Observations Of Nature Through The Seasons.

[knocker]

 

[Polar Maritime]

A wet gloomy morning here and a good chance to have a spy on the Blue Tits in the bird box.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Polar Maritime

[knocker]

42 minutes ago, Polar Maritime said:

A wet gloomy morning here and a good chance to have a spy on the Blue Tits in the bird box.

Great shot PM. They are looking great.

[knocker]

Meanwhile down at the lake still hanging on to five cygnets from the original seven and just one lonely little fella in the other brood. And some Mallard ducklings have appeared in the last couple of days but I fear the worst here.

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2016 by knocker

[ciel]

6 hours ago, Polar Maritime said:

A wet gloomy morning here and a good chance to have a spy on the Blue Tits in the bird box.

They're looking healthy and well grown.

[Polar Maritime]

1 hour ago, ciel said:

They're looking healthy and well grown.

Yes i recon they'll be out in the next day or two.

[Polar Maritime]

As i thought they flew the nest this morning but seem to be hanging around in the plantation and the garden, I will try and get a snap of them together at some point.

[knocker]

Great stuff another success story. Until watching Springwatch the other night I didn't realise Jays killed smaller birds. They had footage of one that whisked three Great Tit chicks out of the nest box. One survived and seems to have fledged okay.

[Polar Maritime]

Didn't know that either Knock, The Woodpecker seems to be hogging both peanut feeders now here, Landing on one then flying off to fight them off the other, He's sure making himself some hard work.

[Polar Maritime]

Managed to snap the chicks together as the mother feeds them bits of nuts off the feeder. You can just make them out sat on the log below the feeder on the wall.

 

[knocker]

Popped down to lake this morning and no sign of the cygnets apart from the little fella. It looks like they have been predated and as all five are gone, and they had actually got quite big although of course they are still very vulnerable, I would suspect a fox. The Ducklings are still around but for how long who knows.

 

 

Edited June 16, 2016 by knocker

[ciel]

1 hour ago, knocker said:

Popped down to lake this morning and no sign of the cygnets apart from the little fella. It looks like they have been predated and as all five are gone, and they had actually got quite big although of course they are still very vulnerable, I would suspect a fox. The Ducklings are still around but for how long who knows.

 

 

Sad about the cygnets, but natural predation, I suppose.

Wonder why the ducklings have been less vulnerable.  

[knocker]

30 minutes ago, ciel said:

Sad about the cygnets, but natural predation, I suppose.

Wonder why the ducklings have been less vulnerable.  

I doubt they are, probably just pot luck. The ducklings can't be much more than week old and in my experience not many of them tend to survive. As you say natural predation but I was beginning to think some of the cygnets might survive as they must have been around five weeks so a little surprised to find they all went. I doubt the little fella will survive either.

[Nouska]

If a pine marten could fell our fine Toulouse lady (left), I doubt much will save the day for the poor cygnets or ducklings.

In our last summer in Aberdeenshire, we had two ducks nesting on the little trout lake in our garden - one nested on the tiny bramble covered island and hatched all nine eggs: all the ducklings survived as she kept them on the island or in the water and we fed them till they flew off in the autumn. The other duck nested in the trees right at the water edge but her eggs were trashed by a badger just days before due to hatch.

[knocker]

On another subject the Dalmatian Pelican has been spotted again this time on the river Fal. People flocked to Restronguet and twitched away merrily apparently.

Edited June 16, 2016 by knocker

[knocker]

And nature in the raw this morning. I didn't see the Herring Gull take it but saw it eat a Mallard duckling and after a huge struggle it managed to swallow the chick whole. There is really nowt they can about these gulls.

[Polar Maritime]

Yes Knock, Nateral selection in its rawest form.

[ciel]

3 hours ago, knocker said:

And nature in the raw this morning. I didn't see the Herring Gull take it but saw it eat a Mallard duckling and after a huge struggle it managed to swallow the chick whole. There is really nowt they can about these gulls.

I can't provide a link to this, but I am sure I read or heard somewhere that Mallards, also, can predate chicks of other species.

[knocker]

Dog owners warned over Alabama Rot, the fatal fungal infection spreading across the UK

Vets have issued a new warning over Alabama Rot, a deadly fungal infection that has affected 14 dogs in the first four months of 2016, and 78 since 2012.

The disease first appeared in Greyhounds in USA in the 1980s but has now spread to 16 English counties, including Kent, London, Hampshire, Greater Manchester and Dorset.

When a dog has contracted Alabama Rot the first sign is normally a skin sore that isn’t caused by a known injury, usually below the elbow or knee, which appears as a distinct swelling, a patch of red skin or is open and ulcer-like. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/20/dog-owners-warned-over-alabama-rot-the-fatal-fungal-infection-sp/

[ciel]

Hummingbird hawk moths rarely migrate to Scotland. I have seen them there on two occasions over the decade. Loads humming here.

[knocker]

1 hour ago, ciel said:

Hummingbird hawk moths rarely migrate to Scotland. I have seen them there on two occasions over the decade. Loads humming here.

Great photo.

[knocker]

Haven't been down to the lake for a week but it was a cracking morning down there today. Well the little fella is still with us as are the ducklings. Funny one of them is a bit bigger than the rest.

And Sidney had to be on his toes and found it safer up the tree.

 

Edited June 23, 2016 by knocker

[ciel]

The swan and cygnet photo is particularly nice, Knocker.

Good news about the ducklings too.

[knocker]

So far so fingers crossed. Something quite amusing happened today. I gave a squirrel a nut and he immediately zipped off two or three metres and started digging furiously as if to bury it although I'm pretty sure he'd eaten it. All the time he was furiously digging two rooks were watching him intently. As soon as he was finished and left they rushed in and set about digging up where he supposedly had buried the nut. They didn't find anything so it looked like he was having them on. Quite funny but interesting as it presupposes the rooks knew what he was up to.

Edited June 23, 2016 by knocker

[knocker]