Author Topic: Local Wildlife  (Read 528723 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1140 on: March 05, 2016, 06:12:07 pm »
Thanks Hollins,  I wasn't quick enough to catch the Kingfisher which dived into the pond and then immediately came out again.    I was too busy eating a hot cross bun when the Kingfisher made its appearance.    ;D

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1141 on: March 06, 2016, 04:02:54 pm »
Lovely photos hugo.

There are some common birds I don't see where I live near Cromer, North Norfolk.  No starlings or jackdaws or even herring gulls - but the common gull comes in masses if a feild gets ploughed.

Favourite site in the field round the back here last year was a Yellow Hammer,  I don't remember ever seeing one in Pydew and this is the only time I've seen one here.

I 've also tied to take bird table shots.  You might like the snippet below form a few year ago, never knew magpies tool beakful of nuts.

Magpies, Javys and the great spotted wopecker are rare visittorss to our garden, I think coming when food is shorter.

Have never seen a kingfisher anywhere but thinking Wales, my mother tells me of a path near Penhryn Castle - I'm sure you would know it.



Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1142 on: March 06, 2016, 04:34:38 pm »
I took the bird photos in the Spinnies which is a nature reserve by Penrhyn Castle.    I did see a Kingfisher there but I was eating a hot cross bun at the time and missed it as it dived into the water.
I think over 100 different species of birds have been spotted there.   There is a bigger bird reserve in Llandudno Junction and that's well worth a visit

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1143 on: March 06, 2016, 04:55:40 pm »
Sorry had somehow missed to read where you had taken the other photos....

Norfolk is pretty well set for places to see birds.  There are the salt marshes, eg. near Cley - about 1/2 hr fro me by car and the Broads.  Maybe this year we wil take at trip to one of the latter and I'll finally get  a picture of another type of resident  - the swallowtail butterfly... And back to birds, one day, I'll see a bittern...

I'm a bit vague over the Junction place.  I know my mother liked to go somewhere, I think after the Conwy tunnel?

Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1144 on: March 06, 2016, 05:02:34 pm »
Yes, the Nature Reserve at Llandudno Junction was created when the Conwy Tunnel was being built.  The spoil from the tunnel helped to create the reserve.  They have done a great job there and there is a nice shop and cafe to relax in after looking around the reserve

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1145 on: March 07, 2016, 10:39:49 am »
Thanks for the info, Hugo.

Just one more bird table shot for you, taken today..  The b lighters are at again (baffle had fallen).  They have their own box of peanuts but...



Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1146 on: March 07, 2016, 10:44:16 am »
I've got two Squirrel proof nut feeders and they seem to be working as previously the little blighters were costing me a packet.    I still put some food out for them though but they are not coming here as often, perhaps they have got the message.


Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1147 on: March 07, 2016, 11:03:30 am »
I've got two Squirrel proof nut feeders and they seem to be working as previously the little blighters were costing me a packet.    I still put some food out for them though but they are not coming here as often, perhaps they have got the message.

I must admit my mother stocks the feeders here so I don't know the cost.  I seem to shift sackfulls of seeds and nuts for her though...  The feeders that go down the quickest are often the sunflower seed ones though - it's amazing what the little visiting birds get through.  She's also putting out 1/2 coconut shells round the back at the moment which are apparently being devoured by a gang (and they usually seem to come in gangs - don't they) of long tailed tits.

I think our own policy with grey squirrels is one of tolerance - well give you a box but please leave the feeders to the birds... but attitudes vary.  I gather Anglesey had a push to get rid of them and make it a place for the reds.  Have you got any pics of them?









Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1148 on: March 07, 2016, 12:17:19 pm »
Red Squirrels in Newborough Forest

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1149 on: March 07, 2016, 12:24:40 pm »
Great pics, Hugo - thanks.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1150 on: March 07, 2016, 12:30:15 pm »
We used to have Badgers coming to our back garden every night and the occasional fox too and we could see them when we were in our sun lounge but now we are in the front of the building we don't see them at all.
I still like to feed them and know they have been there so what I do is to put some peanuts in an ornamental cast iron frog that is in two halves.  The Frog is so heavy that only the Badger is strong enough to lift the top half off and get at the peanuts
If the Frog is disturbed then I know that the Badgers have been in the garden and been fed, but last night I was making a cuppa in the kitchen and the security light came on and I could see the Badger helping himself to the peanuts.
I rushed upstairs and got my camera to take a photo, the quality of the photo taken through the bedroom window is very poor but next time I'll have the camera ready for a better shot.

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1151 on: March 07, 2016, 01:26:48 pm »
Hugo, I know the frustrationns and hope you do get the better quality photo but all the same, when you consider having to act quickly, grab what is to hand, maybe light, etc. etc. I think it's a great picture - I'd have been pleased to have captured it at all!

I can only think of maybe seeing a badger once.  I was dropping down from Junction back to Pydew, towards the green and I saw an animal whose gait was certainly not fox or dog.  On a later in life HNC in buisiness IT, I did learn from a tutor that there were groups of badgers in Pydew but I'm not sure exactly where and if I did know I'd probably follow his caution with giving exact locations...

Foxes, I should have taken my own pics . if I had camera then and thought about it then...  I have seen one as "bold as brass" in the bottom of Skerrryvore  - I got within say 10ft. 

Offline Hugo

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1152 on: March 07, 2016, 02:30:20 pm »
It was very rushed when I took the photo but next time I'll be better prepared.   They get  very spooked at the slightest noise so I couldn't even open the window to take a better photo.
The most we have seen in the garden at any one time is 3 and one of our best memories is when a female Badger came one evening and it was obvious that she had had cubs.   She came back the following evening and brought her very small cubs with her.   The Brock came much later and was a lot bigger than the female.
I saw 7 in my neighbours garden all together on the terrace, there were 5 adults and 2 cubs and it was a wonderful sight to see.

Offline squiggle

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1153 on: March 08, 2016, 12:45:38 am »
Good luck with the photo, Hugo.  I'll look forward to seeing you post a new picture sometime.

The magpie was difficult btw.  Wily old bird, incredibly sensitive to the slightest of movement. I tried a few times to "sneak up" (if one can do such a thing from being behind say a bedroom window) but it always saw me and was away...  In the end, I used the tripod for my mother's spotting scope and set the camera up with a focus on the bird table. When I knew the bird had come, I just clicked the IR remote for the camera a few times and hoped for the best. One of the pics zoomed in just happened to have the bird with the beak full of nuts.

Nice to hear about the badgers.  As I say, I've never really had a proper view of one but I think my mother has a memory of one from her England/Wales border Shropshire childhood that she will probably post about in the next couple of days.

Offline Lyndylou

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Re: Local Wildlife
« Reply #1154 on: March 08, 2016, 11:40:57 am »