ARTzeman
14 April 2024 09:23:36
Nice to see a hedgehog on the lawn this morning around 08:40 am.




Some people walk in the rain.
Others just get wet.
I Just Blow my horn or trumpet
DEW
  • DEW
  • Advanced Member
14 April 2024 15:49:29
Out for a walk in this morning's sunshine in the Surrey Hills.

Heard a cuckoo calling - today is St Tiburtius' day when the 'Old Woman' traditionally lets the cuckoo out of her basket at Heathfield Cuckoo fair, and it flies northwards taking the warm weather with it. https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_cuckoosong.htm 

Also noticed both oak and ash in flower together. I'm not sure what that does for weather prediction as the saying (I think) refers to the leaves.
War does not determine who is right, only who is left - Bertrand Russell

Chichester 12m asl
Chunky Pea
14 April 2024 21:11:16
Originally Posted by: DEW 

Out for a walk in this morning's sunshine in the Surrey Hills.

Heard a cuckoo calling - today is St Tiburtius' day when the 'Old Woman' traditionally lets the cuckoo out of her basket at Heathfield Cuckoo fair, and it flies northwards taking the warm weather with it. https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_cuckoosong.htm 

.



I like the concept in that poem. And indeed, mid-Aoril is usual around the time when Spring is firming its grip. 
Current Conditions
https://t.ly/MEYqg 


"You don't have to know anything to have an opinion"
--Roger P, 12/Oct/2022
DEW
  • DEW
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16 April 2024 08:47:27
Originally Posted by: DEW 

Out for a walk in this morning's sunshine in the Surrey Hills.



Further to the above, I've now looked up a plant in flower which was new to me and turn out to be Claytonia perfoliata aka WinterPurslane aka Spring Beauty aka Miner's Lettuce - from California where gold rush miners ate it as a protection against scurvy, now naturalised and spreading in Britain though still rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytonia_perfoliata 
War does not determine who is right, only who is left - Bertrand Russell

Chichester 12m asl
NMA
  • NMA
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17 April 2024 05:45:19
Originally Posted by: DEW 

Further to the above, I've now looked up a plant in flower which was new to me and turn out to be Claytonia perfoliata aka WinterPurslane aka Spring Beauty aka Miner's Lettuce - from California where gold rush miners ate it as a protection against scurvy, now naturalised and spreading in Britain though still rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytonia_perfoliata 


I'm sure I tried to grow it on the nursery at one time. Obviously not with a great deal of success because you've just reminded me of it.
It was first recorded in the wild in Britain in South Hampshire in 1849 and is still spreading.
Vale of the Great Dairies
South Dorset
Elevation 60m 197ft
Roger Parsons
21 April 2024 10:24:20
Anyone heard a cuckoo yet? We have had a few sightings in Lincolnshire.
BTO project: Satellite tracking of cuckoos:
https://www.bto.org/cuckoos 
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
NMA
  • NMA
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21 April 2024 13:08:01
Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

Anyone heard a cuckoo yet? We have had a few sightings in Lincolnshire.
BTO project: Satellite tracking of cuckoos:
https://www.bto.org/cuckoos 


No.
I have yet to see a swallow.
Vale of the Great Dairies
South Dorset
Elevation 60m 197ft
Roger Parsons
21 April 2024 13:30:13
Originally Posted by: NMA 

No.
I have yet to see a swallow.

See this Lincs Bird Club link for a local sample. Swifts, swallows, house/sandmartins and ring ouzels.
Lincolnshire Latest Bird News
https://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/site/index.php/sightings/latest-news 
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
Retron
21 April 2024 15:12:44
Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

Anyone heard a cuckoo yet?


Plenty of "coo-coo" noises in my garden, but that's from the resident woodpigeons!

I can't say I've ever heard a cuckoo here, but the owner of the wolf centre said last week she's still waiting for the first one there, and they've always appeared before now.
Leysdown, north Kent
Roger Parsons
21 April 2024 16:26:16
Originally Posted by: Retron 

Plenty of "coo-coo" noises in my garden, but that's from the resident woodpigeons!
I can't say I've ever heard a cuckoo here, but the owner of the wolf centre said last week she's still waiting for the first one there, and they've always appeared before now.

I usually reckon on first week of May - but with our weird winter and spring, I wonder. Also with all the wet going, the countryside has been relatively quiet, so that may well affect the timing.
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
Retron
21 April 2024 16:32:03
I was at the wolf centre yesterday. As well as the lesser-spotted Berkshire wolf (sample image below), one of the handlers spotted a tiny bee on a dandelion. I'd assumed it was just a fly, but it seems not - has anyone else seen one of these small bees before?

https://ukwct.org.uk/images/updates/2404/12.jpg 
IMAGE. Members enable at bottom of page


https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/bee.jpg 
IMAGE. Members enable at bottom of page


EDIT: And apparently there are badgers out and about at the wolf centre too. Here's Nuka pushing his neck down really, really hard on a fresh deposit from a badger... it's a good job there's no way to transmit smell over the Internet!

IMAGE. Members enable at bottom of page

https://ukwct.org.uk/weather/nuka.jpg 
 
Leysdown, north Kent
Roger Parsons
21 April 2024 16:50:06
There are a lot of solitary bees, Retron, identification made that bit more difficult as males and females can be somewhat different [size/colour] in some species. My first thought is "solitary" and "mining bees". We've had quite a few here. e.g. Tawny Mining Bee and Hairy-footed Flower Bee.
The mining bees make those small earth "volcanoes" on bare patches of ground. You may well have noticed these at the Wolf Centre and assumed they were worm casts. Could yours be the Ashy mining bee (Andrena cineraria)?
Check this link and also the one to the Bee Fly which is a kleptoparasite or brood ectoparasitoid. [Look it up!] I hope Beast won't - it might give him unhealthy ideas! 🤣
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/blog/ryan-clark/identify-solitary-bees-uk 
https://www.lnhs.org.uk/index.php/articles-british/613-bee-flies 
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
Retron
21 April 2024 17:06:35
Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

There are a lot of solitary bees, Retron, identification made that bit more difficult as males and females can be somewhat different [size/colour] in some species. My first thought is "solitary" and "mining bees". We've had quite a few here. e.g. Tawny Mining Bee and Hairy-footed Flower Bee.
The mining bees make those small earth "volcanoes" on bare patches of ground. You may well have noticed these at the Wolf Centre and assumed they were worm casts. Could yours be the Ashy mining bee (Andrena cineraria)?


