Local Wildlife

[1_rob_1]

It wont be one of the local owls, seagulls are too large for most owls to attack, & if there were any large owls in/around LLandudno, they tend to avoid the seagulls & go for smaller prey.

The prime suspect is still Mr. Fox.

[Merddin Emrys]

I saw this Caterpillar in the garden the other day, It seems that it will become a grey dagger moth (after Googling it!)

[snowcap]

looks like a man u supporter in disguise

[Blodyn]

ME, that's a super photo of the caterpillar - don't let Fester anywhere near it! 

Regarding the butterflies, I was talking recently to a butterfly expert who said that this "summer" the weather has been bad for butterflies and there are indeed fewer of them than usual.

Rob, you were very lucky to have a bumblebee nest in your birds' nest.  There are some species of bumblebees that will nest in abandoned birds' nests but I haven't heard of them ousting the birds.  Do you remember what colour the bumblebees were?

[SDQ]

There was a bumble bee nest in the lower part of Llandudno Signalbox last year. They were BIG bees too, about an inch long, predominately black with an orange tail end.
Nobody knew they were there until an engineer went under the box to do some maintenance & disturbed them. When he left there were bees coming up through the lever frame for about 3 hours afterwards which freaked me out as I'm not a big fan of bees & wasps. Luckily they were coming up near the door so I wedged it open and they automatically headed for the light and left the box. After about 3 hours they stopped coming up and went back to using the hole in the wall that they had originally used.
Nobody ever saw them again and they never came back so I guess they always nest in a new place instead of returning to an old one.

[1_rob_1]

Not too sure what type of bumblebee, they were very light orange, nearly yellow With black stripe(s)  - Also they were a quite small type.

My knowledge of bumble bees isn't very extensive, I only know the basics.

SDQ: The queens leave the nests late in the season & hibernate over winter under stones/sheds/debris. They emerge again in spring & find themselves a new place to nest & lay their eggs, so yes they nest in a different place every year. (they only live for about a year so the queen will die at the end of the season)
 
Cock robins choose a few nesting sites & fill them with leaves, the hen robin will then choose which site it wants & they will then build their nest. The bee probably laid its eggs in the pile of leaves before the robins built their nest.

Normally when we get a bumble bee nest in the garden, they are the common type, & either nest in a large pile of stones/slabs near my composters, or on the ground in a small wooded area. If on the ground, all that can be seen is a small pile of leaves.   I have tried to encourage them with upturned clay plantpots full of leaves for them to nest in, but they prefer to build their own nests.

[DaveR]

I saw this Caterpillar in the garden the other day, It seems that it will become a grey dagger moth (after Googling it!)

Great photo, ME. 

[Blodyn]

SDQ: it sounds as if your bumblebees were red tailed.  The queens are indeed very big, though the workers and males are smaller. 

Rob: Yours were probably common carders, which often nest in piles of leaves, etc above ground and are generally a golden brown colour.  I too have tried to tempt bumblebees with home made nesting sites but they haven't been very impressed! 

I didn't realise that cock robins offered the hens a choice of nest sites.  Thanks for that interesting information. 

Here are a  couple of my photos of bumblebees but there's also information on bumblebee identification on the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website.

[1_rob_1]

Very good site for bumblebee identification. I will keep that in my favourites.
The bees in the nestbox weren't the Common carder bee, as they had stripes, they looked more like  young male white- tailed bumblebees.
I am aware that there are a few types of bumblebee & will be a bit more observant in the future & identify them correctly instead of just passing them off as virtually the same.

I remember as an infant school child picking drowsy bumblebees off some rosebay willowherbs on a railway embankment near where I lived. - - - - My mother was horrified when she saw that I had a handful of bees.        - - - I didnt get stung, even though my hand was closed round them. Amazing insects!!
(they must have all been males - the males cannot sting)
 

[Hugo]

A beautiful looking Jay has been coming to our garden and feeding on the peanuts there and it has been lovely watching it as normally they are quite shy birds. Today there were loads of birds in the garden as I was watching TV in the sunlounge and then I noticed a large bird fairly upright standing on the lawn. I was trying to recognise what variety it was when I saw the wings of a Blackbird flapping underneath it.
It was a Sparrowhawk and it had caught one of the Blackbirds so I shot out to try to rescue it but it flew off carrying the Blackbird in its talons.
I know it's nature but still not a nice thing to see first hand.

[TheMedz]

It must be that time of year because I came home yesterday to find the drive covered in blood and feathers and one dead pigeon in the shrubbery. 10 minutes later and I disturbed a peregrine falcon (I think) trying to make it two for the day. Fortunately that pigeon got away only minus a few feathers. I also noticed today that the Foxes from up on Pen Dinas have started to appear on the nearby roads during daylight in search of food.

[1_rob_1]

A sparrowhawk attacked one of my fantail pigeons on Monday, it damaged one of its wing with its talons & had started plucking it, there were white feathers all over the place. Luckily one of my neighbours disturbed it, which saved the fantails life.
The fantail is ok, its blood stained damaged wing will heal (luckily it wasnt broken) & the plucked feathers will grow back.  It is moulting at the moment & has lost a lot of its feathers, especially in its tail.
The sparrowhawk must have been very hungry, because my fantails have large tails & therefore the sparrowhawks think that they are too big to attack.
It must have been a female sparrowhawk, male sparrowhawks are too small to take on a pigeon.

The Blood stained wing & plucked neck can be seen in the pic.

[Fester]

Poor little b****r, he had had a lucky escape....   A lovely face that bird has got.

[Merddin Emrys]

  poor thing let's hope for a speedy recovery! Thank goodness he escaped!

[1_rob_1]

He is a she   
I'm glad she escaped, I only keep 4 fantails & pass on any I breed.  Her  partner would have missed her & would have been lonely until I had bred him another.
I have inspected & cleaned up the wounds & she will make a full recovery.
I cant blame the sparrowhawk though, they only hunt & kill when they are hungry. - Its not very nice to think that they eat their prey live though.