Naturefile

[chris lowe]

I was able to take a drive with the "lid" off my car today for the first time this year. I love it - you really feel a part of the countryside that way. Forests seem more secret, country lanes quieter and more peaceful, and the open roads are exhilarating.
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There's quite a lot of farmland in this area and several huge fields of oilseed rape. I'm not a big fan of it really and find it can be quite harsh on the eyes, but the smell of it in the sunshine today was heady and almost intoxicating.
A year or two ago I walked in a field of rape (carefully, leaving no trace) and again the smell of the blossoms was wonderful. I remember how cool the petals felt against my bare arms, and the microcosm of tiny insects living out their lives on the bright, yellow blooms, completely oblivious to the rest of the 21st century. It was an oddly humbling experience, yet liberating at the same time.
I can highly recommend it, if you feel that way inclined!

I really dislike the smell of rape

 

[KevinPotts]

The only time I saw a cute little red in fact reds was at Centre Parks when the kids were at home, probably 15 years ago. I did see a black one just a few weeks back in the nature reserve next to me.

 

[13lizanne]

We were in the SW of Scotland last week where red squirrels prolific but we didn't see many just on one occasion. We did see red deer, red kites pinemartens bashers and otters though.

 

[debrasue]

We were in the SW of Scotland last week where red squirrels prolific but we didn't see many just on one occasion. We did see red deer, red kites pinmartens bashers and otters though.

What are bashers?

 

[debrasue]

It's lovely having bird feeders hanging close to the windows, giving a truly intimate view of the wildlife, which is far too focused on the food to even notice you, but I've come to realise that it has a downside too.
Being so up-close-and-personal, you get to see all their health problems, which you normally don't notice from further away. At this stage of the season most of them are pretty fit and healthy, but as the year progresses and the demands of the breeding season take their toll, the poor little chaps start to look ropier and ropier.
Many of the **** start to go bald (either through parasites, stress, or feather-plucking to line their nests), robins and blackbirds begin to look decidedly scraggy, chaffinches get weird chalky growths on their feet and legs, greenfinches succumb to trichomonosis, and even the magpies start to look tufty and threadbare.
I got paranoid about it at first and thought the diseases must be originating in my garden and feeders. Yet despite spending a fortune on cleaning and hygiene products and scrubbing everything several times a week, the problems persisted.
But now I realise that, after recovering throughout the winters, they all come back again every spring, fighting fit, displaying their full breeding finery and ready to do it all over again.
I guess it's true, all that time spent "on the nest" takes it out of the poor little chaps!

 

[13lizanne]

What are bashers?

Well may you ask debra, that should have read badgers! My son was impatiently waiting for me to start dinner and whipped my tablet out of my hands before I checked it. D has Autism and doesn't do waiting we saw the badgers crossing a road some way in front of us when we were returning from our evening walk in Dalbeatie woods

 

[debrasue]

Well may you ask debra, that should have read badgers! My son was impatiently waiting for me to start dinner and whipped my tablet out of my hands before I checked it. D has Autism and doesn't do waiting we saw the badgers crossing a road some way in front of us when we were returning from our evening walk in Dalbeatie woods

LOL!!!! Love it!! And there was me thinking Scotland had some special new kind of animals I'd never heard of!!

 

[KevinPotts]

There's a wonderfully loud - very loud male blackbird entertaining me in song this morning. It's truly beautiful.

 

[debrasue]

There's a wonderfully loud - very loud male blackbird entertaining me in song this morning. It's truly beautiful.

I love the blackbird's song - it's like molten silver!
I'm also constantly amazed at how loud the wren's song is; how can that huge volume of sound come out of such a tiny little body?!! Astonishing...

(Google file image)

 

[Cumberland]

There's a wonderfully loud - very loud male blackbird entertaining me in song this morning. It's truly beautiful.

I've got 2 pairs coming to the feeders on the ground and they are not very tolerant of each other and the poor Thrush grabs a quick bite before being chased away by the Blackbirds

 

[debrasue]

I've got 2 pairs coming to the feeders on the ground and they are not very tolerant of each other and the poor Thrush grabs a quick bite before being chased away by the Blackbirds

We have quite a few low-hanging shrubs around the periphery of our garden, and I often toss a handful of birdfood underneath them in 2 or 3 different areas, as well as providing a central feeding station, so that the thrushes can get a look in while the blackbirds are busy elsewhere!
The female blackbirds seem to be even more aggressive and territorial than the males in our garden. They're proper harridans!

 

[eddie1968]

I hear the buzzards calling each other. I see them a lot here, big and beautiful and lovely wing markings. Lots of wee kestrels too.

 

[Cumberland]

What's happened on here lots of posts vanished!!

 

[debrasue]

Been reading through this thread - just brilliant, time to charge up the camera batteries and dust the bag and tripod off.

Many a time out walking the dog we see such amazing wild life, I'll see if I can catch a Red Kite this weekend! I might even get a deer or 3, although having 3 white bottoms bouncing away across the field being chased by my avatar doesn't make a good picture!

