Wildlife & Gardens

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by Sting, May 7, 2019.

  1. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    We had a visiting badger when we lived in Watford. He got very annoyed when a neighbour repaired her fence blocking his route - he just smashed it down. While we lived in Wales we had a lot of badger sets on and around our land - bordering the Brechfa forest. Rescued one little baby from a road - ungratefully little *** tried to bite me though.
     
  2. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    For easier Osprey watching for Hertfordshire there are the breeding pairs at Rutland Water, Leicestershire (quite near the A1) .

    The website is good and as the birds have been tagged, plots their progress from Africa each spring.

    https://www.ospreys.org.uk/
     
  3. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Badgers are ****s. Bastards dug up all my tulip bulbs one year.

    The foxes seem to have driven them out down our way.
     
  4. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    You act like it’s all black and white.
     
    Keighley likes this.
  5. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    On another note, has the Painted Lady invasion been discussed here? I've just seen one in Harwoods Road. There must have been loads down Sting's way.
     
  6. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    True. But introduced birds so, for purists, not quite the real McCoy. I've seen two at Wilstone Reservoir, Tring in the last three years. One in autumn and one in spring. On their way to and back from Africa.

    I did go to Rutland in September last year though and there were two still kicking about. There is now also a burgeoning population in the Lake District.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2019
  7. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    No red light district in Selsey :)
     
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  8. tonycotonstache

    tonycotonstache Squad Player

    Ants this year have been ridiculous. They've been digging up everything in the garden since Spring and finally made it to the conservatory. Now the little Feckers are gunning for the kitchen. Amazing to see at first but now seriously annoying!
     
  9. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    We have indeed had quite a few Painted Ladies - but not loads of them.
    What we have loads of is runner beans. We have never had such success with them before. Last year we lost the lot in a blackfly infestation. We have taken to finding out which of our friends and neighbours likes them and giving them tons.
    Also this year our onions are a massive success - they are massive.
     
  10. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    The Painted Lady phenomenon is what's called an 'irreptive' migration. Most species that exhibit that phenomenon are birds. Examples would be the Waxwing with a periodical invasion to our eastern shores from Scandinavia in the late autumn and the Rose-colured Starling from the middle-east. The Collared Dove, also from the middle-east, never went home again which is why they're probably now waking you up in the morning.

    So, a butterfly as an irreptive species is rarer. I can't think of any other example. Which doesn't mean at all that they don't exist. The regular (and well known) migration of Monarch/ Milkweed butterflies from the US to valleys in central Mexico doesn't qualify. That is a 'regular' migration.

    So, Painted Ladies. An irreptive buttefly species, breeding in Morocco and then migrating north-east across Spain and France and sometimes to here. Often in tandem with the Silver-Y moth which enjoys a similar life-cycle.

    Painted women? Keep me informed. Should any parachute onto the shingle I'd need to know. You might not be interested but I would be. Runners? Love 'em. Onions? Enormous.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2019
  11. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    You mean “irruptive”?
    We had a few P ladies in the garden over the weekend which made for some great photos.
    Our collared doves don’t wake us up as they very quickly become main course for our sparrow hawks.
    Long overdue a proper waxwing irruption. Beautiful on red berries in the sun.
     
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  12. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    There have been substantially more butterflies around generally this summer compared to recent years, both in the garden and especially out in the countryside. This is across many different species, but has anyone seen a small tortoiseshell? In my youth that was undoubtedly the commonest garden species but they seem very rare now.
     
  13. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    Indeed I did. How did that get past the editor?
     
  14. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Definitely more around thank goodness.
    One was resting near Arthur yesterday but wasn't a tortoiseshell.
    Pretty Fox is cured of her mange. The sulphur and arsen tablets for four months have won the day!
    She looks magnificent!
     
  15. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    Painted Ladies look a bit like a washed-out Small Tortoiseshell ...
     
  16. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    Anyone else get any storm damage? We got off lightly despite being at the coast. My runner bean supports survived despite dire predictions by Mrs S but a few pots with tomatoes blew over and one broke. A few neighbourhood trees took a tumble though.
     
