Wildlife & Gardens

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

  1. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    A few photos from our recent holiday in Costa Rica. Our second visit. A fabulous country for wildlife. The howler monkeys were loud, though not as loud as Mrs TuT when she trod on a snake during a guided night walk :).

    Tarantula
    Eyelash pit viper
    Praying mantis studying it's reflection
    Acorn woodpecker
    Crimson fronted parakeet
    Praying mantis on my trousers
    Fer-de-lance snake (kills more humans than any other snake in C&Sth America)
    Huge red-legged grasshopper (Mrs TuT hand for scale !)
    Mantled howler monkeys
    Resplendent quetzal

    Tarantula, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0520 v4.jpg Eyelash pit-viper, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0493 v4.jpg El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #IMG_3068 v4.jpg Acorn woodpecker,Savegre Hotel, San Gerado de Dota, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0166 v4.jpg Crimson-fronted parakeet, Casa Turire hotel, Turrialba, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0253 v4.jpg El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #IMG_2999 v4.jpg Fer-de-lance snake, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0505 v4.jpg La Cusinga Lodge, Uvita, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0232 v4.jpg Mantled howler monkey, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0037 v4.jpg Resplendent quetzal, San Gerado de Dota, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0102 v4.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2022
  2. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    A few more.....

    Scarlet macaw
    Two-toed sloth
    Violet-crowned wood-nymph
    White-faced capuchin
    White-necked jacobin
    Yellow-throated toucan
    Red-eyed tree frog
    Sack-winged bat
    Collared aracari
    Spider monkey


    Scarlet macaw, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0233 v4.jpg Two-toed sloth, Matapalo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0133 v4.jpg Violet-crowned wood-nymph, Rancho naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0075 v4.jpg White-faced capuchin, Matapalo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0069 v4.jpg White-necked jacobin, Rancho naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0008 v4.jpg Yellow-throated toucan, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0605 v4.jpg
    Red-eyed tree frog, Selva Verde hotel, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0382 v4.jpg Sack-winged bat, La Selva Biological Station, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0099 v4.jpg Collared aracari, Rancho naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0204 v4.jpg Spider monkey, El Remanso Hotel, Osa Peninsular, Costa Rica 2-2022 #_0071 v4.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2022
  3. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Let's just pray that Costa Rica preserves it's forests. There should be a fund for developed nations to pay into to pay for preservation of these habitats.

    Amazonia saw another disastrous year under the rule of the winker Bolsonaro. Nice to see British companies racing in there to mine and pollute the watersheds, destroy acres of pristine habitat and displace the indigenes all in the name of more shekels for their slimy shareholders and investment capital firms.
     
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  4. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Thanks for these. Great memories of one of our best holidays ever.
     
  5. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Asparagus now starting year 2 so I still can't touch the crop but this literally appeared overnight!

    IMG_20220326_143858963.jpg
     
  6. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Love asparagus, but it sure does make your pee stink.
     
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  7. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    Thank you, Monty Don
     
  8. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Jealous....
     
  9. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

  10. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Good effort. No sign of mine yet.
     
  11. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    It's in the greenhouse so that may have helped.
     
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  12. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I planted 20 plants nearly 3 years ago. 13 plants were still alive last season producing a total of about 7 edible shoots between them :-(. About 4 have poked their heads above ground this spring so far
     
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  13. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Enjoying the spoils of bumper asparagus this evening. Had to top up the home grown crop with just a few from Tesco
    233A0F76-3DA5-4A4D-9194-CF63CB3DC3CD.jpeg
     
  14. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    Let me guess…
     
  15. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Size really does matter!
     
  16. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    The birds are decimating the food in the feeders, especially the far balls although the squirrels don't help!

    A blue *** flew onto the window feeder this morning only to find the fat balls had been knocked down. I replaced them.

    Saw two song thrushes on the green at Letty Green as I returned from my practice at lunchtime.

    Delightful birds.
     
  17. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Last Summer we had hardly any fox activity in and around our garden having being plagued with them since we moved here 5 years ago, therefore we thought we were rid of them at last.

    Unfortunately that appears to have been a false hope as they seem to be back again this year :mad:
     
  18. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Numbers still a fraction of what they once were. An indication also of a decreasing insect biomass. News from India on the wetbulb heatwave. Conditions of high humidity and temperature that will spread to more regions of the globe with the potential to kill millions.

    Deadly ‘wet-bulb temperatures’ are being stoked by climate change and heat waves (nbcnews.com)

    And we still have *****s like Bolsonaro wreaking havoc on the Amazon. Worst year for deforestation all in the pursuit of that evil called money.
     
  19. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Sad news from Brazil over the last week with the deaths of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. Not to mentions the hundreds of indigenes murdered to gain access for illegal logging, mining and fishing.

    It's a disgrace that British companies are actively involved in the desecration and destruction of Amazonia which has been given the green light by that utter scumbag Bolsonaro. His actions are directly responsible for emboldening those that see these lands as nothing more than a way to generate short term wealth and the killings we saw this week.

