spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs

[my missus]

Just seen a pair of goldfinches collecting my dogs hair, my dog is an husky so always plenty of it about. We have never had goldfinches in the garden before so hopefully they will build in holly bush they keep flying into.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

3 hours ago, my missus said:

Just seen a pair of goldfinches collecting my dogs hair, my dog is an husky so always plenty of it about. We have never had goldfinches in the garden before so hopefully they will build in holly bush they keep flying into.

Fingers crossed for you!  I've always liked the collective noun for goldfinches.  Apparently it is a 'charm' of goldfinches, which I think reflects how they come across to us humans very well.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I have seen my first few swallows in the last two days - four in all in two locations.

I am hearing cuckoos now on quite a few of my daily dog walking trips in the New Forest, but by no means every day.  Nighjars should be around from about now.

[DavidM]

I have a pair of goldfinches and a pair of chaffinches in my garden , and on thursday my first blackbird chick emerged which is as early as ive known .

Unfortunately i also had a real trauma when for the first time i saw a rat at my ground feeder . Really shook me up

Edited May 1, 2022 by DavidM

[Ullman]

4 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I have seen my first few swallows in the last two days - four in all in two locations.

I am hearing cuckoos now on quite a few of my daily dog walking trips in the New Forest, but by no means every day.  Nighjars should be around from about now.

Saw my first swallows today at Slingsby on the edge of the Howardian Hills AONB. Also spotted a pair of lapwings in a field and a couple of goldcrests kept flitting in and out of a tree in the pub garden.

[voteronniegibbs]

.

Edited July 31, 2023 by voteronniegibbs

[Bedford Roughyed]

 

[Hopping Mad]

11 hours ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

 

Unsurprising. Consider how many fewer insects, nowadays, are plastered to one's car front and windscreen after a summer evening drive.

[Ullman]

Saw a grass snake on the road near North Cave wetlands today. It didn't flinch as I rode by. Must have been nice and warm on the tarmac.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

23 hours ago, Hopping Mad said:

Unsurprising. Consider how many fewer insects, nowadays, are plastered to one's car front and windscreen after a summer evening drive.

But I see somebody in The Times today making an interestingf point, which had not previously occurred to me.  It is that, as car designers continually seek to improve their cars' efficiency by minimising wind resistance, their designs will see more air move up and over the car, rather than hit the windscreen head-on.  One might suppose, therefore, that the insects go with the flow of the wind, and this might explain, at least to a degree, the decline in the number on your windscreen after a drive in the summer.

Sounds just about plausible to me!

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

14 hours ago, Ullman said:

Saw a grass snake on the road near North Cave wetlands today. It didn't flinch as I rode by. Must have been nice and warm on the tarmac.

Sadly, a slow worm, twenty yards up the hill of our village street hasn't fared so well.  It is very squashed and dead.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

One of my neighbours saw a swift flying over her house yesterday.  They are always the last of the hirundine species to arrive here to breed.

[Futtocks]

11 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

But I see somebody in The Times today making an interestingf point, which had not previously occurred to me.  It is that, as car designers continually seek to improve their cars' efficiency by minimising wind resistance, their designs will see more air move up and over the car, rather than hit the windscreen head-on.  One might suppose, therefore, that the insects go with the flow of the wind, and this might explain, at least to a degree, the decline in the number on your windscreen after a drive in the summer.

Sounds just about plausible to me!

I think it's a bit of both, with the latter disguising the former.

[voteronniegibbs]

.

Edited July 31, 2023 by voteronniegibbs

[ckn]

When we first moved here in 2004, I saw a completely white pigeon hanging with the common ones. Today, I saw at least a dozen of them. That one original mutant has probably been sowing its oats and has plenty of grand pigeons around. 

[voteronniegibbs]

.

Edited July 31, 2023 by voteronniegibbs

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 02/05/2022 at 14:24, voteronniegibbs said:

Next doors House Martins have been evicted from their usual nest box. A family of starlings have gone in and their young uns are screeching away. 

