nature notes II

[Cymrudynnion]

I am covered in love bites not supplied by my husband!  :oI take it a blind man called at your house then

The insects around along our bridle path at the back of our house love me to pieces.

[Anchorman]

Wot about the dolphins?

[OH MY WORLD!]

They're very tasty.

[Anchorman]

I suppose if you had done, you'd do a lot of blubbering?




Sorry.

[Anchorman]

Never mind.
I expect it tasted a bit like albatross.

[Keturah]

I've never tasted smoked rubber.  Is it a bit like chicken?

[OH MY WORLD!]

Raw seal heart is quite tasty I hear. Former governor general seemed to like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Loo8XXkfu8

[SweetPea]

Ok, this is my first attempt at uploading photos to Flickr.... so don't get too excited.

They were taken on a walk, locally, the other day. See if you can spot the bee on the wild orchid and the dragonfly on the piece of floating twig. The chestnuts are on their way too. Click on a picture for an enlarged view.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100827880@N05/

The wild orchid, this year, has been magnificent - it seems to be everywhere.

On the lake pictured, I have seen greater-crested grebes nesting and fishing; last autumn, a huge gathering of Canadian geese; what seems to be a lone heron, that is very territorial; and just this afternoon, there were four buzzards overhead doing a lot of calling and two hovering - no doubt, with an eye on a meal.

[wigginhall]

Lovely pics.  I've seen a ton of buzzards this summer, obviously breeding in Norfolk.  I get nervous that the shooters will shoot them. 

It's amazing to see a buzzard hover, for such a big bird.

Canadas - yes, you get big flocks, moulting I guess.  I'm not sure if they are flightless for a while. 

Lovely lake.

[SweetPea]

Yes, they were definitely buzzards, we recognised the call, and as you say, it is unusual to see them hover. Must say, it wasn't for long and then something distracted them and they were gone, over the tops of some trees.

[wigginhall]

It's a strange call, like a cat mewing, or a baby crying.  But I've got to love it now.  It's a kind of sign of wildness, somehow.

[SweetPea]

Yes, and I always think, the call seems almost too high-pitched for such a huge bird. If you didn't know otherwise you could mistake it for a much smaller bird.

[wigginhall]

Yes, and many birds of prey have similar calls, rather thin and reedy.  I expect there's a theory about it somewhere, as there is (I think) about exotic plumaged birds, which tend to have scanty song.  So pheasants sort of croak.

[Enki]

Yep, I agree with Wigs that quite a few birds of prey have really similar calls.
Interestingly, rough legged buzzards are pretty adept at hovering, although it's too early to see them in the UK yet.
Quite a few birds which live in forest areas often have unusual and far carrying calls, and this includes many of the pheasant family.
When it comes to bird song though, the best songs tend to be from those species with the most unremarkable colours, such as the nightingale and a whole variety of Eurasian warblers. However the warblers of North America, which tend to be much more colourful and distinctive, have rather unremarkable songs.

Incidentally, I suggested in mess 201 that if the winds turned easterly and we had some rain, last weekend might turn up some unusual birds on migration. I'm pleased to say that this duly happened, and, all along the east coast from Durham to Norfolk  great birds resulted. Spurn and Flamborough(which are my stomping grounds) had good numbers of wrynecks, the odd icterine and barred warbler, and a excellent sprinkling of whinchats, wheatears and redstarts.
Hopefully I'm off to Spurn again tomorrow, so we'll see what turns up!!

[RobM]

Here in Kent the numbers of Wrynecks is unusually high. But lots of other good stuff around.

[floo]

We are attracting a lot of young sparrows to our bird table. One can only suppose this is due to late nesting because of the unusually cold spring?

[wigginhall]

59 curlew sandpipers at Titchwell this am.  No, I'm not there, worst luck. 

[torridon]

Yes, and I always think, the call seems almost too high-pitched for such a huge bird. If you didn't know otherwise you could mistake it for a much smaller bird.

The same with red kites; in a large bird you'd expect a deep call, but their call is really quite high pitched and thin.

