Wildlife spotting

[Spoon of Ploff]

"the red kites are back Ted"

[jobotic]

Went for a ride along the Medway with my son the other day. Was so nice I ran back there the next evening. Whitethroat in the bushes, reed warblers in the reeds - one of which was right fucking going for it with his loud electronics song - and a cuckoo cuckooing nearby. And not another soul.

Between Borstal and Wouldham is where I wanna be!

[Cerys]

Important garden squirrel update.

SQUIGGLE!

[BlodwynPig]

SQUIGGLE!

! He insists on Mr. Squiggle when in the company of strangers, please.

[sick as a pike]

I have abandoned the dream kitchens for a low fire
and a prescriptive literature of the spirit... etc

(Derek Mahon)
In the wake of grief, this has done for me. 
For reasons of stupendous vanity but also comfort, here's me rendering it less poetic today.

https://vocaroo.com/35KWfkuuFMB

[Head Gardener]

sorry to report that Hitler's alligator is dead, but hey 84 c'mon!

[Buelligan]

(Derek Mahon)
In the wake of grief, this has done for me. 
For reasons of stupendous vanity but also comfort, here's me rendering it less poetic today.

https://vocaroo.com/35KWfkuuFMB

Daring stuff pikey, daring stuff.  Thank you for sharing it with us, we few, we sappy few, we band of solitary volish nature peepers.  Ta old bat.  Thanks for that.

[Cerys]

! He insists on Mr. Squiggle when in the company of strangers, please.

MR. SQUIGGLE!

[Birdie]

Why is it the Brits introduced crap mammals  like rats and possums to NZ but didn't bring the awesome ones like squirrels and foxes? Sure, they'd devastate the native flora and fauna but they'd do it with maximum cuteness.

[paruses]

Wobbled out into the garden this morning with my tea and sat listening to the Swifts screeching overhead. For a constant screeching sound it was supremely relaxing.

Eta - this link may be of interest to any fellow swift fans: https://markavery.info/2020/05/14/rspb-press-release-swifts/

[bgmnts]

Why is it the Brits introduced crap mammals  like rats and possums

What!?

[Buelligan]

Wobbled out into the garden this morning with my tea and sat listening to the Swifts screeching overhead. For a constant screeching sound it was supremely relaxing.

You're so right.  I forgot to say, yesterday, went out, looked up and saw huge ponderous iridescent bubbles, a child had made them, floating up and across the dark pure blue, being hunted by screeching swifts.  Was incredibly beautiful.

[Buelligan]

Thanks for the edit link, paruses, it even has a video on how to make your own swift box.  I live in a place where they return to nest every year and any fool can tell that their numbers (and those of the swallows, even more) have declined enormously.  Not convinced it's all down to loss of nest sites.  Where I am the nests remain year after year and you can see there are now some that are no longer being used, right next to used ones.  My feeling is that pollution and agriculture are destroying their food sources.  Again, from personal experience, the number of insects here has diminished noticeably. 

I'm going to make myself at least one box, I'll try to do a fair few and put them up anyway.  I sometimes wonder if our geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) might be raiding nests.  I see them occasionally at night, really big specimens, sidling up the walls towards the nests.

Also saw this https://www.swift-conservation.org/swift_bricks.htm for anyone thinking about making something more substantial.  What a great idea.

[Gurke and Hare]

What!?

I guess it was the Brits that bought possums across from Australia?

Am I imagining this, or does New Zealand have no native mammals?

[Buelligan]

It certainly has lovely seal types.  I think they count.  Can't type for shit though.

[gib]

and bats

[Gurke and Hare]

Possibly no land mammals? Not sure if that covers bats or not.

[bgmnts]

I guess it was the Brits that bought possums across from Australia?

Am I imagining this, or does New Zealand have no native mammals?

I was objecting to rats and possums being crap mammals.

[Buelligan]

Possibly no land mammals? Not sure if that covers bats or not.

Bats aren't sea creatures.  I stand by that.

[Dex Sawash]

Possibly no land mammals? Not sure if that covers bats or not.

Certainly a birdie

[bgmnts]

A female mallard flew a foot above my head earlier and I watched it as it flew past me. When I turned back around, I caught the end of another female mallard spraying out an enormous puddle of faeces on thr pavement.

Beautiful, in its own way.

[Cerys]

You're so right.  I forgot to say, yesterday, went out, looked up and saw huge ponderous iridescent bubbles, a child had made them, floating up and across the dark pure blue, being hunted by screeching swifts.  Was incredibly beautiful.

That sounds so lovely.  Jealous now.

[Birdie]

Certainly a birdie

An old bat indeed;(

But yes, all we had were bats and seals (dolphins and whales don't count as far as I'm concerned). Not as cuddly as a squirrel.  Thanks for the hedgehog though, I'd forgotten about them.

[phosphoresce]

I've been having fun with the BirdNET bird song identifier app. You take a recording, it does a little analysis of the sound pattern, then throws up a likely match. It creates a library of your sound files too, with their respective matches. It's been largely song thrushes, chiffchaffs, robins and goldfinches in my local park so far. It's like a wholesome, uncool Pokemon GO.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

I've been using BirdNET too and have found it really useful but I'm not too sure about the "wild guess" function. I was surprised to discover that the unseen bird squawking in my small garden in suburban Wolverhampton this morning was possibly a common pheasant.

[paruses]

Also been using that app. Its fantastic. The only wild guess so far that was the same as me guessing a football question in a pub quiz has been shelduck, whilst in a wood. The others have been pretty much plausible.

[Buelligan]

I've been using BirdNET too and have found it really useful but I'm not too sure about the "wild guess" function. I was surprised to discover that the unseen bird squawking in my small garden in suburban Wolverhampton this morning was possibly a common pheasant.

A pheasant is one of the most distinctive.  Pah-hah-hah-hah-boomp!  They scream.  Unmistakable.

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

Yes, it didn't sound much like a pheasant. A few seconds earlier the app tentatively identified the same bird as a starling. I think somehow it knows I'm an ignoramus and is taking the piss.

[BlodwynPig]

Yes, it didn't sound much like a pheasant. A few seconds earlier the app tentatively identified the same bird as a starling. I think somehow it knows I'm an ignoramus and is taking the piss.

as was noted earlier in the thread by Buellers, Starlings are multi-lingual

[the midnight watch baboon]

Not very good with lighting but here's some swans and their little brood of cutesy cygnets inspecting their upper vertebrae, near Cambridge at the weekend.