A random thread for the wildlife stuff - you know the drill

[Flite]

At least Petsafe do sell replacement bits - I don't think a lot of ours is original by now,

[hellymedic]

Looks like the (non PetSafe) magnet is holding the flap. Kit is still pending delivery.

Well, we have two cat flaps so spares may be needed in future.

[Legs]

We lost one of our three Embden geese just before Christmas, so we're hoping to bring up some goslings this year.  We're left with a gander (Clarence) and a goose (Geri), who I think are father and daughter.  With hopes of diversifying the gene pool, I've been given three (hopefully fertilised) Brecon Buff eggs by a neighbour, which I slipped into Geri's nest this morning.  In order to get her to go broody, I've left her own eggs in there, but I don't want them to hatch.  Should I
a) get some of these,
b) buy some eggs from the butcher, which should be unfertilised, or
c) hard-boil her own eggs and pop them back into the nest?

I'm thinking that, since we'd rather keep a female rather than male gosling, I'd take a punt on which one to keep at 16 weeks based on the colour of the down and the pitch of the call (I don't feel qualified to try vent-sexing!).  I've got a friend who'll happily accept juveniles to his flock.  (Of course, there's a 1-in-8 chance of them all being male, and it's not a foregone conclusion that they'll hatch out.  I'm wary of premature poultry enumeration )

Any thoughts or words of wisdom/experience?

So I went for the hard-boiling option.  Today's the 28th day she's been sitting so we're (perhaps) expecting the arrivals imminently.  Strangely, the gander has also been sitting on the nest, which is rather spread-out so that they sit side-by-side.  Getting them both off the nest at the same time has been difficult, so I haven't had the opportunity to candle the eggs, or to pick them out in the past few days to listen for peeping.  I've left a seed tray of water outside the shed for them, and will pick up some starter feed for them in case they make an appearance.

[matthew]

The smokers have been informed not to use the ash tray in the smoking shelter at work.

There's a clutch of 11 eggs been laid in it!

The comment has been made about passive smoking. 

[Legs]

BTW, the goslings didn't show up, otherwise they'd have been making an appearance on the "squee" thread    Threw the dud eggs over the hedge.  No embryos inside, just yucky month-old yolks.

[T42]

20°C outside but the bees that have come into our house, three or four of them today, are all groggy or dying. Either farmers are making the most of the last neonic/glyphosate years or some neighbour is ignoring the outright ban on garden insecticides.  I've seen a couple of bluebottles in a similar state, too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's no wonder insect populations are declining; I wiped out a couple of hundred on yesterday evening's ride. With my eyelids. Time to wear glasses whenever out of the house.

[Kim]

It's no wonder insect populations are declining; I wiped out a couple of hundred on yesterday evening's ride. With my eyelids. Time to wear glasses whenever out of the house.

I had to stop and expend a non-trivial amount of my remaining water on washing the smeared remains of something insectoid (suspect a partially-emerged pupa) from my glasses, after impacting it at speeds in excess of R17.

[Steph]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49096417
SEVEN species of gull found in the UK?
Herring
Lesser BB
Greater BB
Common
Kittiwake
Black-headed
Mediterranean (abundant in the South)
Little (several in Surrey at the moment)
Yellow-legged (regular in some SW areas.

Add in rarer ones like Glaucous (one was in Redhill for ages this year) and that 'seven' looks a bit ill-researched.

[jsabine]

Google suggests that the RSPB says there are seven species of gull that breed in the UK (and the British Trust for Ornithology says six), so given that the article you quote includes a statement from the RSPB I reckon that's probably the source, coupled with omitting the breeding detail.

[Basil]

Another bird in my bedroom this morning.  Last one was a very noisy juvenile jackdaw which was quite easy to encourage back out of the window.  This morning's was very small and unidentified, but still very noisy.  Possibly a very young sparrow or perhaps a wren.  I couldn't get close enough to see as it panicked and squashed itself into a corner under the back of a chest of drawers. Hopefully it will find its own way out.

