h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The grass snake sounds interesting. I have never seen one, but are hoping to one day in the wild. Okay, I would probably be scared stiff, but it must be exciting .

Jackdaws bring back memories of going to Llandudno, a couple of months ago . I seen lots in Llandudno park, and wasn't sure what they were at first as I have never seen them round by me. We threw a bit of biscuit onto the grass, and some came down which I was able to photograph . I then emailed the picture to Websailor, while at Llandudno, and she emailed me back with a positive identification as 'Jackdaw' . They made me , we sat in the park watching them for a good hour!

Take care. Have you found anymore blackberries to eat lately?

Nigel

No need to worry about Grass Snakes Nigel, one bite and you will never worry about anything ever again!
No seriousely they don't bite and will likely run away. If you do catch one it may let a really foul smelling liquid out from glands near bum, I have smelt it and it is absolutley foul or it will turn on its back and pretend to be dead with mouth wide open and tounge out. Both of these are to deter predators and say I am not nice to eat!

Thanks for that SS . I will look forward to seeing one for real, hopefully one day .

Nigel

Hello Strangely Strange and Nigel!

Strangely Strange, can you believe the little grebes occur here in South Africa as well? In fact they are amongst the most common water birds here. Any reasonably-sized bit of standing water will have at least one, and they've benefited greatly from the building of farm dams. I find them cute - the adults and the little'uns as well!

As for snakes ... we are 'blessed' with a great variety here in South Africa, including a few very poisonous ones. In my travels I've come across mambas, cobras, pythons, puff adders, mountain adders, bush snakes, house snakes, even a tiny thread snake once ... and the 'nicest' encounter was when I was on an entomological trip to a remote mountain region over here, with very dense bush. I remember brushing aside some twigs and then ... 'wait a minute, this twig feels very soft and smooth' ... and it was a twig snake! I actually touched it! It *very* rapidly removed itself from the vicinity, but it was a lovely little thing!

Twig snakes actually look like twigs and vines - they have a grey-ish brown speckled skin with a bark-like texture - visually, but not to the touch! Like I said they feel very soft and smooth. The twig snake spends most of its time 'draped' over twigs and branches, looking like them, motionless. It hunts birds and perhaps arboreal geckoes and chameleons as well, that come within striking distance. It actually has a poison that is potentially deadly but I gather they are extremely reluctant to bite people - they have small mouths too, and fangs in the back not in the front, so they can't bite a human very easily.

They're closely related to the Boomslang ('Tree Snake') which is extremely venemous but equally unlikely to actually bite someone.

Here are some nice photos - PLEASE check them out, you won't be sorry you did - tell me that's not a beautiful little thing! The 'puffed-up' neck is its threat display! The one I encountered didn't do this - it simply beat it back into the bushes, with haste:

http://www.greglasley.net/birdsnake.html

These photos were actually taken quite close to where I found mine! The Blyde River Canyon nature reserve is one of the loveliest places in this country. Mine was in the Bewaarkloof Reserve, a hundred or so miles to the West of Blyde River.

We only have 2 snakes in England, the Grass Snack and Adder. Although the Adder is poisonous it is not agressive and would rather run away, I saw one on a path at coast 30 years ago. People occasionally get by biten by accident when accidently treading on one in scrubby grassland.
They are rarely fatal and a girl who trode on one recently had a unusually bad reaction to bite and spent a week in hospital as leg swelled up.
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I threw some peanuts in their shells on lawn and "Mummy Bumps" squirrel started to bury them. I thought it was her as skin is a bit wrinkley, stretch marks? When she stood on back legs 10 feet away it was clear it was her. She also reburied one a bit safer under abush perhaps due to me watching. I think she did one dummy burrying as stgill had nut in mouth.
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While she was doing that a young Squirrel was in oak tree above me eating what look like alien eggs as all bumpy and star like. It could be one of Mummy Bump's young. Anyway as always the squirrel was discarding a large amount of the objects which fell near me sitting under tree, showing how the squirrel was moving around oak.
Anyway I picked up a particulary large bunch which fell close by.
I have looked at these star shaped/alien objects before but now realise the weird pointy outer green casing contains a very small growing acorn! I pulled one apart and saw the acorn cap that looks like the skin of a strawberry with small pits in skin. I saw the small pale green acorn itself and realised the squirrels are actually just eating the inside of the acorn shell which must taste nice to a squirrel.
I have noticed before that they are all coated in greasy sticky coating for some reason.
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I also have realised that I have never seen an acorn in garden and suspect the squirrels eating them practically non stope ruins the crop completely every year.

