tapers sharply. Don't really flap or flutter as they fly using their wings from the shoulder. They make the screeching noises associated with hirundines. Almost like a small falcon in behaviour.

Sorry Mr Apples 😃

*There are sand martins too, nesting in quarries, river banks and cliffs and are brown.

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Wings of a Sparrow

[Mr Apples 1,320]

50 minutes ago, Wings of a Sparrow said:

Sorry Mr Apples 😃

Perfect! 😅

When you seen them together its really easy to pick the difference in how they fly and their individual habits.

1 hour ago, Herman said:

How do you tell the difference, from a distance?

Its the old ecologist in me, and there's wasn't much else to do around the Broads in the 80's! 🥱🤣

Apples

[sonyc 5,520]

1 hour ago, Mr Apples said:

Perfect! 😅

When you seen them together its really easy to pick the difference in how they fly and their individual habits.

Its the old ecologist in me, and there's wasn't much else to do around the Broads in the 80's! 🥱🤣

Apples

Haha, my times in the 80s were about telling the difference between heather and crowberry in a year job I had. The latter started to control the moorland and stifle the heather (very near where we live). Up there though (I worked for a year mapping vegetation) there were tons of grouse, golden plovers, curlews, pipits and occasional snipes. But in the summer you saw greenshanks and dunlin in the watery cotton grass areas but also luckily the sight of a Montague's Harrier. Recall I just couldn't identify it for ages because it had these strange underwing markings. So book needed. A great sight. 

So, your ecologist years will never have been wasted. That experience will last a lifetime and moreso, (in my opinion, like a great painting you like) it will keep paying you back. I tell my lads this every now and again but I reckon in one ear and .....😅

Edited May 27, 2022 by sonyc

[Mr Apples 1,320]

1 hour ago, sonyc said:

So, your ecologist years will never have been wasted. That experience will last a lifetime and moreso

That's very true sonyc, I did a great summer at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen and then have been on for a career in environmental things since (although not in ecology). Norfolk is probably one of the most fascinating and biodiverse places in the UK and a great place to learn.

Apples

[Herman 9,768]

The common lizard at work. He's found a home amongst the scrap aluminium and basks in the morning sun, through the glass. Seems to get on ok with the Italian visitor.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,415]

2 hours ago, Herman said:

The common lizard at work. He's found a home amongst the scrap aluminium and basks in the morning sun, through the glass. Seems to get on ok with the Italian visitor.

Wow! The Italian one is still going then 👍

[Herman 9,768]

31 minutes ago, Wings of a Sparrow said:

Wow! The Italian one is still going then 👍

Yeah, the Italian chap survived and has found a nice home in the greenhouse. They meet up on occasion and cohabit that little spot.