Wildlife -January 2010

[Ragged Robin]

The days were still and very hot (low 30s) and the air, even in the house, filled with wafts of lavender scent, a lovely time.

New Zealand's Provence 

Smells/Sounds wonderful...

around 800 cows and 300 young bulls there at present

Plenty of manure coming in handy as well I imagine 

[Lesley Cox]

Well my John is no gardener (nor Susan, nor any of my 5 grandchildren. ) so I don't think he's too concerned with the available manure. But there is a large garden there and I brought home cuttings from a grey willow, (one I think I introduced almost 30 years ago but had long since lost for whatever reason. I think it was left in a previous garden but I had sold a number of plants from my Timaru nursery) and a chunk of the variegated Astrantia 'Sunningdale' which I'd lost a couple of years ago though east coast drought.

I also brought home a dead hare, caught but abandoned by one of the cattle dogs. Cain and Teddy are enjoying it. It was very big - bigger (longer) than Teddy.

[Ragged Robin]

Well the smell of the earth will mean something: "home"  It's in the blood, even if they are unaware of it at the present. 

Hope your grey willow cuttings grow on well - they add such a lot to the landscape during the year.

Was it a jugged hare recipe you used for Cain & Teddy 

[Arykana]

yes I know, I locked  safety, even myself cannot open
but here:

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/etet.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/fenyke.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/lakoma.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/trsulat.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/vrsbegy.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/arykana/Winter%20Garden/vrske.jpg








hope not too much

[mark smyth]

Bramblings - very nice http://www.birdpix.nl/album_page.php?pic_id=171261 I have never seen one.

[Maggi Young]

We have very occasionally had a pair of Bramblings visit the garden..... can't say I remember ever having seen as many as Erika shows us.... I wonder if all the males were around there somewhere, too?

Very smart photos on tha twebsite, Mark, thanks.

[mark smyth]

Maggi it's a mixed flock at the food. The birds with darker heads are males. There is at least one female

[Arykana]

Bramblings seem very aggressive, usually not let any other bird to the feeder - we have enough in this winter, like clouds they come down from Poland and Ukraine

[Stephenb]

Do you have a picture showing the front of the bird too Stephen?  A sad end to such a beautiful bird but wonderful that your wife recognised the significance of the Red-breasted flycatcher  

Found a full-frontal picture of our Red-breasted flycatcher today (reported on in this thread a year ago) and took a digital shot of it along with a couple of others, one of my daughter who found the bird holding the deceased... (in her fitting Extinct is Forever T-shirt )