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bkrangle · 22-02-2021 4:38pm

Amazing news if true

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1363863655150927888?s=20

Birdnuts · 22-02-2021 7:25pm

bkrangle wrote: »

Amazing news if true

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1363863655150927888?s=20

Wow - that would be the biggest re discovery in Zoology for a long time!!:eek:

Read recently too that Wolves on Japan may not be totally extinct either despite the last confirmed being shot over 100 years ago

Birdnuts · 22-02-2021 7:26pm

Pleased to see a Red Kite joining 5 buzzards circling my parents house outside Naas 2day:)

Rosahane · 23-02-2021 12:06pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Pleased to see a Red Kite joining 5 buzzards circling my parents house outside Naas 2day:)

We thought we saw one last summer after just coming off the N7 at the Straffan exit. Hopefully you get a breeding pair and further expansion.

New Home · 23-02-2021 12:20pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Wow - that would be the biggest re discovery in Zoology for a long time!!:eek:

Read recently too that Wolves on Japan may not be totally extinct either despite the last confirmed being shot over 100 years ago

Well, there goes that.

https://mobile.twitter.com/collieennis/status/1364085222715842560/photo/1

magicbastarder · 23-02-2021 12:34pm

probably three dozen frogs in the pond in the back garden, and a dozen in the front garden pond this morning. i only put the front one in (it's maybe 1.5m wide at its widest point) to give the frogs which make it to the front garden somewhere to shelter in dry weather, but they've certainly made use of it.

Alun · 23-02-2021 12:36pm

New Home wrote: »

Well, there goes that.
https://mobile.twitter.com/collieennis/status/1364085222715842560/photo/1

The upside is that I now know what a Tasmanian pademelon is

HoteiMarkii · 26-02-2021 12:52pm

Looking out the office window just now and saw a Blue Tit with a Small Tortoiseshell in its beak. Most mornings here this little guy can be seen shadow boxing with his own reflection in car door mirrors. I think there's a pair of them about, who may be looking to nest somewhere close; they became very vocal earlier this morning when a Great Tit was flitting about their favourite Hawthorn. Spring would appear to be on the way, thankfully.

fiacha · 26-02-2021 6:42pm

Certainly feels that way.
Robin, Blackbird and Hooded crow all collecting materials from the garden over the last week. Bullfinch eating the buds on the hawthorn.
Queen bumblebees out foraging. Birdsong from dawn 'till dark.

Bsal · 27-02-2021 1:09am

A couple Blackbirds singing this evening spring is on it's way!

pottokblue · 27-02-2021 12:50pm

Love Spring, birdsong and the dawn chorus!

Fakediamond · 04-03-2021 9:22am

I heard a great spotted woodpecker drumming in my garden yesterday. They visit my peanut feeder regularly, scattering the little birds.

Thrilled to have them around, still such a novelty.

magicbastarder · 05-03-2021 11:10pm

needs to be viewed in full screen and HD; the fungi this chap has been photographing are stunning. he's based in australia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYunPJQWZ1o

SnowyMuckish · 06-03-2021 9:39pm

Went to visit my mother today, my late father built a 3 tier pond system in the garden a few years ago which is now teaming with frog spawn. It took all my might not to take a small jar of it back to my own pond, good things come to those who wait, or so I kept telling myself today :pac: :pac:

magicbastarder · 07-03-2021 12:49pm

dropped my wife out to where her horse is stabled, 30km there and back in the car (we're allowed outside 5km for animal care reasons).
between the drive out, five minutes at the stable, and the drive home, i saw one red kite and at least seven buzzards. at one point, we could see three buzzards and the red kite at the same time.

now, that's a good haul for 40 minutes in the car, but only ten years ago that would have been extraordinary to see.

Birdnuts · 08-03-2021 1:45am

magicbastarder wrote: »

dropped my wife out to where her horse is stabled, 30km there and back in the car (we're allowed outside 5km for animal care reasons).
between the drive out, five minutes at the stable, and the drive home, i saw one red kite and at least seven buzzards. at one point, we could see three buzzards and the red kite at the same time.

now, that's a good haul for 40 minutes in the car, but only ten years ago that would have been extraordinary to see.

Experienced something similar yesterday near my parents place in North Kildare - a kettle of 7 buzzards over a quarry being mobbed by an irate Peregrine

Scotty # · 13-03-2021 6:38pm

Recently discovered the series Earth from Space which RTE are showing at the moment but I think it's a BBC product?

