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Post by thequietman on Apr 8, 2019 11:38:49 GMT
Thanks for the efforts Cheees & Murph. The cheeky bird has been indentified by our goddaughter who saw it calling this weekend - a humble, but still gloriously noble, blackbird. Had me foxed because I know they vary their calls massively and imitate other birds, alarms, even vehicles. Seems this one has a favourite, simple call that he returns to year after year.
William Henley:
The nightingale has a lyre of gold, The lark's is a clarion call, And the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute, But I love him best of all. For his song is all of the joy of life, And we in the mad, spring weather, We two have listened till he sang Our hearts and lips together.
As for getting the goddaughter adopted, she's now in mummy's very good books. Whilst stopping chez Q this weekend, she baked mummy a chocolate cake, so she's 100% forgiven for the windowlene massage. She also baked a large batch of shortbread and cookies. They didn't make it back to mummy's house though. Yum, yum :-)
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Post by Northy on Apr 8, 2019 14:15:56 GMT
I was out at 5.45 on Sunday morning for a run, as i walked through the village the dawn chorus was magical.
All these bird songs, my lad recently had an interview with the RSPB for a bird identification and monitoring job in mid Wales, he knows them all.
Out for a walk on Saturday he said 'that was a green woodpecker', you dont normally spot them as they tend to be on the green ground, also heard goldcrests, chiff chaffs, skylarks. Spotted a stock dove as well.
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Post by felonious on Apr 8, 2019 19:10:12 GMT
One swallow does not make a summer however two flew over me today when I was cutting the lawn.... they're back
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Post by Northy on Apr 9, 2019 15:40:07 GMT
One swallow does not make a summer however two flew over me today when I was cutting the lawn.... they're back European or African Most likely European as it's a long way from Africa. I see in North Norfolk there have been nets put over sandbanks on the coast lines, sand martins havent been able to get into their nets. Shell are involved with something on a gas terminal for £19m, after an outcry the council are taking them down. Utter twats these councils and big corporations and their contempt of nature, with this and the hedgerow and tree netting going on. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-47859604
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Post by felonious on Apr 9, 2019 17:34:40 GMT
One swallow does not make a summer however two flew over me today when I was cutting the lawn.... they're back European or African Most likely European as it's a long way from Africa. I see in North Norfolk there have been nets put over sandbanks on the coast lines, sand martins havent been able to get into their nets. Shell are involved with something on a gas terminal for £19m, after an outcry the council are taking them down. Utter twats these councils and big corporations and their contempt of nature, with this and the hedgerow and tree netting going on. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-47859604There's a protest going on at the moment against the netting I've just heard an article on Radio 4. The local wildlife society and the RSPCB asked the council not to do it and they chose to put the netting up one week before the birds came back causing distress to the birds and the bird lovers. Something to do with sea defences possibly covering the holes.
The thick buggers have used the wrong type of netting despite RSPCB advice.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Apr 9, 2019 17:45:10 GMT
I didn't realise there's a distinction. Always thought ours wintered in Africa. Is this not so. And yes the netting is awful and apparently being used extensively around 'proposed' developments etc.
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Post by Northy on Apr 10, 2019 11:41:28 GMT
I didn't realise there's a distinction. Always thought ours wintered in Africa. Is this not so. And yes the netting is awful and apparently being used extensively around 'proposed' developments etc.
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Post by thequietman on Apr 10, 2019 11:44:12 GMT
I didn't realise there's a distinction. Always thought ours wintered in Africa. Is this not so. And yes the netting is awful and apparently being used extensively around 'proposed' developments etc. I believe Nothy was employing his encycopaedic knowledge of Monty Python - the Holy Grail, wasn't it?
The netting is an abomination. Sand banks, hedges, even entire trees. A total disgrace.
Thought I'd try Murph's link/website out last night after switching off the Swansea debacle. Absolutely brilliant. There's me now forearmed with a raft of knowledge for when I go out for a ciggy at work, able to say to my colleagues "ooh there's a Mongolian Throstle, you can tell by the rasping buzzsaw ending in a four-note trill". So what happens today? I'm full of cold and can't hear a flipping thing.
Anyway, laden or unladen?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 11:47:36 GMT
The hedgehogs are back in our garden. I heard them trundling through the hedges and plants around 9.00 ish last night and I've seen the tell tale signs this morning - hedgehog droppings - on the edge of our lawn. There were four last year, and a couple of young ones as well. Sadly one of the babies wasn't well and we took it to the RSPCA but when we phoned and checked on it a few weeks later they said it had died about a week after we took it in to them. Hopefully no repeat this year.
