Your day's wildlife

[Dave 123]

Tavy Cleave
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[potsy]

A couple of today's visitors..

 

[Poacher]

Hecky-kopecky! I've just had to evict another hornet!
Not the same one as this morning; this one was noticeably smaller, but still an impressive insect.
No photo, as Mrs Poacher was more keen on getting it out of the house, I had my hands full with a jar, a sheet of paper and a rather unpredictable creature, plus the ambient light was fading fast.
Anyway, it flew away into the dusk apparently happily. I guess any neighbour with over-bright lighting (could be any of a number round here) may be in for an exciting encounter.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Hecky-kopecky! I've just had to evict another hornet!
Not the same one as this morning; this one was noticeably smaller, but still an impressive insect.
No photo, as Mrs Poacher was more keen on getting it out of the house, I had my hands full with a jar, a sheet of paper and a rather unpredictable creature, plus the ambient light was fading fast.
Anyway, it flew away into the dusk apparently happily. I guess any neighbour with over-bright lighting (could be any of a number round here) may be in for an exciting encounter.

We had a nest once in our allotment. We left them space and they were no trouble to us. Apparently they only use a nest for one year before moving on.

 

[biggs682]

Just reviewed garden camera footage from last night and one of the hogs that visit our garden is holding its left rear leg strangely

 

[Blue Hills]

We had a nest once in our allotment. We left them space and they were no trouble to us. Apparently they only use a nest for one year before moving on.

are they dangerous to folk at all?

 

[Andy in Germany]

are they dangerous to folk at all?

The ones we get here are apparently only dangerous if you attack their nest or go swatting swarms of them: give them space and they are fine.

You can remove the nest after winter as they will have abandoned it.

 

[newfhouse]

No nest cam pics for a while as the internal camera failed before the eggs hatched. For obvious reasons I couldn’t get in to repair it.

There’s a lot of activity in and out today so I assume the youngsters are still being fed.

 

[Poacher]

No decent picture sadly, but I've just learned that wood pigeons take showers. I know birds bathe, but I never knew any of them showered.

I'm currently watching a wood pigeon sitting on an exposed tree branch across the road; The heavens opened, and he started putting a wing in the air, like when a human puts an arm in the air in the shower to wash under their pits. He'd alternate wings so both sides got a good dousing. It was comical, I expected him to grab some soap and start singing. Once the rain stopped his wings went down and he started preening under his arm pits wing pits.
I surprised the Google AI no doubt with the batsh1t enquiry "Do pigeons shower?" And RSPB said yes, it is a thing! Wood pigeons prefer to use falling water to shower in rather than bathing in pools like other birds. They've been seen using public fountains in the same way. I'm not sure why but that's delighted me.

Spot on description! It's amused me many times. I'm still puzzling over what bird has been splashing water out of a small holding pond in the artificial stream associated with my pond, leaving a thick film of feather powder. I'm still inclined to blame a Woodpigeon, just because I blame them for most things!

Caught in the act! Woodpigeon immersing its underparts in the holding pond! Pics from a distant bedroom window, sorry for quality.
Tatty garden sieve was in use to allow freshwater shrimps, pond lice etc. to return to the water from accumulated moss and other stuff.

 

[rockyroller]

cpl weeks ago I saw the beach fox again plus a friend!

 

[AndreaJ]

I see this male blackbird most mornings when I am out walking the dogs, not sure why or how he has a mostly white head. Not a very good picture but I did have 2 dogs with me.

 

[nickyboy]

Absolute scenes in the garden this morning ....

Our garden is just a normal garden..grass, shrubs, trees etc..."quack, quack, quack"....mother Mallard plus 4 little chicks walking across the lawn. Must have nested nearby and she was moving them to the river. She disappeared into the undergrowth but the way she went was towards the road

Couple of minutes later she was back with them still in tow. She then flapped over the wall, intent on heading down the hill via gardens to the river at the bottom. Problem is the dry stone wall is about 18 inch high, too much for little ducklings

So I went out to help them....they went crazy thinking I was about to eat them and hid under a bush. Luckily for them the bush was next to the wall and they used it to climb over the wall. The last I heard was mother duck quacking away into the distance. Hope they made it safely to the river

 

[biggs682]

Cheeky fella on our bird feeder tonight

 

[Andy in Germany]

Spider hanging out in the living room.

 

[geocycle]

The bluetits fledged last night! So excited to see what was growing in the nest box. Parents taking lunch boxes around and scaring magpies. They have earned a rest!