nature notes

Yet another problem, Marigold. Farm intensification in all areas (pesticides, fertilisers and changing practises) is decimating our wildlife. In a country where financial resources are tight I can't see government of any persuasion using large amounts of money to compensate farmers for changing there farming practises.
At the risk of sounding like Private Fraser, we're all doomed. The world refuses to address overpopulation and the environment will continue to decline. Our filthy air will be matched by our polluted seas.
I am glad that I have lived at a time when we have reached the zenith of civilisation. I feel sorry for the children and grandchildren who will inherit an impoverished world.
Of course over the ensuing millennia the world will clean itself up and heal itself. But we won't be here to see it.

Is there a solution before this happens? Yes but I don't see any meaning full attempts to do so. I pray for a global pandemic because despite the massive amount of human suffering this would cause it would be to our advantage.
Or perhaps a natural event. An ice age, a super volcano, a meteorite strike. All have happened before.
 
Hen-Gen said:
NB
Googled it. It's only lived here since 2001 which is why I'd never heard of it. Maybe once Brexit happens it will migrate back to Europe."
Click to expand...

Hopefully come Brexit, the oak processionary moth caterpillars will migrate back with the tree bees. Hard working tax paying Eastern European migrants I don't have a problem with, especially on our local fruit farms... The tree bees & caterpillars on the other hand... :evil:
 
Off on a slight tangent, this morning we cleared out our adega (where you make wine and store stuff, wood in our case). It's dark and cool, made of stone with an earth floor. My hand encountered something soft. Cue scream. I sent OH to investigate and when he brought it out into the daylight, it was.....a stuffed turtle dove :shock:

It's not the first bit of taxidermy we have found, we had fun with a stuffed genet (like a cross between a cat and a mongoose) and unsuspecting visitors for a while. The dove is sitting on a branch and is currently indoors. It's a bit moth eaten and only has one eye. I know a lot of people find this sort of thing macabre, but I am intrigued and the animals make me think as I can study them closely. It may be a Welsh thing, my Mother tells me Aberystwyth was well known way back way as a skilled centre for taxidermy and I know 3 Welsh families with wildlife in glass cases. I will inherit my grandmother's pet dove in due course which is about 100 years old :D
 
I once had a stuffed Green Woodpecker which I eventually gave to a friend who admired it. Right now I have a stuffed ferret which has been relegated from my mantle piece to a drawer.
Anyone who looked at theworldismylobster will see the truth of this.
I'm not sure how I feel about it. The Natural History Museum or that museum in Tring are fascinating places. But as I've grown older I have come to feel that such things are a tad macabre. I have said to my husband that if he predeseases me I will have him stuffed and use him as an umbrella stand (no, don't ask!).
On my hearth I have one of those giant conch shells smuggled back from the Maldives by a friend. So I certainly don't sit in judgement.
 
We once stayed in a holiday cottage that had about 30 stuffed mice all in clothes posed in human situations around the place, very weird.
Went to a stately home somewhere that had a fox upright in the games room holding the snooker cues.
Using your husband as an umbrella stand is moving on up from the elephant foot umbrella stand beloved of Victorians
 
:shock: Must have been a slightly weird experience BYM! I have seen those mice in clothing things on antiques programmes.

I was up very early this morning and threw open a window to hear a weird call. I knew it was a bird, although it sounded slightly mechanical. A cockeral was crowing in response. Anyway, I thought it might be a red legged partridge as I had seen them next door, and a couple rather comically running down the road. I listened to some recordings on the internet (coincidentally from Portugal and Spain) and this confirmed it. I feel pleased that I now know something that I didn't know before!
 
Isn't that just the best bit about about nature, you never stop learning.There is always something new to discover.
Had a huge moth on the side of one of our buses at the depot the other day. Lovely camouflage colours, apart from the fact it was on the side of a blue/silver bus.
Looked it up when I got home in our British moth book and it was a Lime Hawk moth a new moth for me.
A site called Xeno Canto is brilliant for bird sounds as it has recordings of flight calls, alarm calls, songs of every bird you can think of
 
BYM - that is the one I used! It was a bit off putting to start with because I couldn't understand what to do, and it seemed ever so technical, but then I got the hang of it and became quite awestruck with the amount of information on it, as I realised how many people around the world take the time to engage with this, and to record and upload songs and calls. Its now in my favourites.

I looked up the Lime Hawk moth (not thinking, I was expecting it to be lime green....) and its strangely familiar, I think I must have seen it somewhere. Lime trees are probably my favourite tree, I love the smell of the blossom. Tilia is a favourite infusion here, our neighbours love it as a relaxing drink in the afternoon or evening and use it for sore throats; so we do that as well now. They have a magnificent tree and gave us a big bag of blossoms; in fact when we were house hunting one of the old houses, with elderly occupants, had a bedroom full of drying blooms. Its nearly 4pm, guess what I am going to do now!
 
I had an Elephant Hawkmoth on an outside window sill last year. I had no idea what it was but the fuchsia pink on its' wings made it easy to identify.
 
