Nature Notes

[Barmitzvah Boy]

Are those names of the real ales you've already supped??

Nope, but I do sup these lovely ales when I go to the North Pennines. They are superb.

 

[Drog]

Subject normal.

 

[Drog]

Back on topic

Relatively recent changes as far as birds go around these parts.........

I see very few Lapwings (peewits) and curlews these days compared to the days when farmers made hay rather than silage. Mowers didn't go into fields until mid June for a hay crop but the switch to silage necessitated by larger scale production caused by low prices by the retailers means feilds are cleared ground nesting birds and all from the end of April through May.

Not affected by forage making changes...
Wagtails. We used to have loads of pied wagtails and even some of the migratory yellow wagtails up to about 20 years ago and now I rarely see them at all. Could they be more susceptible to Bird Flu or similar or is those bstard rodents (Grey squirrels and even rats which are both seem to be at plague proportions). The Yellows might also have been affected by the bastards across the channel who believe songbirds to be a delicacy.

Thrushes seem rarer whilst even the plentiful Starling population has all but disappeared from my home and garden.

I do have a barn owl and hear lots of Tawnys at night, I do see the occasional kestrel too who are both either taking the above or are being denied them as a food source. Lots of Buzzards these days and of course pheasants are all over the place. Carrion crows and magpies are about but not in any greater numbers than in the past imo.

Plentiful songbirds still around are blue and coal tits, robins and blackbirds plus a good few sparrows which seem to have bounced back in number. Also prolific here are nuthatches and Greater spotted woodpeckers which is another predator of fledglings.

Cuckoos? Never heard one of them for years when we used to hear them calling for a mate regularly in spring. Swallows too are much rarer whilst Swifts which used to nest on the vertical crag 100 yards away have disappeared too.

 

[Smells Like Kean Spirit]

Great read Theno. The decline of ground nesters is tragic and it's all down to us isn't it. Farming is a business, but moving away from centuries of traditional methods has had so many negative effects. On an optimistic note, our valley echoed with cuckoos from April last year, and we're expecting the same this year. Plenty pairs of lapwings about. Hopefully with the pine marten on the up and up, and the initiative announced by the UK government to use oral contraceptives to control grey squirrel populations, the red will slowly start to repopulate the spaces it has ceded to the grey:

UK government backs birth control for grey squirrels

The government gives its support to a project to use oral contraceptives to control grey squirrels.

www.bbc.com

 

[Alan]

We get a lot of birds in our garden but we are plagued with a cat from somewhere unknown that comes into our garden and hides under bushes close to where some of the birds nest. We have bought electronic cat scarers and chase it off when we see it but it is too quick for us to throw water over. Anybody know how to get rid of this creature? I hate cats anyway. I am a confirmed dog person but can't get a dog as it would probably outlive me.

 

[Drog]

Great read Theno. The decline of ground nesters is tragic and it's all down to us isn't it. Farming is a business, but moving away from centuries of traditional methods has had so many negative effects. On an optimistic note, our valley echoed with cuckoos from April last year, and we're expecting the same this year. Plenty pairs of lapwings about. Hopefully with the pine marten on the up and up, and the initiative announced by the UK government to use oral contraceptives to control grey squirrel populations, the red will slowly start to repopulate the spaces it has ceded to the grey:

UK government backs birth control for grey squirrels

The government gives its support to a project to use oral contraceptives to control grey squirrels.

www.bbc.com

It's not all down to us SLKS. Ground nesting birds are easy prey for vermin, and the proliferation of rats and foxes will have had a dramatic effect. Those recently reintroduced buzzards, plus large populations of carrion crows and magpies (as farms become too big for the farmers to properly mansage) will all contribute adversely. Mink too are viscous bastards although I'm not sure if they are as big a problem as they were a decade ago. Rats are all over the place around here and foxes breed faster because of the readily available food supply provided by the amount of pheasants available these days plus out of control rabbit numbers. I'm sure the foxes that I see around here are urban foxes that have been trapped in towns and cities and released in the countryside. Compared to the very wary foxes from my childhood these buggers are as bold as brass and human beings hold no fear for them.
btw I seem to recall that to trap a grey squirrel and then release it elsewhere can exact a fine of up to £5k. I doubt that's ever been carried out though.

 

[Drog]

We get a lot of birds in our garden but we are plagued with a cat from somewhere unknown that comes into our garden and hides under bushes close to where some of the birds nest. We have bought electronic cat scarers and chase it off when we see it but it is too quick for us to throw water over. Anybody know how to get rid of this creature? I hate cats anyway. I am a confirmed dog person but can't get a dog as it would probably outlive me.

Do you feed the birds Al?

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

We get a lot of birds in our garden but we are plagued with a cat from somewhere unknown that comes into our garden and hides under bushes close to where some of the birds nest. We have bought electronic cat scarers and chase it off when we see it but it is too quick for us to throw water over. Anybody know how to get rid of this creature? I hate cats anyway. I am a confirmed dog person but can't get a dog as it would probably outlive me.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

 

[OnlyOneTugay]

Local birds find safe haven as Ben Brereton and Sam Gallagher are pulled in for extra shooting practice .

