Some pictures I took recently

Amalgam

Came down to the kitchen to what sounded like someone letting the air out of a party balloon, pinching the opening.. a high pitched screech. Neighbour's cat had a huge frog trapped between two pots.

Beaker is just under 10cm across. I knew we had very big frogs, but you don't see them out and about much. You do tend to see smaller frogs though.

We have a small, very sheltered, somewhat overgrown garden that holds a lot of moisture. The frogs, most likely, come from a neighbour's pond a few doors down..



I've let it go during daylight, keeping an eye out for the cat, beaker is now full of water, prepped by the door..

Nightforce 65X55

Was away for the weekend but the weather put a hold on some of our plans , however we made the most of the small breaks in the weather and it worked out really well . We toured around the West cork coast and got some great photos, but these were the Highlight for Me , a wild White Tailed Sea Eagle and a Chick from this Year.... What a Sight....

whyulittle

Following WTSEs with a butterfly!

Painted Lady


Buff-tip moth caterpillar?

TedR

Nightforce, fantastic eagle pics, well done.
The fifth one in the series looks like one of those stylized japanese pen and ink drawings.

keps

That W tag on the eagle looks very big/awkward

TedR

TedR wrote: »

Nightforce, fantastic eagle pics, well done.
The fifth one in the series looks like one of those stylized japanese pen and ink drawings.

eh, I meant the fourth one, must learn to count properly :-)
anyway fab pics

Nightforce 65X55

keps wrote: »

That W tag on the eagle looks very big/awkward

I agree with you keps. If you look at the tag on the chick it is much smaller. Possibly they might have changed the type of tags used to a smaller type at some stage. But it is a large tag however it didn't seem to bother the Eagle. ....

cowboyBuilder

Took this a few weeks ago at the Botanic Gardens, Dublin

OpenYourEyes

keps wrote: »

That W tag on the eagle looks very big/awkward

Nightforce 65X55 wrote: »

I agree with you keps. If you look at the tag on the chick it is much smaller. Possibly they might have changed the type of tags used to a smaller type at some stage. But it is a large tag however it didn't seem to bother the Eagle. ....

The tags are made and positioned in such a way that when the bird is in flight the air passes over the the tag the same as it would with the wing (i.e. the fold of the tag is on the leading edge of the wing). Studies as to the possible negative effects of tags of various sorts are done quite often in various places to keep knowledge up to date and test and improve various methods etc. The thing to remember with various sorts of tags etc is that the scientists behind them don't want the tags to do any damage, firstly because they care deeply about their study species and secondly because any data arising from tags that themselves negatively impact a bird make any data unusable. I havn't heard any issues with the wing tags on our Sea Eagles (or Red Kites or Buzzards), and similar schemes elsewhere have provided invaluable information helped to plan for their continued conservation.

vandriver

Couple from the holidays(Tenerife)

Tenerife Raven by Vandriver, on Flickr

Western Dappled White by Vandriver, on Flickr

Buzzard by Vandriver, on Flickr

Any butterfly experts?EDIT:my nerdy sister identified it.

keps

Doing a bit more walking and less photography lately as trying to get fit for a section of the Camino next week- so generally am only carrying a point & shoot and phone camera.
There is a deserted/derelict fine old house on land near the Clonskeagh entrance to Belfield- word is that the property is owned by UCD.

To keep the grass under control they had used these experts:

goats



But today I noticed that they has drafted in some new recruits!:)


house


house2

Not too sure whether they are Alpacas or Llamas

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Alpacas. They are about half the size of a Llama. They can make good pets.

_Tombstone_

Penguins with tags at south pole breed less.

keps

Bird's Eye View

heron

_Tombstone_

Was looking at a show on BBC few nights ago and they were putting big stupid collars on big cats, weighed a kilo and would fall off in a year or so and wouldn't interfere with them. A KILO!!!

They don't give a sh1t.

OpenYourEyes

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Was looking at a show on BBC few nights ago and they were putting big stupid collars on big cats, weighed a kilo and would fall off in a year or so and wouldn't interfere with them. A KILO!!!

