Nature on your farm.

Capercaillie · 16-09-2020 8:38am

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

They are between the slates and the felt in the garage, and the day they come through the felt we’ll be in trouble - they’ll have to go then...

Don’t really like em, smell in the garage is rough enough with em...

Illegal to remove them by yourself. You need to contact NPWS if you want to destroy their roost.

_Brian · 16-09-2020 8:40am

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

They are between the slates and the felt in the garage, and the day they come through the felt we’ll be in trouble - they’ll have to go then...

Don’t really like em, smell in the garage is rough enough with em...

Wonder if you provided a few bat boxes on the external wall where they access would they prefer them and move out of the roof ?

_Brian · 16-09-2020 8:42am

We have lots about at night but don’t usually see them about before dark.

Dinzee Conlee · 16-09-2020 10:11am

Capercaillie wrote: »

Illegal to remove them by yourself. You need to contact NPWS if you want to destroy their roost.

Yeah, I know that.

_Brian wrote: »

Wonder if you provided a few bar boxes on the external wall where they access would they prefer them and move out of the roof ?

Based on what I have seen and heard in GLAS - it would suggest they prefer to find their own places, and not live in artificial box environments...
Its still something worth trying maybe, but you'd wonder if the bats arent so easily fooled

_Brian · 16-09-2020 11:09am

Partly bat related but I noticed that evening and night insect numbers are massive here.
Had bathroom light on all evening and by midnight the outside of the window was mad alive with moths and flying things of all sizes, really glad the window was closed.
Same sort of insect levels as I remember in the 1970’s.

I know the talk is of overall decline but out of the way less intensively farmed areas like here are still teeming if you look for them.

Lady Haywire · 16-09-2020 11:16am

I've bats somewhere in my roof too. No idea where and they don't bother me as I love watching them flit about & squeaking.
About 6 weeks ago I noticed one had managed to get into the kitchen & hang off a curtain rain & died :eek:
Only two days after that the b*tch of a cat took one in the window (very annoyed screeching going over my head woke me up as she jumped in the window over the bed) and she let the bloody thing go in the kitchen. VERY much alive so all I could do at 3am was open the door & wait for it to stop circling the kitchen & see the opening. :pac:

Sacrolyte · 16-09-2020 12:51pm

Are you the same lady haywire that was on pat kenny this morning?
If so well done.

Lady Haywire · 16-09-2020 1:04pm

Sacrolyte wrote: »

Are you the same lady haywire that was on pat kenny this morning?
If so well done.

Um. I plead the fifth...?:pac:

_Brian · 16-09-2020 1:10pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I've bats somewhere in my roof too. No idea where and they don't bother me as I love watching them flit about & squeaking.
About 6 weeks ago I noticed one had managed to get into the kitchen & hang off a curtain rain & died :eek:
Only two days after that the b*tch of a cat took one in the window (very annoyed screeching going over my head woke me up as she jumped in the window over the bed) and she let the bloody thing go in the kitchen. VERY much alive so all I could do at 3am was open the door & wait for it to stop circling the kitchen & see the opening. :pac:

Have a friend in bat conservation Ireland.

She was telling me the major way bats get into rooms is by following insects towards a window.

Young inexperienced bats get so focused on insects that they don’t realise they are going through the window until hey are inside. There’s nothing in regular house rooms for bats, it’s not an attractive environment for them. Often the mother bat will follow the young in to try and save them.

Bats can’t fly off. They have to drop from their perch and then try and get flight. Cats and occasionally dogs get to learn where to sit to catch the dropping bats at the lowest points of their starting flight, that’s how they manage to occasionally catch them.

Lady Haywire · 16-09-2020 1:15pm

_Brian wrote: »

Have a friend in bat conservation Ireland.

She was telling me the major way bats get into rooms is by following insects towards a window.