We used to have lots of Swifts nesting where I live , then the local housing association put all new roofs on the houses and removed all their nest sites , so the Swifts went away , but then we got House Martins nesting , which we'd never had before .

[Leeds Wire]

On 07/05/2022 at 10:50, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

One of my neighbours saw a swift flying over her house yesterday.  They are always the last of the hirundine species to arrive here to breed.

First swifts of the year overhead at the beautiful Arthington Cricket Club near Otley yesterday morning. 

I umpired my son's U13 match but had one eye on a mischievous red kite who spent the whole match mithering a crow's nest.

In other news, we have a new family member, a massive carrion crow who has been named Dave by the kids. He's here every day now, he loves the bird bath and the old fruit that we throw out. He hasn't put off the blackbirds or smaller birds but the wood pigeons don't seem happy with him. I hope he finds a mate. 

 

PS: Arthington CC, where there really are cows in cow corner:

[ivans82]

Just had the usual in a wood near Crummock Water in Cumbria , the local National Trust/Forestry Commission or whoever decided to thin a little copse out near the lake side  and managed to miss the fact that a Chiffchaff had built its nest there , result broken eggs in nest , not the first time. When will people who are supposidly paid to look after nature know nothing whatsoever about it .They always decide to do a "little tidy up " during breeding season .These jobs should be done outside of the March-July corridor , its common sense .

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On 19/05/2022 at 14:17, ivans82 said:

Just had the usual in a wood near Crummock Water in Cumbria , the local National Trust/Forestry Commission or whoever decided to thin a little copse out near the lake side  and managed to miss the fact that a Chiffchaff had built its nest there , result broken eggs in nest , not the first time. When will people who are supposidly paid to look after nature know nothing whatsoever about it .They always decide to do a "little tidy up " during breeding season .These jobs should be done outside of the March-July corridor , its common sense .

Sounds appalling, ivans82.  Have you contacted the regional offices of the NT and FC?  I would, if I were you.  You are right, there is no justification for this sort of 'tidying up' in the breeding season (arguably, if at all)

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

The Times is not a national newspaper noted for its generous coverage of our game, although things have arguably improved with their more extensive use of the journalist, Ross Heppenstall.

In yesterday's edition, a reference to rugby league (I am pleased to say just described as 'rugby') occurred in an unlikely part of the paper.  These days, two writers share the task of contributing the daily 'Nature Notes' column and one of them, Jonathan Tulloch, is Yorkshire based; I think he lives in a village on the North York Moors.

Yesterday he wrote: "The meadows of Bradford are in full bloom.  Having embraced No-Mow-May, many of the city's council owned areas have become beautiful, mini-nature reserves.  The sloping banks of Odsal Stadium, home to the Bradford Bulls, and one of the most historic rugby grounds in the world, are bejewelled with the pink lights of common vetch, the lemon of mouse-ear hawkweed and even the sun-coloured flowers of the whin bush...The rugby team might be currently struggling, but what other sporting venue is lit up by the spectacle of common blue butterflies dancing over its pastures, as wild bees forage?"

Good stuff!

[ivans82]

4 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Sounds appalling, ivans82.  Have you contacted the regional offices of the NT and FC?  I would, if I were you.  You are right, there is no justification for this sort of 'tidying up' in the breeding season (arguably, if at all)

No , but will try to find out whos responsble for the wood and put it to them .

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

This webcam is showing one of our most rare bird of prey species, and with three hungry youngsters on the nest, there seems to be plenty of action to watch (sorry about the hymn tune uploaded in error and I have no idea how to get rid of it!):

 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

 

[Ullman]

On 01/05/2022 at 17:19, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I have seen my first few swallows in the last two days - four in all in two locations.

I am hearing cuckoos now on quite a few of my daily dog walking trips in the New Forest, but by no means every day.  Nighjars should be around from about now.

Heard the first cuckoo I've heard in years while we were cycling towards Amsterdam through the Amsterdam Bos last week. Heard another one in some woods near Gouda a couple of days later.

Also saw the first storks I've ever seen, a couple of which were sitting on their nest with their chicks clearly visible.