The Hide (chat thread)

Stigura

:eek: Just chilling, with the creatures, outside. Saw a Flutter By I couldn't quite get the fix on. Stared at it; " Is that a Peacock, or a Tortoiseshell? "

Got a bit closer. Crapped it and ran for the camera! Got lucky too!

Red Admiral!

I honestly can't remember the last time I saw one! Years ago? Decades?!

New Home

Mod: Folks, just a reminder that bad language is not permitted in this forum. Please refrain from swearing. Thanks.

vargoo

New Home wrote: »

Mod: Folks, just a reminder that bad language is not permitted in this forum. Please refrain from swearing. Thanks.

Hands up!

I was wondering what I missed, didn't even cop this was about me.:o

Some of them around me boil my blood though, it's poison in the sausages season around here now as the bales are done.

He tries to be the soundest lad going, has no idea his poor cancer ridden wife has everyone told what he's really like.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A real swallow evening right now. Sixty plus swooping over the garden and the adjoining field. A few House Martins in the mix too.

magicbastarder

Lazy Bastard Insists Back Garden Is “Biodiversity Friendly”

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2019/07/08/lazy-bastard-insists-back-garden-is-biodiversity-friendly/

New Home

The "Waterford Whisperer"? :rolleyes: An article from "The Onion", next?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's Waterford Whispers, so what's the point???

New Home

In hindsight, it wasn't posted in the "Nature in the news" thread,

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

14 Great Tits on two feeders today. A wonderful sight. The other birds couldn't get a look in.

Bsal

Looks like the starlings in my area have found some flaxseed somewhere they have orange heads now

Half-cocked

Bsal wrote: »

Looks like the starlings in my area have found some flaxseed somewhere they have orange heads now ðŸ˜

About this time of the year Birdwatch gets inundated with calls about strange orange-headed birds showing up in peoples gardens.

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

last night i learned that what i had guessed were very small leeches in my garden pond are much more likely to be a type of flatworm called planarians. every day's a school day.

this is them; i cleared out about half a bucket's worth of vegetation from the pond last night, and these were all the critters just in the vegeation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOMz4VC9eOA

recedite

Pretty sure those are leeches; see the way they move like a slinky. They don't seem to be flat either.

recedite

Get yourself a sun hat and a beer, and sit at the edge of the pond with your feet dipped in the water for half an hour. This should provide further info for us. In the interests of science...

magicbastarder

recedite wrote: »

Pretty sure those are leeches; see the way they move like a slinky. They don't seem to be flat either.

yeah, i've just been reading that planarians can't swim; these can, though you don't really see it in my video because the water was shallow.

fryup

saw a buzzard fly overhead yesterday whilst driving to Nenagh Co Tipp....majestic sight

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

saw a buzzard fly overhead yesterday whilst driving to Nenagh Co Tipp....majestic sight

They nest within sight of the house here. Fabulous birds.


The garden is awash with newly fledged House Sparrows and Chaffinch this afternoon.

vistafinder

fryup wrote: »

saw a buzzard fly overhead yesterday whilst driving to Nenagh Co Tipp....majestic sight

Just saw 2 circling overhead where I am working. One of them was calling which drew my attention. Saw another being bombarded by swallows on Sunday and another on my way out from Cork city yesterday evening. Probably close to 10 sightings since the start of May towards the south west of the county.

in the space of about 6 years from roughly when I saw my first one.

A pleasure indeed.

Eddie B

vistafinder wrote: »

Just saw 2 circling overhead where I am working. One of them was calling which drew my attention. Saw another being bombarded by swallows on Sunday and another on my way out from Cork city yesterday evening. Probably close to 10 sightings since the start of May towards the south west of the county.

in the space of about 6 years from roughly when I saw my first one.

A pleasure indeed.

Yes, I litterally only have to look out the window on a clear day to see one these days. Ten years or so ago, I'd never even seen one. Amazing the changes a few years can bring. Unfortunately most of the changes have been negative one's.

magicbastarder

another recent return is egrets. we have seen one beside the church in glasnevin - beside the botanic gardens - a few times.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Lost a Chiffchaff to a collision with a window today. Such a shame. It was a fabulous little bird.

Keplar240B

<snip>

Mod Note: Removed as not relevant to Nature & Birdwatching.

Eddie B

Keplar240B wrote: »

<snip>

Mod Note: Removed as not relevant to Nature & Birdwatching.

Interesting, but I don't think this belongs here in this forum.

Half-cocked

Dropped down to Malahide estuary earlier. Surprised to see Lapwings, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and Redshanks in numbers. There were even 5 Knot and a Snipe. More used to seeing these species in the winter. Presumably many of these birds were either non-breeders or failed breeders?

OpenYourEyes

Half-cocked wrote: »

Dropped down to Malahide estuary earlier. Surprised to see Lapwings, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and Redshanks in numbers. There were even 5 Knot and a Snipe. More used to seeing these species in the winter. Presumably many of these birds were either non-breeders or failed breeders?

I do monthly high/low tide surveys in Dublin Bay - plenty of Blackwits, Curlew, Redshank and Oycs back, plus a few Lapwing and Whimbrel. Good numbers of Black-headed Gulls too with a few juveniles in tow! Definitely a few juveniles in the wader flocks too,so we're into the proper migration period now - mostly non/failed breeders but not exclusively!

fiacha

Went down to the kitchen this morning and was greeted by a scene out of "The Birds" . 20+ Jackdaws, 6 Hooded Crows, 9 Magpies and a selection of gulls all circling and calling over the back garden. The magpies were taking turns bombing the area around a feeder at the end of the garden. I can't see that feeder from the house, but I assumed there was a Sparrowhawk down there somewhere.

Then a cat comes darting in from the left, and the Sparrowhawk explodes out from the right quickly followed by every corvid in the area. I chased the cat off and found a very shaken juvenile Starling inside the squirrel cage of the nut feeder. It hopped out and buried itself in the sweetpeas. That must have been some experience for it !

The Hooded Crows and Magpies are currently posted up on all the surrounding high points keeping a noisy watch.

Great early morning drama in the suburbs

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Five buzzards wheeling over the garden most of today. Lively to see and hear that breeding went well this year. And the Mistle Thrushes have laid claim to the Rowan berries already.

catrat12

Seen close to 50 curlew today do I report this

Stigura

catrat12 wrote: »

Seen close to 50 curlew today do I report this

Get " BirdTrack " and put it on there

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

60 to 70 starlings gorging on the rowan berries in the garden today. Some scattering match when I flushed them. Young birds are gathering in their hundreds over the fields here every evening.