nature notes

Not a good update from me. This morning I have seen a tick. On me. Legs flailing, head burrowed into my shoulder, like something from The Alien. Yuk Yuk Yuk. We dosed it liberally with alcohol and OH attempted to get it out, with tweezers as we don't have a tick remover here. We know all about having to get it all out, and we think OH succeeded. It was much smaller than ticks I have seen in the past, and apparently ticks in Portugal rarely cause problems. This hasn't stopped me having some medicinal sugar in my tea and slightly worrying. I am not quite sure how it got there, its probably from gardening but it could be from a dog, and I have vehmently washed everything I have been wearing. On Saturday a very large Egyptian grasshopper flew into my face and I have a small lump there as well, so I am feeling a bit 'got at' for the moment!
 
I too have a worry - after emerging from hibernation under the summer house, the hedgehog(s) was/were hoovering up a large scoop of hedgehog pellets every night - but haven't come for food for three nights now. I doubt there's enough natural food for them not to appreciate the special pellets, which normally they love. i haven't noticed any sad little bodies one the road outside, and actually we have a panel on the bottom of the garden gate so they can't get out of our garden on to the road, but not all the houses have this.
 
I wanted to record, if only for our archive, that at 20C in places, yesterday was the hottest February day ever recorded. I saw Red Admiral and Brimstone butterflies in the garden and the heather flowers were buzzing with bees, including bumblebees early out of hibernation. i got out the garden chairs and we had lunch outdoors. Lovely though it was, I was struck by the comment of a weather presenter on TV, that at around 20C, temperatures were double what they should be for the end of February, and we should imagine what this summer might hold for us if temperatures doubled from the normal 25-30 in July, August and September. Several of the headlines in papers seemed to be celebrating the trend, instead of recognising it as a climate emergency. A more measured response in the Guardian, as one might expect, with some nice photos from readers of what's going on.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/26/i-cant-help-but-be-concerned-readers-spot-early-signs-of-spring
and this;
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/22/naturalists-concerned-for-early-emerging-spring-species-in-uk
 
20C. That’s hotter than the hottest day last summer here. I don’t envy you if it does presage a scorching summer. Hopefully it’s just a blip rather than a long term trend.
It is relatively warm here too. Out of the wind in the ditches the grass is already growing.
 
The UK was not far behind Portugal yesterday, it was 21.3 here, and super warm in France too I understand. Not normal, whatever normal is nowadays.
 
I have been in Northern France for a while recently and whilst there I have seen a Great White Egret and also a hoopoe. The egret was huge, even though it was a field away, and I was very surprised to see the hoopoe, although they are common with us in Portugal. This morning in Portugal a small snake slithered across the road, Spring is here!
 
I think we now have Little Egrets breeding in England. Certainly I saw one in the days before they bred here.
Never seen a Hoopoe and probably never will now I live in these northern climes.
But I am visiting England next week. I expect to see people sat in rockers on their stoops playing banjoes and eating possum stew with turnip greens. As you can see the film Deliverance had a big effect on me!
 
Little Egrets have lived and bred in a riverside meadow in Whitchurch, Hampshire, where I live, for some years now. We can rely on seeing them every time we walk that way. They are very beautiful birds.
 
Little Egrets breed in a chalk pit nature reserve in the middle of a housing estate by Lakeside shopping centre, we have several in our garden during the day from a local fishery that will no doubt be breeding soon.
Great white Egrets are now breeding in Kent, Somerset, Essex and other places as well no doubt. Add to that Cattle Egret which are now breeding in the UK also.
The Somerset levels and Avalon marshes takes the prize with breeding Great White, Cattle and Little Egret, Little Bittern, Bittern, Night Heron, and Crane.
Norfolk has a thrivng Spoonbill breeding colony and they bred in Yorkshire last year.
Nice to have Little Egrets back breeding after they became extinct in UK due to the craze for bird feathers in Victorian ladies hats.
You never know Hen-Gen birds turn up in all sorts of odd places, and Hoopoe's have ended up in Scotland. The oddest place we saw one was 2nd January one year in Lowestoft fish docks.
Come to Lakeside Hen-Gen and I will do my best to find and eat possum stew for you :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I have just received a pair of possum gloves from a NZ person - does that count?!

I was also reading about poke sallet the other day, which is an old fashioned dish from Applachia (basically where the Appalatians are in the US) which is highly poisonous if you don't know how to prepare it. It is made from pokeweed, which also grows wild here in Portugal, including in my garden. Coincidentally, about 15 miles away from us, it has been discovered that we have the same geological formations as you would find in the Appalatians, and so it is now thought our landscape is part of the mountain range as it would have been 'x' years ago. My cousin in the US overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Applachian trail is close by to her and all this new knowledge explains why parts of the landscape near her reminds us of Portugal.
 
