Wildlife & Gardens

My cat has been bullied by a magpie on a couple of occasions, first time I've seen this kind of role reversal. He doesn't catch much these days though (he's nearly 14) and has tended to catch rodents (caught a fair few rats, not every cat does that as some are afraid of them) rather than birds, I can't even remember the last time he caught one of those.

 

I've stopped putting out fatballs as I'm exclusively feeding corvids now. Magpies and dozens of jackdaws - the latter quite ominous as they perch all around the garden.

The magpie will bully even a large flock of jackdaws.

Maybe my feeding them is stopping them from eating nesting chicks, but as the **** and finches aren't feeding, I'll save the fatballs for autumn.

 

At last! Since I planted the new asparagus a few months back I've been checking every day. Nothing. I even though about digging it up to see if I'd killed it. Then today and a couple of very quick growing sprouts are here. It's like Christmas today...



Spindly and new but it lives!!

 

Ditto. After 2 years of careful planting, weeding, feeding,...our first bumper crop. It’s tough to see the roast chicken and runner bean dinner that accompanied our asparagus bonanza but it’s at the back there hidden behind our monster crop.
Ps that’s the stuffing at the top of the plate, not a dog t***.

 

LMAO

 

Photo taken "pre-gravy" for fear that the "goose" may not have been visible "post-gravy"

 

Think it’s bound to be spindly in the first year because the crown won’t have bulked up properly yet, which is why you can’t harvest for at least a year. Chuck in loads of blood fish and bone over the autumn. I did that last year and my crop is much better this year than last.

 

It doesn't work with a retriever! Can only use down at the allotment...

 

Trying sweetcorn for the first time this year. First attempt died off after getting to a about an inch tall. I think I over watered. Second sowing now 3 inches tall and starting to think about planting out as soon as it stops raining.
This time last year I'd picked my first beans. Bring on global warming.

 

Watch out for squirrels. You might need some sort of cage.

 

Yep Ive got a 1m tall chickenwire cage around my veg patch after the foxes nicked my Kohlrabi but will a have to extend that with some mesh I presume as my ultrasonic scarer got water in it last year.

 

Springwatch back!

 

Yes but Michaela Strachan is back so too irritating to watch unless you are 10 or younger. The last season was great while she was trapped in S Africa. Megan McCubbin & Ellie Harrison are so much better and speak as though they are talking to adults.

 

Once a children's tv presenter always...?

 

Wildlife programmes have to strike a difficult balance between public engagement (particularly with children to get them interested), informing on serious conservation issues and general detail and interest about wildlife. People will have different interpretations of the priorities of these. Springwatch tends to be rather weak on the conservation issues but strong on engagement. Its level of wildlife detail will not satisfy the dedicated enthusiasts but is fine for the general viewing public. Michaela Strachan in particular tends to err towards the 'awed' approach but will appeal to some, especially children, but I don't think we should be too critical of that.

 

I like Michaela also, but less keen on Ellie, who seems to have a contract stipulating there must be shots of her looking wistful. Iolo is terrific and I hope he is still on.

 

Lolo is a clear 10/10.

 

Got one of those Bosch gadgets that looks a bit like a hair clipper to cut the edge of lawn and tidy up hedges and that.

Bit of advice, never stick your finger in it. Trip to A&E and a very sore finger, never nice to see one of your own bones.....

 

Seen the 1st fox of the year in my garden last night

 

I've been doing a gardening course recently. What I love about gardening, having only gotten into it recently and until this course had minimal knowledge (never hated it, just didn't have the inclination to spend much of my time working in the garden), is the way, similar to football and music, it brings together people of widely diverse backgrounds and interests. You could talk about gardening to someone of just average intelligence who's really passionate about it for ages.

The gardeners I respect most are ones who are not only dedicated to their craft but also regard it as an art, unlike most of the morons round my place with their white vans and obnoxious use of power tools on everything.

 

Lucky you. Still feeding our family every night and hoping one day they bring some pups (?) along.

 

I really enjoy trying to keep on top of our garden but struggling a bit with back problems this last year or two (2 epidurals in the last 14 months) and the garden is beginning to get on top !

 

We saw a cub sitting by the roses last night waiting a dusk for my food to go down.
There is a YTS Ford that also appears then but Ford and Arthur see him off,they're pals with the foxes!
Swifts seen near Letty Green and the Housemartins at Letty Green house have returned yet again.

 

Heard a cuckoo for the first time this year on my bike ride.

 

They are surprisingly well adapted to urban life. Used to see them at the top end of Watford town centre (pond) all the time. Very long narrow tails.

 

Regular inhabitants of service stations where they live on discarded toasted sandiches and pasties from the Cornish Pastie Company.

 

Yes probably. Small birds but long tails that tend to wag up and down as they walk. Very common in towns picking up seeds and crumbs from paths and fields.

 

We have a few pied wagtails that come onto the courts from time to time.
I think they are quite a learned bird too as I see a pair of them by the library in Goffs Oak,near the cruddy court there.
I have yet to see them with a library card but it's only a matter of time I expect!

 

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