Young inexperienced bats get so focused on insects that they don’t realise they are going through the window until hey are inside. There’s nothing in regular house rooms for bats, it’s not an attractive environment for them. Often the mother bat will follow the young in to try and save them.

Bats can’t fly off. They have to drop from their perch and then try and get flight. Cats and occasionally dogs get to learn where to sit to catch the dropping bats at the lowest points of their starting flight, that’s how they manage to occasionally catch them.

I'd say that yoke of a cat tried to drop him on the table so he got lucky & managed to fly up around the room. Was definitely an adult but have no idea how she got it unless it was a couple of cages I'd moved under the eaves of the house during the day

Only thing I'd moved in a while around the house.
When we had a skip next to the house the cats used to catch them every second night. Put grease on the top of it to stop the cats going onto it & that stopped it so have a vague idea of where they are living. I really should look into them more, so many of us know so many types of birds & yet just say a bat is a bat!

_Brian · 16-09-2020 2:33pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I'd say that yoke of a cat tried to drop him on the table so he got lucky & managed to fly up around the room. Was definitely an adult but have no idea how she got it unless it was a couple of cages I'd moved under the eaves of the house during the day Only thing I'd moved in a while around the house.
When we had a skip next to the house the cats used to catch them every second night. Put grease on the top of it to stop the cats going onto it & that stopped it so have a vague idea of where they are living. I really should look into them more, so many of us know so many types of birds & yet just say a bat is a bat!

From previous tests here there are three bat types on our land I’m told, don’t remember names to be honest.

Lime Tree Farm · 16-09-2020 3:01pm

https://www.batconservationireland.org/irish-bats/species

Lime Tree Farm · 16-09-2020 3:11pm

Fluppen wrote: »

This little creature was hanging around inside today, not one of the usual visitors.

I flicked through several websites but couldn't find a match. Anyone able to identify it?

gozunda · 16-09-2020 8:03pm

_Brian wrote: »

Partly bat related but I noticed that evening and night insect numbers are massive here.
Had bathroom light on all evening and by midnight the outside of the window was mad alive with moths and flying things of all sizes, really glad the window was closed.
Same sort of insect levels as I remember in the 1970’s.

I know the talk is of overall decline but out of the way less intensively farmed areas like here are still teeming if you look for them.

Watch out for the feking mossies. The warm temperatures and plenty of standing water means that they are breeding overtime.

Have to keep the bedroom window closed at night or they would drive us demented.

Feckers ...

Dinzee Conlee · 16-09-2020 8:17pm

gozunda wrote: »

Watch out for the feking mossies. The warm temperatures and plenty of standing water means that they are breeding overtime.

Have to keep the bedroom window closed at night or they would drive us demented.

Feckers ...

Do we have mosquitoes in Ireland?

Have the bedroom windows open here all the time, and don’t have any issues...

Ha - maybe tis the bats are saving me from being ate

gozunda · 16-09-2020 8:20pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Do we have mosquitoes in Ireland?

Have the bedroom windows open here all the time, and don’t have any issues...

Ha - maybe tis the bats are saving me from being ate

Yup. Around 18 different species according to sources. You'll hear then at night by the sound of a high pitched whining noise

They can give a nasty bite.

https://www.energia.ie/business/blog/do-mosquitoes-actually-exist-in-ireland

Base price · 16-09-2020 8:23pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Do we have mosquitoes in Ireland?

Have the bedroom windows open here all the time, and don’t have any issues...

Ha - maybe tis the bats are saving me from being ate

I heard a programme on the radio last year and we have 20 (I think) species of mosquitoes in Ireland and only the females of some species bite. Bats, dragonflies and birds are their main predators.

Base price · 16-09-2020 8:27pm

gozunda wrote: »

Yup. Around 18 different species according to sources. You'll hear then at night by the sound of a high pitched whining noise

They can give a nasty bite.

https://www.energia.ie/business/blog/do-mosquitoes-actually-exist-in-ireland

That sound will have me out of the bed and with a towel in hand in a millisecond.

