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Nature on your farm.

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    #632
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Say my name wrote: »
    There's been sightings of cattle egrets in Wexford here lately.
    They'll be the new kids amongst the livestock now.

    Got friends in Enniscorthy and noticed several in fields next to the river last winter - also Glossyy Ibis are turning up more and more in recent years and is probably only a matter of time before they join our avifauna as breeders.


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    #633
    Waffletraktor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,424 ✭✭✭Waffletraktor


    527761.JPG
    Waffletraktor wrote: »
    Spot the leveret

    2nd go, building dramatic tension.

    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=527761&d=1601359685


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    #634
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    Waffletraktor wrote: »
    2nd go, building dramatic tension.

    I've stared at that photo for the last 15 minutes zooming in on it and can't for the life of me spot anything resembling either a hare or even two big ears sticking up out of the ground... blind as a bat i am..


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    #635
    Lady Haywire
    Registered Users Posts: 5,181 ✭✭✭Lady Haywire


    NcdJd wrote: »
    I've stared at that photo for the last 15 minutes zooming in on it and can't for the life of me spot anything resembling either a hare or even two big ears sticking up out of the ground... blind as a bat i am..

    Between the two orange stones!


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    #636
    minerleague
    Registered Users Posts: 1,037 ✭✭✭minerleague


    Would cattle kill a leveret by walking on him? found one today, no machinery in field :(


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    #637
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    Lady Haywire wrote: »
    Between the two orange stones!

    Bless your eyesight Lady H. I need to eat more carrots.


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    #638
    Waffletraktor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,424 ✭✭✭Waffletraktor


    NcdJd wrote: »
    I've stared at that photo for the last 15 minutes zooming in on it and can't for the life of me spot anything resembling either a hare or even two big ears sticking up out of the ground... blind as a bat i am..

    It's worse for lads doing machinery work here, there's hudreds of hares about(and pikeys it seems). You usually just about see movement at the last second so heads on a swivel.
    This was one of the lads after chasing one around the press for 10 mins by the light of the phone as the shadows between let it hide and creep about unseen. The bugger had already cleared off when he'd lifted it. You try to herd them on to worked land out of the way.


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    #639
    gozunda
    Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    minerleague wrote: »
    Would cattle kill a leveret by walking on him? found one today, no machinery in field :(

    They would. They will also kill downed birds such as seabirds who come in to land exhausted during / after storms.


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    #640
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    Nice little video of the benefits of hedgerows.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9MDO_5q25U


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    #641
    endainoz
    Registered Users Posts: 4,803 ✭✭✭endainoz


    Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »
    Nice little video of the benefits of hedgerows.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9MDO_5q25U

    Great video, I ended up going down quite a large youtube rabbit hole about hedge planting and laying last night! So many different benefits to having them on the farm.


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    #642
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    endainoz wrote: »
    Great video, I ended up going down quite a large youtube rabbit hole about hedge planting and laying last night! So many different benefits to having them on the farm.

    Yeah, one place you don't ever want to go is Youtube and hedge laying, days can pass:eek:


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    #643
    Fluppen
    Registered Users Posts: 88 ✭✭Fluppen


    It's lovely to see big bushy diverse overhanging hedgerows being praised, I love my hedgerows but it's painful to see how many red lines have appeared on my BPS map because of overhang and shade :(. I wish hedgerows and trees were seen as valuable by DAFM and therefore not subtracted from the hectares for BPS.

    Lovely bright morning, the spiders have been busy.


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    #644
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    Fluppen wrote: »
    It's lovely to see big bushy diverse overhanging hedgerows being praised, I love my hedgerows but it's painful to see how many red lines have appeared on my BPS map because of overhang and shade :(. I wish hedgerows and trees were seen as valuable by DAFM and therefore not subtracted from the hectares for BPS.

    Lovely bright morning, the spiders have been busy.

    The Dept took a very hard line on their definition of ecological value in the GAEC, favouring Agricultural much more than Ecological, and now farmers are being blamed for following the official guidelines on what they have to do to claim their entitlements.

    I think the definition in the next round of CAP will be much less abrasive, they will have to give much more leeway on ecological values of natural vegetation.


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    #645
    blue5000
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,631 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    It doesn't make sense, lots of 'scrub' tidied up here too. Everyone is afraid to appeal it because nobody wants to draw attention to themselves.

