Wildlife & Gardens

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

  1. Aberdeen

    Aberdeen Academy Graduate

    I think it is a Jimson plant.
     
  2. Aberdeen

    Aberdeen Academy Graduate

    (probably nothing to do with the Waltons though)
     
  3. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    Ah yes. A Datura. I once had a very interesting experience with another member of the genus (which was actually a tree) on the Isles of Scilly!

    I'd suggest that the wholesome Waltons would have made a point of having nothing to do with it whatsoever!
     
  4. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    He is tied up in an extensive orgy with Helena Bonham Carter, Kim Bassinger, Twiggy, Dame Julie Andrews and Cindy Crawford, which affords him too little time to post these days.

    Either that or someone has forgotten his log in details.
     
    CleyHorn likes this.
  5. Aberdeen

    Aberdeen Academy Graduate

    Boring no fun bunch
     
  6. Aberdeen

    Aberdeen Academy Graduate

    Maybe I will switch my avatar so that watching police will be less alerted
     
  7. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Gone to the Great Forum in the Sky. He's with Rookerydad and Nnnn, watching our every move & post.
     
  8. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    When you say 'nesting' do you mean they were around great big nests made of sticks or simply sitting in the trees?
     
  9. Warrington Hornet

    Warrington Hornet Reservist

    Well, the trees were still covered in leaves so it was not that easy to see.

    They were, however, there every day of the week flying in and out of the trees so if they didn't have nests there they were certainly nested close by. My mother has seen them throughout the summer in the same two trees.
     
  10. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member


    They've been in the local area for over twenty years and have expanded their range from London far to the north and west. Legend has it they are descendants of parakeets that escaped from a film set in Elstree. Namely The African Queen. Nice little bit of Django Reinhardt as this theory is explained. Most likely they are escapees. In a way they are an invasive species only here down to the carelessness of their owners which has had disastrous effects elsewhere in the world on the local ecology. The ones in the London parks are very tame and are termed posh pigeons.
     
    I Blame Pozzo likes this.
  11. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Beautiful fem sparrowhawk in the garden this week....

    [​IMG]
     
  12. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Beautiful bird, great photo.
     
  13. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Thanks WWTW - yes it was a nice pose though light was a bit gloomy!
     
  14. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    A couple of years ago walking down the High Street towards Watford Junction and work and obviously fairly early in the morning saw a female Sparrowhawk plucking a feral pigeon. Walked a matter of a few feet away and all she did was drag the unfortunate pigeon still very much alive a few further into a shop frontage.
     
  15. CleyHorn

    CleyHorn Reservist

    A juvenile male I think. Looks small and compact with a small head, a lot of bright chestnut in the underparts barring and ear coverts and you can see the rufous tips in the new feathers in the wing coverts.

    The plumage features are diagnostic of a juvenile. Size and structure indicate a male.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2019
  16. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    You may be right but it seemed very much the larger female size rather than the smaller male size. The photo may be deceptive as its difficult to tell the scale.
     
    CleyHorn likes this.
  17. Got 900kg of Cotswold 20mm stones for our path and 22m squared of lawn turf all ready to landscape the lower tier of the back garden tomorrow!

    End of October and perfect time to lay a new lawn and they're suddenly predicting snow this weekend!
     
  18. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    You go up north, you gotta expect the arctic weather.
     
  19. Ha - true! Think it's the whole country though So we're all gonna get it!

    Saying that, looking at the forecast it's just rain all weekend. So I may get soaked but the lawn will love it.

    No idea where the snow forecast came from?!!
     
  20. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    It's about that time of year when the Daily Fail tries to sell a few papers with the annual "Arctic blast set to bring Britain to a standstill" headline....???
     
  21. soton_orn

    soton_orn Reservist

    I quite enjoy the BBC costing the earth podcast. This one is about small scale rewilding that might be a bit impractical for you, but interesting nonetheless.

    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/costing-the-earth/id354108693?i=1000449471978
     
  22. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Possibly but I believe the Getsworse is the main culprit in this regard.
    They usually unearth Bernard from Great Yarmouth whose tea leaves or chickens, or perhaps the chickens' tea leaves,predict arctic conditions.
    Looking out for redwings in the near future. We usually get a sizeable colony in WGC.
     
  23. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot


    Did you just assume their gender?
     
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  24. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    I genuinely can't work out which newspaper you have nicknamed the "Getsworse."
     
  25. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    No. Generally the females are larger and browner, the males are smaller and more grey/orange. Compare and contrast images below.....
    However Cley knows his birds more than I do and I hadn't considered juveniles - see post #365.

    upload_2019-11-4_10-48-16.jpeg upload_2019-11-4_10-48-49.jpeg
     
  26. Bonkingbob

    Bonkingbob First Year Pro

    By deduction in going with the express.

    They seem to have a binary thermometer with both readings simply marked 'death'
     
  27. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Yes Private Eye always called the Express 'the Getsworse'.
    A fox has used my pumpkin,put outside as requested by Chris Packham,as a lavatory!
    I'll say this,he or she has a perfect aim!
     
  28. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    One at the Moose house today.

    58EF7A6E-91A3-4E04-B9AD-06E1CCE564BE.jpeg
     
    Smudger likes this.
  29. New grass is drowning in the floods at the moment. I know it needs heavy watering in the early stages but this is ridiculous!

    Had a hedgehog in the garden last night. Think it was trapped as fell from the top tier so will be putting in a couple of hedgehog highways in the fence and gonna buy a hedgehog hotel!

    Also adding in a bee hotel! #savethebees
     
    Smudger likes this.
  30. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    Has anyone else noticed an absolute abundance of grey squirrels this year?

    I was taking eldest daughter to hockey at Royal Masonic the other week and saw about 12 around a row of trees and then, on Sunday, I was running in Amersham and saw about 8 clustered together on a small patch of grass by the big Tesco there.

    In late summer I had noticed more and more of them being squashed on the roads, but this appears to have been a symptom of a population boom, rather than a cause of some sort of reduction in numbers, due to road deaths.
     
  31. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    I’m glad somebody else has noticed this. I work on a nature reserve and, as winter approached, I got the impression there were more squirrels than usual rushing about fattening themselves up.
     
  32. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    I normally see one or two together. Maybe three but they are usually fighting over something. Now it's like they are a herd animal. It's like that old Harvest Crunch advert.
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  33. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    That takes me back. Used to love Harvest Crunch bars.
     
  34. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    We have the parakeets at Hoddesdon,in the park behind the club. They are also in the park at Goffs Oak and I heard them when we played the 40s club semi at Ealing, but I don't remember Alec Guiness playing one in Kind Hearts!
    Our grey squirrels had kits and a parent was chasing a juvenile around the bird feeders yesterday. Ford was watching and I thought I heard him whistling the `benny Hill theme!
    The foxes haven't eaten their eggs the last two nights. Too well fed Mr IBB says,when he can stop himself from genuflecting to Mr Tumble.
     
  35. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/...xmII4y-c0QIklZY_-5wqhycuISxyJG-rbx-quJprpoqds

    Politicians and big business in cahoots shock. When will they realize they cannot eat, drink or breathe money ? How much fauna and flora has been lost in these fires does not bear thinking about never mind the human cost which is tragic in itself especially with the volunteer firefighters. These idiots are leading us all slowly sleepwalking into disaster. Economic models need a fundamental rethink.
     
    Moose likes this.

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