Observations Of Nature Through The Seasons.

[knocker]

Of late I've been quietly amazed at how much seed Sparrows can get through. I think I've twigged part of the reason and it seems to be that with a mixed seed collection they flick the seeds they don't like over their shoulder so that you get seed heaps down below.

[ciel]

19 minutes ago, knocker said:

Of late I've been quietly amazed at how much seed Sparrows can get through. I think I've twigged part of the reason and it seems to be that with a mixed seed collection they flick the seeds they don't like over their shoulder so that you get seed heaps down below.

I just use sunflower hearts and niger seeds, for that very reason. I don't actually feed the birds during the summer - there are plenty of weed seeds in the garden to satisfy their appetites.

[knocker]

Yes that would seem very wise.On another note the Moorhen situation gets slightly more confusing. well to me. The youngster was back in the same spot this morning but the question is is the other one a parent or a slightly older sibling?

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by knocker

[ciel]

7 minutes ago, knocker said:

Yes that would seem very wise.On another note the Moorhen situation gets slightly more confusing. well to me. The youngster was back in the same spot this morning but the question is is the other one a parent or a slightly older sibling?

 

 

 

I thought at first sight that it's an adult as it appears to have developed the red thing on its forehead ( I can't remember the anatomical name for this feature ). But the feathers on its back are brownish so maybe not quite transitioned into adult plumage?

[knocker]

15 minutes ago, ciel said:

I thought at first sight that it's an adult as it appears to have developed the red thing on its forehead ( I can't remember the anatomical name for this feature ). But the feathers on its back are brownish so maybe not quite transitioned into adult plumage?

Yes that was my thinking as well.

[Snipper]

Article from Mail of interest http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4827190/Windscreens-free-inects-signal-alarming-decline-bugs.html not that the Mail can usually be relied on for accuracy. 

Dont know what others think but I tend to agree. Certainly bugs smashed up on my car are minimal at the moment. 

[knocker]

3 hours ago, Snipper said:

Article from Mail of interest http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4827190/Windscreens-free-inects-signal-alarming-decline-bugs.html not that the Mail can usually be relied on for accuracy. 

Dont know what others think but I tend to agree. Certainly bugs smashed up on my car are minimal at the moment. 

There was a lengthy article on this in geographical Magazine recently that is paywalled but they made another brief comment in the July edition.

Bug’s Life: the demise of insects

Quote

It’s not just the bees that are disappearing. Insects across the board are showing dramatic drops in population levels, leading to a serious knock-on effect for ecosystems everywhere

To date, experiences of insect declines have largely been anecdotal. Many people recall wiping more bugs off car windshields in the past, or remember seeing more of recognisable species like ladybirds, butterflies and bumblebees. Now, an increasing number of scientific studies are beginning to support these observations.

Last year, US beekeepers reported a 44 per cent collapse to their colonies during the winter months. In the same time period, the UK butterfly monitoring scheme reported reductions across 70 per cent of all species. As for the wider insect world, all insect and invertebrate populations were calculated to have shrunk by 45 per cent in the last four decades, according to biologist Rodolfo Dirzo in his seminal paper ‘Defaunation in the Anthropocene’.Recent research carried out in Krefeld, a western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, saw ‘an 80 per cent decline in flying insect biomass in the last 25 years,’ says Professor Dave Goulson, biologist at the University of Sussex. He helped to analyse the German data, whose numbers ‘were the most dramatic to date’.

Goulson, who often studies UK bees, believes pesticides are partly to blame. Only tiny doses of neonicotinoids, a relatively new but widespread group of pesticides, are enough to paralyse and kill bees (just 4 billionths of a gram) and his research has found that even smaller doses leave them confused, unable to navigate and unable to collect food. ‘Nobody knows for sure the cause of the declines in all insects,’ he says, ‘but most would agree that it is a combination of pesticide use and habitat loss.’

Specific extinctions have also contributed to the thinning numbers, and 42 per cent of bugs on the IUCN’s Red List are categorised as being under threat. ‘However, in many ways the loss of bioabundance is perhaps more significant,’ argues Goulson. ‘If flying insect populations are down by as much as 80 per cent, that means far fewer pollinators and far less food for insect-eating animals such as bats and birds.’

http://geographical.co.uk/nature/wildlife/item/2285-bug-s-life

[knocker]

Whirlpool

[Snipper]

Seem to have a lot of solitary bees and bumble bees round here. Partly because there are plenty of flowers that they like. 

