spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs

[Padge]

10 hours ago, Futtocks said:

I just had to evict an Elephant Hawk Moth that flew in through the kitchen door. A beautiful big creature, mainly pink but with green markings and looking far too tropical for the North of England.

Have you abandoned the smoke?

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

13 hours ago, Futtocks said:

I just had to evict an Elephant Hawk Moth that flew in through the kitchen door. A beautiful big creature, mainly pink but with green markings and looking far too tropical for the North of England.

About 20 years ago I bought a moth trap, and put in the garden throughout the summer, last year was the first time that I caught an Elephant Hawkmoth but I caught one again 2 nights ago, they are a quite exotic looking moth. What I have caught almost every year is a Poplar Hawkmoth, there the ones with the funny looking wings.

[Futtocks]

5 hours ago, Padge said:

Have you abandoned the smoke?

I'm on holiday, visiting family members in the NE and Scotland.

[Ullman]

On 22/06/2024 at 17:46, Futtocks said:

Went out to Bempton Cliffs earlier today, and saw tons of everything but puffins. Well, we saw one very clearly, as he clearly wasn't expecting us and did a hurried u-turn. Any others were very hard to properly ID from above and so far away, especially without some form of magnifying lens.

Some dolphins also passed by while we were there.

Then, on the way back over the Wolds, we saw a pretty large raptor, but couldn't stop to get a better look at the time. It looked like similar colouring of brown plumage and yellow beak to a Golden Eagle, but not that big.

Best way to see the puffins at Bempton is to do one of the RSPB cruises on the Yorkshire Belle from Brid. You get to see them skimming over the water in their dozens along with the other auks and diving gannets. Also you get to properly appreciate the cliffs and their colossal height.

The raptor you describe sounds like a red kite. I don't know whereabouts in the Wolds you were but you'll always see them in the areas around Warter, Nunburnholme and Londesborough.

[Futtocks]

20 minutes ago, Ullman said:

Best way to see the puffins at Bempton is to do one of the RSPB cruises on the Yorkshire Belle from Brid. You get to see them skimming over the water in their dozens along with the other auks and diving gannets. Also you get to properly appreciate the cliffs and their colossal height.

The raptor you describe sounds like a red kite. I don't know whereabouts in the Wolds you were but you'll always see them in the areas around Warter, Nunburnholme and Londesborough.

There was a boat and a couple of canoes down on the water, where identifying puffins would be a lot easier. I assumed it would be a kite, but didn't get a great view of the shape, just the colours.

In further news, my sister has just shown me video of a family of stoats in her garden, dancing like they're at a Prodigy gig. 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

On 30/06/2024 at 21:32, Ullman said:

Best way to see the puffins at Bempton is to do one of the RSPB cruises on the Yorkshire Belle from Brid. You get to see them skimming over the water in their dozens along with the other auks and diving gannets. Also you get to properly appreciate the cliffs and their colossal height.

The raptor you describe sounds like a red kite. I don't know whereabouts in the Wolds you were but you'll always see them in the areas around Warter, Nunburnholme and Londesborough.

I always find that you have to get 'your eye in' to see them. Once you've spotted the first they become far easier to spot. 

Someone had a good day recently 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/vtXaMsJPu7oTFKDt/

[Ullman]

1 minute ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

I always find that you have to get 'your eye in' to see them. Once you've spotted the first they become far easier to spot. 

Someone had a good day recently 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/vtXaMsJPu7oTFKDt/

Great photos.

And the Yorkshire Belle into the bargain too.

[Ullman]

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Just back from a bit of crepuscular birdwatching in the New Forest.  I was hoping to hear and even maybe see a nightjar or two, and was at a known haunt of theirs, Hale Purlieu.

No 'churring' to be heard and it may be a bit late in the season for that.  However, I spotted one drifting through the trees near me, no doubt finding loads of moths.  I then moved forward by about twenty yards, away from the bank of trees where the first nightjar had been, and hence more into the open.  Within about five minutes, I must have been spotted, because another nightjar (or I suppose possibly the same one) came flying low past me, and then kept circling me; I am sure it must have been wondering what was this strange addition to the local landscape!  As it flew round, it was making a very soft,quiet clucking sort of sound.  Eventually, it went on its way, but was a great sight while it was giving me the once over and, let's face it, it's not every day that you get within about ten yards of a nightjar!

Yesterday evening, I let the dog out to spend a penny on our lawn and, as ever, went out with her.  She seemed exceptionally interested in the smells she was picking up down the side of the lawn.  Then she stopped and bent forward.  I shone the torch to see what was causing this and was delighted to see a hedgehog just in front of her.  This is the first I have seen in our garden for a few years, though, given our dog's regular interest in the smells on the lawn, both last thing at night and first thing in the morning, perhaps we have more hedgehog visits than I have imagined.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Really pleased to see my globe thistle at the allotment covered in bees yesterday

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Good news....

 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Saw a flock of storks when we were in France last year - might not have to travel so far to see one again....