They don't give a sh1t.

While I can't really comment since I'm not familiar with the tagging protocols and methods used with mammals, there's a 5% rule for birds where tags etc can't weigh more than 5% of the birds body weight (or less for some species). I can only assume there's something similar for mammals and big cats. Just a quick google and an adult Lion weighs around 130kg (female) or 190kg (male), so a 1kg tag would be less than 1% of the animals body weight.

OpenYourEyes

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Penguins with tags at south pole breed less.

Just reading an article and apparently its Penguins with flipper bands, not penguins with tags. The same scientist who found that flipper bands decrease productivity etc suggests that electronic tags are the better alternative.

pegasus1

Harvestman spider - ( Opiliones ) by niall.hirsch, on Flickr

Nightforce 65X55

[IMG][/img]Rook and Sparrowhawk 1 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 1 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 2 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 3 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 4 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 5 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 6 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 7 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

[IMG][/img]Rook Mobbing Sparrowhawk 8 by Rod Wilson, on Flickr

pegasus1

Fruit Fly - Tephritid by niall.hirsch, on Flickr

Capercaillie

Update from farm
Mowed the corncrake meadows today. One of the most imortant dates in the Calendar year. Can't leave mowing too late for fear of bad weather, waterlogged fields can make it impossible to mow. Mowing delayed till at least mid-September to safely cut meadows. The adult male crex have departed for Africa since late August. Late broods chicks and hens would still be present (my crex were late arriving). In coventional mowing you start on the outside and work towards the centre. Unfortunately for corncrake (who are reluctant to fly) they run away from mower towards the centre of field. The area of unmowed grass gets smaller and smaller. Eventually they are trapped in the centre and as the last swards of grass are cut, the corncrake get entangled in the mower's blades. When "corncrake mowing" you start from the centre and work out. The crex run away from the mower towards the safety of the field margins. The tractor must not exceed 10kph. In 1st photo you can see tractor guiding the crex towards the nettle beds. The second photo shows my fen (wet meadow) after it is cut. Important to get it cut yearly, not possible in some years due to waterlogged conditions. If fen left go rank, that seriously affects plant biodiversity. Last photo shows mowed meadow in foreground and nettle bed behind it. All cover areas: nettles/iris/hogweed will be used by crex till they leave for Africa (at the latest the beginning of October). The cover areas will the be mowed as well. Extremely important that meadows/cover areas are mowed once a year. If not the vegetation will lodge during the winter. Lodged/matted vegetation is generally not used by crex

keps

Capercaillie

You are Superman:)

Capercaillie

keps wrote: »

Capercaillie

You are Superman:)

Superman perhaps not. Handy at planting nettles though

pegasus1

Hoverfly by niall.hirsch, on Flickr

pegasus1

Capercaillie wrote: »

Superman perhaps not. Handy at planting nettles though

Hi Capercaille, do you remove the cut vegetation and let it compost elsewhere?
If it's done after the one cut a year more wild flowers appear and the grass gets thinner, also less invasive weeds appear as the ground gets less nutrient..

Meteorite58

Small Tortoiseshell last night amongst the Marjoram and Mint in my herb garden

Capercaillie

pegasus1 wrote: »

Hi Capercaille, do you remove the cut vegetation and let it compost elsewhere?
If it's done after the one cut a year more wild flowers appear and the grass gets thinner, also less invasive weeds appear as the ground gets less nutrient..

I use the cut grass for silage and sell it. I use fertilizer and heavily fertilize my cover areas: iris/nettle/hogweed. I also heavily fertilising the margins of meadows, but leave central area unfertilizied. The fen gets no fertilizer, would not repond anyways.

keps

' My nails are in an awful state'

moorhen

splish

Pale Butterwort Pinguicula lusitanica

Pale Butterwort Pinguicula lusitanica by Ciarán Byrne, on Flickr

Hotei

Shaggy Parasol




Conifer Tuft




Common Stinkhorn (Flies are attracted to its deathly aroma, and in turn help spread its spores):




Earthstar




A huge Parasol (I placed a €1 coin on its cap to give a sense of scale):