Wildlife

[RJF_70]

I can see where your'e coming from Jonners, haven't seen them before up here so was a bit of a novelty I suppose. Have only heard them so far this year so know they are still around, and it is a racket they make..lol. When I picked my car up from Maidenhead there were so many Red Kites around down there and I thought it was great, but seller said they were becoming a nuisance.
Time will tell I suppose.
Rich..

[Reg]

Ringnecks, Magpies and grey Squirrels..all fair game air rifle fodder. Noisy, destructive pests that terrorise and kill British songbirds, their chicks and eggs.

Should be made into a new national sport..

[Jon Tilson]

Defo true of magpies Reg but do Ringnecks kill songbirds? I though the kiwi Kea was the only meat eating parrot.

Jonners

[Robert 352]

Oi! I cannot let the comment pass by on the Kea being a meat eater. It is anything but a meat eater. But like many parrots is a highly intelligent bird which like the two legged homo sapiens which is known to stalk it and to feed it inappropriate food is very opportunistic and happy to peck and play with anything which is placed before it. If meat is put out - yes it will try it. As kids when we were camping up in the mountains it used to be fun to put out a bowl of jelly and watch the Keas trying to eat that.

But a meat eater? No. It lives in the high mountains and feeds on the seeds and berries of grasses and shrubs.

Robert

[trackerjack]

Tonight we were pleased to see a grass snake and a female adder and also a barn owl floated past us.

I love these summer evenings walking and watching what is about.
Diane took a picture of the adder so if any body is interested I will load it on.

[Jon Tilson]

Yes please....

Nice to contrast the real deal with a grass snake..

Jonners

[trackerjack]

Yes please....

Nice to contrast the real deal with a grass snake..

Jonners

Ask and ye shall receive!
Here is the young female adder, she is brown with a brown zig zag in contrast to the males which are light grey/beige with a black zig zag and are more aggressive.

Our local paper showed a large picture recently of a Grass snake and claimed it was an adder and the contributer said that some experts were going to release that snake into the wild ???? one its a protected species and 2 what sort of "expert" cannot tell the difference?

What is interesting to me is the state of advance for the adder as it can taste the air and hence track a bitten prey, its fangs fold back when not in use and a sack of poison (refined saliva) is injected when pressed. It has live young so no need to lay eggs and its cat like eye lets it see in poor light.
The grass snake is not so advanced as it has to lay eggs and can only see in daylight, it can taste the air though.


Here is a grass snake that Diane pictured a few years ago near Soberton.

[Reg]

but do Ringnecks kill songbirds?

No, pretty sure they don't. They do very much however, "terrorise and intimidate" other birds at the feeders with the noisy racket they make and with a show of their mighty open beak! Bloody bullies!

Those pics of the snakes are just awesome Jon..thank you.

[trackerjack]

Hello folks just got back from Sorrento in Italy what a holiday as on my bucket list was to look into a live volcano and though Vesuvius is not smoking it is still potentially very dangerous and its a question of when not if it blows again, however that might be in 2 thousand years or in 2 months.

As we sat sweltering in 41 degs in one of Sorrentos squares we spotted a 6" lizard running across to the other side but unknown to us a hunter was also watching and in front of us a hawk swept down flying under a bench seat and ended the life of the lizard, the hawk looked round to see if it was safe and got a secure grip on its meal and flew off with it..............never had the camera to record it though.

Never mind have another ice cream and enjoy the sights.

[Jon Tilson]

Gotta love Sorento and the nearby Amalfi and Pogerola.

If you want to see a real smoker you could have popped over to Sicily....Etna is pretty impressive.

Jonners

[trackerjack]

Yes we keep going back too but might not get to Sicily despite Etna's lure.


Back to wildlife, we could have got a superb picture of a badger however Dianes camera on her phone went awol. It happened like this, we were walking when suddenly Diane noticed a badger rooting in the undergrowth and our response was to move when he did. We were down wind so he was not aware of us when he stopped rooting and walked straight to us, he actually trotted to about six feet away before seeing us and his panic stricken eyes were quite a sight before he ran away.
Strange but true about a quarter of a mile later the same thing happened again!
The walk back to the car was only interupted by about a dozen deer after that but hey we see them all the time.

[RJF_70]

They're back! Have heard them for weeks but they finally came down this morning to feed on the sunflowers. I know you either love or hate them but wife got this pic so I thought I'd post it.

[Dolly-Dimple]

Some outstanding photos there! Has brightened up my lunch hour no end Kind Regards Russell

[trackerjack]

No pictures sorry to say but on Sunday we walked round our local lake and spotted the great crested grebes who have managed a brood of 2 in the spring, however they now have a new brood of 3 chicks still with their stripey heads. We will keep our fingers crossed for fine weather because if it changes dramatically in the next month as per normal those chicks will die. The parents seem to be being helped by one of the earlier chicks.

I had not seen a swallow or martin for a couple of weeks and asumed they had all gone south but on Sunday the sky was full of them but this time I suspect its one last feed and drink before migrating.

[MIG Wielder]

... not strictly Wildlife but wild-plants.... Down here in the Thames Valley we had quite a wet Autumn and I must say I have never seen so many fungi around. For instance the typical fairy ring of small brown toadstools, the red cap with white spots one, a clump that looked like Sticklebricks, and 2 evil looking black ones growing out of the grass. I heven't yet named them.
Some photos.
Tony.