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  • #692
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Just accidentally disturbed a healthy looking fox cub rummaging in one of our hedges. About the size of a small cat and bolted before I'd a chance to get the phone camera on.


  • #693
    Bsal
    Registered Users Posts: 1,766 ✭✭✭Bsal


    A male bullfinch landed in the garden for a minute today, first time in the garden for me.


  • #694
    splish
    Registered Users Posts: 538 ✭✭✭splish


    Seen Spotted flycatchers are back in the garden again for the first time today.


  • #695
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    a pair of mistle thrushes have taken up residence about 30 feet from my door. looks to be about 3 chicks in it. surprisingly quiet, not far from fledging either


  • #696
    Capercaille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭Capercaille


    Starting to dig out iris rhizomes from 0.25 acre Iris bed. Will transplant to farm for early cover patch (for corncrakes). Planting in autumn. Hardship.


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  • #697
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Went to have a listen for Corncrake here the other day, that's its meadow behind the ditch on the right. And that's the local Tidy Town vans approaching in the distance.

    Canal1.jpg


    Here's the place after they left. :rolleyes:

    They made a big deal out of the place last year as if they created it from scratch - they basically put up some signs.

    As far as I know, the judges were visiting town the following day.

    Canal2.jpg


  • #698
    axe2grind
    Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭axe2grind


    whyulittle wrote: »


    Here's the place after they left. :rolleyes:

    They made a big deal out of the place last year as if they created it from scratch - they basically put up some signs.

    As far as I know, the judges were visiting town the following day.

    Canal2.jpg
    banghead.gifbanghead.gifbanghead.gifbanghead.gifbanghead.gif


  • #699
    splish
    Registered Users Posts: 538 ✭✭✭splish


    whyulittle wrote: »
    Went to have a listen for Corncrake here the other day, that's its meadow behind the ditch on the right. And that's the local Tidy Town vans approaching in the distance.

    Here's the place after they left. :rolleyes:

    They made a big deal out of the place last year as if they created it from scratch - they basically put up some signs.

    As far as I know, the judges were visiting town the following day.
    That is something I hate seeing. I can understand why some verges and hedgerows need to be cut for road safety reasons but in areas like in your photo it is totally unnecessary and in my opinion looks worse as a result. Plantlife in the UK have a campaign at the minute concerning verge managment.


  • #700
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I only yesterday emailed tidytowns@environ.ie to complain about the farce in awarding points for environmental projects and yet causing the unnecessary yet distructive cutting of verges all over the country. Madness!


  • #701
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »
    I only yesterday emailed tidytowns@environ.ie to complain about the farce in awarding points for environmental projects and yet causing the unnecessary yet distructive cutting of verges all over the country. Madness!

    Got a reply -Maintaining Grass Areas
    This section includes advice on maintaining grass
    areas in the most appropriate manner, depending
    on the use of the grassland and the effect that
    you want to create.
    It is not necessary to keep all of the grass
    areas closely mown and you should consider
    the role of grasslands in the context of the
    wildlife conservation criteria in the TidyTowns
    adjudication.


    Well, that's a joke based on the cutting that has gone on everywhere in the past week.


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  • #702
    Woodville56
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,643 ✭✭✭Woodville56


    Kayla Moldy Supernova wrote: »
    Got a reply -Maintaining Grass Areas
    This section includes advice on maintaining grass
    areas in the most appropriate manner, depending
    on the use of the grassland and the effect that
    you want to create.
    It is not necessary to keep all of the grass
    areas closely mown and you should consider
    the role of grasslands in the context of the
    wildlife conservation criteria in the TidyTowns
    adjudication.


    Well, that's a joke based on the cutting that has gone on everywhere in the past week.
    Isn't it possible though that some local tidy towns committees are taking this guideline to the limit by the indiscriminate shearing of hedgerows and roadside margins, have seen it locally and it looks just awful ! Maybe Environment needs to stress this point in future guidelines to local tidy towns groups ?