Seen plenty of swallows and we had a mass of ladybirds the other day 'partying' on a public path - well it is May and that's when they get down and dirty - but in public!?!

Did you get any of those pictures?

 

[debrasue]

We have to spray the bamboo shoots when they emerge for they are immediate fodder for tree rats *our huge squirrel population

That's interesting, @Galja... We had a beautiful stand of bamboo in our last garden and I loved the whispering sound it made in a breeze, so we transplanted some here when we came to live here. It's never thrived and now I'm wondering if the local squirrels may be the reason!
What do you spray it with?

 

[13lizanne]

We have quite a few low-hanging shrubs around the periphery of our garden, and I often toss a handful of birdfood underneath them in 2 or 3 different areas, as well as providing a central feeding station, so that the thrushes can get a look in while the blackbirds are busy elsewhere!
The female blackbirds seem to be even more aggressive and territorial than the males in our garden. They're proper harridans!

Our problem is with the collar doves, they are greedy and territorial, but not as bad as the jackdaws and magpies. We are always chasing them off by rapping on the kitchen window. We spread seeds under our low-hanging bushes also so the goldcrests, blue and great **** and robins can feed. My darling husband bought huge amounts of wild bird seed, coconut halves, mealworms, fat balls etc today, he cuts up bread every day mixing it with seeds etc for our bird bistro. The birds bring us such pleasure

 

[slip]

Did you get any of those pictures?

The red kites seem to have vanished! Well they had when out walking with the camera but mowing the lawn this afternoon there were a few over head for a short while - not long enough for me to dash in and get the camera before they swooped off!

 

[debrasue]

Our problem is with the collar doves, they are greedy and territorial, but not as bad as the jackdaws and magpies. We are always chasing them off by rapping on the kitchen window. We spread seeds under our low-hanging bushes also so the goldcrests, blue and great **** and robins can feed. My darling husband bought huge amounts of wild bird seed, coconut halves, mealworms, fat balls etc today, he cuts up bread every day mixing it with seeds etc for our bird bistro. The birds bring us such pleasure

I totally agree with you on all points, Anna.
We have a lot of wood pigeons locally, all called Percy. I quite like them (apart from their enormous poos!) and they tend to scare off the collared doves, but the magpies are my nemesis! I have spent hours banging on the windows and lots of time and money "magpie-proofing" all the bird feeders (my daughter accuses me of being a 'bird racist'), but I have succeeded so well that I now feel sorry for them because they can't get any food, so I have to chuck bread out for them. (I know - I'm a wuss!)
It costs a fortune, too, doesn't it? By the time I've fed all the foxes, hedgehogs, birds and squirrels, there's not much left for us.
This time of year I get live mealworms to help the birds feed their young, and they go crazy for them. I left the kitchen door open this afternoon as it was so warm, and had a robin in the kitchen looking for his mealworms! He nipped out quite smartly when he saw me. But the huge, fat pigeon who wandered in last summer wasn't so accommodating, and left a duvet-full of feathers and many copious dollops of poo when I "helped" him outside!

 

[Cumberland]

Our problem is with the collar doves, they are greedy and territorial, but not as bad as the jackdaws and magpies. We are always chasing them off by rapping on the kitchen window. We spread seeds under our low-hanging bushes also so the goldcrests, blue and great **** and robins can feed. My darling husband bought huge amounts of wild bird seed, coconut halves, mealworms, fat balls etc today, he cuts up bread every day mixing it with seeds etc for our bird bistro. The birds bring us such pleasure

Lovely to hear 13lizanne

I feed our birds all sorts
Sunflower hearts and black seeds, mealworms, fat balls, nuts, suet pellets and suet blocks
Bread, cake, cheese, broken biscuits and even rice crispies go down a treat

 

[Cumberland]

I totally agree with you on all points, Anna.
We have a lot of wood pigeons locally, all called Percy. I quite like them (apart from their enormous poos!) and they tend to scare off the collared doves, but the magpies are my nemesis! I have spent hours banging on the windows and lots of time and money "magpie-proofing" all the bird feeders (my daughter accuses me of being a 'bird racist'), but I have succeeded so well that I now feel sorry for them because they can't get any food, so I have to chuck bread out for them. (I know - I'm a wuss!)
It costs a fortune, too, doesn't it? By the time I've fed all the foxes, hedgehogs, birds and squirrels, there's not much left for us.
This time of year I get live mealworms to help the birds feed their young, and they go crazy for them. I left the kitchen door open this afternoon as it was so warm, and had a robin in the kitchen looking for his mealworms! He nipped out quite smartly when he saw me. But the huge, fat pigeon who wandered in last summer wasn't so accommodating, and left a duvet-full of feathers and many copious dollops of poo when I "helped" him outside!

The woodies are funny though too big for the feeders but they mooch around on the ground hoovering up food I put out for the blackbirds thrush and sparrows
Collared Doves are like hovers too