  17. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Runner beans at the allotment had all toppled over but mine, sat at home snug in a Wilko’s plastic raised bed, were fine. :D
     
  18. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    Why were you in a Wilko plastic raised bed?
     
    RookeryDad likes this.
  19. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    Replanted my tomatoes in a bed vacated by the crop of peas that have ended
     
  20. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    No but I'm grateful that we now have a 2 metre wide hedge round our garden rather than fence panels given we are at 220m and the first property the westerly wind hits as it blows across an open field ! A few fledgling asparagus stems were snapped but can't eat them this year and with 18 of the 20 plants throwing up stems now they look pretty well established. Found an edible dormouse (glis glis) in our garage on saturday though, see crappy iphone shot in the dark below. An interesting dilemna !
     
  21. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Some form of waterbed?
     
  22. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Even I've noticed this here in the Great Wen.

    Butterflies, that is.
     
  23. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

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  24. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    2 metre wide is impressive - we have one just over a metre wide and over 2 metres high around our front garden which certainly gives some protection - it is a haven for birds and neighbours call it the singing hedge. (Unlike Wales we are no longer at 400m high but at sea level - but that means coastal winds).
    Thanks for info and picture of glis glis. I had not heard of it but personally could not kill it (even if it were not a protected species) - but my killer cat knows no such restrictions. In Wales she even impressed farmers by her patience in catching moles.
     
  25. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    We have an uneasy truce in the garden between the cat, the fox and the pheasant. The shrews are not party to that truce it seems. Not sure where the Glis Glis stands but they are nocturnal which may well be why I've not seen one before. I only saw it on saturday as a gust blew several light items off the top shelf in the garage, and there it was. Apparently only found in the UK between Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, and L*t*n, having escaped from a private Rothschild collection in 1902. They cause havoc if they set up home in your loft though as, like many other rodents, they have to constantly chew through stuff to file their permanently growing teeth. We have lived here for 5 years with no impact from them so will let them be and continue to periodcally use the sonic scarers in the loft to keep them out !!
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2019
  26. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Yes hedge is very well established and probably >2m wide. Costs £125 to have it cut and takes all day. Would be perfect for a hedgehog release site but the neighbours have 3 yappy terriers which apparently catch squirrels for fun so we have decided hedgehogs wouldn't be a great idea. Plus the foxes, and probably badgers, would eat them (unless they sign up to the truce) !
     
  27. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    Whereabouts do you live?
    £125 is a good price - we pay £175
     
  28. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Near Tring but we inherited an arrangement that the previous owner had with a friend for special "mates rates". He's a professional groundsman of some description and I don't believe generally does gardens. Being an accountant I still resent spending £125 when I could use my own electric shears and have it done in about 4 days :).
     
  29. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    I know how you feel - I also have an accounting background. However I have got to an age where Mrs S does not let me up high ladders. She is probably right too as I was two rungs up on a step ladder in the garden a couple of weeks ago - it slipped and I came off and twisted my knee so ended up in A&E. Fortunately nothing broken but apparently it can take weeks or months to heal properly.
     
  30. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    c20 years ago I was up ladder against a tree with an electric chainsaw, holding on to the tree with one arm and using the chainsaw with the other. The running saw kicked back from a branch and hit me square on the top of the head. Fortunately I was wearing a Bassini style orange helmet so no damage done. Just to add some spice, the saw was connected via various extension leads running over a lawn that was covered in 2 inches of melting snow. I'm a lot more responsible these days.
     
    Sting likes this.
  31. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    All fence panels and posts intact, but then I put them in myself and did a proper job.
     
  32. kVA

    kVA Reservist

    O-oh!

    Better get rid of that little b’stard.
     
  33. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    No he's under a suspended sentence at present. I read him the riot act, quietly, and he seemed prepared to comply with the proposed terms.
     
    kVA likes this.
  34. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    You hung him?!
     
  35. Sting

    Sting Squad Player

    Walking the dog yesterday I passed a house and in the front garden were seven or eight pure white doves (I think). Never seen so many in one place and not sure if these were "tame" or some sort of white homing pigeon. Anyone on here know anything about white doves or pigeons?
     

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