    If the seat's wet, sit on yer hat, a cool head is better than a wet ar5e.



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    #646
    Base price
    Registered Users Posts: 11,180 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    I saw two ravens in a tree and heard another croaking this morning when out herding. I've heard them before but this is the first time I saw them.


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    #647
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    Base price wrote: »
    I saw two ravens in a tree and heard another croaking this morning when out herding. I've heard them before but this is the first time I saw them.

    They are lovely birds to listen to. Emit some very strange sounds


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    #648
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,886 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    NcdJd wrote: »
    They are lovely birds to listen to. Emit some very strange sounds

    They can learn to speak faster than a parrot, fascinatingly intelligent creatures.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #649
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    Rows Grower wrote: »
    They can learn to speak faster than a parrot, fascinatingly intelligent creatures.

    I know it's probably not a popular opinion here ha but all the members of the covid family I find fascinating. They are always up to something.


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    #650
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    6034073
    Had a load of tomatoes in the poly tunnel that seem to have been tomatoes you use for cooking. Not the type of tomatoe you'd take off the vine and eat many of. The rats have discovered them so there's holes everywhere from them going in and eating the tomatoes. Cleared it out yesterday and one rat was looking at me doing it from the hole it made. Clever little fckers. Left the two doors open last night to see if the fox or cats want to have a go at them.

    I let the weeds and grass grow up round the sides of it which I usually don't do so they have plenty of cover. Gonna cut all this out and polytunnel is clear of food sources so hopefully that will do the trick.


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    #651
    NcdJd
    Closed Accounts Posts: 994 ✭✭✭NcdJd


    Field of poppies. Amazing how they seem to just appear from no where. Nothing planted in that field this year.


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    #652
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,886 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Roots of a Sitka Spruce tree that was blown over some time ago.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #653
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,887 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Rows Grower wrote: »
    Roots of a Sitka Spruce tree that was blown over some time ago.
    Do you ever notice lumps of white quartz stuck in those roots of fallen trees way more than any other type of rock? Maybe its a Wicklow mountains thing but I always wondered about that...


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    #654
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,886 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Thargor wrote: »
    Do you ever notice lumps of white quartz stuck in those roots of fallen trees way more than any other type of rock? Maybe its a Wicklow mountains thing but I always wondered about that...

    I haven't noticed it to be honest Thargor but I'll be a bit more inquisitive in future.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #655
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    Nice video of a few red squirrels below.
    https://twitter.com/IrelandsFarmers/status/1313112490692227073?s=19


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    #656
    fleabag
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭fleabag


    I'm not a farmer but I'd like to say a big thank you to all the posters for this thread and all the news and images it contains.

    I live next door to a diary farm and walk the fields every day. The farmer keeps some scruffy land about his fields which is where I do my wildlife spotting.

    Farmers get a lot of stick for damaging the environment but this thread shows that there are lots out there who are invested in nature and the environment on their land and doing their best to encourage this despite the regulations. It's been lovely reading through it and given me a real hope that not all is lost for our native wildlife while there are farmers out there willing to work with it.

    Thanks :)


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    #657
    tabby aspreme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,865 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    Saw this today on the bottom of a tree after all the rain, just like suds


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    #658
    gozunda
    Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    tabby aspreme wrote: »
    Saw this today on the bottom of a tree after all the rain, just like suds

    Likley you'll find an insect of some sort at the centre of what looks like froth.

    The most common froth seen is called Cuckoo Spit which is formed by an insect called a froghopper

    The 'spit' is actually a protective bubble wrapping the froghopper, which sucks the plant sap and distorts the young growth of flowering plants. It protects the insect from attack by predators and stops it from drying out.

    UK_cuckoo-spit-closeup.jpg


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    #659
    bobbyy gee
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,306 ✭✭✭bobbyy gee


    i have about 30 badgers on my farm


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    #660
    gozunda
    Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Some twigs doing dancing impersonations ;)

    4hfza0.jpg

    4hfz2e.jpg


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    #661
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,886 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Thargor wrote: »
    Do you ever notice lumps of white quartz stuck in those roots of fallen trees way more than any other type of rock? Maybe its a Wicklow mountains thing but I always wondered about that...

    Came across a few more fallen spruce but no sign of any quartz, must be a Wicklow mountains thing alright. By the way I meant to put the other picture in a different thread, they're not on my modest 4 acres.

    528617.jpg

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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