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Post by Northy on Apr 10, 2019 11:55:52 GMT
I didn't realise there's a distinction. Always thought ours wintered in Africa. Is this not so. And yes the netting is awful and apparently being used extensively around 'proposed' developments etc. I believe Nothy was employing his encycopaedic knowledge of Monty Python - the Holy Grail, wasn't it? The netting is an abomination. Sand banks, hedges, even entire trees. A total disgrace. Thought I'd try Murph's link/website out last night after switching off the Swansea debacle. Absolutely brilliant. There's me now forearmed with a raft of knowledge for when I go out for a ciggy at work, able to say to my colleagues "ooh there's a Mongolian Throstle, you can tell by the rasping buzzsaw ending in a four-note trill". So what happens today? I'm full of cold and can't hear a flipping thing.
Anyway, laden or unladen?
pipped you to the Holy Grail with a post by 2 minutes.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Apr 10, 2019 15:07:43 GMT
I believe Nothy was employing his encycopaedic knowledge of Monty Python - the Holy Grail, wasn't it? The netting is an abomination. Sand banks, hedges, even entire trees. A total disgrace. Thought I'd try Murph's link/website out last night after switching off the Swansea debacle. Absolutely brilliant. There's me now forearmed with a raft of knowledge for when I go out for a ciggy at work, able to say to my colleagues "ooh there's a Mongolian Throstle, you can tell by the rasping buzzsaw ending in a four-note trill". So what happens today? I'm full of cold and can't hear a flipping thing.
Anyway, laden or unladen?
pipped you to the Holy Grail with a post by 2 minutes. Yes I'm currently sat with a dictionary looking up gullible. My excuse is it was before my time.
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Post by felonious on Apr 10, 2019 17:40:11 GMT
pipped you to the Holy Grail with a post by 2 minutes. Yes I'm currently sat with a dictionary looking up gullible. My excuse is it was before my time. I remember many years ago sitting in a restaurant in St Albans with a couple of friends and there teenage son. He said "Have you heard, they've taken the word gullible out of the Oxford dictionary"...... his mother responded "Why have they done that?"
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Post by felonious on Apr 10, 2019 17:43:22 GMT
I was driving out of Tittesworth last week just at the then kicking out time of 6:00 (Now 8:00 thankfully) when I slowed down to look at an interesting duck which looked like a Mandarin duck. I got a few glimpses before it disappeared into the undergrowth and I thought no it can't be it must be some other beautifully coloured specimen. Turns out there was a sighting last week. Fabulous looking creature there can't be a more exotic looking bird in the UK ( of the feathered variety) Well well I was over at Rudyard late afternoon and walking across the bridge at the bottom end of the reservoir the were two Manadarin ducks, male and female in the stream. Two sightings in a week
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 10, 2019 23:05:03 GMT
I was driving out of Tittesworth last week just at the then kicking out time of 6:00 (Now 8:00 thankfully) when I slowed down to look at an interesting duck which looked like a Mandarin duck. I got a few glimpses before it disappeared into the undergrowth and I thought no it can't be it must be some other beautifully coloured specimen. Turns out there was a sighting last week. Fabulous looking creature there can't be a more exotic looking bird in the UK ( of the feathered variety) Well well I was over at Rudyard late afternoon and walking across the bridge at the bottom end of the reservoir the were two Manadarin ducks, male and female in the stream. Two sightings in a week Oh! So you got the five - I mean three - questions right, then, Fel? Good boy!
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 10, 2019 23:08:40 GMT
pipped you to the Holy Grail with a post by 2 minutes. Yes I'm currently sat with a dictionary looking up gullible.
My excuse is it was before my time. Cheesey, you should've said 'Come back and I'll bite yer legs off…………"
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Post by Northy on Apr 11, 2019 7:37:49 GMT
I was driving out of Tittesworth last week just at the then kicking out time of 6:00 (Now 8:00 thankfully) when I slowed down to look at an interesting duck which looked like a Mandarin duck. I got a few glimpses before it disappeared into the undergrowth and I thought no it can't be it must be some other beautifully coloured specimen. Turns out there was a sighting last week. Fabulous looking creature there can't be a more exotic looking bird in the UK ( of the feathered variety) Well well I was over at Rudyard late afternoon and walking across the bridge at the bottom end of the reservoir the were two Manadarin ducks, male and female in the stream. Two sightings in a week streams are a common sight still
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Post by Northy on Apr 11, 2019 7:39:23 GMT
Yes I'm currently sat with a dictionary looking up gullible. My excuse is it was before my time. I remember many years ago sitting in a restaurant in St Albans with a couple of friends and there teenage son. He said "Have you heard, they've taken the word gullible out of the Oxford dictionary"...... his mother responded "Why have they done that?" Did they take out the word 'their' as well not as I can say much on spelling issues
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Post by thequietman on Apr 12, 2019 11:46:10 GMT
Watched two sparrows this morning mobbing a pigeon on the ground underneath a bird feeder. Couldn't figure out why, normally the pigeon sits underneath gathering up the fallen scraps whilst the small birds perch & peck. Usually no bother between them, the pigeon can't get at the feeder, no easy perch for it.
