Wildlife - Summer, Autumn 2008

[Maggi Young]

Think you chaps will find the unhappy Cardinal's name was WOLSEY 

[David Nicholson]

Enjoy your casserole David. Red wine is a good addition.

It was very good Lesley. I got two bottles of Red out, one a Tesco cheapy to go in the casserole and one good one to go with the meal. Of course I didn't supervise the culinary process and the good one went in the casserole by mistake. Still, we enjoyed it, and the heron did too! Feel quite mellow really.  

[Anthony Darby]

Think you chaps will find the unhappy Cardinal's name was WOLSEY 

Oops. That must have been after Henry VIII had someone chop bits off him Maggi?

[David Nicholson]

Think you chaps will find the unhappy Cardinal's name was WOLSEY 

Oops. That must have been after Henry VIII had someone chop bits off him Maggi?

I think you are mixing up your Thomases Anthony. Wolsey died at Leicester Abbey in November 1530 whilst on his way from Cawood in Yorkshire to the Tower of London to answer a charge of high treason. As far as I'm aware he had the full quota of limbs. Now Thomas a Beckett.............!!

[TC]

I came across this juvenile Gannet sitting on the beach, obviously fed up with the gales and rain we have been experiencing today.  You can still seee the vestiges of the down on its head.  If it can get back out to sea, it has a good chance of surviving.  If not..............

[Maggi Young]

Tom do you think the young gannet may be blind? His eye looks very cloudy...it may just be the third eyelid ( I think birds have those?? ) but it looks strangely opaque

[Anthony Darby]

Think you chaps will find the unhappy Cardinal's name was WOLSEY 

Oops. That must have been after Henry VIII had someone chop bits off him Maggi?

I think you are mixing up your Thomases Anthony. Wolsey died at Leicester Abbey in November 1530 whilst on his way from Cawood in Yorkshire to the Tower of London to answer a charge of high treason. As far as I'm aware he had the full quota of limbs. Now Thomas a Beckett.............!!

Ah yes - who will rid me of this meddlesome priest? - Henry II Not doing very well am I?

[TC]

I thought this myself but they do have a nictating membrane to protect them from salt water.  It was aware of my presence but it was pointing into a gale so maybe it was just protecting its eyes.  The Gannet colony at Ailsa Craig is only about 15 miles from where I took this picture today.  This is the third young Gannet I have seen inshore in the past week.
The parent birds abandon them in the nest and starvation forces the young birds to jump into the sea.  At this stage they are too heavy to fly so they must survive on their fat reserves until they can get airborne and then start fishing.  It is a finely judged affair.  If we get rough seas and gales then the young birds get weakened and blown ashore where they can die of starvation.  Nature is a hard task master.
Here is a close up shot of the bird's head.  If it was a human, you would say it had cataracts.

[fermi de Sousa]

It was very good Lesley. I got two bottles of Red out, one a Tesco cheapy to go in the casserole and one good one to go with the meal. Of course I didn't supervise the culinary process and the good one went in the casserole by mistake. Still, we enjoyed it, and the heron did too! Feel quite mellow really.  

David,
never cook with a wine you wouldn't be bothered drinking!
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

Fermi, my problem is I rarely find a wine that is not worth drinking!

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Some pictures taken this afternoon.  The Maned Ducks are what produced those lovely little ducklings I posted a pic of a week or so ago (Sorry Mark, just realised I never did end up posting a pic of the parent as I have promised.  I have a good closeup shot if you're still interested?).  Despite the fact that at least one kept hiding, there were 9 ducklings in this family.   

These black swans with 5 cygnets were beside the road as we left a nursery late today.  Dreadful light, otherwise they could have been really stunning pictures.  Despite being "wild" they were so used to people that I actually hand fed one of them at one point.  Even the cygnets were in arms reach of me.  Then again, at Floriade the other day people were hand feeding a pair of swans and cygnets.  Got some good pictures then too.  Don't want to bore you with more swan and cygnet pics though, as I figure this is enough. 

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

A picture taken the other day in the Tasmanian section of the Australian National Botanic Gardens (on the rocks around the bottom pond).  There are quite a few Eastern Water Dragons sunning themselves in this picture, in fact there are at least 26.  I've made this a bit larger than usual, so you have a better chance of seeing them.  Some are 3/4 hidden behind others, but I always try to count heads to work out what is where.  Sometimes the heads are hidden and you can only see the tail etc, but generally the heads are the easiest way to find them.

[Armin]

Paul,
a interesting lot of Eastern Water Dragons.
What do they usually eat? 

[Paul T]

Predominantly insects as far as I know, although I would imagine that would extend to some of the water life.  Unsure whether they go for frogs or not.  Nothing particularly large as far as I know.  Given how many Eastern Banjo Frogs (common name is "Pobblebonks") there are in the area they don't go after the larger frogs at the very least.  We've lost no small children either. 

[Armin]

Thanks, Paul.
Cute Dragons