Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

10.50pm and I am about to shut down my computer for the night. So, one last look at the Winchester Cathedral peregrine live webcam, and I see that Mrs P is, as last night, not sat on her solitary egg, but rather sat a couple of feet above it on the stone parapet, watching the world go by. I wonder how long they sleep and how much they hunt at night, when - particularly at this time of year - there will be spring migrants moving north under cover of darkness.

Thanks for the link, CB - an interesting piece. The Winchester Cathedral female has just been moving about on the nest (a gravel filled tray) and eating some of the gravel. I wondered if she was laying a second egg at one point, but no; she has just hopped back up on to her 'look out' perch, which is the wall a foot or so above her nest, and there is still just the one egg. Apparently, so I have read, they lay about four eggs over a period of a few days and only then start incubating them. I didn't realise that they could leave the first egg 'cold', as it were for a few days.

I struggle to think of any bird species that, in this country, is covered by so many live webcams as the peregrine falcon! A quick, far from comprehensive, scan through google suggest that venues with cameras that are, or soon will be, live, include Derby, Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury Cathedrals, St John's Church, Bath, and Nottingham Trent University, as well as places in Manchester and Rochdale. Apparently the Norwich Cathedral female laid an egg yesterday, and her Winchester counterpart has done likewise, either earlier today or yesterday. The birds' liking for cathedrals and churches is not really surprising. There will be good nooks and crannies, safely away from any predators there might be at a lower level (though not sure what they might be, to be honest!) and an endless stream of tasty, slower flying pigeons that can be dive-bombed with ease!

That's a great sighting, ivans82. There are Brimstone butterflies (quite large and yellow) appearing now around here (South Wiltshire), but that is about right for the first sunnier, warmer weather in late winter.

I would imagine, Farmduck, that your bats are not themselves attracted by the lights but rather by the flying insects - lunch for the bats! - which have been drawn towards the lights. You are right to point out that bats have good eyesight; the same is true of British bats species. To be "blind as a bat" is an example of an old saying that is factual nonsense! I went on a Hampshire Wildlife Trust course about bats. When someone asked why bats needed that sonic system to help them navigate if they had eyesight as good as ours, it was pointed out that, if we flew about on the random, prey-hunting flight lines of bats, and at the speed they must travel to catch prey, then we would need something other than our eyesight to help us steer around in the pitch black of a moonless night! At my house, which is a converted, 19th century chapel, we have an interesting bat experience late each spring, round about the end of May, beginning of June. We come down one morning and there are bat droppings on the patio. So, next evening (with something pleasant to drink in hand!), we sit on the patio and at dusk, about a dozen or more bats emerge from our roof space. For the next few evenings, the number increases, up to a maximum nightly count of about three dozen. Then, in a couple of nights, it drops away to nothing. And that seems to be that, until next spring! I made contact with the Wiltshire Bat Group, who think my roof-space might be being used as a congregation or collection point for pregnant females, who have roosted in various locations over winter, but then move on from my house to set up their actual maternity roost elsewhere. Perhaps - I cannot think of a more logical explanation. They are all one species incidentally, namely serotine bats, one of the largest in Britain with a wingspan of up to a foot (which I realise is pretty small by Australian standards!). As they emerge and fly away, they look about starling size. It is quite a spectacle for the few nights it seems to last!

Male blackcap in the garden, at the sunflower hearts bird-feeder, earlier this afternoon. We do well for bullfinches and a male one was at the feeder at the same time. I have heard that blackcaps can be quite aggressive to other birds, but there seemed to be a willingness from the two birds to eat in peace concurrently.

I think I have seen somewhere that a name for them in either the Dales or North York Moors is 'teeafits'; does that sound familiar to anybody? My Aberdeen born-and-raised mum called them 'teuchits', with the 'ch' being the soft, Scots 'ch' sound as in 'loch'.

Thanks for that, No 16; I did wonder about that.

Three initial observations, Padge. First, thanks for yet another little gem of rugby history; as ever much appreciated. Second, has rugby always been played over two halves of 40 minutes? Sports do change their playing conditions rules from time to time. In my lifetime, for instance, Gaelic football and hurling matches have been extended from 30 minutes each way to 35, while ice hockey abolished the requirement to change ends at the midway (10 minute) point of the third period, because the number of games being played in the open (when weather conditions could be a factor) had diminished so much. I ask about rugby playing time because if, in January, they didn't kick off until 3.20pm, and had some sort of half-time break (say, 10 minutes), even with no time added on, they would not have finished until 4.50pm. How could anybody - players, referee, spectators - see what was going on? Third, the cutting reminds us that, in the industrial north at least, league competitions were being pursued, whether or not the London-based RFU liked the idea!

