Wildlife August 2011

[Anthony Darby]

The first bee looks like a small bumble bee, similar to those in the UK and could be Bombus impatiens; the second looks quite different. Perhaps Bombus pennsylvanicus?

[Lesley Cox]

Not yet David, I'll get to it after my weekly contribution to the market newsletter which I'll start in a minute.

I agree girls can do anything but having said that, when we have anything wild, like wild pork, duck, goose, rabbit etc, it is Roger who cooks it and usually he makes a pretty good job of it.

[Lesley Cox]

I liked the coat Dave, very fetching

Was that a coat? I thought he was cross dressing and had taken to dresses, though they're usually more colourful than that little number.

[mark smyth]

On Saturday I had an adult female swallow in my hand for the first time. It was dead beneath it's nest. Swallows are actually quite small

[angie]

Oh Mark that's so sad. Any idea how it died.
Mine stayed around this year. I am so happy. I count them just to make sure they are all still with me. At the weekend I was sitting at my pond watching them scoop over the pond a lovely sight.
I shouldn't say they are mine just because they nest at my house 

There was something on the news about this girl having to move out of her flat in Aberdeen as she had her loft full of bats. They say that they couldn't go into the loft but there were around 500 flying about in the evening. I don't know how they managed to count all those bats as I find it hard to count my seven swallows. Never got the full story, will have to watch the evening news tonight.

Angie

[Maggi Young]

I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat. It's a top floor, dormered flat..... girl got her self worked up by finding a bat in her bathroom. She said she wrapped herself in a towle after a shower and then felt something moving.... looked in the mirror andthere wasa wee bat looking outfrom the towel!
She's horrified, moved back to her parents' house, complains that bats are treated more favourably than people.
I can't help feeling that as she is still able to ensure any holes into the actual rooms of her flat are closed off so the bats should no longer be able to get into the rooms (though, of course, the entrance/exit holes to the roof space must not be interfered with) that she hasn't got a lot to complain about.  

Witters on about  thinking she'll never feel secure in the place again.... not much maintainance work done on it to be "secure" in the first place if there are holes from roof space into rooms!
I've no sympathy with her, can you tell?

[daveyp1970]

Magpie Moth

[mark smyth]

Angie I think she came in too late and misjudged the nest and hit the beam

How to count bats? 1----2,3--4,5,6------7-8-----9,10,11,12, ....

The bats are unlikely to be in the attic so someone should go in a seal the gap behind the beam tht sits beside the gable wall - simples

[David Lyttle]

Not yet David, I'll get to it after my weekly contribution to the market newsletter which I'll start in a minute.

I agree girls can do anything but having said that, when we have anything wild, like wild pork, duck, goose, rabbit etc, it is Roger who cooks it and usually he makes a pretty good job of it.

I did not mean just cooking it Lesley as I am sure Roger is pretty capable. http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/172477/swine-times-women-pig-hunt

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for the link David. Go Girls! But their pigs are small compared with the Newfoundland dog which clobbered Roger a couple of weeks ago. Not attacked him, just greeted him, as someone it knew from dog walks. He (Murphy) weighed, we were told, 89kg. He looked it too. Roger is not yet fully recovered and has compression fractures in his spine as well as major bruising and some slight kidney damage. The doc at A and E was an Irishman also called Murphy so I had a little fun at his expense but Roger wasn't in a state to appreciate it. Laughing hurt badly.

[jandals]

I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat. 

Maggi , I was going to send you Roy Cropper's email address , but I appear to have misplaced it

Bats are cool . They are the only native mammals in New Zealand . So our only mammals can fly and most of our birds can't . That's Antipodea for you .
When we lived in Fiordland I become involved with the bat research team , doing menial tasks for them . Helping to put up live capture nets and lying on my back 
underneath large , dead , red beech trees ( Nothofagus fusca ) counting the bats leaving the roost just on dark . I counted them exactly the same way as Mark Smyth does .
We even had them staying for short stays in our house and it was nice to have them in my hand before weighing . They only weighed a few grams and were just small mice with wings . Haven't scanned the photos yet

[Paul T]

Jandals,

And aren't some of your bats in the process of reverse-evolving back to ground based mammals?  I know that one wildlife documentary showed that they now spend far more time on the ground than on the wing, wandering around amongst the leaf litter hunting.  Fascinating to see the flying returning to land-based, even if still some generations off. 

[mark smyth]

Paul both NZ species of bats forage on the ground because, I think, due to the lack of predators but these days cats are a major threat
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/NZBirdsAnimals/Bats/

These days I count this way. click--click click ------click click click -click using a tally counter

I was out last night checking a building for bats before the roof comes off. The have a £multimillion grant to fix a 1600s stable yard and pleasure gardens. They are trashing the place for wildlife. In July I checked and there were no bats and now a large roost has moved in. The borough council, builders etc will not be happy. I had a meeting with the top man a couple of months ago. He isnt in to wildlife and sees them as a hindrance

[Anthony Darby]

Hey mister tally man, tally me a bat. Nah, doesn't work.

[angie]

I saw a bit on the TV news at lunchtime about the bats in the Aberdeen flat. It's a top floor, dormered flat..... girl got her self worked up by finding a bat in her bathroom. She said she wrapped herself in a towle after a shower and then felt something moving.... looked in the mirror andthere wasa wee bat looking outfrom the towel!
She's horrified, moved back to her parents' house, complains that bats are treated more favourably than people.
I can't help feeling that as she is still able to ensure any holes into the actual rooms of her flat are closed off so the bats should no longer be able to get into the rooms (though, of course, the entrance/exit holes to the roof space must not be interfered with) that she hasn't got a lot to complain about.  

Witters on about  thinking she'll never feel secure in the place again.... not much maintainance work done on it to be "secure" in the first place if there are holes from roof space into rooms!
I've no sympathy with her, can you tell?

Maggi I heard the full story. I am with you, can't she just block up the holes, she could just put up mesh on the vents temporary. As for saying she can't see the flat being the same, god it was only a bat. Think of all the people that have been woken up by a robber in their home. It's only a wee bat.

Angie