Best nature doc that's come along in several years IMO!

Scotty # · 13-03-2021 7:35pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

needs to be viewed in full screen and HD; the fungi this chap has been photographing are stunning. he's based in australia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYunPJQWZ1o

You undersold it Magicbastarder... incredible images!!

boccy23 · 16-03-2021 9:22am

I have run out of peanuts. Before i buy a big bucket, when is it normal to stop feeding these and fat balls?

Fakediamond · 16-03-2021 10:01am

boccy23 wrote: »

I have run out of peanuts. Before i buy a big bucket, when is it normal to stop feeding these and fat balls?

The advice now is to feed birds all year, although I find they don’t eat as much during the warmer months.

I only feed fat balls during extreme cold. Usually I supply peanuts and sunflower hearts in the feeders.

appledrop · 16-03-2021 7:28pm

I saw a small tortoise butterfly on my walk this evening.

It must have came out of hibernation with the nice weather.

vistafinder · 17-03-2021 9:17pm

Chiffchaffs singing since monday in the south west and a few bumble bee queens making a move. Saw 2 butterflies out cycling today too. Not able to identify them.

SnowyMuckish · 17-03-2021 9:50pm

Haven’t seen a single bumblebee yet. The sight of the first queen is always my highlight of Spring, that and the first time you see them feeding off something you planted just for them. I look forward to it every year!

I noticed a pair of bluetits using one of our nest boxes today. It was supposed to be more of a decorative box than a real nest on our patio and I never imagined they’d actually go for it as it’s facing directly south so I thought it would be too hot a site for them, nonetheless they seem happy with their new home!

magicbastarder · 19-03-2021 10:06pm

was trying to think of some table quiz style questions for friends' kids, as much to educate as to be interesting themselves.

e.g. a bit advanced, but 'name as many native irish species which have repeated names in their latin binomials as you can'? e.g. common wren, badger, buzzard - and then got wondering myself how many there actually are!

pottokblue · 20-03-2021 11:54am

Looking at the INpictures week in wildlife on the Guardian website and I had skin shudder, stomach turning when I saw the picture of the "Polarbear Hotel" in Harbin. We need to protect wildlife from ourselves....

Spring spotting, I saw my first redbutterfly and ladybird 2021 on my canalbank walk on tuesday....

Alun · 20-03-2021 4:26pm

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Haven’t seen a single bumblebee yet. The sight of the first queen is always my highlight of Spring, that and the first time you see them feeding off something you planted just for them. I look forward to it every year!

We've had two trapped in our conservatory in the last week. The queens fly in the open door, and then can't find their way out again without a bit of help from me, a glass and a bit of cardboard

I noticed a pair of bluetits using one of our nest boxes today. It was supposed to be more of a decorative box than a real nest on our patio and I never imagined they’d actually go for it as it’s facing directly south so I thought it would be too hot a site for them, nonetheless they seem happy with their new home!

Noticed a bluetit checking out our camera nestbox today too.

Alun · 20-03-2021 4:34pm

pottokblue wrote: »

Looking at the INpictures week in wildlife on the Guardian website and I had skin shudder, stomach turning when I saw the picture of the "Polarbear Hotel" in Harbin. We need to protect wildlife from ourselves....

That doesn't surprise me at all. From my experience the average Chinese tourist has little to no respect for nature or wildlife.

I actually came to blows with a Chinese man while on holiday in NZ in 2019 who was trying to shine a torch at, and poke a little blue penguin that was hiding under his campervan with a broom so he could get a picture of it. They were making their way from the water to a place on the campervan park where they nested, plenty of signs all over the place warning people not to disturb them. and we were made aware of the situation when we checked in.

Plenty of other examples on the same holiday too.

Birdnuts · 21-03-2021 1:29am

Clocked the first Chiffchaff of the year yesterday near my parents place in North Kildare. They are always the first of our summer visitors to arrive and always in and around the week of Paddy's day

pottokblue · 21-03-2021 11:02am

I tried to give my 2 garden robins a porridge oats breakfast thismorning but the 2 magpies beat them to it.

SnowyMuckish · 22-03-2021 11:00pm

Interesting program advertised on RTÉ for Sunday, “Back from the Brink”. Looking at the return of wildlife such as the red squirrel.

I usually can’t cope with watching nature or David Attenborough style programs as they’re always so upsetting but nice to see a positive story for a change, think I’ll give this one a watch.

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