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    #2102
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,346 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Leave it open enough for the swallows to go through, but not enough for the raptor.


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    #2103
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    New Home wrote: »
    Leave it open enough for the swallows to go through, but not enough for the raptor.

    The opening to the shed the swallows use has a roller door, so unfortunately I couldn't adjust it to keep the raptor out. It looks like the sparrowhawk left last night, but I am keeping an eye out as the swallows are back :) I'm relieved to see that there's more than two flying in and out, so the babies must have just started flying in the last few days.


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    #2104
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,346 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Swallows can swoop low...


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    #2105
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    New Home wrote: »
    Seallows can swoop low...

    They sure can :) the door is only partially open since last night and it doesn't seem to have hindered them.

    I didn't realise birds of prey were so determined. This one seemed to hang around the shed most of the day yesterday, and didn't leave the garden until almost sunset.


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    #2106
    vistafinder
    Registered Users Posts: 619 ✭✭✭vistafinder


    Has there been any Painted Lady's seen around the country this year? Not a single one seen around here.


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    #2107
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    ^^^^^^^^^^^

    haven't seen one yet in my garden anyway, but loads of small tortoiseshells


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    #2108
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    New Home wrote: »
    Anything I can do to help this gorgeous creature? Its wings never developed properly, or were damaged.It has only 4 legs, too, which is odd in itself.

    I know I am too late with this but anything like this eg a moribund bee, I put in a safe place among the flowers with nourishment. Let it go or stay at its own pace.


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    #2109
    Bsal
    Registered Users Posts: 1,766 ✭✭✭Bsal


    Lot's of bats out flying around my area every evening this week with the lovely weather. I think they are Common Pipistrelle from their rapid twisting flight path.


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    #2110
    vistafinder
    Registered Users Posts: 619 ✭✭✭vistafinder


    fryup wrote: »
    ^^^^^^^^^^^

    haven't seen one yet in my garden anyway, but loads of small tortoiseshells

    Ya loads of Small tortoiseshells here too. Was delighted to find plenty of chrysalis hanging from some nettle patches near the hedge rows this year.


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    #2111
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,291 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    god bless nature. a fox has made **** of the rubber lining of our pond. used it like a chewy toy.


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    #2112
    Funsterdelux
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭Funsterdelux


    A stoat ran across the road, while I was driving home today.

    2 buzzards on esb poles too.


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    #2113
    Doge
    Registered Users Posts: 8,950 ✭✭✭Doge


    This is the cutest little invention for bird lovers I've seen yet.

    https://mybirdbuddy.com/




    530740.jpg


    It's basically a bird feeder / seed holder which houses a webcam that notifies your phone when a bird perches on it so you can watch the steam from the web cam.

    It will presumably recognise the species of bird also and it will mark each species off your "Collection" bird watching style!

    They'll be launching a Kickstarter soon and you can sign upto their mailing list to get notified when it launches.


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    #2114
    Doge
    Registered Users Posts: 8,950 ✭✭✭Doge


    Well that didn't take long! Its funded and currently at almost €300,000!

    Bird Buddy: A Smart Bird Feeder, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mybirdbuddy/bird-buddy-a-smart-bird-feeder?ref=android_project_share

    It won't be available until September next year at the earliest though.

    It's priced between €129 - €179 depending on how soon you get in, pricey but I guess it's like the Ring Doorbell of bird feeders!

    Here's s video or the prototype working:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgpFA5vpRQc


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    #2115
    Scotty #
    Registered Users Posts: 3,767 ✭✭✭Scotty #


    Doge wrote: »
    Well that didn't take long! Its funded and currently at almost €300,000!

    Over €400k now.


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    #2116
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    Got home from work yesterday to find a Bluetit flapping against the inside of my shed window. It probably squeezed in through a knot hole. I let it out and it flew off ok. And of course, where did it decide to leave a poo while inside? Right in the middle of the freshly sanded tabletop that I was about to start french polishing.


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    #2117
    Tea For Two
    Registered Users Posts: 63 ✭✭Tea For Two


    I’m meeting a cute water hen these mornings. There is a river nearby and she/he always seems to be in a bit of a hurry.


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    #2118
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,291 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    are sandlerings common here at all? we reckon we saw one near portmarnock the other day, but reading up on it, i think it should be a good bit further south by now?


