Wildlife summer 2012

[ashley]

Another wonderful photograph Olga.  Many thanks.

I saw a male orange tip on a dandelion today but it did not stay long enough for me to get my camera.  It was the first I've seen this year.

Roma, here too they're very late (and scarce) this year.  Nor have I seen any holly blues yet.

Anthony,  garbled media accounts at second hand are frustrating or worse.  If you haven't looked elsewhere already, this is a good starting point with links to the original reports.

[mark smyth]

Two of Irelands white-tailed eagles have been poisoned. A post mortum showed that had had been shot in the past and survived. It's disgusting what people can do to wildlife

[Rob Potterton]

One of our bird boxes got knocked onto the ground this afternoon, the kids found it with 7 baby Great Tits inside chirping away. Jackie got the brown parcel tape out and fixed it back up. The photo shows one of the parents returning to feed the chicks. :-)

[Anthony Darby]

A happy ending, but how did it get knocked down?

[Rob Potterton]

There were a couple of large black feathers on the ground beneath the box so we suspect one of the crows may have knocked it down.

[Anthony Darby]

My goodness. A close shave.

Last night I saw my first live possum. I was walking Heidi late last night and it fell out of a small oak tree in front of me and shot across a front garden and up and over a fence. Five minutes before I had walked past that tree, before turning back, so I wonder how I missed it. If I'd been looking up it would have been obvious as the branches and sparse leaf cover wouldn't have hidden it. These beasts are bigger than a cat!

[annew]

Plenty big enough for a pair of gloves then!

[Palustris]

Had a good wild life week so far this week. On Sunday I was walking down our lane and saw a hare in the distance. I stood still and it walked along the lane and to within 6 feet of me before it realised I was there. I ought to take the camera with me, but I would not have had time to get a picture of it as any movement on my part would have sent it running.
Then on the way home I was entertained by a weasel 'roller-coastering' across the road. Seen it before so it must live somewhere near there.
Last night we came back from an AGS lecture and there were three baby foxes playing on the road.
Now I am going to upset you all by remarking that I will have to tell the gamekeeper so he can dispose of them if he thinks necessary.
At present there are two buzzards just floating on the thermals above the garden and finally a Barn owl was hunting over the garden last night.

[ronm]

 

[fredg]

Now I am going to upset you all by remarking that I will have to tell the gamekeeper so he can dispose of them if he thinks necessary.

Shoot the Gamekeeper, keep the foxes 

Today's perambulation was around Pleasley Pit Wildlife Reserve.
The orchids will need a few weeks to get to flowering so here's a few more wildfowl pictures.

1& 2 Cayuga Duck - Anas platyrhynochos never seen this one before, it's a domesticated North American duck with a docile demeanor, very quiet ( someone is missing a pair ).

3 This Cob Swan was a big fellow indeed, very threatening hisses as he fed out of my hand ( the geese are often just as bad).

4 & 5 Canada goose goslings, five in the group at the main lake, the second gosling pictured was far bigger than the other four. ( I kept my eyes peeled for a Cookoo Swan).

6 Canada goose and gosling from a second group with four goslings on a lower pond

[Anthony Darby]

Plenty big enough for a pair of gloves then!

There's a shop in Napier that sells nothing but possum products. I think I would have ventured in, but the plethora of stuffed possums put me off. Reminded me of a certain book about cats.

Shoot the Gamekeeper, keep the foxes 

Yeh! Unfortunately some gamekeepers adopt the attitude "I'm not doing anything wrong if I don't get caught", so poisoning, pole traps and shooting of protected species goes on.

[Lesley Cox]

I remember back in 2000, a certain gentleman from the RBG Kew, who was travelling around the South Island with me, went into a shop at Tarras in Central Otago looking for something to take home. There were many possum products including a fabulous, big rug for several thousand dollars. But he came upon a full possum skin complete with head and tail and to the horror of everyone else in the shop, he clutched it to his throat as if it were attacking him, and proceeded to screech in apparent agony. Then he grinned and put it back on the shelf.

[Palustris]

Our local gamekeeper is very good. We have stood and chatted on many occasions and he has pointed out all sorts of wild life which there is around here. He was as thrilled as me when we saw a Peregrine falcon flying over. The buzzards are safe from him, as are the hares. The only things he does kill are the foxes as there are far too many here for them to survive without attacking 'domestic' animals and the rabbits which are suffering really badly at present from 'myxi'.
He and the large land owner regard him as a keeper of all animals not just the pheasants and partridges.

[Stephenb]

Newly emerged Orange Tip on Muscari botryoides - never managed to get this close before, usually a very nervous butterfly! Even allowed me to pick it up!

[ronm]

Beautiful,