OH uses Xeno Canto a lot, it's easy once you get the hang of it and brilliant when someone wants to know what a bird sounds like.
The caterpillars of the Elephant hawk moth are pretty impressive, so are the Emperor moths, especially as they have 3 colour phases. They had a Deaths Head Hawk Moth at Rainham Marsh last year feeding on the deadly nightshade and OH rang me and I went down to see it, very impressive and so is the caterpillar. We were at the Eastbourne air show last year and OH pointed out a Humming Bird Hawk Moth feeding on blooms in front of us, which was great watching it, luckily it appeared before the planes started
Love Lime trees to wonderful scent.
Enjoy the Tilia, must give that a try especially if it works for sore throats
 
We usually find Elephant Hawk moth caterpillars in our garden - on a variety of trees and plants, including our silver birch and ash trees, and also on fuchsias, which I think is their preferred food.
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These get brought into the nature reserve by slightly hysterical people convinced they are going to poison/kill their children and eat the house. Even when shown they will turn into something quite lovely they wont take them back, and they have to be re-homed.
You should see my lot at the yard when the wasp spiders appear, they are like schoolgirls. One of the drivers thought it would be very funny to grab a large one and shove it under Ruth's nose to which she said "ooh a wasp spider" and carried on her conversation. Much to his disgust who thought she would run around screaming
 
Brilliant photo Marigold. I do like coming on here as I feel I have my own personal Naturewatch!

I remember many years ago taking a photo of a something or other moth caterpillar disguised as a twig. It really brought home to me the power and 'intelligence' of the natural kingdom. Everything has evolved to make the best of its chances of survival.

We found a dead death's head hawk moth in our fireplace during the summer last year, that was pretty amazing, and would obviously have eaten all children within a 5 mile radius. I think my favourites are the hummingbird hawkmoths, they always seem joyous somehow.

Today's question for you all is, can you identify the miscellaneous brown birds that we all see, every day? In the heat I am noticing something flitting about with its beak open, it is on the ground as well as flying. Its slimmer than a sparrow and with a more upright stance and more of an olive brown. What do you do to distinguish one breed from another, many of them look the same to me?

And a supplementary question. How would you go about providing water for birds. We don't have a bird bath and I am not able to get one easily. Usually I put a wide shallow container on top of a short pillar but I never notice the birds using it (it is in full view). At the moment there are plastic buckets and tub trugs full of water by the house but they don't go in there either. Yesterday I resorted to a plastic ice cream tub on the ground under a tree where they congregate but that was ignored. Is is essential to have it placed high up - if so, how high would you say? And is it better on open ground, or hidden somewhere in bushes/trees?
 
Try a large, shallow bowl (a big pottery plant saucer is good, more stable than plastic) and place it on the ground in an open spot where the birds can feel safe, preferably near to a tree or Bush where they can perch and reconnoiter, before flying down, just as you would for feeders. Like a mini-pond, but not as deep as your buckets. They are attracted to a shallow place where they can bathe as well as drink. After all, birds expect water to be at ground level, don’t they? The little baths up on pillars are more for decoration than use, I think.
Also good for other wildlife, especially hedgehogs, in hot dry weather.
 
This is the OH MrsBiscuit, for small brown bird try Dunnock, although they aren't olive brown as such if it is not a Sparrow, young Robins are brown.
with an upright stance. Depends on exactly where you live as well
Best way to start with bird I D is size which rules out quite a few for a start, it's preferred habitat which will cut the list down a bit more, if it's in a reed bed you can concentrate on those birds. Any stand out features like a red crown for instance of blue in a wing say, then you can build a picture and start looking in books. Get a bird guide book keep it handy and away you go.
You are spot on Marigold birds aren't interested in fancy bird baths, seen many a dustbin lid being successfully used.
 
Thanks both, I will scout about for something sturdier, I think I am going to get a couple of large terracotta plant saucers. There are plenty of spots near their various roosts.

On the small brown birds Mrs BYM, I had thought of dunnock as we had them at our old house, but this just doesn't look the same, its not as dumpy. I have a feeling this is some sort of warbler, finch or similar, its quite elegant. And then I wonder if I am looking at a female serin or siskin (probably not as there is not any noticeable yellow and its always on its own). The thing with sizing is my books say things like 12cm or 11cm or 14cm and I am sitting there thinking 'I can't tell the difference'! Anyway, thank you for attempting to help me, I guess the lesson is really just to observe more.
 
I have several "fancy" bird baths in my garden, all except the one I brought with me were used as holders for wire baskets of flowers! If any of them have water in them , the birds use them. Much safer for them ere than a plant saucer on the ground, Mischief would think I'd found a new way of serving his dinner!
 
Mrs B- I was thinking warbler too. Though I have to admit that most warblers come into the category of "LBJ" (little brown jobbie") to me! :lol:

I've got several bird call CDs with which I keep meaning to use to learn their calls. A lot of LBJs are easier to identify by their song than by appearance.

Size wise, when you want to look a bird up in a book, it helps to look at it and think, for example "bigger than a sparrow but smaller than a starling", stubby beak, not slim, long tail, etc. Then when you get the book out, you can look up the size of the sparrow & starling & know that you're looking for something in between; you know the colour, beak shape etc. Leg colour can be helpful too if you get the chance. Probability plays a part too. If it comes down to a choice of several birds, one of which is resident where you are & two of which aren't, it's probably the former!
 
Had our first ever Grizzled Skipper butterfly and Canary Shouldered Thorn moth in the garden today, and we have loads of Banded Demoiselles this year. Not surprising as the brook feeds into the local river which is alive with them.
Also had the DeHavilland Dragonfly (plane)go over which rounded things off nicely.
 
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