Then after a couple of minutes the pigeon buggered off and the sparrows collected all the down feathers for their nest. Clever little devils. Later, maybe the same two sparrows having a tug of war with a long piece of grass, both flew off together with it holding an end each. And flew either side of a washing line prop. Whizz round & round, splat. I shouldn't laugh but it was funny.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Apr 14, 2019 8:04:39 GMT
I was driving out of Tittesworth last week just at the then kicking out time of 6:00 (Now 8:00 thankfully) when I slowed down to look at an interesting duck which looked like a Mandarin duck. I got a few glimpses before it disappeared into the undergrowth and I thought no it can't be it must be some other beautifully coloured specimen. Turns out there was a sighting last week. Fabulous looking creature there can't be a more exotic looking bird in the UK ( of the feathered variety) Well well I was over at Rudyard late afternoon and walking across the bridge at the bottom end of the reservoir the were two Manadarin ducks, male and female in the stream. Two sightings in a week Open day at the rather marvellous Podmore Gardens at Consall today {until 5 I think}. Worth a trip, one of my mates built all the fancy stone towers and such around the lake.
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 14, 2019 8:39:36 GMT
Watched two sparrows this morning mobbing a pigeon on the ground underneath a bird feeder. Couldn't figure out why, normally the pigeon sits underneath gathering up the fallen scraps whilst the small birds perch & peck. Usually no bother between them, the pigeon can't get at the feeder, no easy perch for it. Then after a couple of minutes the pigeon buggered off and the sparrows collected all the down feathers for their nest. Clever little devils. Later, maybe the same two sparrows having a tug of war with a long piece of grass, both flew off together with it holding an end each. And flew either side of a washing line prop. Whizz round & round, splat. I shouldn't laugh but it was funny.
In very early spring you can collect fluff from the filter of a tumble drier & put it in hang-up peanut-feeders or fatball holder/hangers & hang them in the same area as the actual feeder hangers. You can also put short lengths of wool in fatball holder/hangers &/or in empty coconut halves (somehow protected to keep the wool dry) and when the birds come to feed they'll see it and if they want some for nest-building they can take it. If you have swifts/house martins you're also supposed to leave dishes (plastic garden saucers) of mud out for them when they're nest-building. It's all GO, innit.......
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Post by potterinleeds on Apr 14, 2019 9:40:52 GMT
Did a lovely short walk south of Alton on Friday. Down past the Chained Oak, quick breakfast at Rambler's Retreat, then up to Earl's Rock / Painter's Rock, Gallows Green and then across fields to Croxden Abbey, supposedly English Heritage's least visited site in England. Green all around, bird song, a second flush of whitethorn blossom it seems to me. Stood looking over a field gate and felt that all else had stopped, as if that moment was eternal. Skirted Hollington and then back across fields via Bradley in the Moors to Alton. Only about 7.5 miles in all, but felt as if I had fallen out of daily life altogether.
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 14, 2019 11:06:44 GMT
Guess what, peeps - Wild Garlic time has come round again……… ( and I've still never had any ) Anyway, this looks like a really nice recipe - I found it on-line yesterday & thought I'd post it on here b/c I know we've got a lot of Wild Garlic fans - see how I think of you! I absolutely love making soup - you can get so many fantastic vegetables into it. I did a lentil & vegetable soup about 4 days ago (incl extra for the freezer) and can't keep out of it. I think I'll have a go at this one, but I'll have to do the substt thing with the spinach and garlic bulbs instead of the wild garlic. Here you are: Wild Garlic & Potato Soup with Garlic Butter Croutons www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/wild-garlic-and-potato-soup-with-garlic-butter-croutons/
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Post by felonious on Apr 14, 2019 12:28:04 GMT
Watched two sparrows this morning mobbing a pigeon on the ground underneath a bird feeder. Couldn't figure out why, normally the pigeon sits underneath gathering up the fallen scraps whilst the small birds perch & peck. Usually no bother between them, the pigeon can't get at the feeder, no easy perch for it. Then after a couple of minutes the pigeon buggered off and the sparrows collected all the down feathers for their nest. Clever little devils. Later, maybe the same two sparrows having a tug of war with a long piece of grass, both flew off together with it holding an end each. And flew either side of a washing line prop. Whizz round & round, splat. I shouldn't laugh but it was funny.