[Basil]

Another bird in my bedroom this morning.  Last one was a very noisy juvenile jackdaw which was quite easy to encourage back out of the window.  This morning's was very small and unidentified, but still very noisy.  Possibly a very young sparrow or perhaps a wren.  I couldn't get close enough to see as it panicked and squashed itself into a corner under the back of a chest of drawers. Hopefully it will find its own way out.

I have just spent an hour trying to catch the bloody stupid sparrow that is still in my room.
I assumed last night that it had found its own way out through the open window, but no. Woken up at 5:30 by loud persistent tweeting. Every time I move it hunkers down under furniture where I can't reach it.
This is driving me mad!

[matthew]

I'll probably get in trouble for suggesting this but don't you have a cat? In which case it is not doing it's job.

[Basil]

I'll probably get in trouble for suggesting this but don't you have a cat? In which case it is not doing it's job.

No. No cat here.  I did think one would be useful in this situation though. It could flush the little bugger out of its many hiding places so I could throw a towel over it. (Which is what I've been trying to do)
There is a large sash window which is fully open, but it just never goes near it.
At this rate it will starve to death.   

[Steph]

Wow!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/04/sea-eagles-to-take-flight-on-isle-of-wight-for-first-time-since-1780?fbclid=IwAR0rZG1D0OI5K9EVhgsZebfekinhj63AVWpVOtCaRGDSXxHcrjvRxSHw_T4

[Basil]

We had loads of swifts this year. I loved hearing them screaming around the house every morning, watching them pretending to dive bomb the bedroom window.  Then suddenly they were gone.  I've not seen one since the end of July.
I thought that this was a little early, and that perhaps they knew something we didn't.  (Armageddon outa here), but no, end July early August it is, according to the interwebs.
 

[Pingu]

We've had very few swifts in Furryboottoon this year, but they are still here.

[Ham]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/09/chase-bank-cancels-all-credit-card-debt-for-canadian-customers

Now that's some CLEVER dogs

Turner used his Amazon.ca Rewards Visa to buy electronics and supplies for his six dogs.

[Clare]

Wow!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/04/sea-eagles-to-take-flight-on-isle-of-wight-for-first-time-since-1780?fbclid=IwAR0rZG1D0OI5K9EVhgsZebfekinhj63AVWpVOtCaRGDSXxHcrjvRxSHw_T4

They were released last week.

 

[Clare]

In other news, what better way to spend a bank holiday Monday than in a queue of traffic on the Manhood Peninsula with a stinky winged rat in a box in the car. Wonky the pigeon is now in the hands of Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital.

It really is amazing how much shit can come out of a bird that size.

[Basil]

A pair of herons. It struck me that, although herons are fairly common, I've only seen solitary individuals, never a pair before.
Also, I reported upthread that our swifts disappeared suddenly in the last week of July.  They've not been seen since, but this morning there were four flying about.  Are these Pingu's swifts taking a break mid migration?

[Clare]

Wow!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/04/sea-eagles-to-take-flight-on-isle-of-wight-for-first-time-since-1780?fbclid=IwAR0rZG1D0OI5K9EVhgsZebfekinhj63AVWpVOtCaRGDSXxHcrjvRxSHw_T4

They were released last week.

 

One of them has gone for a bit of a bimble:

http://www.roydennis.org/2019/09/01/amazing-flight-essex/

It's Audax Eagle.

[Pingu]

A pair of herons. It struck me that, although herons are fairly common, I've only seen solitary individuals, never a pair before.
Also, I reported upthread that our swifts disappeared suddenly in the last week of July.  They've not been seen since, but this morning there were four flying about.  Are these Pingu's swifts taking a break mid migration?

Ours seemed to disappear sometime before we went on holiday, not long after my previous post.

[T42]

Noticed that the neighbours' chickens were all wondrously quiet for a change*. OTOH I could hear a buzzard mewing.

A strategy suggests itself...

* for the benefit of townies, cocks do not only crow at daybreak.

[benborp]

Yesterday autumn fell with a thunk. All the beasts are working out where they would prefer to be.

A hedgehog has just wandered in and made its way under the dresser. He passed a toad that was on its way out.

I just hope I'm not on my way to a dwarf infestation.