wildlife

[Lesley Cox]

Flitting tits. Surely a pleasant little spoonerism in there.

[jomowi]

Hi Maureen,

According to this key it looks to be hawthorn shieldbug. Presumably your shed is a really good place to hibernate, hawthorn or no hawthorn!

Tristan

Thanks, Tristan.  Much the same conclusion I came to from trawling the web, but good to have someone to confirm it. Maureen

[angie]

Who is the culprit? Today’s snow left me a few clues. For the past year someone has been having fun in my polytunnel and greenhouse . Could this be who it is, any idea ?

Angie 

[ArnoldT]

Angie:

Not cat or dog.

Looks to be close to a badger.

google badger prints in the snow and have a look.

[angie]

Arnold I think you are right. It has five wee toes so that could be what it is. There is a Forrest bounding my property and it’s full of badger sets. I am thinking of buying a camera that I could use in my polytunnel and the outdoor area so if anyone can give me advice on what I could buy that would be a help. I have looked up the internet but there is so much on the market. Someone said you can get the images on your phone, that would be good.
All paw prints gone now that the snow has melted.

Angie 

[François Lambert]

I often hear the long-eared owl during the evening twilight when I'm still working outside until the end of the day.

Here's one taking his day-rest in the garden.  When they look long & thin like on the pic it's because they are a bit stressed by a photographer 30 meter away ...

[Tristan_He]

That's beautiful Francois. We had them nesting in the forestry plantation near us a few years ago - I first noticed the chicks making their plaintive 'squeaky gate' calls. Later we caught glimpses of adults and fledged birds on our roof! That bit of foresty has been felled now so the owls have gone elsewhere - I look out for nightjars instead. I expect the long-eared owls will be back in a decade or two when the trees are mature again...

[ian mcdonald]

Two juvenile long eared owls. A nightjar camouflage and nightjar eggs in a scrape.







edit by maggi to rotate images.

[Steve Garvie]

Long-eared Owls are shy, secretive and often go under the radar. In my area we have a very high density of Tawny Owls which are more aggressive and usually out-compete L.E Owls so I never expected to see any in my area.

 A few hundred metres from my home there is old mining wasteland which has re-vegetated and now has extensive meadows and a few small trees. Last Summer I was very surprised to find some L.E. Owl chicks on one of the footpaths there. They had bailed out of the nest (an auld craw nest) and over a fence onto the public footpath so I moved them to a safer site near the nest tree.





At last I have found a use for those old leather gardening gloves.

[ashley]

Great photos Steve

[Tristan_He]

Those are stunning photos Steve (and Ian). I love the expression on that owl chick's face - like Lady Bracknell! ('A handbaaag?')

[ian mcdonald]

I have the base of a plastic barrel in the garden as a bird bath. It is well used for bathing by the birds and as a drinking water supply by mice. I,ve noticed that a frog has also used it for laying spawn. The water is about 2" deep.

[Roma]

This morning my brother saw a roe deer sitting on the path at the side of the house when he delivered my newspaper.  He said it got up slowly and walked off towards the wood.  About 4 pm I was having a walk round the garden when I spotted him sitting on Anemone nemorosa 'Kentish Pink'.  He has diarrhoea and was looking unwell.  I got fairly close and he didn't get up.  I phoned the SSPCA but they couldn't get here till after 7.30 by which time the deer had got up eaten shoots off Clematis x durandii, most of the lower flowers on the Chaenomeles and more Anemones, lain down again among the Azaleas, and got up again.  He was standing among the Azaleas when they got here but ran off when approached.  He is obviously sick but not sick enough to be caught.  Hope he stops eating my flowers.



 

[ian mcdonald]

Roma, perhaps the plants he ate did not agree with him?

[Roma]

Update on the deer.  I spotted him sitting on a flowerbed outside my front door about 7 pm last night and gently persuaded him to return to the wood.  He must have wandered on to the road during the night and has been killed by a car.  A VW.  I picked up the badge with deer hair still on it.  I'm sad for him but glad he'll no longer be eating my plants.  But I expect some of his friends will still visit the garden and there's always the rabbits.