Wildlife - Summer, Autumn 2008

[mark smyth]

could the lower right one be an albino bat?!

[Lesley Cox]

Anne are you sure someone HADN'T been depositing their gum for a couple of weeks?

[Anthony Darby]

Someone having a joke? A real fun guy perhaps?

[Gerdk]

Cranes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Like in 2007 (see Wildlife Autumn 2007, Oct 16th) I visited coastal Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for watching resting cranes. There is an information center at Groß Mohrdorf, which is situated nw of Stralsund. There are some places near the center where the birds were feeded in order to deflect them from fields with crops in the region.
Here the cranes can be watched easily. During the time of my visit 50.000 birds were counted but it was stated that there was a drop because of excessive disturbances by tourists.

1. an opportunity to take a close shot - a puppet showing the arrangement of different coloured rings for identification
2. the second opportunity 
3. + 4. migration route and observation point
5. - 10. cranes and landscape around

[ranunculus]

Beautiful images Gerd - many thanks for posting!

[mark smyth]

There is a reintroduction programme in the UK for these beautiful birds

[Lesley Cox]

A beautiful area Gerd, beautifully photographed. What magnificent birds!

The puppet bird should be introduced to the Travel Giraffe. Where is he, by the way?

[Paddy Tobin]

My mother told me that there used be cranes in Ireland around 1953. At least one visited the country in that year and deposit a beautiful baby under the cabbage plants at the bottom of our garden. Apparently, a race ensued between my mother and the lady next door but she tripped coming over the fence and my mother won the race and so I was raised as her son.

Obviously, they are birds of exquisite taste.

Paddy

[Gerdk]

Paddy,
So you are some kind of a flightless bird like some species in NZ?
Please ask your mother to tell you the true story of your origin!
Normally this is done when a child is about 6 years old. 

Gerd

[Anthony Darby]

My mother told me that there used be cranes in Ireland around 1953. At least one visited the country in that year and deposit a beautiful baby under the cabbage plants at the bottom of our garden. Apparently, a race ensued between my mother and the lady next door but she tripped coming over the fence and my mother won the race and so I was raised as her son.

Obviously, they are birds of exquisite taste.

Paddy

I think that same stork must have dropped me off on the way to you Paddy.

[ranunculus]

Ruddy typical ... trust me to get the cuckoo!!!    

[Maggi Young]

Just found some interesting  old papers relating to Stork exploitation in the fifties......seems that numbers were gravely depleted from stress of extra work involved in delivery of so many babies..........oops! That would be our fault, then    And here we are ,all these years later... all members of the SRGC and discussing stork numbers.... funny old world, ain't it? 

[Lesley Cox]

I was born two weeks late and my Dad's mates gave him a card with a picture of Dad scanning the skies and saying "Where's that damned stork?"

[Michael J Campbell]

Can anyone tell me why House Sparrows leave my garden in October and do not return until March? ( they did the same last year) I was using between 8 and 10 kilos of seed per week, when they up and left. Now I only use between 3 and 4 kilos of seed for the Blue tits and Chaffinches. Have they gone to eat wild flower seed, or is some of the Neighbours feeding them nicer food than me?.
I had about 50 visiting the garden every day.

Cheers

Michael

[mark smyth]

That is a good number considering their numbers are plummeting.

What usually happenes is they go in summer and come back now. They go to feed in grain fields. My guess is yours have moved to be closer to their winter roost which will be an ever green hedge or conifer plantation