    We can only hope the ******* like Trump is voted out of office at the next elections in Brazil. Meanwhile moron Bojo despite all his soundbites is giving fossil fuels the thumbs up. Have we not learnt from the 1970s and a reliance on gas and oil ? Forty years in which little was done to invest in renewables particularly solar power and better house designs. I'm sure the utility companies and lobby groups have a hand in it because what interest do they have in seeing families and individuals generate all the power they need for themselves without having to pay a penny unless for maintenance and replacement costs ?

    And the subsidy for electric cars is being withdrawn. Another highly logical move from these idiots.
     
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  20. HappyHornet24

    HappyHornet24 Crapster Staff Member

    Looking for some practical advice please. I want to buy a pressure washer, to be used primarily to clean a patio but also a wooden (outside) table and chairs. My problem is that the patio in question goes all the way round the house and so part of it is far away from the outside taps we have and I’m not sure the pressure washers I’ve been looking at would reach. I’ve googled and see you can get mobile pressure washers, but the article I read said they’re not very powerful. Can anyone advise? Thanks!
     
  21. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    As long as you have a long hose and an extension lead, your corded washer will have a long range
     
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  22. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    The pressure washer normally just connects to your hose so wherever your hose can reach, your pressure washer can reach.
     
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  23. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    DFF75BC8-6EFC-4D99-84CA-D545CDD451E7.jpeg
     
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  24. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Originally booked for 2020 and cancelled twice due to covid, I finally got to Finland for a quick wildlife watching trip. Up at 2am 3 times and a lie in til 5am once ! Only disappointment was the brown bears not showing up at the bear-watching site 2km from the Russian border. Putin has presumably had them all shot. The main attraction for northern Finland is the owls, and on an 8 hour tour on the final morning I saw all 8 species found locally. Devastated to miss the Jubilee celebrations of course ! Some photos attached.

    Eurasian eagle-owl, Tengmalm's owl, Great grey owl, Ural owl, Ural owl chicks, Northern hawk-owl chick, White-tailed eagle x2, common crossbill and common cuckoo.

    Eurasian eagle-owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0097 v9.jpg Tengmalm's owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0133 v9.jpg Great grey owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0393 v9.jpg Ural owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0583 v9.jpg Ural owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0493 v9.jpg Northern hawk-owl, Oulu area, Finland 6-2022 #_0251 v9.jpg White-tailed eagle, Karhu bear-watching site, Kuusamo, Finland 6-2022 #_0086 v9.jpg White-tailed eagle, Karhu bear-watching site, Kuusamo, Finland 6-2022 #_0151 v9.jpg Common crossbill, Goiglo Majoitus hotel, Kuusamo, Finland 6-2022 #_0399 v9.jpg Common cuckoo, Hirvisuo bog, Finland 6-2022 #_0048 v9.jpg
     
  25. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    We've had babies :)
     
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  26. Carpster

    Carpster Squad Player

    Some quality shots there. I certainly miss Northern European wildlife. Had the great privilege of seeing an eagle owl on numerous occasions while out fishing in Norway. Nothing but majestic in every way.
     
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  27. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Wonderful photographs TUT. That shot of the cuckoo is a privilege considering how rare it is now in most parts of England. Delius would be rather sad about it.
     
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  28. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Cuckoos doing well in Hertfordshire. Hearing them often over the last couple of years. Not sure I have ever seen one though.
     
  29. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    If you're patient enough Moose you can spot them flying off to get a bug looking at times like a small falcon with rapid beats of their wings. Herts Breeding Atlas shows a decline across Hertfordshire unfortunately that mirrors the national trend in England.
     
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  30. HappyHornet24

    HappyHornet24 Crapster Staff Member

    I didn’t realise this. I hear a lot on my walks (I’m on the Hampshire/Surrey/Sussex border).
     
  31. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Thanks - frustrated I didn't get a better view of the GG Owl ! The cuckoo was at a bog I stopped at between Oulu and Kuusamo. I though it was just a rock in a pool at first until it jumped up onto that branch and refused to fly away - presume it had it's eye on a reed warbler nest !
    2 springs ago we had one calling out in the open in a tree just on the other side of the road from our house. Great views but it wouldn't wait for me to grab my camera. Don't often hear them locally but always see/hear them when I visit Otmoor at Oxford in April, presume due to the number of potential warbler nests.

    Also got good views and photos of willow grouse, black grouse lekking, capercaillie, siberian jays and siberian t1ts, smew, BN divers, red-flanked bluetails, but assumed 10 photos was enough and most forum posters wouldn't be interested in some of the more obscure northern rarities :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2022
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  32. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Taking pictures of folk on the bog? Not ok m8. Finn end of the wedge.
     
  33. HappyHornet24

    HappyHornet24 Crapster Staff Member

    Another pressure washer question - which one would those of you who use them recommend? I’m going to bite the bullet but now I’ve got lost down a rabbit hole of pressure washer reviews and can’t make a decision. Sorry and help!
     
  34. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Feeling a bit like this, eh?

     
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  35. lendal

    lendal Reservist

    Aged, knackered oldie here…but my first ever crop of garlic and I’m chuffed to bits [​IMG]
     
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