Hi SS, and Willem

The squirrels are starting to bury acorns in the ground for over winter . Sometimes, they forget what and where they buried them and we end up with all sorts of odd trees growing in the lawn . We also get lots of holes, which are annoying.

Nigel

I have a particular interest in Grey Squirrels. It isn't just thier fantastic sense of fun like throwing themselves in air and spinning and finding a twig just to play and roll around with , it is that they are an easily seen and studied mamel resident in my garden. I note that a couple are starting to molt and show thier grey winter coat on sides of abdomen.
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I have been trying to observe my resident squirrels more closely and look at smaller details on them. I want to find facts out myself with binos rather than a book as more interesting and more likely to stick in mind. I am certain they have five back toes and think they might have four front ones, I shall enjoy finding out later. Recognition of individuals is difficult due to ever changing fur and distinctive fur markings can quickly disapear. However age helps as youngsters are of course leaner, a little smaller and thiner so that helps. The older squirrels like "Mummy Bumps" are fairly distintive as clearly she has breasts for feeding young, six I believe, and has a less sleek look and slightly world worn look, perhaps due to life's encounters.
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Sexing young squirrels is more of a problem. Male squirrels have a small pink penis which shows when they stand on hind legs, protruding through fur on groin, Young females are less easy to identify as suspect only older females who have had young show the comparatively large and distinctive breast through fur. A large amount of fur makes sexing in general difficlt. .
I believe that squirrles are generally unperterbed by closeness to mankind unless we scare them with quick movements. This morning I , for the first time, had a really enjoyable half hour throwing single peanuts in shells to individual squirels as they looked up for them. For our eysight to meet was indeed truely a joy.Often it was only one squirrel on lawn which made it even more special. The squirrel then ran around garden finding a hiding place to bury Monkey Nut. As the squirrle found the nut it took just a small nible at case, at a guess it was to check it was edible, however as said that is entirely guesswork but an insight into these fascinating creatures lives!

When I got up this morning there were two Jays in oak tree close to my window. infact one was only six feet away!
I have had enormous enjoyment feeding Squirrels one to one from my flat window, the look on their sweet faces as they look up and wait briefly for a Monkey Nut is a joy. I was also in garden and the nearest one came only three feet away. I am warey of getting them to feed from my hand as they are wild animals after and would prefer them to stay that way and be safer..

Once again a Goldcrest turned up with a Coal Tit, defying the Collins book of birds which says they usually flock together in winter. There was a Blue and Great Tit too in flock which is nice to see.
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Haven't been to nature reserve lately so might go now as sunny and nice out there, a great combination!

How lovely, what a joy, the juvenile Green Woodpecker was at my water bowl today!
I haven't seen it for a while and after the waterbowl it foraged around and pecked at the very short remains of a tree stump and inserted its long beak and stood still. I suspect its very long tongue was feeling for ants in the dead wood.
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I went to local nature reserve today and lifted up small coregated sheet looking for a grass snake and a very small mouse with big ears looked back! It was a pleasant surprise and it look so sweet and small.
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This next bit isn't very pleasnt as about the rawness of nature so don't read if will be upset as about a domestic cat.
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I was walking along in reserve this morning and thought I saw the body of a strangely short cat. I went closer and found it was only a third of a cat and the cat seems to have got its colar caught in mouth and perhaps chocked to death. Creatures had taken advantage and two thirds of cat was a skelington with flesh removed. Perhaps an oportunist fox or crows, etc.
It seemed horific but a fox just sees it as food and not a domestic cat, which I think I had seen prowling reserve. Flies and small creatures seemed to be removing rest of poor cat and soon it will all be gone. Providing food in the food chain. Nature may seem cruel but it ensures survival. I understand that when foxes are seen with the body of a cat it is often blamed for its death when the truth is they are oportunistic and find the bodies on roadside.
I of course checked collar for an addres but found none.

