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Nature on your farm.

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭kollegeknight


    Enough to justify shooting them?


    you’d think they would eat snails and prevent fluke.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    There is a dairy farmer near us and during the winter months there could be 40 to 50 whooper swans grazing in a couple of his fields that are on a lake shore. He has no issue with them and I notice that he always puts his heifer calves into those fields in the spring/summer. Maybe it because the swans have eaten all the snail and slugs.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    He shot 12, only 2 had shot, the others had decomposed. I saw what I thought were a large flock of sheep, spread out all over a neighbour's field, as I got nearer I could see they were swans. They could strip a field bare. I think Wexford has large populations of winter migrant geese and swans. Pigeons will strip cabbages bare, crows will destroy corn, are we to stand idly by and watch crops disappear. Swans and their eggs are food in some countries, so are puffins.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭kollegeknight


    Massive difference between swans and crows and pigeons.

    but I do think there should be a compensation approach if a crop fails due to a protected species.


    locally to us, lads were trying to shoot hen harrier for fear of not getting planning etc, now they’re looking for it to get the payments.


    the actions on the swans give all of us a bad name. I think it was unnecessary And alternatives could be used to move them on.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    I just read about a White Tailed Eagle that died from poisoning/secondary poisoning in the Midlands. I had the pleasure of seeing one in flight a few years ago near my place in NCD.




  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    I was moving a small pile of rubble today and came across 2 pygmy shrews in it. I did my best to relocate them to a nearby stone ditch. Even more bizarrely I also found a a few white eggs, around half the size of a hen egg.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 348 ✭✭Pie Man


    Nice Clump of frog spawn this year.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,078 ✭✭✭bogman_bass


    spotted the first of the speedwells out



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    I rescued a bumble bee struggling to escape from a bucket of water today. Exhausted, its wings too wet to fly. The only flowers with nectar that I could find in bloom were snowdrops.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    I saw a bumble bee today feeding on primroses that only flowered last week. It was 10c here today so fairly mild for the time of year.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm



    There nice detail in this photo. A very large honey bee, could it be a queen. Out of curiosity, I googled this

    https://www.orkin.com/pests/stinging-pests/bees/honey-bees/mechanics-of-honey-bee-mating



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    The little bit I know about bees is that it's a bumble bee and not a honey bee. More experience people might be able to identify it from that photo but most would also need to see the tail end.

    Below is a link to Biodiversity Ireland's link to their bumble bee monitoring scheme.

    https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/bumblebee-monitoring-scheme/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Everything is weeks ahead of scheduled - which is why I hope we don't get a beast from the East next month!!😯



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,696 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    I saw a bat at dusk in in the yard last night so have to agree things are a bit early so far this year.

    Does anyone know do buzzards affect crows or rooks? Normally we would have a good few crows roosting in mature trees near the yard but they are not there this year.

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



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    I looked around for flowers, there was no access to sugar. All that was in flower were daisy's or the snowdrops. I had seen dandelions earlier but couldn't remember where. It was probably too long in the water anyway.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    The recommendation to revive a bee is to mix 2 parts granulated sugar with one part clean water and leave it close to the bee on a tea spoon so it can drink.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    Apparently buzzards do predate on crows but I imagine only young ones. I wonder did bird flu affect your crows. We lost one of the resident mute swans on the lake a few weeks ago. I saw it in a neighbours field one day and it was gone the next. I didn't see any evidence of it until I was out fencing the other day and there was feathers scattered over a big area of one of our fields. I presume a fox got it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,149 ✭✭✭893bet


    I am considering setting up a bee hive somewhere. Something small to dip my toes. Going to attend a local county meeting next month.

    I don’t really have time but….I do like honey…..and it’s doing something positive for the environment.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    They do predate "Brancher" rooks alright who are just out of the nest, so they do influence the locations of rookeries in that respect



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,149 ✭✭✭893bet


    A herd in my broken bucket. Tiny little fellas




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,512 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Early the other morning I was firing a few things into the car. Heard one of the cats growl at something behind me and she ran past me like a flash. Turned around to see whatever it was that frightened her and up rocks this fox. It stopped just a few yards away from me, it looked at me and I looked at it for a few secs and instead of panicked running away, it just turns and lopes off like what you'd expect from an urban fox. Wonder if they predate on cats?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    They will kill kittens and old/frail cats that cannot defend themselves. In fairness most healthy fit cats are pretty ferocious at defending themselves. It would take a very desperate fox to try and take one on.



