The Hide (chat thread)

emo72 · 22-06-2014 11:54am

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

My immediate thought was a stoat. What colour was it?

Not uncommon but always a treat to see one.

I think it was a Tanny colour, but it was so fast. Looking at you tube suggests it was a stoat because of the way out bounced when it ran. Can't believe I never saw one. But then again I've only ever seen a hedgehog about 3 times and a badger once.

Bsal · 23-06-2014 6:35pm

Over the last few days some starlings have appeared in the garden with their famous orange head from feeding on New Zealand Flax

http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Publications/eWings/eWingsIssue11August2010/Neworangeheadedbirdspecies/tabid/1026/Default.aspx

Half-cocked · 23-06-2014 9:24pm

I shoved a waterproof camera into a small pond on a friends farm and left it filming for half an hour. Lots of water beetles and water boatmen, best of all a newt swam past. Also a large leech! Will try and post some stills tomorrow.

Half-cocked · 24-06-2014 9:59am

Poor quality, but:

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0562B989502444A0A41C57468CFE3493-0000318105-0003594235-00500L-94B564B472384A63B1EA6F7663DEF27E.jpg

Half-cocked · 28-06-2014 5:11pm

Anyone know their bees? I've got quite a few species in my garden but this one caught my eye:

5AA9001BEE3D48C6940B0687E751FDA0-0000318105-0003596711-00500L-D234A799C8344B549DC6615E34BC1090.jpg

5AA9001BEE3D48C6940B0687E751FDA0-0000318105-0003596711-00500L-D234A799C8344B549DC6615E34BC1090.jpg

5027B076C0234A429C46964654509A85-0000318105-0003596710-00500L-D9A26F5A3C224DBEB7F46788DE0950C9.jpg

I've got a bumblebee nest in my hedgehog box, I haven't ID'd the species yet, they get a bit angry if I open the lid!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 28-06-2014 7:41pm

It looks like a red-tailed bumble bee to me but I have to admit that even carrying an ID guide and trying to learn them for the best part of 60 years, I still find it hard to ID all the species of bumbles, carder bees, cuckoo bees etc. Specially with queens, workers etc.

Half-cocked · 28-06-2014 8:03pm

Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »

It looks like a red-tailed bumble bee to me but I have to admit that even carrying an ID guide and trying to learn them for the best part of 60 years, I still find it hard to ID all the species of bumbles, carder bees, cuckoo bees etc. Specially with queens, workers etc.

Well, if you have problems after 60 years, imagine how confused I am with my recently downloaded internet bumblebee guide:D

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 28-06-2014 8:07pm

Half-cocked wrote: »

Well, if you have problems after 60 years, imagine how confused I am with my recently downloaded internet bumblebee guide:D

Ah, but I have the early stages of old age and senility working against me. I don't retain things as well as I used to - and that wasn't great to begin with.

Half-cocked · 30-06-2014 9:18am

There's a juvenile Jackdaw hanging around my garden. The piercing screeches for food start at dawn and continue until dusk. It flies around quite a bit, so the racket comes from every direction (and usually through the bedroom window at 5am!). Anyone who complains about noise from nesting Starlings should consider themselves lucky they don't have Jackdaws! Luckily they quieten down after a week or two. And it is an amusing bird to watch.

whyulittle · 23-07-2014 6:39pm

Noticed lots of feeding going on in the skies today between Gulls and Swifts, I presume on flying ants. We had some emerge from under the front step again today, after a bunch last week as well.

Watching one of the groups of Swifts feeding, I noticed a Sparrowhawk right in the middle of them! Both sides seemed pretty relaxed.

Kess73 · 24-07-2014 9:51am

Just for anyone in the Limerick/Clare area (or anyone who travels to see nice spots).

Took a stroll out around Doonass (started at the Anglers Rest just outside Clonlara, and walked downriver from Beat 4) for the first time since I was a kid over in Ireland for the summer, and have never seen as many dragonfly in one place as I did between beats 4 and 5. Place was just full of flashes of colour as the sun refected off of them.

Lots of birds to spot as well as fish being easy to observe through the clear water. Loads to see on the plant and insect front also.

Even got to watch some rabbits going about their business.

Would really recommend a stroll along the walkways there for anyone living within a few miles of the area. Is so much to see, and the place is teeming with all sorts of life. I spent about an hour there just watching and listening what was going on around me, and did not see another human being the whole time.

whyulittle · 02-09-2014 1:14pm

Something you don't see everyday at your bird table!

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/....

trebor28 · 02-09-2014 11:04pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/27/eagle-plays-in-sprinkler-video-photos_n_5717821.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000022&ir=Weird+News

Woodville56 · 03-09-2014 12:33am

Out and about yesterday and couldn't but notice the reprise of bird song, probably brought on by the mild /pleasant weather - robins in full voice, although sounding a bit more wistful than in the throws of Spring rituals, a chiffchaff singing from a conifer plantation - still here and in good voice, a flock of mistle thrushes calling too !

Capercaille · 03-09-2014 6:01pm

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/70503/Whinchat.html

Sigginstown Island. The new owner has removed all of the long-established internal hedgerows of blackthorn, gorse and bramble, and burned everything. The ground has been sprayed, leaving a large, featureless 'brown field'. Progressive farming at its best.

One of the most important bird sites in the Country. Legal vandalism.

