Local Wildlife

[hollins]

Still in Dubai Hugo.
I am glad I posted that now if only to discover what kind of bird it was.

[squiggle]

Thinking hoopoe and North Wales, I've just been pointed to this:

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/news-opinion/rare-hoopoe-bird-spotted-north-6401886

Usless info but these days, I'm about 1/2 hour from Cley which is also mentioned in this article.

[squiggle]

Usless info but these days, I'm about 1/2 hour from Cley which is also mentioned in this article.

To continue this drift. The bird (and I've never seen one of these either) in that area is the elusive bittern. It is resident but not easy to find. It is suggested it seems to exist in Welsh song that anyone who had any primary school in Wales probably knows, ie, deryn y bwn. 

Only references I've seen seem to point to Brecon (down south) and I've only seen the grey heron in Wales.

[squiggle]

(opps, need to clarify one thing above.  Lots of different birds at Cley but the bittern is the resident bird to spot)

[DVT]

Clever wildlife in our garden!

The squirrel is now seen almost every day - comes over the back fence, crosses our lawn, over the fence to next door - then later returns carrying something.

Has taken to digging near our ornamental toadstool or the ornamental badger under the camelia bush, and buries his nuts.

Yesterday, we watched him dig by the badger.  Also watching him from a few yards away was a male blackbird.  Squirrel covers up this stash and scampers away.  Blackbird hops over, digs up the squirrels store and has a meal!

[squiggle]

Here is a squirrel in action where we live now.  Could not work out who was opening bin lid - had to be an animal but what?. My parents got one of those trail camera things which I set up. Those bins contain peanuts (taken there) and other food for bird feeders.


http://www.jonbanjo.com/3tpic/sq.mp4

[Hugo]

Nice video clip, they are clever little creatures those Squirrels.    They were pinching the peanuts in the bird feeder in our garden at an alarming rate so I invested in a Squirrel proof peanut feeder and filled it up as soon as I received it.
A few hours later it was only half full as those crafty creatures had taken the lid off!   I think I've sorted it out now but only time will tell.
I removed the Geraniums from their pots this week to put some Daffodil bulbs in and in one particular pot it was full of peanuts so that must have been where they were stashing the peanuts for Winter.

[squiggle]

We have baffles on the bird feeders at the front theses days.  They were put up initially to deter the plague of rats mentioned previously but they also make life hard for squirrels.

While there are debates about the grey squirrel these days, we are not completely against them.  We now have a squirrel feeding box with peanuts in on a trellis one the boundary fence. For the most part, they stick with this plan.

[Hugo]

I popped down to Angel Bay in Penrhyn Bay as I had heard that there were a lot of Seals about recently.   It was high tide and I could only see one Seal on the beach and a couple out at sea.

[Hugo]

With the cold weather forecast for the coming weeks I wanted to make sure that we had enough bird food in.   Mrs H was shopping in Home Bargains in Colwyn Bay and bought a bag of Wild Bird Food Feast, 12.55 Kg for £3.99.
Now that's what I call a bargain and it should last them through this cold weather spell.

[hollins]

Local to me and you, I think.

[SDQ]

Clever the way you also got the cranes in the background.
I'll get me coat!

[Hugo]

Local to me and you, I think.

You didn't stay in the UK for long Hollins.       

Enjoy your holiday and please keep posting those photos of the mountains 

[hollins]

Hi Hugo and SDQ,
Thanks for your interest.
Hugo, I will put some photos on the Switzerland thread for you.
This was the view this morning looking towards the bridge that I took the bird photo from yesterday, quite a blizzard!

[Hugo]

Looks like a typical day in Colwyn Bay this time of the year.