The Hide (chat thread)

Birdnuts

blue5000 wrote: »

Does anyone else think that there are less swallows around this summer?

Yes - and I'm putting it down to the exceptionally cold May. Appears to have hit numbers of other cold sensitive species such as Stonechats etc. around my place in North Mayo too compared to last year

Pie Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5RQSt-fgwE

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/16/disease-causing-mass-deaths-frogs-reaches-britain-aoe

Presume if it’s in Britain it’s not for off here too, quite sad

fiacha

blue5000 wrote: »

Does anyone else think that there are less swallows around this summer?

I was just thinking the same this morning. I spent a couple of hours mooching along the River Tolka and saw only 2 There was a great hatch of flies on the water and there would normally be a good number of swallows feeding. Grey Wagtails were also absent.

SnowyMuckish

I definitely don’t see the same numbers of swallows as usual.

Also rather alarmingly I find my garden seems very silent at the moment. It’s usually awash with bees smothering the flowers and other insects but it just seems devoid of anything... just silence and the odd solitary bee here and there.

magicbastarder

went for a walk yesterday on the beach between portmarnock and malahide, and in sections, there were loads of scraps of fabric washed up; hopefully this is just localised, or have they been seen elsewhere?

SnowyMuckish

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

My pond arrived today, I envisaged something far smaller so won’t be as straight forward as I thought to install. Pond liner sounds far more appealing at the moment

Had a lovely moment today, spotted my first dragon/damsel? fly busy laying eggs in the pond.

I’d love to know what it is?

magicbastarder

went and had a look on the biodiversity ireland site - looks like it's a large red damselfly, as the eyes are nearly as separated on dragonflies:

https://species.biodiversityireland.ie/profile.php?taxonId=78141

New Home

I might easily be mistaken, but I think another way of differentiating them is that dragonflies keep their wings perpendicular to their body (so they look like a t), whereas damselflies keep their wings parallel to their bodies, so they look like an i. Not sure if they behave differently when they're laying their eggs, though.

fiacha

magicbastarder wrote: »

went and had a look on the biodiversity ireland site - looks like it's a large red damselfly, as the eyes are nearly as separated on dragonflies:

https://species.biodiversityireland.ie/profile.php?taxonId=78141

Just had a look through my identification guide and I think you are correct

magicbastarder

that should have been 'not nearly as separated'!

fryup

do magpies do anting?? its just that i saw two magpies this morning on the front lawn motionless for about 5 mins, kinda strange behaviour

New Home

Maybe just a dirt bath? All birds do it, AFAIK.

Tiercel Dave

fryup wrote: »

do magpies do anting?? its just that i saw two magpies this morning on the front lawn motionless for about 5 mins, kinda strange behaviour

Maybe just young ones in awe of the world.....

Scotty #

Spent 10 minutes yesterday watching a Dipper on the rive Boyne near Drogheda. First time I've ever seen one. Absolutely chuffed!

Little Flick

A healthy looking hedgehog was at my back door very early this morning. The wee fella was eating cat food I had left out for a wild cat.

New Home

This is a great idea!

Base price

Bat Conservation Ireland and UCD are looking for people who have bat roosts on their farm/premises to take samples of droppings and send them to UCD for analysis. They want to know what insects they are eating and what role bats play in controlling pest numbers. If you want to get involved click on the link below, it's free.

https://batsandbugs.ie/

magicbastarder

did anyone else catch the roadtrip programme with chris packham and megan mccubbin on BBC2? he's gloriously cranky and she's the perfect foil for him. really enjoyable stuff.

Meteorite58

Seen these bird of prey pellets last night on a coastal walk in Kerry, about 7 in total near burrows about 1 to 2 m above highwater line, looking at charts thinking they might be Kestrel perhaps ( 4 to 6cm in length approx), also a very large Bumblebee on my back doorstep this morning, was wondering if it might be a Queen Buff tailed Bumblebee, any thoughts greatly appreciated .

Birdnuts

Could be Short Eared Owl pellets too. They seem to be regular and possibly breeding now in the SW

magicbastarder

red in tooth and claw:

https://twitter.com/thenewgalaxy/status/1460255363694055435

deise08

Not sure if people are aware of this. Only found out about a week ago myself. It's been active since January, and runs out in January.

It's a European vote for the protection of sharks from finning in. European waters.

Irish votes are slow to come in.

I've been promoting it goodo on social media. Any ideas how to spread the word more and get more votes?

I've been tagging many Irish wildlife people, and can count on 1 hand how many responded.

Would people here be have any ideas, it's a Europe wide vote. If even how I could spread the word in other countries.

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/012/public/#/screen/home

New Home

For what it's worth, I've signed it and I've passed it on to a good few people. Might be worth posting it in the vegetarian and in the animal forums, too, if allowed.

A petition in Avaaz would probably help, too. https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/

deise08

That's brilliant New Home.

Thanks very much.

countbezukov

https://villagemagazine.ie/bull-island-discovery-centre-will-hasten-precipitous-decline-of-its-wildlife-the-centre-aims-to-attract-55000-60000-visitors-annually/

magicbastarder

anyone else catch 'the wild gardener' on BBC2 on friday? was a lovely watch; colin stafford johnson (himself the son of ireland's first telly gardener) decides to turn an acre his family owns in wicklow, into a wildlife haven. it's beautifully shot, as you might expect.

Bsal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208798#Comment_118208798

Loved it, looking forward to part 2 on Friday.

magicbastarder

part 1 is repeated tomorrow night on BBC1 for anyone who missed it.

magicbastarder

isn't it great that coillte are doing such good work for (checks notes) irish biodiversity?