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Post by cheeesfreeex on Jul 19, 2016 19:38:24 GMT
I've just been treated to a couple on minutes watching a woodpecker on one of the bird feeders through an open window. Fighting off the starlings and all comers Great spot of a Greater Spotted? More green un's cackling around here. Talking of Hoopoes (still not seen an actual real life one), but a mate was giving me a tale about seeing a Golden Oriole, towpath towards Stone. No photos but that would have garnered some points. No wonder the Wren was feisty, had another fledge today. Saw a really smartly plumaged buzzard earlier, nearly black with cream under t'wings. Like flying cats, mint.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Jul 20, 2016 1:12:06 GMT
Fremsley.
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Post by Northy on Jul 20, 2016 9:48:36 GMT
Was in Shakespeares birthplace a couple of weeks ago, a bee swarm landed on a tree in the gardens, stood watching it whilst staff taped off the area and called a beekeeper, who said it's his 'fourth swarming of the day he was coming to'
Spent a couple of days in Stratford then went onto Richmond upon Thames, had to go to Hampton Court flower show with the Mrs, all vey middle England, thankfully I'm working away as Tatton flower show is on this week.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 20, 2016 18:59:29 GMT
One of the benefits of working for the railway in Wales was the valley it ran through. Local birdlife was mainly red kites, buzzards, cuckoo, woodpeckers, bats, owls plus all the usual smaller species. Plentiful food for them all mainly from the sheep carcasses left to decay on the hillside. The robins were paticularly friendly eating crumbs from your palm. Do miss it now and then.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 29, 2016 18:21:45 GMT
What's going on. On my travels today and the conkers are falling off the trees already. Leaves turning brown and it's only the end of july. Remember as a kid throwing sticks and stuff to get them down usually around late October. The seasons are all up the swanny.
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Post by felonious on Jul 29, 2016 18:36:07 GMT
What's going on. On my travels today and the conkers are falling off the trees already. Leaves turning brown and it's only the end of july. Remember as a kid throwing sticks and stuff to get them down usually around late October. The seasons are all up the swanny. You sure it's not the excess? Same here with the apples and walnuts but it's the same every year at about this time.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Jul 29, 2016 18:43:23 GMT
There is a conker canker about. The weather ain't helping though.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Jul 29, 2016 20:11:19 GMT
There is a conker canker about. The weather ain't helping though. Thanks. Just seemed a bit early that was all.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Jul 29, 2016 20:22:15 GMT
There is a conker canker about. The weather ain't helping though. Thanks. Just seemed a bit early that was all. "Horse chestnut tree disease: Conquering conker canker Scientists have decoded the genome of a bacterium that is threatening the UK's historic landscape. Analysis of the genome has provided the first clues to the evolutionary origin of the disease and to its ability to spread so fast. It will allow scientists to determine which genes might be necessary for infection of a tree host so they can be targeted to control the disease." Got a few tree surgeon mates, they've been talking about this, and some kind of leaf blotch, which apparently isn't terminal to the tree. Saw leaves going golden/blotchy in may. Ash trees ofyen drop a limb during droughts. Not this year.
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Post by felonious on Aug 1, 2016 19:07:52 GMT
The farmer has put cattle in the field out front with the most magnificent bull you've ever seen. He keeps having to have a lie down.
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Post by chuffedstokie on Aug 1, 2016 19:37:33 GMT
The farmer has put cattle in the field out front with the most magnificent bull you've ever seen. He keeps having to have a lie down. The farmer or the bull. 😀
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 7, 2016 12:24:39 GMT
Rescued a wren from the jaws of the cat. Initially a bit shocked but flew off seemingly unarmed.
In discussions with Staffs Wildlife Trust about an unidentified wild bee/marsh orchid hybrid I've found. Harbouring a feint hope that I'll get the naming rights!! Most likely end up being a garden escapee.
