Wildlife & Gardens

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

  1. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    It's the new bedwetters vs COGS.
     
  2. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    I think it was a couple of weeks ago that we saw the devastation wreaked upon a stretch of the River Lugg a SSSI. The slow inadequate response of government bodies was alarming. Private landowners need to be reeled in from thinking they can do as they will with regards to the natural environment. The sad irony being that the said landowner is close friends with the local Conservative MP who just happened to have a junior ministry involved in environmental issues. Conflict of interest ? It is despicable how these people get away with this. There needs to be more stringent laws and heavy punishments including time in jail for these vandals.



     
  3. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    I saw two tree creepers at the club today,lovely birds.
    Feeders need constant replenishment and the birds and squirrels are enjoying an apple a day!
    Might see the red wings soon if this cold weather persists.
     
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  4. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    While we have idiots destroying living creatures and habitats all in the name of mammon which will not serve anyone in the future at least those who try and protect the environment do not have to face the the threat of death. Indigenous peoples much like the native flora and fauna they now live in balance with are threatened by the greed of national governments, the urban population and multinationals. Indigenes in the Amazon basin have faced renewed violence as Bolsonaro the bastardo allows companies free rein and in Honduras another indigenous leader Felix Vazquez was murdered.

    It is appalling and a crime beyond the reprehensible all so that a few greedy scumbags can earn a quick buck. Money they say is the root of all evil and they are not wrong.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environ...s-environmental-defender-killed-felix-vasquez

    It is a pity the UN cannot send an armed force to Honduras to sort out the criminals both politicians and their cronies many linked to drug trafficking and restore law and order. For a long time economists have neglected the inherent value of the environment as an intangible but as the planet lurches forward on the road to disaster those are becoming ever more tangible not just in terms of infrastructure damage, but exposure to new pathogens and the loss of a huge well of future discoveries in the fields of pharmaceuticals and engineering innovations for instance not to mention keeping crops genetically variable and viable (allelic preservation).
     
  5. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Very hard to see in the wild compared to the Nuthatch unless you are very patient but they are well worth waiting for as they scurry up and down tree trunks . There is another species of Treecreeper in the UK if you include the Channel Islands. This is the Short Toed Treecreeper which overlaps with the Treecreeper in distribution throughout Europe. It shows clinal variations in plumage throughout it's range. These are changes in the hue and sometimes minor changes in patterning of individuals as you go say west to east in the area that the species occupies. Usually hundreds of miles and caused by differences in the environment, diet, sunlight levels.

    [​IMG]

    West to east changes in plumage of the Brazilian Reed Finch.​
     
  6. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Treecreepers scurry up, nuthatches scurry downwards.
     
  7. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Usually knock around with fieldfares too. Likely in places with lots of berries.
     
  8. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    These were upwardly mobile,bless them.
    They appear near the woods first,about half a mile away and come here if it's cold.
    I've been stocking up on the apples.
    I took the club feeder down today and have washed it and will refill it tomorrow.
     
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  9. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Fieldfares. If we get a covering of snow you can get ridiculous numbers coming to a packet or two of apples on the snow. At last house we had 20 on the lawn, fighting over who got which apple most of the time, though the apples were all gone within an hour.
    They prefer them after a few frosts have softened them really so it’s best to bite a small hole so they can get at the flesh.
    At great risk of being taken by sparrowhawks though....
     
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  10. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Some very lovely pictures on the latest RSPB update.
    Fieldfares , a black squirrel and a blue *** being scared off the feeder by a nuthatch!
    A good piece about the origins of bird names. A lot are onomatopoeic.
    Not long to the Big Garden Bird Watch.
    My new feeding station is up and running and already taking clients!
     
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  11. The redwings made short work of our pyrocanthus berries this year!
     
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  12. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

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  13. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Winterwatch again tonight.
    Brilliant picture last night of a redwing trying to eat a sloe berry,seemed a slow process for them!
     
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  14. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    Excellent edition.
    Wonderful caves for Iolo and Gillian and her beavers, steady Matron!
    Superb pictures of bullfinch and goldcrest too.
     
  15. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    Some roe deer. The fields behind Clement Danes. [​IMG]
     
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  16. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Mmmm Sunday lunch
     
  17. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    There's one that's been run over on Green Street. Already been left to mature for a couple of weeks. Crows have had its eyes though.
     