V_Moth · 03-09-2014 6:03pm

Woodville56 wrote: »

Out and about yesterday and couldn't but notice the reprise of bird song, probably brought on by the mild /pleasant weather - robins in full voice, although sounding a bit more wistful than in the throws of Spring rituals, a chiffchaff singing from a conifer plantation - still here and in good voice, a flock of mistle thrushes calling too !

I think the Chiffchaffs that you can occasionally hear singing at this time of year are juveniles practising for next year.

Edit: **as Capercailies post**

Woodville56 · 03-09-2014 6:27pm

V_Moth wrote: »

Sad to see the vandalism of Sigginstown Island in Tacumshin :

I've seen instances of this type of scrub and shrubbery clearance going on locally also in recent weeks , albeit on a smaller scale and not in areas as environmentally sensitive or significant as Tacumshin. Then again every hedgerow undergrowth is home to some flora & fauna and such destruction cumulatively takes it's toll, be it on species such as Whinchat, as in this instance, and common / non threatened species in the long run! It just appears that landowners launch into scrub clearing / hedge cutting with gusto after Sept 1, and it's hard to see any financial or land improvement return for a lot of it - certainly no gain for the displaced wildlife! Hardly carried out in the name of AEOS ( formerly REPS)?. Is there no requirement to notify / get permission of Parks & Wildlife Rangers of such clearances ?

Half-cocked · 09-09-2014 8:17am

Seeing a lot of Chiffchaffs moving through my garden at the moment. Also found a dead one in work, looked like it flew into a window.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 09-09-2014 8:54am

Half-cocked wrote: »

Seeing a lot of Chiffchaffs moving through my garden at the moment. Also found a dead one in work, looked like it flew into a window.

Many more chiffchaff in the garden here this year too. The counts are the highest since I started recording in 1985. Good to see!

OpenYourEyes · 22-09-2014 9:19pm

I saw what I thought was a Rock Pipit today - like a darker/duller version of a Meadow Pipit, with dark legs, bouncing and fluttering around on the rocks beside the shoreline - very much a Rock Pipit in terms of apperance and behaviour, in my head anyway!

The only problem was that it was on Lough Ree - one of the most inland lakes in the country! Can anyone suggest anything else it could have been that I might not be thinking of? Or would you say there's a decent chance it was a migrant from the continent? Looking at the Bird Atlas and while theres no inland records from Ireland, they do pop up on inland water bodies in the UK.

Capercaille · 22-09-2014 10:08pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

I saw what I thought was a Rock Pipit today - like a darker/duller version of a Meadow Pipit, with dark legs, bouncing and fluttering around on the rocks beside the shoreline - very much a Rock Pipit in terms of apperance and behaviour, in my head anyway!

The only problem was that it was on Lough Ree - one of the most inland lakes in the country! Can anyone suggest anything else it could have been that I might not be thinking of? Or would you say there's a decent chance it was a migrant from the continent? Looking at the Bird Atlas and while theres no inland records from Ireland, they do pop up on inland water bodies in the UK.

Alot more birdwatchers in the UK than here in Ireland. Everywhere is covered, unlike Ireland. Was probably a rock pipit. We get a few Scandanavian Rock Pipit in Ireland which look like water pipit. Had it a supercillium?

OpenYourEyes · 22-09-2014 10:40pm

Capercaille wrote: »

Alot more birdwatchers in the UK than here in Ireland. Everywhere is covered, unlike Ireland. Was probably a rock pipit. We get a few Scandanavian Rock Pipit in Ireland which look like water pipit. Had it a supercillium?

True! The fact that they do turn up inland in the UK has me a bit more confident now that it probably was a Rock Pipit. Still raging I didnt have the camera with me though, to eliminate all doubt!

Yeah it did have a supercillium.

Pie Man · 27-09-2014 1:16pm

Just need confirming that this is a Bank Vole, thanks.

Capercaille · 27-09-2014 1:43pm

Pie Man wrote: »

Just need confirming that this is a Bank Vole, thanks.

No expert on mammals, but with blunt head and short tail it looks like one. If your in Southern part of Country it would also fit in.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 27-09-2014 1:43pm

Looks like it alright.

Pie Man · 27-09-2014 3:29pm

Capercaille wrote: »

If your in Southern part of Country it would also fit in.

I'm in south Offaly. According to Conservation Ireland they've spread to Galway as far back as 1990, so they must be well established in the midlands as well.

whyulittle · 21-10-2014 6:52pm

Was just bringing in the cat and 6 Whooper Swans flew over the house, honking away.

Capercaille · 21-10-2014 6:55pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Was just bringing in the cat and 6 Whooper Swans flew over the house, honking away.

A great sight.

ford2600 · 21-10-2014 11:33pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Was just bringing in the cat and 6 Whooper Swans flew over the house, honking away.

Was kayaking down Suir between Cahir and Ardfinnan a few years back, about 300m behind a group of swans.

Two flew over us before returning to flock.

About 10 mins later the entire group perhaps 10, approached us in "attack" formation, a vshape and cleared our heads by about 5/6'.

Awesome and scary at once. Impressive birds up close.

trebor28 · 15-11-2014 9:29pm

i was working in a school yesterday and happened to be in the woodwork room after hours.
The teacher was in there doing a personal project.

His mother had been at him to build a birdhouse so he was finally getting round to.
It was funny to see him be meticulous over his measurements and having his edges all squared off and had clamps on it for the bit he was gluing.
The problem was he had completely made up the measurements for the box as he told me.

The hole was big enough for a starling but the box itself wouldnt even hold a starling comfortably.

I tried to tell him the error of his ways but he didnt really care.

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