Colour variation grass snake? Yellow collar looks like GS.
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Colour variation grass snake? Yellow collar looks like GS.
I wondered about that with the yellow collar, but it seemed very dark (and very small!)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bartholomew of Basildon
HOGBUBs
On Mark Avery's 'Standing up for Nature' blog I came across this cartoon by Ralph Underhill, reminding people to be mindful of hedgehogs living under a bonfire stack. It brought out the storyteller in me...
Attachment 8568
cartoon by Ralph Underhill
"Bonfire night's a national disgrace!" said Mr Spiny, the Chairhog of HOGBUBs, Hedgehogs Oppose Great Big Unchecked Bonfires, at a meeting to discuss hedgehog safety prior to hibernation.
Mrs Tiggy-Winkle squeaked up "We feel so lucky to find a lovely, dry hibernaculum, tucked away underneath masses of twigs and piles of wood, but just as we nod off for the winter we are awoken by a tremendous heat and many of us are roasted to death before we can escape the burning issue."
"It's just not fair!" exclaimed Mr Pricklepants. "We have to put up with so much human-made anti-hedgehog behaviour. We find ourselves consuming slug pellet-contaminated snails and slugs in gardens that are becoming less hedgehog friendly due to all those awful deckings."
"And it doesn't end there" piped up one of HOGBUB's committee members amongst the array. "If any of us are lucky enough to survive a winter's hibernation without being prodded by a garden fork or dug out by an unsuspecting gardener, we are then at the mercy of those despicable four-wheeled metal machines that squash the guts out of us as we cross the roads on our first food forays of the new season."
Mr Spiny summed up the meeting with a request for all hedgehogs to get the message out to the Humans, "Please carefully re-make your bonfires prior to setting them alight. If you do come across a sleeping hedgehog then checkout the information on this website - http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/top...act-sheet.html . And next spring please don't use poisonous slug pellets, there are effective alternative methods of controlling slugs and snails, you could even leave us to do the control for you! Drive carefully too, we don't wear reflective spines."
The meeting finished with a grand feed of metaldehyde-free barbeskewed slugs, battered shell-free snails, earthworm and insect quiche, and woodmouse stew all swilled down with copious amounts of lovely, clean pond water.
Andy Holden
After watching tonight's David Attenborough's Planet Earth 2,I want a pair of Ibex feet. Did you see the way they descended that sheer cliff face?
Reckon Ted Mason could give them a run for their money
Went for a walk up Plover Hill yesterday starting from Foxup. Lovely route and hill - never been up that way before and the steps at the top are great. Said to Sally on the way up "will we see plovers, this being their hill? Just got to the top and there was a flock of about 20 what I think were golden plovers flying around. Lovely. Mind you very little else about apart from some grouse.
Quite possibly were Golden Plovers, there's been a flock of at least 85 a few miles down the valley at Hellifield Flashes.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
"very little else about apart from some grouse"; generally not much up there at this time of the year. It is a heavily keepered area (grouse shooting moor) so very little chance of spying a Hen Harrier.
Unless it's full of lead.Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
A barn owl hunting by day - 2.00pm at Timble Ings near Otley. Really good sighting as it flew from fence post to fence post as we got nearer. Very light coloured in flight and then reddish brown when perched. Looked great against the snow.
Running over Alport in the snow today it was great to see a number of Mountain hares in full winter white pelt, we only got to see them when they broke cover to stop us stepping on them...invisible
Would be good for the grouse brigade to stop blaming Mountain Hares for causing disease in young grouse. The fight is on in Scotland...Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wo...national-park/
A small group of waxwings in the village yesterday. Check out supermarket car parks. Waxwings love ornamental tree berries
Irruption year - they're pouring into the UK this winter (I haven't spied any - yet).Quote:
Originally Posted by Derby Tup
Lots of hares in the peak, certain areas better than others...
Andy they are on my Tick list but never seen one. would love to see some in the garden..Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
Quote:
Originally Posted by Derby Tup
Waxwings are on my tick list as well Ian. Apparently there was a large flock of them in the middle of Stockport, by the railway station a couple of years ago.
Waxwings reported in Hathersage yesterday, Bamford and Shire Hill (Glossop) on Saturday. New Mills Co-op car-park tomorrow?Quote:
Originally Posted by William Clough
Ha ha I think they are more of a Sainsbury's bird.Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffB
It's funny how you can have more luck with certain species of birds. Over the years I have seen hundreds of Kingfishers,I once observed 2 adults feeding their youngster. By the same token I've unbelievably only ever seen a handful of woodpeckers. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the Waxwings.
A small flock of goldcrests on the bank of the Wharfe in Otley - very close and not shy, further on a lesser spotted woodpecker, dippers in the river and then a nuthatch on the feeder I've put up in the reserve.Not bad for a quick lunchtime walk.
