Wildlife Corner

[Stanley]

Send some across to Barlick.....

[MickBrett]

Armadillo caught on camera last night in the front garden, calling in for a drink out of the bird bath.

[Wendyf]

[Cathy]

Your Armadillo Mick - My first thought was ‘Well that’s something different’. Good one.

[Stanley]

Didn't know you had them there Mick. Nice one.

[Tripps]

I too was surprised to see an armadillo in Oklahoma. Mr Google however assures me that all is in order, and the Nine Banded Armadillo variety has bypassed Trump's wall and infiltrated the USA.

I keep humming "Is this the way to Armadillo"

Nothing so exotic here, but this was taken from my front window - look closely and you will see a cheeky Muntjac deer.

muntjac.jpg

[MickBrett]

Didn't know you had them there Mick. Nice one.

We see one or two every year. One came in the garden when my daughter (who lives in Barlick) came to visit me.
She said "What the hell is that, Dad?

[Stanley]

And well she might! I think I would have had the same reaction.
Nice one David. But aren't they destructive little buggers?

[MickBrett]

It's hot here at the moment, 111F (38.8C) on the heat index yesterday. Deep Joy (not).
At this time of year I try to ensure there's water out for any visitors who pass through.

[Stanley]

Well done Mick. Treasures in heaven as my Sunday School teachers used to tell me.

[Stanley]

Did you see THIS report of magpies using anti-bird spikes in building their nests.
I love the concept of the birds outsmarting us by using our defences as part of their nests.

[Cathy]

Love that. Animals are so clever

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

Love that. Animals are so clever

When we made our new pond at this house we soon had to do something to protect it from the local pigeon population which at the town park has grown accustomed to going into the pond and competing with the ducks for the bread that people throw in. I put plastic netting over it with a 50mm/2 inch mesh size. It kept the pigeons out and we were pleased to see that small birds such as sparrows very soon found it easy to pass through the net to get a drink or catch insects. They don't land on the net, they just dive straight through the holes and never get entangled! Blackbirds are too big but we have a separate bowl of water for them and small birds use that too.. The pigeons can get at it and I have to wash it out frequently because they poo in it. But better them pooing there than in the big pond. (As I've mentioned before, pigeons carry a disease that kills small birds and we never see greenfinches or chaffinches nowadays.)

Talking of missing wildlife, I went into the garden at about 9.00pm yesterday. It's filled with lots of flowering plants offering an abundance of nectar. In the 1980s I would have seen lots of moths flying among the bushes but now I see none even though this residential area has many gardens filled with flowering plants.

[Stanley]

I can associate with that remark Peter. Unless my memory is at fault there are nowhere near as many birds and insects as there used to be.

[Tizer]

`Whales stranding: More than 50 pilot whales dead in Western Australia' LINK
...Some of Australia's worst mass strandings have involved pilot whales - 230 beached themselves on Tasmania's coast in 2022, and 150 were stranded in Western Australia in 2018.

Remember the 55 whales stranded on a Scottish beach a couple of weeks ago?

[Tripps]

There's a lot to this whale beaching business. Personally I blame either Climate Change or Brexit.

It's been happening for ages, and there is probably no single reason for it. Cetacean stranding

[Cathy]

The WA beached whales were taken back out to sea, but the whales ‘gathered’ and became beached again.

[Tripps]

Very well covered by The Guardian - there is a graphic video as well. We simply don't know why. Can't be Brexit though - too far away.

Pilot whales stranding in W. Australia.

[Stanley]

Whale strandings always tragic......
On a positive note.... I was sat in the Town Square with the kids for about two hours yesterday and the flowers in the bed I was sat next to were covered with bees of all sorts!

[Cathy]

WA Pilot Whales - Due to the distress calls, and to avoid any more suffering, the nearly 100 Pilot Whales had to be euthanised, after re-beaching themselves.

[Stanley]

I saw that report Cathy and it distressed me......

[Tizer]

We're concerned by the decline in bird numbers here but our spirits were lifted yesterday evening by the sight of two beautiful goldfinches just outside our window while we ate our tea. They spent about 10 minutes eating seeds on a large lavender bush. They've visited the same bush several times in recent days and also come to our bird feeder for sunflower `hearts' (dehusked sunflower seeds). Most people cut the heads off lavender after flowering in the hope of getting a second flush of flowers but leaving them on is better for the birds!

[Stanley]

My wild front garden is looking ragged but even in this unseasonable weather there are loads of insects busy getting something out of it!

[Tizer]

Ask around to see if any garden centre, plant nursery or supermarket is selling Winter Savory or a friend might have some in their garden. It's small, very easy to grow and the bees love it. It's also used as a herb in cookery. Wikipedia It spreads easily and grows wherever it finds an opportunity but it's not invasive and it's simply a herb and can easily be pulled out if necessary. Ours has spread and grows in some gravel along the side of the house. When we had the strong winds on the weekend more bees were coming to it because it's low growing and protected by the wall. Lovely little flowers and just the right shape for bees to collect nectar and pollinate!