[knocker]

 

[ciel]

Great news to read about the red squirrel stronghold. Nice pic too.

 Did that area have a captive breeding and re-introduction programme?

1 hour ago, knocker said:

 

 

[knocker]

28 minutes ago, ciel said:

Great news to read about the red squirrel stronghold. Nice pic too.

 Did that area have a captive breeding and re-introduction programme?

 

I don't know.

There is a project down here albeit it wouldn't classify as urban

http://www.cornwallredsquirrels.co.uk/

Edited August 28, 2017 by knocker

[knocker]

Invasion by bee-killing Asian hornets ‘inevitable’

Quote

Britain’s honeybee population will be decimated as a result of the “inevitable” arrival of Asian hornets by the summer’s end, conservationists warn.

The predatory species, which can wipe out 50 bees a day, is thought to have been introduced to Europe when several arrived in Bordeaux in boxes of pottery from China in 2004. Despite efforts to eradicate them, the hornets spread into Spain and Portugal.

Asian hornets were not sighted in Britain until last September in Gloucestershire, prompting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to set up a three-mile surveillance zone. Although that nest was believed to have been contained, the Scottish government confirmed the discovery of a hornet in March before a second nest was found on Jersey in July. Islanders filmed the hornets attacking honeybees this month.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/invasion-by-bee-killing-asian-hornets-inevitable-2bvd5z3nt

Bee-killing Asian hornets could colonise UK after discovery in Gloucestershire

http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/bee-killing-asian-hornets-could-332787

[ciel]

Young tagged hen harrier goes missing in 'suspicious' circumstances

I hope that this is a tracking malfunction, but somehow I doubt it given the timing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41107663

Coincidently, I attempted a walk on the Mar Estate earlier this week.  The midges were out in droves and I had to retreat as they were plaguing the dog relentlessly.

Dee Valley towards the Linn of Dee

[knocker]

You can see why they have big feet

[knocker]

Northwich woman's pet bearded dragon comes back from the dead

http://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/15517628._I_buried_my_pet_in_the_garden__and_she_came_back_to_life_five_weeks_later_/

[knocker]

These feet were made for walking

[knocker]

An unusual event down at the lake this morning. Sidney eyeballed Ratty and before you could shake a squirrel's tail Rattly was chasing Sid with serious intent and quickly caught him and they had a quick roll over dust up before Sid escaped up a tree. Never seen a rat attack a squirrel before and it was all too quick for the camera.

[ciel]

15 minutes ago, knocker said:

An unusual event down at the lake this morning. Sidney eyeballed Ratty and before you could shake a squirrel's tail Rattly was chasing Sid with serious intent and quickly caught him and they had a quick roll over dust up before Sid escaped up a tree. Never seen a rat attack a squirrel before and it was all too quick for the camera.

Super observational  photos, knocker.

[knocker]

Anyone for a Mohican?

That's better

[knocker]

Alert: Nature, on the Verge of Bankruptcy

http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/09/alert-nature-verge-bankruptcy/

[knocker]

Big melt season in Chukchi and Beaufort seas affects animals, people and the weather ahead

Quote

Sea ice is sparse in Arctic waters off Alaska, and the implications for animals, upcoming winter weather and next year's ice pack are reported to be profound.

A lack of floating ice forced walruses to the shore of Alaska's Chukchi Sea earlier than any time on record. Perilous melt conditions forced biologists monitoring Alaska polar bears to cut short their spring field season. Other scientists sailing in the region marveled at the extraordinarily warm water temperatures. A ship, a Finnish icebreaker, made the earliest recorded vessel crossing of the once-impenetrable Northwest Passage, sailing from the Bering Strait to Greenland in July.

And the extra-large expanses of open water are setting up northern and western Alaska for a warm fall and early winter.

In coming months, from the September to November period, there is a 75 percent chance that the North Slope will be significantly warmer than the 1981-2010 average for that fall period, according to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center.

https://www.arcticnow.com/science/2017/09/12/big-melt-season-in-chukchi-and-beaufort-seas-affects-animals-people-and-the-weather-ahead/

[knocker]

Rare white giraffes spotted in Kenya conservation area

A pair of giraffes with leucism, a condition that inhibits pigmentation in skin cells, have been filmed by conservationists for the first time

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/14/rare-white-giraffes-spotted-kenya-conservation-area

[knocker]

 

[knocker]

Once-abundant ash tree and antelope species face extinction—IUCN Red List

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-once-abundant-ash-tree-antelope-species.html