In very early spring you can collect fluff from your belly button & put it in hang-up peanut-feeders or fatball holder/hangers & hang them in the same area as the actual feeder hangers. You can also put short lengths of wool in fatball holder/hangers &/or in empty coconut halves (somehow protected to keep the wool dry) and when the birds come to feed they'll see it and if they want some for nest-building they can take it. If you have swifts/house martins you're also supposed to leave dishes (plastic garden saucers) of mud out for them when they're nest-building. It's all GO, innit....... What a top bird you are Murph
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 14, 2019 12:41:23 GMT
In very early spring you can collect fluff from the filter of a tumble drier & put it in hang-up peanut-feeders or fatball holder/hangers & hang them in the same area as the actual feeder hangers. You can also put short lengths of wool in fatball holder/hangers &/or in empty coconut halves (somehow protected to keep the wool dry) and when the birds come to feed they'll see it and if they want some for nest-building they can take it. If you have swifts/house martins you're also supposed to leave dishes (plastic garden saucers) of mud out for them when they're nest-building. It's all GO, innit....... What a top bird you are Murph You're not wrong there, dude. Now just get 'em in, will yer? Large G&T, two lemon slices + a TON of ice. Ta ever so. (Some of us are parched waitin'......)
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Apr 14, 2019 12:44:49 GMT
In very early spring you can collect fluff from the filter of a tumble drier & put it in hang-up peanut-feeders or fatball holder/hangers & hang them in the same area as the actual feeder hangers. You can also put short lengths of wool in fatball holder/hangers &/or in empty coconut halves (somehow protected to keep the wool dry) and when the birds come to feed they'll see it and if they want some for nest-building they can take it. If you have swifts/house martins you're also supposed to leave dishes (plastic garden saucers) of mud out for them when they're nest-building. It's all GO, innit....... What a top bird you are Murph I'm not convinced about the wisdom of introducing Lenor* fluff into the beds of young chicks.tbh. mmmmmm. {*Other chemicals are available.}
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 14, 2019 12:52:12 GMT
What a top bird you are Murph I'm not convinced about the wisdom of introducing Lenor* fluff into the beds of young chicks.tbh. mmmmmm. {*Other chemicals are available.} I totally agree. I don't use it.
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Post by felonious on Apr 14, 2019 12:52:18 GMT
What a top bird you are Murph I'm not convinced about the wisdom of introducing Lenor* fluff into the beds of young chicks.tbh. mmmmmm. {*Other chemicals are available.} I've just done a sly edit on the original post for you
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Apr 14, 2019 13:18:37 GMT
Guess what, peeps - Wild Garlic time has come round again……… ( and I've still never had any ) Anyway, this looks like a really nice recipe - I found it on-line yesterday & thought I'd post it on here b/c I know we've got a lot of Wild Garlic fans - see how I think of you! I absolutely love making soup - you can get so many fantastic vegetables into it. I did a lentil & vegetable soup about 4 days ago (incl extra for the freezer) and can't keep out of it. I think I'll have a go at this one, but I'll have to do the substt thing with the spinach and garlic bulbs instead of the wild garlic. Here you are: Wild Garlic & Potato Soup with Garlic Butter Croutons www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/wild-garlic-and-potato-soup-with-garlic-butter-croutons/I suppose I could post you some Murph but it soon wilts. Get out and about and use your nose. Looks like a Lily of the Valley leaf at this stage, bright green. I've planted a few Three Cornered Leeks about the place that came from the Scillies as bulbs. They've started to flower, and are good as something different.
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Post by felonious on Apr 14, 2019 13:27:32 GMT
Guess what, peeps - Wild Garlic time has come round again……… ( and I've still never had any ) Anyway, this looks like a really nice recipe - I found it on-line yesterday & thought I'd post it on here b/c I know we've got a lot of Wild Garlic fans - see how I think of you! I absolutely love making soup - you can get so many fantastic vegetables into it. I did a lentil & vegetable soup about 4 days ago (incl extra for the freezer) and can't keep out of it. I think I'll have a go at this one, but I'll have to do the substt thing with the spinach and garlic bulbs instead of the wild garlic. Here you are: Wild Garlic & Potato Soup with Garlic Butter Croutons www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/wild-garlic-and-potato-soup-with-garlic-butter-croutons/I suppose I could post you some Murph but it soon wilts. Get out and about and use your nose. Looks like a Lily of the Valley leaf at this stage, bright green. I've planted a few Three Cornered Leeks about the place that came from the Scillies as bulbs. They've started to flower, and are good as something different. Nice white flowers, not to be confused with poison ivy
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Post by murphthesurf on Apr 14, 2019 16:37:37 GMT
I suppose I could post you some Murph but it soon wilts. Get out and about and use your nose. Looks like a Lily of the Valley leaf at this stage, bright green.I've planted a few Three Cornered Leeks about the place that came from the Scillies as bulbs. They've started to flower, and are good as something different. Yeah..... NB: One subtle difference....... Lily of the Valley is poisonous. THANKS PAL. You can GO RIGHT OFF people, y'know.........
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