NcdJd · 16-09-2020 8:34pm

I was outside having an coffee and smoke last night and heard that noise close to my ear.. scarpered back inside. Least with horse flies you can see them and zap them.

gozunda · 16-09-2020 8:35pm

Base price wrote: »

That sound will have me out of the bed and with a towel in hand in a millisecond.

Careful now or it'll be #mosquitos matter :pac:

Mossie1975 · 16-09-2020 9:15pm

gozunda wrote: »

Watch out for the feking mossies. The warm temperatures and plenty of standing water means that they are breeding overtime.

Have to keep the bedroom window closed at night or they would drive us demented.

Feckers ...

Leave us Mossies alone

Rows Grower · 16-09-2020 9:24pm

Mossie's lives matter.#

ganmo · 16-09-2020 9:42pm

Mossies over rossies

gozunda · 16-09-2020 9:48pm

ganmo wrote: »

Mossies over rossies

Rossies?

ganmo · 16-09-2020 10:00pm

gozunda wrote: »

Rossies?

Roscommon ppl

gozunda · 16-09-2020 10:05pm

ganmo wrote: »

Roscommon ppl

Here was I thinking it was some type of bug

Say my name · 17-09-2020 10:52am

Cockatiel.

This past few weeks I've been hearing this bird making an unusual like a whistling sound about the garden.

This morning then I was shutting up the cows and a flock of starlings flew up out of the grass onto the esb wires except one bird flew up into an ash tree. Tis a strange looking bird I thought very parrot like. And then he starts whistling and using his short bill to move from branch to branch. Then it flies off doing a round of the fields with its long tail and whistling away.
I couldn't see it's exact colour but it flies like a parrot and is the shape of one and sounds like a cockatiel. And it's seemingly at home now with the resident starling population.

So yeah that..

NcdJd · 17-09-2020 11:23am

Say my name wrote: »

Cockatiel.

This past few weeks I've been hearing this bird making an unusual like a whistling sound about the garden.

This morning then I was shutting up the cows and a flock of starlings flew up out of the grass onto the esb wires except one bird flew up into an ash tree. Tis a strange looking bird I thought very parrot like. And then he starts whistling and using his short bill to move from branch to branch. Then it flies off doing a round of the fields with its long tail and whistling away.
I couldn't see it's exact colour but it flies like a parrot and is the shape of one and sounds like a cockatiel. And it's seemingly at home now with the resident starling population.

So yeah that..

If you shout out Captain Birdseye does it answer ya back ?

Joking. We had a few escapee budgies around here over the years...

blue5000 · 17-09-2020 11:39am

Say my name wrote: »

Cockatiel.

This past few weeks I've been hearing this bird making an unusual like a whistling sound about the garden.

This morning then I was shutting up the cows and a flock of starlings flew up out of the grass onto the esb wires except one bird flew up into an ash tree. Tis a strange looking bird I thought very parrot like. And then he starts whistling and using his short bill to move from branch to branch. Then it flies off doing a round of the fields with its long tail and whistling away.
I couldn't see it's exact colour but it flies like a parrot and is the shape of one and sounds like a cockatiel. And it's seemingly at home now with the resident starling population.

So yeah that..

There are feral parakeets in London, so I suppose they'd survive in the sunny SE too.
https://londonist.com/london/great-outdoors/london-s-parakeets-everything-you-need-to-know

Say my name · 17-09-2020 11:57am

blue5000 wrote: »

There are feral parakeets in London, so I suppose they'd survive in the sunny SE too.
https://londonist.com/london/great-outdoors/london-s-parakeets-everything-you-need-to-know

It could have been one of them.
The size would fit with a parakeet too.
It was a parrot of some sort anyway and liked the safety of a flock.

First woodpeckers and now this. Probably a Pelican next!