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    #2119
    Scotty #
    Registered Users Posts: 3,767 ✭✭✭Scotty #


    Doge wrote: »
    Well that didn't take long! Its funded and currently at almost €300,000!

    They did well over the Christmas!! Just shy of €2.5 million now.

    I wonder how accurate the AI recognition is?


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    #2120
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    are sandlerings common here at all? we reckon we saw one near portmarnock the other day, but reading up on it, i think it should be a good bit further south by now?

    They're here all winter - you definitely could have seen one at Portmarnock.


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    #2121
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,291 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    Cheers, I had read that they overwinter in southern Europe so wasn't sure if that was just a straggler.


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    #2122
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,046 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Honestly, stupid birds! We have a bird feeder with fat balls that mostly bluetits peck at. There are a few wagtails but they really can't cope with hanging onto the feeder, so they wander around the paving picking up the bits that fall, which is a good few, so they do alright.

    Just at the moment though there is one belligerent wagtail that has shooed off the others as it has taken over the paving. It also rather stupidly has taken to flying up and bullying the birds from the feeder, so no bits are falling. Its got itself into an ever decreasing supply as it waddles around on the paving looking for crumbs that are no longer there. Hopefully it will get bored and go elsewhere and the other birds can get a chance.


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    #2123
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,346 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    606437.jpg


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    #2124
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    Just spotted a large frog under 1/2" of ice in my garden pond. I've knocked a big hole in the ice in case it needs air, but surely it should be hibernating? I've had a number of these adult frogs living in my pond all summer and Autumn but I didn't expect to see one in early Jan in the current cold snap.


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    #2125
    Tiercel Dave
    Registered Users Posts: 797 ✭✭✭Tiercel Dave


    Frogs can absorb oxygen from the water through their skin while submerged so don't be too worried about cracking the ice. The males tend to arrive at the breeding sites before the females so maybe it's a male trying to get a jump ahead of his rivals.....


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    #2126
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,346 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Tiercel Dave wrote: »
    Frogs can absorb oxygen from the water through their skin while submerged so don't be too worried about cracking the ice. The males tend to arrive at the breeding sites before the females so maybe it's a male trying to get a jump ahead of his rivals.....
    :cool:


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    #2127
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    Tiercel Dave wrote: »
    Frogs can absorb oxygen from the water through their skin while submerged so don't be too worried about cracking the ice. The males tend to arrive at the breeding sites before the females so maybe it's a male trying to get a jump ahead of his rivals.....

    Spotted a 2nd one later on. I think these are the same ones that have been in the pond since last Spring. A load of males turned up in Feb but no females (it is a new pond, so maybe we'll get some females this year.


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    #2128
    SnowyMuckish
    Registered Users Posts: 858 ✭✭✭SnowyMuckish


    I was just watching Winter Watch tonight, so interesting...

    I loved the segment at the end, the ‘mindfulness moment’, such a peaceful few minutes of reflection in our busy lives!

    It brings me right back to my childhood. Days spent idly roaming overgrown wild fields that were divided by stone walls during the Penal Laws (not that I knew that back then!) and dangling my carefree feet into the the local estuary, hoping to catch sight of a ‘madadh uisce’ or otter. I was lucky only once and it was magical!

    I often remember just sitting there on the rocks and closing my eyes and listening, just sitting there, still, and listening.....

    Those moments and experiences ground you, shape you and stay with you for your whole life. I think we have lost those precious moments in our world today. Between work, devices, social media and the busyness of life...

    There are some days that I long to sit back on those rocks, dangle my feet in the cold autumn current, close my eyes and just listen....


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    #2129
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    walking through a swampy field today (inland) and saw a smallish bird with a long beak fly down low past me

    a woodcock maybe?


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    #2130
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    fryup wrote: »
    walking through a swampy field today (inland) and saw a smallish bird with a long beak fly down low past me

    a woodcock maybe?

    They tend to roost in woodland during the day, so Snipe or Jack Snipe more likely!


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    #2131
    Tiercel Dave
    Registered Users Posts: 797 ✭✭✭Tiercel Dave


    Bogs are pretty frozen at the moment so Snipe tend to move to softer fields and drains to feed.....


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