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Post by felonious on Aug 7, 2016 16:49:19 GMT
Rescued a wren from the jaws of the cat. Initially a bit shocked but flew off seemingly unarmed. In discussions with Staffs Wildlife Trust about an unidentified wild bee/marsh orchid hybrid I've found. Harbouring a feint hope that I'll get the naming rights!! Most likely end up being a garden escapee. We've had a similar day then....I've rescued a young swallow from the kitchen this morning
Perhaps you can help on the wild bee front as well. I was filling the mower with petrol and noticed what looked like a very large bee on the flowers. It was hovering like a hummingbird and had a long proboscis. Looks like a bee fly but on looking them up this thing was larger I'm sure.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 7, 2016 17:01:35 GMT
Rescued a wren from the jaws of the cat. Initially a bit shocked but flew off seemingly unarmed. In discussions with Staffs Wildlife Trust about an unidentified wild bee/marsh orchid hybrid I've found. Harbouring a feint hope that I'll get the naming rights!! Most likely end up being a garden escapee. We've had a similar day then....I've rescued a young swallow from the kitchen this morning
Perhaps you can help on the wild bee front as well. I was filling the mower with petrol and noticed what looked like a very large bee on the flowers. It was hovering like a hummingbird and had a long proboscis. Looks like a bee fly but on looking them up this thing was larger I'm sure.
Lucky man, it's one of the hummingbird hawk moths mate. Brill thing and quite confounding. Is it a bird, etc.... Nice.
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Post by felonious on Aug 7, 2016 18:47:57 GMT
We've had a similar day then....I've rescued a young swallow from the kitchen this morning
Perhaps you can help on the wild bee front as well. I was filling the mower with petrol and noticed what looked like a very large bee on the flowers. It was hovering like a hummingbird and had a long proboscis. Looks like a bee fly but on looking them up this thing was larger I'm sure.
Lucky man, it's one of the hummingbird hawk moths mate. Brill thing and quite confounding. Is it a bird, etc.... Nice. Thanks for that I caught sight of it on the Red Valerian which grows like a weed around the garden. Beautiful thing, it even let me get my reading glasses out to have a closer look
Here's the RSPB info on this creature.
www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/funfactsandarticles/watchingbirds/identify/hummingbirdhawkmoth/
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 17, 2016 18:39:53 GMT
Tonight is ideal for Moth Soup feloniuos. If you're into that kind of thing.
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Post by felonious on Aug 18, 2016 12:11:57 GMT
Tonight is ideal for Moth Soup feloniuos. If you're into that kind of thing. Well I've heard of Goat's head soup but not moth soup. There was a programme on ITV last night on wild spaces in the UK which featured a very impressive overgrown cemetery in central London which had hundreds of different varieties of moths.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 18, 2016 15:04:16 GMT
Tonight is ideal for Moth Soup feloniuos. If you're into that kind of thing. Well I've heard of Goat's head soup but not moth soup. There was a programme on ITV last night on wild spaces in the UK which featured a very impressive overgrown cemetery in central London which had hundreds of different varieties of moths. Paint a post (or tree) with a mixture of sugary water, an old banana and a bit of booze at dusk. That's yer moth soup. Put a tea light/torch on top and watch what happens. The amount and variety of moths it attracts is impressive. Great week this week, perhaps the highlight of which was a pair of Ospreys flying over me garden, presumably on route to Tittesworth or Rudyard. Not the first time I've seen an Osprey, but first time in S-o-T. No doubts about the i.d.
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Post by potterinleeds on Aug 18, 2016 15:43:16 GMT
It's the age of ragwort, rosebay willow herb and thistledown on the rough grazing up here in West Yorkshire at the moment. Had some lovely moments recently running back down off the hills in the evening, with a breeze sending thistledown across the landscape through the light of the setting sun. Counted over 60 bumble bees on the lavender border to our front garden early on this morning, of several different types.
You were a jammy bastard Felonious seeing that hummingbird hawk moth - I've only ever seen them in France. My understanding is that they are summer migrants here, or do they breed down South?
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 18, 2016 17:12:31 GMT
Nice imagery Leeds. Not an expert on the Hummingbird Hawkmoths. First saw one in 76 at Astbury garden centre. Blew me head off as a youth. Didn't see one again until 1995 when I moved back to S-o-T. They are a fairly regular seasonal feature now around me buddleia. I believe that they are generally migratory but with milder winters some may over winter, lay eggs and such the following spring. The idea of butterfly migration is fascinating. Never thought about why we called Tortoiseshells 'Frenchies' as kids.
Good stuff.
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 26, 2016 20:39:11 GMT
Snake in the grass. A ten fooot albino Burmese python has been spotted slithering into the Cauldon near Station Road, Endon. That'll do for the ducks. Think I'll give the fishing a miss this weekend.
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Post by felonious on Aug 29, 2016 18:05:08 GMT
I stopped down by the stream yesterday to get a closer look at a woodpecker making a right racket on a tree to find out it was a nuthatch.