Say my name · 17-09-2020 12:14pm

blue5000 wrote: »

There are feral parakeets in London, so I suppose they'd survive in the sunny SE too.
https://londonist.com/london/great-outdoors/london-s-parakeets-everything-you-need-to-know

I was just looking there. Seemingly they have arrived in Wales and Bristol in the last few years. There's feral cockatiels in Wales too.
So with the east wind of late. It could in fact be an import and not a release from someone. It's only a skip across water to wexford from Wales.

_Brian · 17-09-2020 12:25pm

Say my name wrote: »

I was just looking there. Seemingly they have arrived in Wales and Bristol in the last few years. There's feral cockatiels in Wales too.
So with the east wind of late. It could in fact be an import and not a release from someone. It's only a skip across water to wexford from Wales.

Could easily be an escaped local pet either. People have them loose in their house and they can escape out opened door or window.

atlantic mist · 17-09-2020 12:31pm

young swallows lining up to leave here, adult swallows left last week

Say my name · 17-09-2020 12:33pm

_Brian wrote: »

Could easily be an escaped local pet either. People have them loose in their house and they can escape out opened door or window.

Could be but it's here a few weeks now and there's been no reports of anyone looking for an escaped pet. Usually it'd be all over Facebook or something.
That's not to say anyone didn't report it.
But to me it didn't look that tame or used to people. The opposite in fact. And the starlings seem to have taken it as one of their own.

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 2:49pm

Seen a Kestrel for the first time in years today. Used to be very common around here but disappeared some years ago.

Capercaillie · 19-09-2020 7:53pm

NcdJd wrote: »

Seen a Kestrel for the first time in years today. Used to be very common around here but disappeared some years ago.

Rodenticide secondary poisoning a major problem.

Danzy · 19-09-2020 8:02pm

gozunda wrote: »

Here was I thinking it was some type of bug

In a way.

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 8:11pm

Capercaillie wrote: »

Rodenticide secondary poisoning a major problem.

I don't understand that Capercaillie with Kestrels. Considering they would be only taking small rodents and wouldn't be involved in eating carrion like say buzzards or kites. How would you explain this if you look at a similar sized bop such as a sparrowhawk. Plenty of them around although having said that they would be more into catching birds. Would it not be a case of loss of suitable nesting sites and less small rodents in general due to more intensive farming practices? Speaking now about tillage and veg growing. We always had loads of them about but you'd also see a lot of field mice. Something you would see when chopping up a field you'd be seeing the mice scarper everywhere. Don't see that as much now.

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 8:18pm

Also would the likes of another bird if prey such as buzzards preying on them? Seem an easy target when hovering in the sky for something to swoop at them from above.

ganmo · 19-09-2020 8:27pm

NcdJd wrote: »

Also would the likes of another bird if prey such as buzzards preying on them? Seem an easy target when hovering in the sky for something to swoop at them from above.

Regularly see them up here, crows and magpies would harry them rather than buzzards...but them again crows harry buzzards too

ganmo · 19-09-2020 8:33pm

Decided to check on some of the glas bird boxes today. As you can see it looks like it might be used, one definitely wasn't.

Oh and I found a big puff

Birdnuts · 19-09-2020 8:39pm

NcdJd wrote: »

I don't understand that Capercaillie with Kestrels. Considering they would be only taking small rodents and wouldn't be involved in eating carrion like say buzzards or kites. How would you explain this if you look at a similar sized bop such as a sparrowhawk. Plenty of them around although having said that they would be more into catching birds. Would it not be a case of loss of suitable nesting sites and less small rodents in general due to more intensive farming practices? Speaking now about tillage and veg growing. We always had loads of them about but you'd also see a lot of field mice. Something you would see when chopping up a field you'd be seeing the mice scarper everywhere. Don't see that as much now.