  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    I saw a stoat this afternoon jumping the ditch, lovely red colour, quick lil fellow.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    The NPWS are to start the reintroduction of Osprey back into Ireland. Hopefully the reintroduction goes well and we regularly get to see these beautiful birds. I saw one about 10 years ago flying along the route of a river in NCD. It was been mobbed by a red kite and rooks.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    I see the house martins at the gable end of the house have returned this morning but no sign of any swallows yet. Last year the swallows were here about a week before the house martins.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    While driving I saw what was i thought was a swallow fly past - I will check dash cam later



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    Same location, now there are two swallows. They were chased off by the arrival of starlings.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,380 ✭✭✭Deub


    I saw swallows in Cork last Sunday. Happy to see them back.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    I saw two house Martins doing aerobatics around my neighbours house yesterday. They nest every year in the same spot, under the bargeboard on the gable



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Swallows just arrived back on my place in North Mayo this week, which is about average for this location. Sister in Kildare had them for the past 2 weeks. Seems to be generally more about then this time last year when I think problems on migration with cold weather over Spain hit numbers quiet hard in areas further North



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    Thankfully the first pair of swallows arrived this afternoon into the garage at the house. I've left the small door open for the last couple of weeks in anticipation of their return and when I went to feed the dogs just now the two are happily perched on the rafters. Hopefully the other two pairs arrive soon.

    On the downside, the house martins have disappeared and there has been no activity around the nest under the gable since.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    The pair of house martins were back this afternoon under the gable doing repairs on last years nest.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,349 ✭✭✭✭Base price


    I counted 11 jackdaws on the bull as he was lying down picking beakfuls of his hair to line their nests.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Yep - there busy lads atm, along with the likes of starlings who appear to be hoovering up a bumper crop of leatherjackets atm, based on what i see being transported by adults birds around the place



  • Registered Users Posts: 62 ✭✭peek a boo


    Pheasant has taken up residence in the garden



  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    About 2 weeks ago I found a robins nest with 4 blue eggs, in one of the small sheds I don't use this time of year. I keep all the doors closed to keep the he cats out.. There are 2 robins drawing in worms flat out



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,696 Mod ✭✭✭✭blue5000


    Have a starling's nest in the vent of a tractor cab, they're messy little fookers.

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



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,835 ✭✭✭Lime Tree Farm


    These ones won't make it. Had walked passed the spot 10 mins earlier, noticed them on my return. Hard to figure out, were they dropped from on high, who could carry both? Just on the roadway, no building or trees nearby. They were cold and leaking, I moved them to the side, some creature may as well have a feed.




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  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    A lot of hares around this year on my hilly ground, way more than normal. Lots of foxes shot last year by the contract killer.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,110 ✭✭✭minerleague


    Let bullocks into field of grass and saw them all surrounding 1 spot after a few moments, unfortunately two baby hares, they must have walked on one and killed it ( managed to fence off area with white cord electric fence, other one never moved an inch throughout it all ). Years ago wetter fields were hay meadows and not grazed in spring time - probably not cut till late june or later - giving hares and ground nesting birds somewhere to have young. Now the experts want you to finish cattle younger ( see ABP are to bring in " sustainability " payment ) based on it being lower carbon footprint, but that requires better silage ( drainage/ grazed early/ cutting May) and no store period. Have a couple of fields that I already farm more traditionally, think I will pick a few more wetter fields and leave alone till later in year.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,045 ✭✭✭kevthegaff


    Hilly land here, have spotted minks, pine martens, red squirrels, buzzers, badgers, foxes, deer, haven't seen owls but their on neighbouring farms. Haven't seen as many hares, perhaps buzzers took care of them!



  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    Ive an old home made bale spike here made of 4' channel welded together to make 4' box which I only use to feed in winter.

    A small bird, grey and black with a yellow breast has 4 chicks inside it. I couldn't understand for the life of me where the tweeting was coming from.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin




  • Registered Users Posts: 325 ✭✭RockOrBog


    I have no idea tbh, both birds have a yellow breast and are grey and black



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,764 ✭✭✭✭Say my name




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,617 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Found bees nesting in a bolthole in a wall in the yard.. I've been told they are reusing an old bird nest



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,957 ✭✭✭kirk.


    Large black spider in the shed about twice the size of what I'd normally see, large main body

    Any idea what type that might be , didn't look like the false widow anyhow ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin


    I would wager it’s this

    Native to Ireland, not a bit dangerous - leave it to eat pest insects for you



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,957 ✭✭✭kirk.


    Looks like that



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