 

[Alan]

Do you feed the birds Al?

Yes we do from feeders suspended high above where the cat can reach. It's the birds that nest in our shrubs and bushes that it's after but only goes after them when they are on the ground.
I'd shoot the bugger but you have to remember that it's somebodies pet.

 

[Drog]

Get rid of the bird feeders Al. Cruel to be kind. That cat will be lurking to ambush the robins, sparrows and blackbirds that are waiting on the ground for the bits to drop as the tits and nuthatches etc feed from the feeders.

 

[Smells Like Kean Spirit]

It's not all down to us SLKS. Ground nesting birds are easy prey for vermin, and the proliferation of rats and foxes will have had a dramatic effect. Those recently reintroduced buzzards, plus large populations of carrion crows and magpies (as farms become too big for the farmers to properly mansage) will all contribute adversely. Mink too are viscous bastards although I'm not sure if they are as big a problem as they were a decade ago. Rats are all over the place around here and foxes breed faster because of the readily available food supply provided by the amount of pheasants available these days plus out of control rabbit numbers. I'm sure the foxes that I see around here are urban foxes that have been trapped in towns and cities and released in the countryside. Compared to the very wary foxes from my childhood these buggers are as bold as brass and human beings hold no fear for them.
btw I seem to recall that to trap a grey squirrel and then release it elsewhere can exact a fine of up to £5k. I doubt that's ever been carried out though.

I thought the buzzards had just proliferated due to lack of persecution. They certainly do well around us. A bit later in the season they circle the hills looking for ewe placenta to eat. They usually go for the easy options but will take rabbit too. As for the mink, the best thing to do is trap and despatch as they have a devastating effect on voles and ground nesters as you say. Invasive species can be eradicated with the best will as they are currently in the process of with the stoat on some Scottish islands and mink populations on the mainland. Mink, the grey squirrel - it was humans that have caused the problem. We can blame the Romans for rabbits; before the Iron Age, the native mountain hare predominated.

 

[Drog]

I am led to believe that the buzzards have been reintroduced to many areas. No doubt the very many small farmers in the past with their mixed farms comprising of a few cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry would have exercised some sort of control over what were considered pests in the past. These farmers have been forced out of production on the alter of cheap food leaving the remaining few to specialise in just one species. 30 years ago for example there were over 30000 dairy farmers in this country, that number is now in the region of just 8000. The requirement for shotgun licences played a major part too as many farmers cannot now be bothered with the upkeep of licences and the faff of keeping the old 12 bore behind the pantry door or on the chimney breast in locked cabinets.
A farmer now farming 300 dairy cattle on 300 acres has no reason to keep a shotgun to control foxes, carrion crows buzzards etc. His only concern would be badgers, plus rats, mice and birds eating the cattle feed and of course contaminating it with their faeces. Pig farmers too with massive numbers of pigs have no reason to control anything other than rodents. The most affected sectors are sheep farmers and also following the re-introduction of free range eggs the poultry farmers. Unfortunately they farm such massive herds and flocks that they have little time for vermin control. The age old Hen Harrier problem on grouse moors continues to rumble on too.

 

[Drog]

Poor Freddie ......... Freddie Mercury the seal death being investigated by police as they hunt for owner of dog (yahoo.com)



Some people are tossers and shouldn't have dogs if they can't control them when they let them off the lead. I'm sure they never meant for this to happen but it damned well did! And all because of their lack of thought. This type of thing will get worse now that owning a dog is so much in vogue.

I had six small white call ducks killed a few years ago by a dog one day when I was out. Show winners they were and worth a lot of money. My wife said the owner was very apologetic and that he was going to phone me that night. Did he? Did he hell!

 

[Drog]

An Oxford educated QC of all people.
Thames seal death: QC 'heartbroken' over attack by her dog - BBC News

 

[davebirch]

We have heaps of birds in our neighbourhood,

They range from Cockatoos to native minahs, to Kookas (bastards wake you up at daybreak) to rosellas and the like.
Must admit I like the australian magpies, they have a beautiful song, as though they are talking to you.

 

[Barmitzvah Boy]

There has been a spate of badger digging and trapping in the Samlesbury area recently. Bastards.

 

[Drog]

I doubt a TB threatened dairy farmer with a couple of million pounds in assets tied up in an industry yielding very low margins would agree.

Must say I do have a soft spot for old Brock but I don't know what the solution is. TB is a very serious disease which had been eradicated in this country until the immigrant population reintroduced it.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

There has been a spate of badger digging and trapping in the Samlesbury area recently. Bastards.

Has it been reported to the local nick for the attention of the wildlife officer pal? There’s a lot of covert recording and monitoring equipment available now.