Local Wildlife

[Blodyn]

I'll leave Ian and DaveR to argue over photography ...

Hugo, you are lucky to be able to watch badgers from the comfort of your sun lounge and I hope you see some cubs again this year.  I used to do a bit of badger watching when I was a student in Nottinghamshire.  My landlord had a couple of setts on his estate and I so I would set out before dusk, climb a tree above one of the setts and wait for the badgers to appear.  Badger baiting was a problem in some areas and one of our lecturers was a member of a badger protection group, who would sit up all night guarding badgers' setts. 

[Hugo]

Blodyn, a few years ago a party of 15 of us led by the Great Orme Warden did a Badger, Bat and Moth watch in the woods near where I live.  We went into the Woods just before dusk and sat quietly for about an hour waiting for the Badgers to come out of their setts.   They emerged from their setts and then disappeared into the night but it was a lovely experience seeing them there.
We then did a Bat and Moth watch which was also very good and then went home.  The whole time took us 3 hours and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
When I got home however, I told my wife all about it and then she told me .... that from the comfort of her armchair she had seen the Badgers in the garden while the Bats flew overhead and the Moths flew  around the security light.
At least it wasn't raining when I was in the woods thank goodness!

[Blodyn]

Hugo, what a lovely story! 

I've told several people about the seals at Angel Bay, so I hope that they've all seen some seals.  Some of my family saw four seals yesterday afternoon and seemed quite happy with that. 

[Jack]

There were 15 seals hauled up on the beach this afternoon and a little out in the sea, on a rock was a tiny little pup all on its own.  Lots of people watching from the top and everyone obeying what looks like quite a new sign asking for the seals not to be disturbed.

[Fester]

There were people staring over the wall into the yard of the house opposite, and I was intrigued to know what they were looking at.
When I got there, I could see this Sparrowhawk (below), had taken down a Jackdaw and was preparing to eat it.

Merddin Emrys might want to switch to another channel!

The interesting thing was, that it was painstakingly stripping the Jackdaw of its feathers first.
It was making an incredible mess with the feathers blowing around.
The sparrowhawk completely ignored the humans only four feet or so away. It was going to have its reward no matter what.

[Barbiroli]

I think the `sparowhawk` is actually a peregrine falcon.

[Fester]

Hi Barbs!
Long time no see..

I'm no expert but my bird book shows Peregrine's as having black eyes, and Sparrowhawks have the big yellow 'owl-type' eyes, like the greedy little fellow I captured.

[Barbiroli]

    I did say `think,`   I know both look simmilar. Sorry.   

[TheMedz]

This chap is a regular visit to our back garden. It sits on the tree just beyond Rofft Place waiting and then pounces. As you said Fester Merddin Emrys might want to look away now because it has really nasty habit of "taking out" the pigeons from next doors roof and then, whether we are in the garden or not,  finishing them off on the ground in the garden.

[DaveR]

It's a female Sparrowhawk, I think.

[Merddin Emrys]

  yes, I'm no fan of sparrow hawks of peregrine falcons, in fact at the last house I twice saved pigeons from sparrow hawks. I had to make sure that Wibble (a retired racing pigeon) who is on the next chair to me didn't see the picture!

[TheMedz]

Sorry Dave and Wibble. This chap/lady (delete as appropriate) is a regular visitor to our back garden. He/She sits on the tree just beyond Rofft Place waiting and then pounces. As you said Fester Merddin Emrys might want to look away now because he/she has really nasty habit of "taking out" the pigeons from next door's roof and then, whether we are in the garden or not,  finishing them off on the ground in the garden.

[Blodyn]

There have been bumblebee queens about for a couple of weeks, but this is the first one who's stayed still long enough for me to get a picture.  I'm pretty sure she's a buff tailed bumblebee, rather than a white tailed but she zoomed off again before I could get a better look. 

The queens are coming out of hibernation now and they are the only bumblebees to survive the winter, so each queen represents a potential new colony.  As well as finding food for herself, the queen will be looking for somewhere to start her nest.  If you see a bumblebee flying backwards and forwards over the ground and stopping to crawl about for a bit, she's investigating potential nest sites. 

Flowers which provide pollen and nectar at this time of year are important for the queens' survival - and even dandelions can be useful.  The red tailed bumblebees, in particular, will use dandelions when there aren't many other flowers about, so I always leave a few for them. 

[Nemesis]

Oh no !--- but it had gone on my return!

[Hugo]

The Ospreys are back in Glaslyn according to a report on 22nd March 2012

The female Osprey returned to her nest near Pont Croesor, Porthmadog for the ninth year running on Tuesday, where she met her partner of 9 years who’d arrived two days earlier.

The ospreys spend every winter in West Africa and travel thousands of miles to return to Glaslyn every year to breed and raise their chicks. Last year they broke the record for the earliest date ever for Ospreys to lay and hatch a chick in the UK, and this year the female has arrived on exactly the same date! Who knows, they may go on to break those records again this year!
 
You can follow the Ospreys’ progress from the visitor viewing site. It’s free of charge and open from 10am-4pm this week and from 10am-6pm from next week until the end of August. Telescopes and a live video link to the nest are already in place, so click here for flap-by-flap footage of the osprey family online.