Now that's interesting - yes, even though my phone's zoom lens mangled the detail, that mini bee matches the look and description of an ashy mining bee. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't realise you could even find such small bees in this country, my knowledge started at bumble bees and ended at honey bees!
(I have a nest of bumble bees in the garden again this year, albeit a few metres away from last year's effort).

I may well have to poke around my garden a bit more closely this summer... I've a feeling there's a heck of a lot of "minibeast" life that I simply haven't noticed, and the same will apply at the wolf centre too! (Albeit there, we're generally focused on much bigger wildlife, such as the roe deer which burst from a hedge yesterday... made a change from the odd-looking muntjac deer we usually see).
Leysdown, north Kent
DEW
  • DEW
  • Advanced Member
21 April 2024 17:14:34
I'd go with one of the early mining bees
https://www.lancswt.org.uk/blog/spring-bees-identification 

Besides the Ashy mining bee as picked out by Roger, the Early mining bee (Andrea haemorrhoa) looks possible.
War does not determine who is right, only who is left - Bertrand Russell

Chichester 12m asl
Roger Parsons
22 April 2024 04:52:08
Originally Posted by: DEW 

I'd go with one of the early mining bees
https://www.lancswt.org.uk/blog/spring-bees-identification 

Besides the Ashy mining bee as picked out by Roger, the Early mining bee (Andrea haemorrhoa) looks possible.


Could be. Photos not always as useful as one might hope. To get into this group of insects BWARS is a useful site:
https://bwars.com/ 
https://bwars.com/information_sheets 
 
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
Roger Parsons
22 April 2024 06:37:18
Originally Posted by: Retron 

Now that's interesting - yes, even though my phone's zoom lens mangled the detail, that mini bee matches the look and description of an ashy mining bee. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't realise you could even find such small bees in this country, my knowledge started at bumble bees and ended at honey bees!
(I have a nest of bumble bees in the garden again this year, albeit a few metres away from last year's effort).

I may well have to poke around my garden a bit more closely this summer... I've a feeling there's a heck of a lot of "minibeast" life that I simply haven't noticed, and the same will apply at the wolf centre too! (Albeit there, we're generally focused on much bigger wildlife, such as the roe deer which burst from a hedge yesterday... made a change from the odd-looking muntjac deer we usually see).

Given the importance of pollinators in facilitating reproduction in a huge number of plant species on which the biosphere depends, it is extraordinary how little bees are understood or appreciated. Most people can only name a handful at best. Public knowledge is often limited to pests or introduced species like the honeybee! 🙄 Not surprising perhaps, given we are an introduced UK species ourselves!

17 invasive species causing problems in the UK - humans not on the list.
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/facts-about-uk-invasive-species 
RogerP
West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire
Everything taken together, here in Lincolnshire are more good things than man could have had the conscience to ask.
William Cobbett, in his Rural Rides - c.1830
Windy Willow
22 April 2024 08:19:14
For the first time ever I saw to young deer, whilst we were travelling to Cornwall yesterday, in the Devon area. I've seen them before, of course, but never been fortunate to see them here in the UK.

There were also several birds of prey, one was a kite and a couple of others may have been hawks, but I am not so hot on my ability to identify exactly what they were. There's also an owl near to our accommodation, as I could hear it last evening whilst looking for "shooting stars".
119.4 m /391.7 feet asl
Sunny Dartford, NW Kent

Don't feed the Trolls!! When starved of attention they return to their dark caves or the dark recesses of bridges and will turn back to stone, silent again!
speckledjim
22 April 2024 09:55:03
Originally Posted by: Windy Willow 

For the first time ever I saw to young deer, whilst we were travelling to Cornwall yesterday, in the Devon area. I've seen them before, of course, but never been fortunate to see them here in the UK.

There were also several birds of prey, one was a kite and a couple of others may have been hawks, but I am not so hot on my ability to identify exactly what they were. There's also an owl near to our accommodation, as I could hear it last evening whilst looking for "shooting stars".


We're fortunate to have quite a lot of deer round us so see them regularly on my walks. Red kites are also our most popular bird of prey, due to the breeding programme at Harewood House which is local to us.
Thorner, West Yorkshire


Journalism is organised gossip
NMA
  • NMA
  • Advanced Member
23 April 2024 05:45:06
We have too many deer (sika, roe the most common) around here. Ticks are an issue perhaps because of this factor and if you wander in woody areas or the heaths it's essential to check for them when you get home.
Red Kites recently arrived but buzzards are the ones you often see going around in circles on thermals. They mew like cats too.
There is a peregrine nest in a pylon across the road but I'm not sure if it is occupied yet.
And lastly, the ospreys in Poole Harbour. Almost forgot the Sea Eagles. Haven't seen one yet though.
Vale of the Great Dairies
South Dorset
Elevation 60m 197ft
ARTzeman
23 April 2024 15:23:07
Young squirrels seen this morning on the lawn. AlsoTWO white ferrets being walked by a young lady.




Some people walk in the rain.
Others just get wet.
I Just Blow my horn or trumpet
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