Swallow in the back room yesterday.
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Swallow in the back room yesterday.
Not wildlife as such, but a bunch of inquisitive Bullocks, the main man was sucking rainwater out of a hollow in the limestone while he checked me out, brilliant, always have to stop and let them have a stare :D
I'm intrigued - how do you count swifts and knowing you haven't counted the same one twice??Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffB
Nuthatch, two greater Spotted Woodpeckers, loads of Blue and Great Tits with fledglings, Blackbird with fledglings, Jacdaws....and a Squirrel(Grey). Our bird feeder is ace just now!! :)
Take a photo and count themQuote:
Originally Posted by Lemmy
...very quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemmy
But then on Saturday, before setting off on a day's walk from Capel Curig there was exactly one Nuthatch in the trees behind the car-park. On returning from the walk there was at least one Pied Flycatcher. It could have been the same one three times or maybe three different ones.
Oh yes, and on top of Pen yr Ole Wen there was lots of Dwarf Willow, which I've never knowingly seen before.
A black mink carying a baby mink along a riverside wall. I was viewing it from above. It disappeared into the undergrowth. This was at Cleator Moor.
Swallow that Mr Cameron!
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7439/2...f1d50677_c.jpg
Swallow that Mr Cameron! by Andy Holden, on Flickr
Still no Swallows in Ingleton! :/
Loads of swifts tonight in village airspace plus a high flying calling curlew
To escape the recent madness I took the train to Kirkby Stephen and walked over the Mallerstang ridge. No one else up there and fine views. Moorland birds surpassed themselves with plovers winning. Never been up there before - a wild area with not much path. Camped on top of Sail and saw Ring Ouzels and heard Snipe rodding on the way down. Bowmore was the nightcap.
Sounds like paradise. No midges?Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
Not a one, though I was packing Skin so Soft! It did rain for an hour in the evening - but I had the tent upQuote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
Urban wildlife seen on a 5-day visit to Berlin:-
Two swallows flying around in the pedestrian tunnel leading to the Siegessäule (Victory Monument).
An assortment of small birds helping themselves to leftovers on a plate in the outdoor seating area at a cafe in the Tiergarten.
A pair of pigeons nesting at the bathroom window in the apartment we were staying in! [The wall was well over a foot thick, so there was a good ledge for them to make their nest on.]
Curlews up Ollerbrook Clough and on the Eastern side of Kinder. It was lovely to see them so close and not just hear them.
Sedge Warbler just below Mam Tor on Tuesday evening. Probably not very unusual, but not something I see very often. It was very noisy!
In another escape from the human madness, I got the train up to Garsdale on Saturday and went for a wander on Baugh Fell. Set off up Grisedale (what a wonderful hidden little dale, with resident buzzards) and over faint path to Rawthey Gill and up to West Baugh Tarn. Lovely walking over the two tops and back down to Grisdale and the station. Nearly all the nesting birds have departed - only 2 curlew and 2 plovers on top. Much quieter, but lots of smaller birds - pippets, wheatear, skylarks etc. Highlight was seeing female Hen Harrier on the descent. I'd always thought this would be a boring huge peaty lump, but had a very fine walk - Grisedale and the walk on the plateau were superb, with clear views. Howgills look amazing from there.
Beats politics and no people all day.
Just back from a flying weekend visit to the Cairngorms. Managed 43 (yes, forty three!) Ptarmigans in a day - amazing. Also, 3 Snow Bunting, a Crested Tit, a Scotch Argus butterfly and a couple of Red Squirrels. Oh yes, 6 Munros, 5 Munro Tops and 5 Marilyns as well. All in all a fantastic weekend's walking.
Dozens of both Grey and Commone Seals, unusually almost side by side, pair of White Tailed Eagles and a Juvenile Golden Eagle.
Those sightings required a boat admittedly.
Sounds like a cracking trip Geoff. I've never seen a Ptarmigan or a Crested Tit.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffB
Where? you lucky boyQuote:
Originally Posted by shaunaneto
Corryvreckan of all places for the White Tailed Eagles, both prowling the cliffs on the northern tip of Jura.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
How very, very idyllic!! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by shaunaneto
Yes,
I've seen Sea Eagles there. They nest in the woods on the NE tip of Jura.
Why Driven Grouse Shooting is Doomed.
http://markavery.info/2016/08/12/dri...ooting-doomed/
Today is the Inglorious 12th.
Have a read of Mark Avery's blog and sign the petition if you want to see heather moorlands managed for wildlife and not managed against wildlife.
off your patch but it may interest you and peak based runnersQuote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
http://nomoorshooting.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
Signed.Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
Now please sign this petition...https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125003
Chris Packham vs. Ian Botham on the subject of driven grouse shooting, on BBC radio 4 this morning:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p044fnlg
Aren't Ospreys brilliant! Just back from watching them at two locations in Mid Wales. The Dyfi circus and much finer at a nest near Clywedog reservoir. Much quieter and a better view. to see 5 different Ospreys in a day takes some beating. And best of all they are in running distance (and a lovely offroad route)from where we stay. They piss the fishermen off a bit - but so be it, get over it worm danglers.
Bad news - grough report that a peregrine Falcon was found shot in the Goyt Valley near the Erwood reservoir. Too much of this going on across Grouse moors. Goyt has a very bad record for this - who is the landowner?
That's sad news.
Until the law changes, it's not about who owns the land, it's about who can you prove was standing there with a smoking gun. Ridiculous!
PS. We had a frog in our toilet the other day when all the rain came down. I think our drains flooded so it washed in from the outside. Thankfully there's no-one upstream from us, otherwise it wouldn't just have been rainwater !!
Unexpectedly saw a Green Woodpecker today up at the back of Ingleton! Didn't realise they came this far north but apparently they do!!
Out headtorching on the Chevin with 3 club members last week and saw 3 deer, a Convolvulus Hawk Moth (very big) and then a badger. 2 of the folk had never seen a badger before - so it made their night.
Here's a Convolvulus I found in the back yard a few years ago...https://flic.kr/p/dfQp4FQuote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
And a Badger I filmed (using a head torch) from the same back yard…
https://youtu.be/OJf-Vh4WYTw
Good stuff Andy. I've seen various Hawk moths before, but had to look this one up.
A few years back, actually more than a few, our eldest found a small frog in our upstairs toilet. I can only assume a bird dropped it down the vent pipe.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Red Squirrel up near Alston a couple of days ago...great to see.
Wish I could see one here, had a report of 2 spotted above the village in August, had a camera and feeder up there since but nothing yet. Unfortunately the forestry is due for felling this winter, so I really, really could do with a good photo to confirm their presence.Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
Anyone know anything about snakes?
Attachment 8560 Attachment 8561 Attachment 8562
Saw this little thing on the banks of the Danube last week in Bratislava. To give an idea of scale, that's a 2 Euro cent coin.