Good record, I haven't seen a LSW for many years.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
Hark The Heralds!
https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5473/3...90ef4af7_z.jpg
Hark The Heralds by Andy Holden, on Flickr
https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5473/3...522c2982_z.jpg
Hark The Heralds! by Andy Holden, on Flickr
'The Herald' moths, found today, overwintering in a disused barn
http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/sc...eryx-libatrix/
it's been great to see so many white mountain hares this last two weeks.
I'm going to go out with Camera next week and get some pictures...doubt they will be as good as Andys but will do my best.
If any one fancies joining me feel free...WHITE HARES GAURANTEED!!!!
Can you see them in the dales of Yorkshire?
I pretty sure you can but wouldn't know which moor is best..Andy would...?Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
I've never seen a Mountain Hare, let alone photographed one.Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
Seems that they only reside in Scotland and the Peak District.
wow thought fleet moss would be a given...if you want to come down some time ill take you my favourite spot. I once saw 40 at the same time...tripping up over the blighters....Quote:
Originally Posted by wharfeego
White hare in a snowdrift. That will be an interesting picture.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
yes.:) especially when they hide behind Polar bears.Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonykay
There natural defence is to sit still and not move so often you nearly step on them before they bolt.
Would be good.Quote:
Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak
Here's the latest tosh from the grouse brigade, about why they have to cull Mountain Hares.
If the natural predators were allowed to live for the reason they evolved on this Earth then there would be no need to interfere with the hares.
Vicious circle syndrome; kill all the foxes, stoats, weasels and raptors; the hares overpopulate, which is bad for the hares' health, so the keepers step in for a day or two of hare shooting, all part of the grouse moor management.
The end result of all this killing; so that a few people can shoot the Red Grouse.
Makes sense - doesn't it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLv3QpXWtM
Thats a high quality reason to dislike all involved in the grouse industry. What a load of one sided bollox.
If you like mountain hares, and there's loads of them on grouse moors, can't see the problem. They cull the excess when there are too many, but there's no shortage is there.
By "one sided bollox" I take it you mean "the other side of the argument"?
Can you not see through the PR tosh they are spouting in the film?Quote:
Originally Posted by molehill
Everything is about them, them, them.
They (keepers) never admit that what they do to wildlife is in any way wrong.
They (keepers) firmly believe that everything they do is conservation based.
They (keepers) cause the excess of Mountain Hares, and I'm sure they all enjoy a day or two out on the moor shooting the hell out of those animals.
It's a sad way of using the upland environments, messing about with nature like it's their right.
[QUOTE=molehill;629191]If you like mountain hares, and there's loads of them on grouse moors, can't see the problem. They cull the excess when there are too many, but there's no shortage is there.
Their numbers on Grouse moors may be due to the destruction of all the predators. I'm not totally against grouse shooting, it's to do with the continual shooting and nest destruction of protected raptors, and I recognise the moors are good for waders and runners.
By "one sided bollox" I take it you mean "the other side of the argument"?[/QUOTE
Yes, with obvious professional PR input - they have the resources to put up a well spun argument. If they just kept to shooting grouse I would be happy. You never hear them talk about the research on the diet of the raptors they have to keep under control - grouse are only a small part.
Andy, I'm quite tempted to have a trot over the hell that is Fleet Moss to see if I can spot a Hare. Had a good crossing in this years Fellsman - only went in waist deep and luckily was rescued by someone with walking poles, thought I was going to have to swim.
Other spots may be up around the top of Nidderdale - east side of Wernside?
As far as I'm aware there are absolutely NO Mountain Hares outside of the Peak District and Scotland. You may see the odd Brown Hare (separate species) in those places you mention.Quote:
Originally Posted by MattPo
A pair of peregrines this morning, screeching around the top of the church steeple here in the centre of Delft, Holland.
I flushed a couple of Snipe on the moors above Crowden during Sunday's Peak Raid; in fact I very nearly trod on one of them. Oh, and a white hare of course.
Cyclamen Cranes
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/728/31...331e61d854.jpg
Cyclamen Cranes by Andy Holden, on Flickr
A small flock spotted in a plant pot on the kitchen windowsill
Thats a bit cormy; but the twirl in the as yet unfurled petals is lovely. Still quite a few in flower around in the local gardens.
Watched a buzzard fly right through the middle of a fog bow yesterday. That shit doesn't happen every day.
Three fantastic sighting of the kingfisher this morning as Sally and I walked around our local Nature Reserve on the banks of the Wharfe in Otley, perched and in flight. It went right under the footbridge when we were stood on it.Also Little Grebe on the river - hard to spot.