  • #703
    Capercaille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭Capercaille


    Woodville56 wrote: »
    Isn't it possible though that some local tidy towns committees are taking this guideline to the limit by the indiscriminate shearing of hedgerows and roadside margins, have seen it locally and it looks just awful ! Maybe Environment needs to stress this point in future guidelines to local tidy towns groups ?

    4 years ago the Tidy Towns "trimmed" my hedge because it looked "untidy" during the summer. The hedge around the garden of my house is mixed whitethorn, blackthorn, hazel, spindle, guilder rose, dog rose, sessile oak etc. I reported them to Gardaí. They never did it again.


  • #704
    axe2grind
    Registered Users Posts: 577 ✭✭✭axe2grind


    Woodville56 wrote: »
    Maybe Environment needs to stress this point in future guidelines to local tidy towns groups ?
    Absolutely!
    Tidy towns should be awarding points for management (in this case lack of) that helps wildlife and the guidelines should reflect this. And the tidy towns committee can save themselves much work such as the verge cutting that the 2 pics above show.


  • #705
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,282 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    something similar happened a couple of years back when a well meaning local trimmed back the verges (full of cow parsley) on the road leading to where we were having our garden party wedding. they wanted the place looking neat for us.


  • #706
    Woodville56
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,643 ✭✭✭Woodville56


    Capercaille wrote: »
    4 years ago the Tidy Towns "trimmed" my hedge because it looked "untidy" during the summer. The hedge around the garden of my house is mixed whitethorn, blackthorn, hazel, spindle, guilder rose, dog rose, sessile oak etc. I reported them to Gardaí. They never did it again.

    A bit drastic by way of a response there I would have thought ? Surely there was no malice intended on their part? Did you speak with anyone on the committee before setting the Guards on them ?


  • #707
    Zoo4m8
    Registered Users Posts: 1,003 ✭✭✭Zoo4m8


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    something similar happened a couple of years back when a well meaning local trimmed back the verges (full of cow parsley) on the road leading to where we were having our garden party wedding. they wanted the place looking neat for us.

    It's impossible to please everybody.. One mans cow parsley is another mans weed and it's tricky maintaining a happy medium.
    Whyulittle's photo illustrates the slash and burn approach whereas if the verges had been maintained regularly the effect wouldn't have been so dramatic.


  • #708
    Capercaille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭Capercaille


    Woodville56 wrote: »
    A bit drastic by way of a response there I would have thought ? Surely there was no malice intended on their part? Did you speak with anyone on the committee before setting the Guards on them ?

    It was the second time it happened. They weren't very apologetic either. They also "trimmed" 250m of roadside hedge.


  • #709
    Capercaille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭Capercaille


    Zoo4m8 wrote: »
    It's impossible to please everybody.. One mans cow parsley is another mans weed and it's tricky maintaining a happy medium.
    Whyulittle's photo illustrates the slash and burn approach whereas if the verges had been maintained regularly the effect wouldn't have been so dramatic.

    If the wildflowers are left go to seed they provide a valuable food source for birds/insects. If the verges are maintained their value to wildlife is much reduced.


  • #710
    Zoo4m8
    Registered Users Posts: 1,003 ✭✭✭Zoo4m8


    Capercaille wrote: »
    If the wildflowers are left go to seed they provide a valuable food source for birds/insects. If the verges are maintained their value to wildlife is much reduced.