  18. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Some roe deer in my garden a few months ago, and one of the 2 munjacs that are here every day...
    upload_2021-1-22_8-22-49.png upload_2021-1-22_8-23-36.png
    upload_2021-1-22_8-23-11.png upload_2021-1-22_8-26-9.png




    upload_2021-1-22_8-18-51.png
     
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  19. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

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  20. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Haha - no but it's quite large and and we've let some of it go semi wild for wildlife, and back and side go out into countryside. Lots of foxes, badgers, the deer which are quite chill and stare at us through the window as if it to say "Yessss, ....well, ...what do you want ?". Would be perfect for hedgehogs but we assume the badgers just eat any that are unfortunate enough to wander this way.
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2021
  21. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

  22. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    "To the crows" as the Ancient Greeks would say!
     
  23. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

  24. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    And then MPs.
     
  25. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Beautiful quality TUT. Very impressed with those pictures.

    I've got fatballs up and seeds. Squirrels are decimating the fatballs and the seeds don't seem to be too popular this year. Does anyone have any seed recommendations? We have mainly robins and blue **** visiting at the moment.
     
  26. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Grass needs a cut m8
     
  27. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Thanks Diamond, wildlife photography is a serious hobby of mine.
    I take bird feeding pretty seriously too and could write a book on the subject :).
    To get best variety and frequency in summary;
    • Offer 1/ sunflower hearts (goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, **** and woodpeckers) 2/ niger seed (goldfinches) 3/ Good quality suet/fat balls, bars or pellets (**** and robins) 4/ Peanuts (****, woodpeckers, nuthatches) 5/ in winter, a few cheap apples ideally with small holes bitten so the birds can get at the flesh (blackbirds, redwings, fieldfares, ****).
    • Try to protect the feeders from rain so the food doesn't go mouldy and holes clog up.
    • Try to use squirrel (and pigeon !) resistant feeders or set-up.
    • Keep an eye open for sparrowhawks. If you get a lot of birds they are easy prey if out in the open and feeders need to be protected (I have all mine under an arch and with thin chicken wire either side to stop hawks just flying through and plucking them off the feeders which they were consistently doing)
    • This time of year is the best due to scarcity of food in the countryside. Late Jan/Feb is the best time for rarer visitors like siskins, redpolls and bramblings. If we get the expected snow on Sunday morning, throw out some apples on top of the snow and you could get flocks of redwings, blackbirds and fieldfare's fighting over them.
    This is what my feeding station looks like but as I say its a bit of a passion for me and we are right by the countryside. Squirrels, pigeons and pheasants can get in but only access what's dropped on the floor..
    upload_2021-1-22_10-35-26.png
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2021
  28. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    This was literally the only phrase I learned.

    I managed to pass my Ancient Greek module with a minimal 37% by recognising Dikaopolos shouting 'go to the crows' and guessing the rest.
     
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  29. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    If you try some nyger you might attract goldfinches.

    Our garden is inundated with ****. I have had to stop hanging food because of rats in the area.
     
  30. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Get the fat balls or blocks with mealworms in not seeds. Robins love them.

    They also like crushed up hobnobs, well certainly this semi tame one did at my parents house about 5 years ago which I managed to hand feed. IMAG0029.jpg
     
  31. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I passed my Latin o level by learning an exercise book of translation off by heart. All i needed to do was translate a few words in the first sentence and the last sentence and i could just recall the whole thing. Back in the days when I had a memory.
     
  32. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Absolutely. The ones with mealworms or insects. Not the ones with seeds or berries.
     
  33. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Winter m8 :)
     
  34. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    The Asda ones for a quid are good but I do get flocks of starlings on them and they can be picked clean in minutes.
     
  35. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I used to buy
    Suet to go Insect and Mealworm Suet Logs Wild Bird Treat, Pack of 36 for £12
    after disappointing results with various fat balls but after they became unavailable in May, I now buy these from amazon
    Suet To Go Insect Balls Refill Box Wild Bird Treat, 50 x 90 g for £11.
    which I've found to be just as good.

    I also use pets at home suet pellets with insects which i found much better than other suppliers I tried.
     
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