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spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs


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busy watching a robin, rival male blackbirds, chaffinches, bluetits, and wood pigeons from my window.

 

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“Few thought him even a starter.There were many who thought themselves smarter. But he ended PM, CH and OM. An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.”

Clement Attlee.

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Sightings on today's "daily exercise" bike ride: lapwing, yellowhammer, skylark, jay. Some swallows knocking about but they seem to be feeling the cold.

Should be looking out for the first swifts over the next week or so.

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Eventually saw my first swallow this morning, while my wife and I were out walking our puppy, which, incidentally, is a Catalan sheepdog - could there be any other choice for a fan of Les Dracs, like me? 

Maybe there is a new thread in that; 'does your pet in any way reflect your RL loyalties?'  Or maybe not...!

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One for you ornithologists out there , walking the dog round the clay hole , a smallish local lake , plenty of ducks ,swans and geese , one particular duck was dragging round with it 21 ducklings , surely that number isn't all down to one bird ? 

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Blackcaps started nesting in West Cumbria , lots of Whitethroats arrived , heard more and more Grasshopper Warblers , but one huge negative Lapwings have vanished , they have been scarcer year by year but this year haven`t seen any .

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Walking the hound this morning , took a detour to check out one of the ' great speckled newt ' ponds they spent 30 K on a few years back , absolutely full of tadpoles , good job my mate Lee Hansen wasn't about , 20 stone of Tongan muscle , scared of frogs ?

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11 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

One for you ornithologists out there , walking the dog round the clay hole , a smallish local lake , plenty of ducks ,swans and geese , one particular duck was dragging round with it 21 ducklings , surely that number isn't all down to one bird ? 

A chick total just into the teens is by no means unheard of, Gubrats, but 21 does seem excessive.  So, thanks to Robin Evans who may well have hit on the answer.  Here is a link to an article about big duck broods.

https://ornithology.com/egg-dumping/

Small point of possible correction in your latest post, Gubrats.  I think it would have been great crested newts on which some money has been lavished.  When my wife and I bought a brand new house down here near Salisbury in 1995, we created quite a large pond, by garden pond standards.  We put nothing in it, other than some plants and let nature do the rest.  Within a year we had masses of beetles and newts.  Most were of the common newt species, but we got some great crested ones too.  It is interesting to think about how they knew to make their way to a brand new pond.

I'm not a big fan of gardening, so whenever, after that, my wife wanted some help with weeding or something equally back-breaking and tedious, I tended to say that I thought it was inappropriate and probably illegal, as we shouldn't disturb a site known to have great crested newts, which are a protected species.  Inexplicably, my legal good sense tended to be not very well received!

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8 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

A chick total just into the teens is by no means unheard of, Gubrats, but 21 does seem excessive.  So, thanks to Robin Evans who may well have hit on the answer.  Here is a link to an article about big duck broods.

https://ornithology.com/egg-dumping/

Small point of possible correction in your latest post, Gubrats.  I think it would have been great crested newts on which some money has been lavished.  When my wife and I bought a brand new house down here near Salisbury in 1995, we created quite a large pond, by garden pond standards.  We put nothing in it, other than some plants and let nature do the rest.  Within a year we had masses of beetles and newts.  Most were of the common newt species, but we got some great crested ones too.  It is interesting to think about how they knew to make their way to a brand new pond.

I'm not a big fan of gardening, so whenever, after that, my wife wanted some help with weeding or something equally back-breaking and tedious, I tended to say that I thought it was inappropriate and probably illegal, as we shouldn't disturb a site known to have great crested newts, which are a protected species.  Inexplicably, my legal good sense tended to be not very well received!

You know something , after all the fuss made about the bloody things ( they nearly stopped the whole LSV project ) you'd have thought I'd have got it right , what are the symptoms of dementia again ? ?

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2 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

You know something , after all the fuss made about the bloody things ( they nearly stopped the whole LSV project ) you'd have thought I'd have got it right , what are the symptoms of dementia again ? ?