They always remind me of the time when my ex shouted to me "Quick, quick there's a kingfisher on the bird table"
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Post by trentvale68 on Aug 30, 2016 14:04:19 GMT
Something to indulge yoursen in
Mocha cake, only a £1 from Tesco - bloody gorgeous!!
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Post by Mendicant on Aug 30, 2016 18:26:28 GMT
Cycling on a pleasant evening just now. Swallows were flying low up and down the levy by the River Rhein, up Dormagen duck. Also saw a heron standing nearby, but I didn't get any closer because I didn't want to make the heron cross. Conner beat it lads!
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 30, 2016 20:48:51 GMT
Two pretty convincing sightings and hearings of Ravens over Brown Edge/Stockton Brook. Heard of them up the Roaches but not around here.
The python has been apprehended.
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Post by felonious on Aug 31, 2016 7:43:36 GMT
Two pretty convincing sightings and hearings of Ravens over Brown Edge/Stockton Brook. Heard of them up the Roaches but not around here. The python has been apprehended. Roosting in Heather Hills, that's a nice thought. Let's hope they're not scaring the Hoopoes away
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 31, 2016 8:07:37 GMT
Two pretty convincing sightings and hearings of Ravens over Brown Edge/Stockton Brook. Heard of them up the Roaches but not around here. The python has been apprehended. Roosting in Heather Hills, that's a nice thought. Let's hope they're not scaring the Hoopoes away mmmmm... you know the zone? My money is on the rocky outcrops in Tinster's Wood, {though keep it hush hush}. Two friends independantly over the BH weekend told of a 'barking crow'. With a listen to me birdsong app.both identified it as a Raven. Yet another summer and the Hoopoe remains an elusive dream. Though I have at least seen some photos this time around. The orchid naming quest is progressing slowly.
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Post by yeokel on Aug 31, 2016 8:50:09 GMT
I just want to say how much I've enjoyed browsing the last couple of pages of this thread. I'm not really in to birds or plants (or wildlife in general actually) but reading this stuff has taken me back to a place, mentally, that I haven't been to for the last forty years or so, since I was a nipper growing up in Madeley.
So, thanks to all of you for the memories and the images you've evoked.
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Post by felonious on Aug 31, 2016 12:19:07 GMT
Roosting in Heather Hills, that's a nice thought. Let's hope they're not scaring the Hoopoes away mmmmm... you know the zone? My money is on the rocky outcrops in Tinster's Wood, {though keep it hush hush}. Two friends independantly over the BH weekend told of a 'barking crow'. With a listen to me birdsong app.both identified it as a Raven. Yet another summer and the Hoopoe remains an elusive dream. Though I have at least seen some photos this time around. The orchid naming quest is progressing slowly. Mmmm I know the zone although the bird I remember from my Heather Hills days drove a sports car
I've also been known back in the day to deliver newspapers around Ball Lane and the surrounding areas
While we're boasting about birds a couple of weeks ago I came across a flock of Flamingos on the edge of the Severn estuary. Not quite as exciting as the last flock I saw a few years back on the Camargue. Very impressed with the Muskrat that ran across the path in front of me that day.
Good luck with the orchid naming. The Cheesefreeze orchid has a nice ring to it
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Post by cheeesfreeex on Aug 31, 2016 15:32:12 GMT
mmmmm... you know the zone? My money is on the rocky outcrops in Tinster's Wood, {though keep it hush hush}. Two friends independantly over the BH weekend told of a 'barking crow'. With a listen to me birdsong app.both identified it as a Raven. Yet another summer and the Hoopoe remains an elusive dream. Though I have at least seen some photos this time around. The orchid naming quest is progressing slowly. Mmmm I know the zone although the bird I remember from my Heather Hills days drove a sports car
I've also been known back in the day to deliver newspapers around Ball Lane and the surrounding areas
While we're boasting about birds a couple of weeks ago I came across a flock of Flamingos on the edge of the Severn estuary. Not quite as exciting as the last flock I saw a few years back on the Camargue. Very impressed with the Muskrat that ran across the path in front of me that day.
Good luck with the orchid naming. The Cheesefreeze orchid has a nice ring to it
A punishing paper round. Mountain goat legs a requirement. Didn't realize we'd got flamingos on the loose. Egrets yes, and I've heard of a Crane re-introduction project. What's the story, do you know? Escapees? Tinking the orchid is a particular local hybrid of a Marsh Orchid... might, if it comes to it, see if we can name it a 'Jackie'.
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