Secondary poisoning is when a BOP consumes a rat/mouse that has consumed rodenticide and was sick outside making it easy prey for the likes of a Kestrel. Certainly intensive farming has reduced habitat and prey base but rodenticides are a major issue for such birds. Too many feeds of this will sicken the bird and it will possibly die or certainly fail to breed succesfully. Same issue with Barn Owls sadly:(. Tis why I only use traps these days for vermin problems - plus don't want the dirty feckers dieing inside cavity walls and stinking the place out.

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 8:40pm

ganmo wrote: »

Regularly see them up here, crows and magpies would harry them rather than buzzards...but them again crows harry buzzards too

Will miss the swallows now as they are like a mini car alarm when there is a bird of prey close by, especially sparrowhawks. We haven't got many rooks around now since the buzzards established themselves. Plenty of young buzzards this year.

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 8:47pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Secondary poisoning is when a BOP consumes a rat/mouse that has consumed rodenticide and was sick outside making it easy prey for the likes of a Kestrel. Certainly intensive farming has reduced habitat and prey base but rodenticides are a major issue for such birds. Too many feeds of this will sicken the bird and it will possibly die or certainly fail to breed succesfully. Same issue with Barn Owls sadly:(. Tis why I only use traps these days for vermin problems - plus don't want the dirty feckers dieing inside cavity walls and stinking the place out.

Stopped using poison along time ago birdnuts for this reason. I go into woodies and see the big tubs of it and there are probably people out there that lash it all over the place cause they see a mouse running across their lawn.

The foxes look after the rats for me. The poor mice usually end up getting fried in our boiler. Anything in the attic will eventually die due to insulation ingestion.

Birdnuts · 19-09-2020 8:53pm

NcdJd wrote: »

Stopped using poison along time ago birdnuts for this reason. I go into woodies and see the big tubs of it and there are probably people out there that lash it all over the place cause they see a mouse running across their lawn.

The foxes look after the rats for me. The poor mice usually end up getting fried in our boiler. Anything in the attic will eventually die due to insulation ingestion.

Yeah - education is key to this issue like so many other environmental problems. Never forget the time I stayed in digs during my 20's and the landlord dealt with the building mouse issue in a standard way that stunk the place out for months!! I actually developed pneumonia from having to leave the bedroom windown open during that time such was the "aroma" coming from the hot press:(

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 9:02pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Yeah - education is key to this issue like so many other environmental problems. Never forget the time I stayed in digs during my 20's and the landlord dealt with the building mouse issue in a standard way that stunk the place out for months!! I actually developed pneumonia from having to leave the bedroom windown open during that time such was the "aroma" coming from the hot press:(

I was told first place a rat will head for after eating poison baits is water. I did have two rats in the attic of the house at one stage but caught both with traps. No problem since. Not sure how they got up there. Never could figure it out.

Birdnuts · 19-09-2020 9:04pm

NcdJd wrote: »

I was told first place a rat will head for after eating poison baits is water. I did have two rats in the attic of the house at one stage but caught both with traps. No problem since. Not sure how they got up there. Never could figure it out.

I find the best place for nailing rats with traps is on or near compost heaps - got a monster female last year that way!!

NcdJd · 19-09-2020 9:16pm

Capercaillie wrote: »

Rodenticide secondary poisoning a major problem.

I take that was yourself on rte news a couple of months ago Capercaillie. How did you get on with the corncrakes? Did you see an increase this year ?

TooOldBoots · 20-09-2020 11:55am

Sowed a 200m hedge back in Reps about 15 years ago. A mixture of whitethorn, Green Beech and Ash. I never coppiced the Beech trees.
Hedge is alive with wildlife mainly small birds but I spotted red Squirrel in it this year.

Capercaillie · 20-09-2020 4:19pm

NcdJd wrote: »

I take that was yourself on rte news a couple of months ago Capercaillie. How did you get on with the corncrakes? Did you see an increase this year ?

7 calling male corncrake this year up from 5 calling males in 2019. 5% of national population, so happy enough with that.

Nature on your farm.

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