The Hide (chat thread)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Definite Pine Weevil for the first one.

vistafinder

Thanks very much. Thats great. Had a fear one of them might have been a vine weevil. Found it hard to compare from pics.

Bsal

The first of the starlings have fledged today in my area.

recedite

vistafinder wrote: »

Thanks very much. That's great. Had a fear one of them might have been a vine weevil. Found it hard to compare from pics.

A serious pest of forestry. I met an English guy in Waterford a few years ago who had a contract to go around the forestry plantations there conducting some kind of biological warfare against them. I thought he was using nematodes but I could be wrong there.

Half-cocked

Bsal wrote: »

The first of the starlings have fledged today in my area.

Garden full of them on Sunday. Good to see they appear to have had a good breeding season.

magicbastarder

seems like a bumper year so, our garden has been heaving with fledging starlings too.

Zoo4m8

At last..for the first time, not one but three Red Kites over the place yesterday (north Wicklow), very interesting to watch their interaction with the resident Buzzards. When one of the Kites approached the nest tree a Buzzard appeared almost from nowhere and with little or no aggression moved the Kite away, it then went and checked out the other two and after a little bit of circling together the Buzzard happily went back to family life..

magicbastarder

patrick freyne should be given a permanent job reviewing nature programs:

https://www.irishtimes.com/patrick-freyne-nature-programmes-don-t-tell-you-animals-are-duplicitous-bastards-1.3515034

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

magicbastarder wrote: »

patrick freyne should be given a permanent job reviewing nature programs:

https://www.irishtimes.com/patrick-freyne-nature-programmes-don-t-tell-you-animals-are-duplicitous-bastards-1.3515034

I actually found that article deplorable.

magicbastarder

i thought it was very funny.

whyulittle

Finally heard my first Cuckoo of the year today, in a spot I've been past plenty of times already this year.

Capercaillie

One corncrake calling from my north meadow nettle bed. One corncrake calling from my south meadow nettle beds. Two corncrake calling in field beside my meadows. Two corncrake calling 50 m from my iris field. Heard a hen corncrake in my small nettle bed, two males were dueling over her......

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Capercaillie wrote: »

One corncrake calling from my north meadow nettle bed. One corncrake calling from my south meadow nettle beds. Two corncrake calling in field beside my meadows. Two corncrake calling 50 m from my iris field. Heard a hen corncrake in my small nettle bed, two males were dueling over her......

Great news. Well done!

magicbastarder

i'm sure anyone interested would have heard about this already, but worth posting; wildlife officer job posting with the heritage council:

https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/news/jobs/wildlife-officer-with-the-heritage-council

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Weepsie wrote: »

First time poster in these here parts and not sure if it needs a dedicated thread.

Anyway, our balcony had become something of a hotspot for bluetits and such, but last week they seemed to just stop completely. There don't seem to be any flitting around the eider area at all either.

Is there a reason that anyone could point to? I'd get that there's more food readily available, and out neighbour has a cat but the cat isn't one for hunting, nor would it explain the wider area.

Still getting starlings.

When Blue Tit chicks fledge the family group often forage further afield.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The garden is awash with insects. Bees, hoverfly's, butterfly's, beetles, grasshoppers etc.

The good weather is certainly suiting them.

Ulmus

I was delighted to see seven ducklings with their Tufted Duck mother on the Royal Canal today. I regularly see adult tufted ducks here but it's years since I saw ducklings. There are reeds growing on one side of the canal which gives them protective cover.
There are adult Tufted Ducks at the Blessington Street Basin but no ducklings. This is a very exposed site with no reeds due to the depth of the water. There is a little island and maybe they lay eggs there but these get eaten by predators such as magpies, hooded crows, gulls, rats and there's also a terrapin. There are a few hybrid Mallard ducklings who've survived against the odds.

Graces7

The sparrows nesting in a crevice in the 150 year old cattleshed wall by my door are into their third brood.

The whole place was unoccupied several years so I am definitely the intruder. And they make sure I know that. Whenever I go out, there is a cafuffle from them and every time at least one is poised to enter the nest with food...and stops on sight of me

They have no idea can watch them, rapt, from inside the kitchen.

Entrancing wee birds...

magicbastarder

we have good friends with sons aged 6 and 8, and they're making a decent fist of getting them interested in nature. the six year old has recently switched his obsession from sharks to newts, and despite an initial disappointment that you can only find one species here, has held his interest.
so his mum and dad made a set of newt top trumps for him (maybe not 100% scientifically accurate).

magicbastarder

however, i will be petitioning the national biodiversity centre to apply a 'newt rating' to any and all species from now on.

New Home

That is just brilliant!

magicbastarder

it gets better. it turns out he's drawn a newt comic.

New Home

Love that, absolutely adorable!!!

recedite

Not happy about the Banded Newt only getting a 6 rating. They look fairly impressive?
Also where is Newt Gingrich and Pissedasa Newt; they would have a fairly high toxicity?

fiacha

Little bit of drizzle here and the birds are having a ball feeding on the insects. Garden is alive with them. The two warring pairs of Blackbirds have called a temporary truce to join in on the feast. Don't usually see them this frantic until the ant nuptial flights.

Also, that fresh Summer rain smell is amazing

Tiercel Dave

fiacha wrote: »

Also, that fresh Summer rain smell is amazing

Petrichor.....

magicbastarder

we have a petrichor candle here. does what it says on the (literal) tin.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/123174861178?clk_rvr_id=1595186608484&vectorid=229543&lgeo=1&item=123174861178&rmvSB=true

Graces7

The birds have gone totally silent here. Odd. West Mayo offshore island

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Immense activity at the bird feeders. A family of eight Great Tits, adult and young Chaffinch, copious House Sparrows, Robins and Blackbirds. Great to see them before the usual July/August slump when they disperse further.

fiacha

Had a bad week of deliberate fires destroying part of the old growth hedgerow in our estate. Lost one blackthorn at the end of the garden with another badly damaged. 5 fires within 3 days. Thanks to DFB there wasn't any major damage to sheds / gardens.

Spent an hour in the garden this morning sulking over a coffee and scone. Our resident young robin came over for crumbs (as usual) and was soon joined by one of the blackbirds. First time she has come so close. I was watching the house sparrows making a mess down at the baths, when out of the blue a pair of bullfinches landed on the back of a chair right next to me. They stayed for a couple of seconds and took off into the neighbours. Never seen bullfinches in the area before, let alone in the garden !

Sounds soft, but I swear nature has a way of knowing that you need a bit of a lift.