I am warming to this, OF. The more I think about it, the more it occurs to me that arguably it is everybody else in the right hand lane who is in the wrong, as, to the best of my knowledge, it is a general maxim of the Highway Code that you should keep to nearside lane wherever possible, only moving out to overtake or pass a stationary car, or when you wish to turn right. It is, of course, not just a Hull problem, as ckn's Ipswich anecdote confirmed. I experience the same unwillingness to go in the bus lane out of rush hour (despite this being explicitly permissible) when I come into Salisbury from the north, down Castle Road. As on-street parking (ie in the bus lane) is allowed after 6pm, I sometimes have to move out into the outer lane. I wonder who would be at fault if I pulled in front of somebody in the outer lane who had to brake smartish? Me, for an unsafe manoeuvre, or them, for not using the nearside lane when it was free? A further complicating factor on that bit of road is that, especially in quiet times, many drivers are ignoring the 30mph speed limit and coming into the city at about 40mph.

I like your response, OF, but in all seriousness, you don't need the turning left in 3 miles reason. In congested traffic, passing on the nearside is not illegal; the Highway Code says so!

Thanks for the reminder, Futtocks.

Doesn't a sunhat count as cheating, GYJ?

In the spirit of the thread's title, I note that it was started a day before my 58th birthday.

Sorry, FD, but I have a slight problem with this. Are you implying that, in your opinion, Kevin Borich (of whom, I confess, I have never heard) has aged well, or that your sister and friend have aged badly? I ask in a spirit of seasonal frivolity, of course!

No. In my experience, advocates of technological change sometimes promote their beliefs by exaggerating the rate of decline of older systems and processes. Like cash in the pocket, cheque books are alive and well.

I agree with you, LW. Down here in the south, I really miss the late spring/early summer burbling trills of curlews - a truly magical sound, which I used to enjoy when living in, first, the Yorkshire Dales and, then, Teesdale. That said, the New Forest has its merits - churring nightjars (or 'whirring nighthawks' as the Dorset novelist Thomas Hardy would have put it) in some numbers being an obvious one.

To add to Ullman's good response to your query, LW, there are lots of bird species that defend territory as single birds, then mated pairs, and do so from later winter through spring and summer, but then flock in large numbers from autumn through much of winter. Many smaller species do this, but of course are not as spectacular a sight as something the size of a lapwing. I am pleased to hear that you saw so many (and not a little jealous!), as there are concerns nationally about their declining numbers. I saw about forty the other week in the Avon valley, while driving into Salisbury. Some flocking birds, of course, having foregathered, then migrate for part of the year. Ullman reports a big fieldfare flock. These and the other winter-visiting (for us in the UK) thrush, the redwing, will have hopped across the North Sea from northern continental Europe.

Great picture. My mother-in-law's brother was there, though, to tell you the truth, I cannot pick him out!

It's easy to get depressed about the statistics on various species of bird being in decline, either in this country or elsewhere or both. However, in a UK context, the egret family are doing well and give us something to be cheerful about. It's interesting, Ullman, that you are now seeing little egrets in the East Riding. I saw my first, decades ago, in France and got very excited at the time. Then they spread across the channel, initially I suspect to over-winter on river estuaries, and then they began to breed here. I know see them in quite urban contexts (eg flying over and within Salisbury city centre), and at all times of year. Next, there were occasional sightings of wintering great white egrets, and now they are sometimes reported in places like old mineral working based bird reserves in totals up to four or five (eg that sort of number at Blashford Lakes between Salisbury and Bournemouth, just the other day) And now, on top of all that, we seem to be getting increasing numbers of cattle egrets too. There are currently nine spending their time in a field near Romsey, in Hampshire. So, if you haven't seen great white and cattle egrets up your way yet, Ullman, keep looking! I am sure that they too, like their smaller, daintier relatives, will gradually spread north up the country!

Agreed, on all counts (well, except that I don't run!) Also, it's a good place in April and May for hearing - and seeing - the sadly increasingly rare cuckoo. My record count there was, if I remember correctly, five in one visit. They criss-cross from side to side over the open heathland, to and from the woods on either side, stopping to sing in some of the individual trees in the open heathland. I once saw one being seriously chased and hassled by two small brown birds, possibly pipits that had disturbed the cuckoo trying to lay its egg in their nest. Also in spring, it is a place to keep an eye out for nesting redstarts and Dartford warblers, both of which I have seen there, albeit the latter only once.

Both redwings and fieldfares now making it south-west into the New Forest in some numbers. I saw probably about 45 redwings and 25 fieldfares during a short walk I had at Fritham Plain in the forest this morning. I haven't seen - but have noticed a report - of the first overwintering hen harrier in the forest, and a couple of great grey shrikes have been reported too.

Slainte mhath, ckn, agus Alba gu brath!

True, but what a way to go...!

Thanks for the reminder, ckn - two of my favourites. Have you ever tried Aberdeen butteries (aka rowies)? A wonderful breakfast, comfort food (if not the healthiest ever created!)