I should think possum gloves count. Your geological formation being linked with the Appalachian mountains sounds more exciting than the line of flint in the chalk cliffs locally which is known as Whitakers 3 inch band and stretches right down to the chalk cliffs at Dover, I learnt that at school and like ox bow lake it is firmly lodged in my brain
 
Well after a long gap where all it seemed to do was rain, we now have a period of heat. This morning I watched a pair of broad bodied chaser dragonflies mate in mid air over a patch of water, then the female dipped her abdomen down to lay eggs about 20 times, whilst her mate waited, then they flew off together. I also watched a female lay eggs in the same patch of water yesterday.

We also saw a raptor circling, fairly close to the ground and house to check it out, before going upwards and away to glide about on the thermals. We got the super binoculars out, but still not very expert at identification. However, it had a lot of white on the underside and I can discount many birds. We have narrowed it down to either a Bonelli's eagle or less likely an juvenile Imperial Spanish eagle. Both are rare in Portugal, but my research reveals there are tens of breeding pairs, and the ISE is known to be in our region. They both nest in tall pines/large eucalypts and that is what we are surrounded by. Both eat rabbit a lot, and we don't have many around here but the Bonelli in particular feasts on red legged partridge, which we do have, plus the usual rodents/birds etc. The research also reveals a great difference in size, but when the bird is so high and far away its hard to accurately decide how big it is! We are quite excited and are hoping for a repeat viewing. I know that there is a pair of whatever this is, nesting quite close by, its been there for either one or possibly two summers.
 
Sounds amazing, see if you can get a few pics, don't have to be perfect, and I am sure somebody will be able to I D it for you.
OH came across a Wryneck this morning on a local survey, which she was dead pleased about, and a Great White Egret did a fly by.
 
Well the mystery bird hasn't been seen by me, but it has been hanging out near a friend's house, he says its still too far away to get a photo, whilst driving along, along our rather narrow twisty roads. This particular person is new to the area and quite cautious, he toots the horn going round every bend! More interestingly, another friend said there was an Spanish eagle in the area before I mentioned my suppositions, so I think the chances have improved that this is our bird, and that it is a Spanish Imperial.

Today's unlikely spot was a) me doing the housework and b)seeing what I presume was a dying glowworm on the floor whilst hoovering. She had 2 segments of light on when I saw her, this dimmed to one and I thought she was on the way out, then 2 bands came on again and I took her outside. She was on her back, very feeble. The body is like a small white maggot with segments, but she has legs and antennae. The light was yellow, whereas when I have seen them at night its a very clear green. Our door is open most of the time, and the floor is tiled, and at this time of year we have a variety of insect visitors, and a few four legged ones which nose their way in and flop down on the cool floor!
 
I was amazed the first time I saw a glow worm, what incredible little creatures, and the light is so bright for such a little thing.
You are very lucky, with your assortment of wildlife.
Our wildlife highlight yesterday was actually seeing 2 Quail fly up in front of us, they had been lurking in some long grass by the path we were walking along. Then Nightjar hunting in the Ashdown forest. Well not a hunt as such we just went to our usual spot and had 2 flying abut and churring, once the sun went down, not as many as usual calling, but a bit of a chill wind came up and the flight path from Gatwick was over our heads this time.
Sounds good on the Imperial Eagle front, hope you get better views at some point
 
Yeh! My first male cuckoo spotted in my plantation this morning. Someone heard it calling yesterday but couldn’t find it. It was mobbed by starlings. Only an occasional visitor/sporadic breeder to these parts. Bet the meadow pipits are nervous!
 
The nightjar(s) have been churring the past few weeks, lovely sound. I didn't realise they were present on Ashdown Forest, I must tell a friend of mine who drives across it every day to work. We saw a glowworm outside this evening, but the real excitement was earlier on today. There were 2 lizards rolling over and over, showing their bellies, in the leaf litter near a clump of agave. I am not sure if they were mating or fighting as I didn't notice them to start with, then I was too noisy and they split apart.
 
Opposite Gills Lap car park in the Ashdown Forest is our chosen spot, cross the road and stand by a lone clump of pines trees. The Old Lodge area is good also we could here some from there. I have no doubt there are other spots also
 
Interesting article in bird watching mag this month Hen-Gen. Some Red necked Phalaropes they tracked from Fetlar with little satellite trackers went all the way to Peru to overwinter. They went via Iceland, Greenland, USA, Caribbean, Ecuador. Bit different to the idea they would head to the Arabian Sea
 
Yes, bym, this caused consternation in the local birding circles when it was discovered last year. It had always been assumed that they joined the Scandinavian population and headed down to Arabia where they spend the winter. But no. As you say ours head off to South America. Quite why they go on such a long and perilous journey is a mystery.
It also illustrates why so many of our migratory birds are not only dependant on our conservation efforts here but also on the same wherever they winter.
At least by going west our phalaropes are nowhere near Malta
 
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