    I repeat it's impossible to please everybody..I know very well what a resource a verge that's allowed to go wild is...but you'll find that those with that view are few and far between, whereas those that like to see every thing maintained to within a inch of its life are in the majority...
    Again , as I said there is a happy medium ,the issue is finding it,
    Tidy towns volunteers are just that, unpaid volunteers with a well meaning, for the most part, interest the appearance of their patch,
    I own an area on the approach to our town bordered with a selection of trees and undergrowth with a grass verge to the path, I have a very amicable arrangement with the local committee wherein they maintain the grass and I maintain the trees etc to our mutual satisfaction... It's good to talk ;)


  • #711
    Capercaille
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,077 ✭✭✭Capercaille


    Zoo4m8 wrote: »
    I repeat it's impossible to please everybody..I know very well what a resource a verge that's allowed to go wild is...but you'll find that those with that view are few and far between, whereas those that like to see every thing maintained to within a inch of its life are in the majority...
    Again , as I said there is a happy medium ,the issue is finding it,
    Tidy towns volunteers are just that, unpaid volunteers with a well meaning, for the most part, interest the appearance of their patch,
    I own an area on the approach to our town bordered with a selection of trees and undergrowth with a grass verge to the path, I have a very amicable arrangement with the local committee wherein they maintain the grass and I maintain the trees etc to our mutual satisfaction... It's good to talk ;)
    It is good to talk. If they had informed me of their concerns before cutting my hedge without my permission, I might have not been so annoyed about it.


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  • #712
    MeteoritesEire
    Registered Users Posts: 413 ✭✭MeteoritesEire


    so I'm lying in bed this morning about 8 o clock or so and I hear something rolling down my roof outside.First thought of course was "oooh possible small meteorite" --well a man can dream.

    So I go downstairs and right under where I heard the thing roll off I find what looks like a pellet from a bird.It's full of beetle carapaces (carapi?) but it's quite small--less than an inch.I picked it apart a little bit and used a loupe to properly see what it was.I can take pics if required but thought someone may know.Haven't even google it yet.I have no clue

    Also it feels too light to have made the noise I heard.Was this just a coincidence? hmmmm


  • #713
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Spotted a Kingfisher along the local canal today for the first time. Made a few noisy passes up, down and around it. Delighted! :D


  • #714
    MeteoritesEire
    Registered Users Posts: 413 ✭✭MeteoritesEire


    well-I didn't realise bird pellets were produced from quite so many birds.Wikipedia reckons songbirds can produce them of about a half inch long.And here's a pic of a starling producing one

    http://www.dublinbirding.ie/pages/archive/sightings/Sept2011/Starling%20JF.jpg

    taken from http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/64329.aspx

    I've undoubtedly found quite a rare thing as non-owl pellets tend to disintegrate quickly apparently


  • #715
    Zoo4m8
    Registered Users Posts: 1,003 ✭✭✭Zoo4m8


    A year or two ago a couple of magpies used to roost in the rafters of an open shed here during winter and most mornings there would be a couple of pellets on the ground.
    Didn't know what was producing them and even though I knew in my heart and soul that it wasn't an owl I couldn't help hoping, a quick scan with a torch one night confirmed the culprits .


  • #716
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    Watching our resident House Sparrows, it seems to be mainly the adult males that are feeding all the fledglings while the females only visit the feeders occasionally. Would they be incubating another brood?


  • #717
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Half-cocked wrote: »
    Watching our resident House Sparrows, it seems to be mainly the adult males that are feeding all the fledglings while the females only visit the feeders occasionally. Would they be incubating another brood?

    That's it exactly. House Sparrows will have at least 3 broods each year.


  • #718
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    One less House sparrow now, just watched a Sparrowhawk eating it!


  • #719
    Mad4simmental
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,580 ✭✭✭Mad4simmental


    New beekeeping thread in farming if any one is intrested. It would be good to see it get up and running. Cheers.


  • #720
    emo72
    Registered Users Posts: 6,186 ✭✭✭emo72


    saw fast little furry thing at the canal in clondalkin. at first i thought it was a squirrel trying to cross the road, then i realised it was totally different. very slim and long and cylindrical, its tail was the same as its body. it was trying to cross a road at a bridge and doubled back promptly when a van approached. any ideas?

    edit....some google images suggest a stoat. first time i ever saw one if correct. are the seldom seen? i walk by a river most days with my eyes on the lookout for everything but never seen one.


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  • #721
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


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

    Not uncommon but always a treat to see one.


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