I forget...

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14 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

A chick total just into the teens is by no means unheard of, Gubrats, but 21 does seem excessive.  So, thanks to Robin Evans who may well have hit on the answer.  Here is a link to an article about big duck broods.

https://ornithology.com/egg-dumping/

 

Sounds about right , there are loads of other pairs on the lake , and fairly sure there were several more broods last week 

Fascinating

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On 01/05/2020 at 12:49, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Eventually saw my first swallow this morning, while my wife and I were out walking our puppy, which, incidentally, is a Catalan sheepdog - could there be any other choice for a fan of Les Dracs, like me? 

Maybe there is a new thread in that; 'does your pet in any way reflect your RL loyalties?'  Or maybe not...!

First swallow this morning.

Along with a grey heron, a buzzard and a kestrel.

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"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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6 hours ago, longboard said:

This week is Hedgehog Awareness Week. Do your bit for hedgehogs; their numbers are in serious decline.

https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-awareness-week-2020-3rd-may-9th-may/

It's to be hoped that reduced traffic levels during lockdown means that they have a somewhat better year.

 

32 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Greedy little buggers in my garden every night ?

I'm envious, Gubrats! It's a year or two since I heard and then saw a couple squaring up to each other in the corner of mine.

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Just been dog-walking in the New Forest.  Heard a cuckoo (my first this year) and saw one of the Forest's specialities, a Dartford Warbler.  It was a fleeting sighting as it flitted from one gorse bush to another, but that is usually how you see them!

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Saw a Buzzard this morning which is unusual in my area (Wakefield/Ossett) I also saw my first Swift of the year. I'm lucky where I live, out of my street and I'm surrounded by fields in all directions, I've heard and seen more Skylarks this spring than for many years. Unfortunately yet no sign of our street's House Martins.

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On 05/05/2020 at 17:57, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

It's to be hoped that reduced traffic levels during lockdown means that they have a somewhat better year.

 

I'm envious, Gubrats! It's a year or two since I heard and then saw a couple squaring up to each other in the corner of mine.

They weren't ' squaring up ' ?

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2 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Just been dog-walking in the New Forest.  Heard a cuckoo (my first this year) and saw one of the Forest's specialities, a Dartford Warbler.  It was a fleeting sighting as it flitted from one gorse bush to another, but that is usually how you see them!

My dad's next door neighbour ( from Liverpool ) a year after he moved in remarked about the cuckoo' s he could here in the morning , my dad replied ,they're doves ?

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27 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

They weren't ' squaring up ' ?

My two were making grunting sort of noises and facing each other, a few inches apart and moving forward and back, and side to side, rather in the manner of wrestlers at the opening of a bout.  I had no idea whether it was laddish aggression, possibly to do with territory, or a male and female romantically sizing each other up!

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4 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

My two were making grunting sort of noises and facing each other, a few inches apart and moving forward and back, and side to side, rather in the manner of wrestlers at the opening of a bout.  I had no idea whether it was laddish aggression, possibly to do with territory, or a male and female romantically sizing each other up!

Foreplay , nothings easy when you're covered in spines ?

Can last for several hours apparently ?

So a lot longer than me ?

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1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

Foreplay , nothings easy when you're covered in spines ?

Can last for several hours apparently ?

So a lot longer than me ?

I wanted to show the 'thanks' and 'haha' icons (or whatever they are called), but can only do one, I think.  So, "thanks" and "haha!"

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17 hours ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

My two were making grunting sort of noises and facing each other, a few inches apart and moving forward and back, and side to side, rather in the manner of wrestlers at the opening of a bout.  I had no idea whether it was laddish aggression, possibly to do with territory, or a male and female romantically sizing each other up!

They are quite grumpy when they encounter each other, and IIRC they spend a lot of time on their own as adults.

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17 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Foreplay , nothings easy when you're covered in spines ?

Can last for several hours apparently ?

So a lot longer than me ?

Remember the old line?

Q) How do hedgehogs have sex

A) Carefully.

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