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Today in the garden I had.....

Out and about in nature
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#1

Post by 765489 »

A flock of curlews, must have been 50 strong just flew over my field there. Chuffed to see and hear them. I take it these are migratory birds arriving in from some other country ?
490808
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#2

Post by 490808 »

Chuffs :mrgreen: Well Choughs not quite in the garden but visible from.

Buzzard - way overhead mobbed by crows
Dipper - in river
Grey Wagtail - in river ​
Leucistic Chaffinch (nearly white).
Blackbird - a male fissel (some feathers all frissed up at the ends not a technical term afaik).
Willow Warbler - needs further investigation but fairly confident.

Thats it so far today. Have a few more rarer birds visit including very very occasionally a kingfisher maybe see one once a year.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#3

Post by 765489 »

Today in my kitchen this morning I had a sparrow. Think it came down the chimney during the night.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#4

Post by 765489 »

A cormorant flew over the house a few days ago. Don't usually get them around here. There's 4 juvenile pheasants outside in field. Not sure if they are wild ones or ones released by the local gun club.
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Osciiboscii
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#5

Post by Osciiboscii »

Lots of swallows, think they're preparing to leave ☹. Loads of rabbits as usual. Feels/smells distinctly autumnal today. Picked some apples.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#6

Post by 765489 »

Plover1958 wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:09 pm They've released the pheasants around here in preparation for the hunting season?
Yeah they were looking a bit clueless alright. Was talking to one of the lads the other day and he was saying the quality if the bird they were releasing was rubbish. Half of them are / were caught under the mesh in the turnip fields.

Total waste of time.

Edit, most of the stubble fields they are running around will be ploughed shortly for winter wheat aswell.
490808
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#7

Post by 490808 »

Thought they used to leave a corner of a field with kale for pheasants?
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#8

Post by 765489 »

The Continental Op wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:48 pm Thought they used to leave a corner of a field with kale for pheasants?
Not around here. They have no idea what the farmers are doing with the fields from one year to the next. Just let them out and hope for the best. By the time November arrives they'll be shooting in bare fields with wheat coming up and if lucky a couple of them will still be around. Just seems a complete waste of time and money.
490808
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#9

Post by 490808 »

I'm thinking of the UK and even then a long time ago. From the train you used to see odd corners of fields or even strips along field edges with a crop and the rest of the field ploughed.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#10

Post by 765489 »

The Continental Op wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:58 pm I'm thinking of the UK and even then a long time ago. From the train you used to see odd corners of fields or even strips along field edges with a crop and the rest of the field ploughed.
Used to do that here too. They released them next to the fields covered in plastic mesh. All they had to do was take a walk around before they released them and see all the birds caught under it. If they went a mile up the road and released them into the stubble fields there it might have been a better idea.
CelticRambler
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#11

Post by CelticRambler »

Another couple of weeks before pheasants can be hunted in our département. 'Tis a declining interest, helped in a large part by the chasseurs shooting themselves and innocent non-participants more often than the birds (or deer, or boar) ... and rather too much of this stereotype being uncomfortably accurate:



(All in French, but doesn't really need subtitles! :lol:
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#12

Post by 765489 »

There's a couple of lads that are good shooters around here that are not members of this particular club, they do their own thing. From what they say I get the impression it's made up of ejits.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#13

Post by 765489 »

Seen a Barn owl this evening. Plenty of bats around the hedgerows also.
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Osciiboscii
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#14

Post by Osciiboscii »

Not MY garden, but outside the office window, took a minute to enjoy the resident blackbird, enjoying his worm...
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#15

Post by 765489 »

Coal tits, about six of them creating a welcome racket in the hedge outside. Haven't seen any for a while.
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#16

Post by 95438756 »

Loads of blackberries in the back garden. Many ripe. Some tasty. Away from the car exhausts.
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#17

Post by CelticRambler »

... another toad. Obviously enjoying the damp weather of these last few days. Or perhaps enjoying the slugs that are enjoying the damp weather. Have just been out picking peas, and found him/her shuffling around between the tomatoes and carrots.
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#18

Post by 95438756 »

CelticRambler wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 3:07 pm ... another toad. Obviously enjoying the damp weather of these last few days. Or perhaps enjoying the slugs that are enjoying the damp weather. Have just been out picking peas, and found him/her shuffling around between the tomatoes and carrots.
the toad has an eminent position in the world of Beatrix Potter
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#19

Post by CelticRambler »

This morning in the garden, I had ... cloven hoof-prints in the clay where I've made a new path. Given the run of bad luck I've had recently, I wouldn't take much convincing that 'twas the Divil himself ... ... but I think it's probably just a deer. :)

And this afternoon, I had ... confirmation that the froglette of which I caught a glimpse on Sunday is definitely not Fwendy, so it certainly looks like I'm experiencing "population growth" as far as the amphibians go. This one is (at first sight) the same species as Fwendy, but considerably smaller - a juvenile, I presume; which is somewhat puzzling, as I've never noticed any frogspawn in the pond or trench, and I would have thought this little guy was a bit too small to make his way half a kilometre up the hill from the nearest watercourse.
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#20

Post by quodec »

...a quick sighting of a hedgehog this evening. Saw one briefly last autumn (same one?) and I believe he might live under the garden shed. You can see the remains of rummaging in loose earth some mornings! Cute little fella!
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#21

Post by 765489 »

Is this the time of the year you'd see young hedgehogs around ? Haven't seen a hedgehog around here for a few years. Great to have them in your garden quodec.
765489

Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#22

Post by 765489 »

Nice flock of curlews in one of my neighbour's fields this morning.
Seafields
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#23

Post by Seafields »

Something that's stealing the chicken's eggs
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#24

Post by 95438756 »

Invasive brambles & briars who mean business. Sunday Afternoon spent with a wire cutters. They grow like weeds in this sort of weather.
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Re: Today in the garden I had.....

#25

Post by 95438756 »

^^ Done but the bastards will grow back.
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