spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs

[Ullman]

On 12/16/2018 at 11:32 PM, Leeds Wire said:

Thanks for your response  There are plenty of lapwings in this area around Leeds/Harrogate/Otley but I've never seen them gather in such big numbers, especially in winter.

They usually show off with their unique noise and fantastic aerial displays in springtime. What a wonderful sight that is.

Saw a huge flock of them yesterday to the west of Beverley just off the Walkington to Bishop Burton road.

My dad grew up in the Yorkshire Wolds and he always called them peewits after the noise they make.

[Moose]

19 hours ago, Ullman said:

Saw a huge flock of them yesterday to the west of Beverley just off the Walkington to Bishop Burton road.

My dad grew up in the Yorkshire Wolds and he always called them peewits after the noise they make.

They were called the same in South Leeds, only it was pronounced as puwit.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

20 hours ago, Ullman said:

Saw a huge flock of them yesterday to the west of Beverley just off the Walkington to Bishop Burton road.

My dad grew up in the Yorkshire Wolds and he always called them peewits after the noise they make.

 

1 hour ago, Moose said:

They were called the same in South Leeds, only it was pronounced as puwit.

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'.

[Red Willow]

We have suddenly started to see Parakeets in our garden. Never thought I'd see them in Salford

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, Red Willow said:

We have suddenly started to see Parakeets in our garden. Never thought I'd see them in Salford

They are everywhere in London.

[DavidM]

On 1/9/2019 at 9:55 PM, Leeds Wire said:

I was feeding the birds in the park this morning when a photographer wandered by and asked if he get some shots. He had a lens as long as my arm!  If you zoom in on these photos you can see amazing detail in the make up of this nuthatch. What a smashing outcome to a chance meeting 

 

Lucky person . I’ve been trying to train my garden robin Reggie to eat from my hand . 

[Ullman]

1 hour ago, Red Willow said:

We have suddenly started to see Parakeets in our garden. Never thought I'd see them in Salford

Wow, I didn't realise they'd got anywhere near that far north.

[Ullman]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

They are everywhere in London.

I can vouch for the fact that they regularly invade the beer garden of The Swan in Chiswick.

Bit like me really

Edited January 11, 2019 by Ullman

[Futtocks]

Wait 'til the scorpions of Ongar see the temptations of the Northern Powerhouse...

[Red Willow]

18 hours ago, Ullman said:

I can vouch for the fact that they regularly invade the beer garden of The Swan in Chiswick.

Bit like me really

Saw lots of them on a visit to Kew, but thought it would be too cold up here. 

[Damien]

I've seen this myself in Belfast and it really is quite amazing seeing thousands of Starlings act in unison. The video probably doesn't quite do it justice but its a joy to see:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-46845811/starling-murmuration-swirls-over-belfast-s-albert-bridge

[Ullman]

It was a beautiful morning here in East Yorkshire, heard the first skylarks of the year and the daffodils are out down Long Lane.

Almost felt like spring.

[CanaBull]

Last year in summer there was a thick woodpecker that for a couple of days tried to either make a nest hole or dig grubs out of a steel lamppost.

Made a proper racket, it was like a convict rattling his plate along the prison bars.  But with a megaphone.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

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.

[Ullman]

On 12/5/2018 at 1:10 PM, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

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!

Was lucky enough to visit Le Cesine nature reserve near Lecce in South East Italy a couple of weeks ago. There were great white egrets everywhere you looked.

[Futtocks]

4 minutes ago, Ullman said:

Was lucky enough to visit Le Cesine nature reserve near Lecce in South East Italy a couple of weeks ago. There were great white egrets everywhere you looked.

Quite a few years ago, I spent Christmas in the Italian Gallipoli, near Lecce. Didn't see any egrets, but the city's distinctive marblework is astounding.

Then again, I did see an egret in the Silk Stream in North London, just about a minute's walk up the road from home.

[Ullman]

2 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Quite a few years ago, I spent Christmas in the Italian Gallipoli, near Lecce. Didn't see any egrets, but the city's distinctive marblework is astounding.

Then again, I did see an egret in the Silk Stream in North London, just about a minute's walk up the road from home.

Lecce is a beautiful city. The "centro storico" is very atmospheric at night.

[Futtocks]

8 minutes ago, Ullman said:

Lecce is a beautiful city. The "centro storico" is very atmospheric at night.

Lecce marble has a different quality to the more commonly-seen Carrara - it almost glows in the moonlight. Lots of interesting arts'n'crafts stuff going on there too. If you're ever down in the Heel again, Gallipoli's old town (the bit offshore) is well worth a visit. The new town (on the mainland) is pretty underwhelming.

 

[CanaBull]

Was at the cottage last year, just having a few dinner time drinks by the lake when two competing groups of Blue Jays decided to have a territorial battle over a couple of the trees.

Blue Jays are shrikes so are naturally aggressive and will fight off anything in your back yard if you see them there, though this particular time, and there must have been at least twenty birds altogether, it was a half hour of feints, probes, flanking, attacks and retreats all with such screeching and carrying on it had you enthralled.

Real West Side Story, Montagu and Capulet running battle stuff, then as soon as it had started they moved off to trees further down the lake shore.  Great entertainment while it lasted though!

[Farmduck]

I get a couple of bats come past my lounge room every night around 1:30-2am. I'm probably the only lights still on and the colony is at the bottom of the hill along the creek. Maybe they use my lights as a beacon. Probably not, as megabats have excellent eyesight. They fly out in the opposite direction every night just on sundown. I haven't seen these ones in my yard but I hear their voices as they pass. We only get the greys here.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 2:36 PM, Farmduck said:

I get a couple of bats come past my lounge room every night around 1:30-2am. I'm probably the only lights still on and the colony is at the bottom of the hill along the creek. Maybe they use my lights as a beacon. Probably not, as megabats have excellent eyesight. They fly out in the opposite direction every night just on sundown. I haven't seen these ones in my yard but I hear their voices as they pass. We only get the greys here.

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!

 

[CanaBull]

Used to think it was pretty neat getting buzzed by pipistrelles at dusk while finishing up on the crags at Otley and Caley.  Amazing creatures!

Spent time in Sri Lanka as well where there were the massive fruit bats, they were like Jack Russell’s flapping frame tents!

[Farmduck]

4 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

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!

 

No, my local bats are fructivores (and they eat flowers and nectar) and don't eat insects. They also don't echo-locate. They just use eyesight. We also have the microbats - the echo-locating, cave-dwelling, insectivore types - but around here it's just the Grey Haired Flying Fox. We have 80 species of bats but most live up in the tropics. Some of the microbats are as small as 10g and live in rainforests so people probably never see them.

Most of our bats have been effected by habitat loss but the grey and black flying foxes have adapted well to urban living, partly because many of the trees used by councils for parks and street trees are part of the bats' natural diet, or close enough to be adequate substitutes. There's a creek about 500m from my place with a big flying fox colony and they are probably safe there because the creek floods a couple of times a year and, given the amount of flood-free land available, there's no reason to build right up to the creek.

[ivans82]

West Cumbria hit the dizzy heights of 10 degrees the other day , which is a miracle for us this time of year , and saw a peacock butterfly while out walking , earliest one i ve ever seen  about . .

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 10:20 AM, ivans82 said:

West Cumbria hit the dizzy heights of 10 degrees the other day , which is a miracle for us this time of year , and saw a peacock butterfly while out walking , earliest one i ve ever seen  about . .

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.