[torridon]

It's a strange call, like a cat mewing, or a baby crying.  But I've got to love it now.  It's a kind of sign of wildness, somehow.

I love the sound of a sky lark; so lonely.  When you hear a skylark sing you know you are away from the city.

[wigginhall]

Yes, that's true, except in Richmond Park, London, where skylarks sometimes breed.

Insects - I was remarking to my wife that we never see bluebottles these days, and I'm sure when I was a kid there were tons of them, anyway, we went off to the allotment, and not bluebottles, but there are a lot of greenbottles, rather fascinating creatures.  I suppose they are carnivorous. 

Their larvae are used to calculate the time of death in dead bodies.  Not a lot of people know that.

[Rhiannon]

Wiggs, I've watched CSI... Grissom uses bugs to determine TOD all the time. 

Yes, we have greenbottles this year. And a houseful of moths, because of having windows open in the evenings.

Skylarks...we have  them in the fields on the edges of our village, including opposite our house. When the dog gets me up to go out at stupid o'clock I often see them above the hedge.

Our resident sparrow flock that live on our lane seem to have done well this year in terms of numbers. And an Indian summer is forecast.

[wigginhall]

Yes, I was thinking about Grissom, a great character. 

Good news about sparrows; yes, I am seeing quite a lot in the dusty parts of the roads now.   There are even a few in London. 

In Norfolk, we always have skylarks overhead in spring; and this year, we had buzzards.  Just hope they don't get shot. 

[SweetPea]

Some may be following this already, anyway....

The Scottish WLT chick has started her migration and is now well on her journey south. Mother went on ahead about 4 weeks ago and left father to continue to feed the chick (Blue YZ) until she was able to fish for herself. This involved several aborted attempts, here is a wonderful pic of one of those initial fishing outings:

http://blogs.scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/osprey/2013/08/23/blue-yz-goes-fishing/

On one attempt she was harassed by a heron but Dad was quick to intervene and (according to observers) quite a battle ensued before the heron was sent on it's way.

It's rather lovely.... although Blue YZ is now on her travels, father hangs around for a few days to be sure she is gone, before he starts his migration.

So far, the chick has covered a total of 1,280mls in just 5 days which included a 16hr non-stop flight across the Bay of Biscay..... not bad for a youngster, she is just over 3 months old. Her flight speeds varied from 9mph over the Bay of Biscay (weather there can be very turbulent, at times) to 46mph over the Celtic Sea.

At one point she crossed the Cantabrian mountains which lie between northern and southern Spain. Many of the peaks reach 6,000ft with the highest exceeding 8,000ft. It's amazing to think that the next set of data may reveal that she has arrived in Africa.

Although it is wonderful to be able to track these birds, it does concern me a little that they have a satellite tracking device strapped to them. Blue YZ has a pliable ariel that stands out on her back. So far, there have been no calamities reported even though she has tumbled through trees on her maiden flights. But it would be good if she could be totally free of a harness.

May the Light be with you, Blue YZ, throughout your further adventures.

If you want to follow Blue YZ here is the link to Scottish WLT tracking:

http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/osprey/

Here you will find data on previous years' chicks, too. Also, on the Scottish WLT blog there are some stunning Google Earth pics of places the osprey have been visiting.   

[wigginhall]

Great stuff, Ms Pea, and very moving.  It's great that humans have helped here, rather than destroying stuff.

[SweetPea]

Great stuff, Ms Pea, and very moving.  It's great that humans have helped here, rather than destroying stuff.

Sorry, I've been out.

Yes, it is moving; and the rangers and observers are sooo dedicated.... a very good trust.

Having followed the webcam and blogs on the osprey family throughout the summer, I'm really going to miss them. It's actually been a wonderful insight into parenting skills, which I'm sure we humans could learn from.

Roll-on next summer.... which should be interesting because the female, mother osprey is now 25yrs old, and has been returning to the Loch of Lowes for as many years. The SWLT say they await her arrival next year with uncertainty.