 

[gazza77]

Barn owls are thriving around us this year, I've seen the nearest breeding pair far more often this year than previously.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/W7sXjjYGifL6ah4W/

 

[gazza77]

13 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Barn owls are thriving around us this year, I've seen the nearest breeding pair far more often this year than previously.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/W7sXjjYGifL6ah4W/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16 by gazza77

[Ullman]

On 16/08/2024 at 10:20, gazza77 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely fantastic shots.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

A few nice moments today

I was messing about in the kitchen this morning, looked out of the window, there were quite a few sparrows in the hedge at the bottom of the garden, amongst them was a bird flitting about, I could tell by the way it was moving that it was something different, on closer inspection I could see that it was a Chiffchaff, we tend to get them in most years but only once or twice per year.

About 20 minutes later, I looked out of the window again to see if I could the Chiffchaff, I saw another bird moving about strangely in the hedge, but it was moving differently from the Chiffchaff and was slightly bigger, this time it was a male Blackcap, I only recall seeing them in the garden about 3 or 4 times, the last time must have been about 10 years ago.

Next I went outside to put some rubbish in the bin and looked up to see a Red Kite flying overhead, we've seen them around more and more over the last 5 years, usually in spring or September/October time

Finally, in the afternoon, the Chiffchaff came back and I got a really good view, a beautiful looking bird, very yellowy.

Like I said, a few nice moments.

[ivans82]

Went for a walk last night through countryside i often walk in and heard a Grasshopper . Nothing startling there , but it was then that i realised it was the only one i have heard this year . Yet another thing on the decline as with Migratory birds , bees , wasps and butterflies . Friends that have bird boxes have told me their Blue ###### nests have failed and noticed it was because the bugs they brought to the chicks were a lot smaller than usual .I think because of the wet and windy in spring the birds have been held back and when the chicks have hatched food in sufficient size and quantity wasn`t available..................and some sceptics still dont believe in the damage global warming is causing .

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I went to an RSPB talk in a local village hall the other day.  The subject was Franchises Lodge, a new(-ish) reserve, which the RSPB purchased in 2019.  It is on the northern edge of the New Forest, about a couple of miles from the village where I live and a similar sort of distance from the one in which Shadow lives.

The most intriguing facts and figures I came away with were all to do with subjects other than birds.  First, the reserve was in poor condition when purchased primarily because of two factors - rhododendrons and fallow deer.  Apparently, the total area of mature rhododendron bushes (which carry little benefit for other wildlife) in the reserve equates to 87 soccer pitches.  The deer figure was even more staggering.  The RSPB reserve and immediately surrounding lands were thought to be home to up to a thousand fallow deer (no wonder I see them pretty often!)  The rhododendron bushes are being ripped out, with just a few smaller ones being left; the deer population is being drastically reduced by culling outside the breeding season.

The other facts and figures that stick in my mind are to do with two other sorts of mammal.  Pine martens are apparently spreading quite naturally throughout parts of England and they have made it to the New Forest where, in recent times and in various places in the forest, eighteen different females have been identified, captured on CCTV.  An intriguing fact is that each pine marten's pale, creamy patch on their chest is unique in shape and size.  So, identifying individual martens is a lot easier than for some other species.  Some pine martens have been seen in Franchises Lodge.

The other fact was said, as an aside really, about the spread of beavers.  Apparently, a couple have been seen near Salisbury, which is new - and 'unauthorised' - territory for them.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Nature...

Rescued a moth from an outdoor swimming pool only to see it eaten by a cat........   i

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I have chanced upon a Dutch birdwatchers website which includes, up-to-date local, bird sighting reports from many locations in Europe and North America.  Here is the link.

[Trektellen.org] - Migration counts & captures

UK sites with reports submitted include some from the Yorkshire coast, more specifically from the likes of Swinefleet, Hunmanby and Flamborough.  Some of you may like to check what is turning up on your local patch, especially when the excitement of following Hull KR or Hull FC - for different reasons! - becomes too much.

[JonM]

Sparrowhawk perched on the step of our (glass) back door this morning.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 07/09/2024 at 22:08, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

A few nice moments today

I was messing about in the kitchen this morning, looked out of the window, there were quite a few sparrows in the hedge at the bottom of the garden, amongst them was a bird flitting about, I could tell by the way it was moving that it was something different, on closer inspection I could see that it was a Chiffchaff, we tend to get them in most years but only once or twice per year.

About 20 minutes later, I looked out of the window again to see if I could the Chiffchaff, I saw another bird moving about strangely in the hedge, but it was moving differently from the Chiffchaff and was slightly bigger, this time it was a male Blackcap, I only recall seeing them in the garden about 3 or 4 times, the last time must have been about 10 years ago.

Next I went outside to put some rubbish in the bin and looked up to see a Red Kite flying overhead, we've seen them around more and more over the last 5 years, usually in spring or September/October time

Finally, in the afternoon, the Chiffchaff came back and I got a really good view, a beautiful looking bird, very yellowy.

Like I said, a few nice moments.

I saw the Chiffchaff and Black Cap again today, I think the Chiffchaff was a different one to last time as its colouring was more drab