Nature on your farm.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117804251#Comment_117804251

A m8 sent me a photo of puff ball on his place in Kildare the size of a rugby ball last week!!

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117804359#Comment_117804359

I took a photo of the three puff balls grouped together in the lawn. I viewed them back on the screen and a suggestive image came to mind.

Lime Tree Farm

These little lilac blossoms caught my eye a few days ago. I can't find any matches online. Any ideas, nestling in a rush plant in a rocky limestone outcrop.

IMG_20210826_095608.jpg

IMG_20210826_095518.jpg

J2CVC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117830191#Comment_117830191

Common centaury I think

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117830463#Comment_117830463

Terrific, thank you. I was beginning to think it was a garden escape.

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117830463#Comment_117830463

You are definitely correct. I had a look at the Readers Digest, Wildlife, Plants & Flowers, for a description.

"Common Centaury can be a single stem 2" high or a plant with several stems and many branches 12" high. One clue is the rosette of leaves at the base of the stem. Lesser Centaury has no rosette at the base, fewer flowers and longer stalks"

On checking it has the rosette of leaves at the base. I could also see where it was cropped by cattle.

ABitofsense

I was tidying up last year's straw in the shed & dog was going crazy. She's a great ratter so didn't pass much heat until I moved it. Hedgehog nest! The hisses out of her. I knock one of the young out of the nest. Didn't know they have young this late in the year. I put the young and everything back as best I could. Anyone know will she abandon the young now?

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117843153#Comment_117843153

Apparently hedgehogs have their young at this time of the year.

I don't think she will. One of our dogs disturbed a hedgehogs nest a few years ago in the hay shed and killed a hoglet. We covered it back up and put up two sheets of 8'x4' plywood to keep the dogs from it. I left them be for a few days but I saw the rest of the hoglets moving about at night when I shone the torch in on them. Hopefully yours will survive.

Say my name

Heard a Blackcap today.

I'm not sure I ever heard one before. It was like two stones hitting each other or as google says knocking two marbles together.

Big migrations of swallows now passing through. Must have been over a hundred on the wires yesterday evening.

Flock of goldfinch are still very active on farm. 40 or 50 in number roughly.

SouthWesterly

Plenty of elephant hawk moth caterpillars around

minerleague

Seems to be an abundance of fruit on hedgerows hereabouts this year ( haven't seen as good amount of plums especially for a few years )

_Brian

Was topping a low meadow yesterday. Usually there would be a bunch of grey crows scavenging frogs.

Now it’s buzzards, three of them hopping abkut the field feasting on the frogs. Damn big birds when your up close.

Base price

The hedges are full of gossamer in the last few days. I've had to remove strands of wind swept gossamer/spiderlings from my face when herding in the early hours of the morning.

_Brian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878469#Comment_117878469

Walked the hedges on Saturday and got 6 damsens, late frosts killed the buds so no fruit was set. With our late frosts here we only seem to get a crop maybe one year on five.

blue5000

Any arachnophobics know what this bloody big spider is?

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902938#Comment_117902938

Looks like one of the Harvestmen Spp

Base price

The house martins and last of the swallows are gone. I noticed a lot of activity yesterday and I was thinking that they maybe gathering to go. None to be seen today.

Gawddawggonnit

From this morning. An escapee I presume?

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117904727#Comment_117904727

From the Readers Digest, Britain's Wildlife.

Harvestman, Phalangium opilio.

"Unlike true spiders, which they closely resemble, Harvestmen have a one-piece body and long second pair of legs. They do not make webs. Throughout Britain, June to November. Female body 10 mm long. Male body smaller than female, but legs longer. "

"Can be troubled by parasitic mites which suck their blood"

_Brian

When I was a kid I remember my dad showing me owls about the place at night.

I hadn’t seen any in the intervening years. Was devastated maybe 10 years ago to find a dead young owl near the yard, no doubt killed from poison we had laid for vermin. We stopped poison and have cats now.

abkut 4 years ago I was mooching about the yard one night and thought I saw an owl in the rafters of the open machinery shed, I’ve looked any time in about but nothing.

At dusk this evening I was alone in the yard when I heard a swish in the air. Delighted to look up and see an owl gracefully passing and heading out across the yard to the fields.

no idea what sort, but I’m wondering about putting up a barn owl box just in case. Wonder would they use a shed that has tractors in that would be started and moved few times a week ?

honestly I was ridiculously excited.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002090#Comment_118002090

According to this article - "Barn Owls can get used to almost any kind of activity as long as they can stay out of sight."

https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-nestbox/

Danzy

Saw a barn owl this week, first time in 20 years. Will be putting up a box for them.

Amount of birds of prey now is incredible.

All good signs, the top can't eat if the lower species aren't doing ok.

endainoz

I have an owl box up high in the slatted house, unfortunately haven't seen anything using it for a house yet though. Hopefully something will use it soon. I've never seen one in the flesh but have heard the distinctive shriek of one near me one night.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118005985#Comment_118005985

I worked on a Barn owl box scheme back home in Kildare a few years ago - the average occupancy after 5 years was just over 10%. Now that could well be down to an existing population density that had obviously dropped sharply over the previous few decades for the usual reasons. Since then there has been some population recovery especially in favoured locations in the South Midlands and SW generally with occupancy increasing to 30%. At the end of the day too Barn Owls are a sensitive species so putting boxes in the "right" locations is critical in terms of suitable nearby habitat, curbing rodenticide use etc. In contrast projects back home with Dipper boxes on local bridges have shown an impressive 90% occupancy in the past few years. Lovely little birds and if you see them on your local streams/rivers you know that the water quality is at least decent!!

memorystick

https://npws.ie/news/three-month-suspended-jail-sentence-possession-two-dead-buzzards?s=08

Good enough for him.

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118060279#Comment_118060279

I would say he effectively got away with it - no fine and a suspended sentence.

Kevhog1988

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117907990#Comment_117907990

Is it a kakariki or a budgie?.

Base price

The Whooper swans have arrived for their holidays. I counted 12 (including one younger one with grey/brown plumage) grazing in a lake shore field near me this morning.

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118066464#Comment_118066464

Same here, they flew in last Thursday, making some racket. I must try for some photos.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118066587#Comment_118066587

Wild Geese and Swans flying in from the NW over my place in North Mayo since early last week. Also heard the distinct night time calls of Redwing as they arrive from Scandi to feast on our berries etc.