Wildlife March 2011

[mark smyth]

A swift has been seen in Wales

[scatigaz]

Wow thats early.

[Anthony Darby]

Must have got there fast!

[mark smyth]

definitely early. So far the species is unknown. Alpine swifts sometimes over shoot but with it's white belly it would be easily identified

[scatigaz]

But Pallid Swifts can be more tricky to identify.

[mark smyth]

I agree.

Waiting for swifts to return from migration is the same as waiting for a baby to be born. Both take 9 months.

[RichardW]

Bramblings under my feeders this morning

[alpinelover]

Triturus alpestris in the early morning.

[mark smyth]

is that a newt?

Today 100s of swifts were on the move from Africa in to southern Spain

[daveyp1970]

Triturus alpestris in the early morning.

lovely alpine newt,i have never seen this newt in the wild.

[Anthony Darby]

Triturus alpestris in the early morning.

lovely alpine newt,i have never seen this newt in the wild.

There are colonies in the UK where it does rather well.

[alpinelover]

is that a newt?

Today 100s of swifts were on the move from Africa in to southern Spain

Yes Mark, it's an newt.

[emma T]

We are currently haveing to walk the lawns and move any Oil beetles, as we just found out they are becoming rare     . I wouldnt run  over any of them by choice anyway     .


So we are just making sure we dont squish them    They are quite big and easy to spot. i will post a pic later.

[Maggi Young]

BBC link to Oil Beetle article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9434000/9434963.stm

[mark smyth]

I've never seen one