Yeah Strangely Strange that was a rather grim discovery! Over here in South Africa I've actually encountered bits of dead wild animals lying in the 'veld' and once a fairly complete - and fairly nicely cleaned-off - skull of a warthog, which I later used in a painting.

SS,

I agree with you that foxes rarely take live cats. The cats here are quite vicious towards foxes, claw out, and scowls, the lot, so I think they would have to be very young naive cats, or already inured in some way.

It was a gruesome discovery but you did all you could. Perhaps the cat had been abandoned. Nature clears up its own mess very thoroughly, unlike humans!

I am glad you are enjoying your wildlife. It is a gift not given to everyone, but often where it it most needed.

Hope you are doing ok and settling down a bit.



Websailor

yes it was a bit of a gruesome discovery but the need to learn drove me closer, like when I saw a Canada Goose with no head or neck.
Irronically I saw a fox drinking from my water bowl in garden last night. I never thought of foxes using it but everything needs to drink. It lapt somewhat like a dog.
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Yes indeed wildlife is fascinateing and there always seems to` be something 24 hours a day. I even saw a bat flying and feedinmg outside my flat window in early hours of morning. Perhaps I simply didn't see them when very dark but they were always there, and not just dusk in the half light.. The foxes are up all night too here.

Well birds of a feather really do stick together.....
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It's flocking time again!
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A swarm of, not sure how many 10-20 perhaps, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tit, Goldcrest and even a female Chaffinch (the first for months and months) arrived in my garden just now. The swarm flew from small tree to small tree for some ten minutes then disapeared. I know they flock together for food and indeed they were quite frenzied in their flying and searching branches for food.
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The Great Tits are all in their full regalia and the juvenils just have just the tiniest of pale yellow on head still. All look really colourful and smart now. The once REALLY tatty Goldcrest is looking particularly fetching with a gold strip on head of gleaming gold almost.
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Quite a frantic 10 mins and difficult to count numbers, but wonderful none the less!
I recently noticed that Great Tits have started to use a differant call, their "Blinck, blinck, blinck" call, which I suspect is to locate others in flock. It is purely a guess though as could be for anything really, like marking teritory, finding a female, etc. That is the fun of wildlife, trying to work out what they do and why!

Hey Strangely Strange, how are things in the wildlife corner?

That sounds like some serious flocking behaviour there! In fact, birds of many different feathers, flocking together! Birds do that sort of thing over here also ... we speak of 'bird parties'.

The foxes were noisy last night when I was trying to get some . It is nice to hear the wildlife though, and can imagine the younger cubs playing .

Hope you are SS.

Nigel

I have been wondering how you are SS. Busy packing I hope

Websailor

*sneaks in*

Haven't posted on the wildlife thread for a while so dropped in here

Strangely - saw an albino squirrel in the park a couple of months ago although it didn't hang about for a photo! Recently there's been a heron residing on one of the ponds there.

Other than that just seen a lot more foxes on the move during the daytime than usual

*waves* to loonycat - don't think we've met

Websailor

Just been to Whitstable in Kent for a week and lovely to see lots of of visitors while I have been away!
The cottage I rented was in the town and had lots of Starlings, Sparrows and Colared Doves around about but not much more strangely. I have never really been into waterbirds but watched Gulls a lot and saw something called a Stone Turner dashing around hardly seen by visitors as so well camoflaged.
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Fortunately, and as I hoped, the countryside wasn't too far away and could be reached by pushbike.
Strangely most of the birds were around one farm which had Swallows zipping around the cows and the sweetest young calves in a field. There was a mystery swarm of around 40 birds which moved and twitered like Goldfinch but they were difficult to see. I suspect they were Goldfinch in some sort of mid stage of feather change as looked a bit tatty.
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There was a plantation of conifirs nearby which although less interesting than native forests made a change to walk in despite their general lack of wildlife. One exception was what I think was a Hobby hunting on edge of plantation but due to its speed was difficult to identify. I didn't see much ground wildlife but there were lots of Wood Ant nests everywhere, all around 6 feet across as they built non stopp and marched around in columns og what must have been thousands.
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I didn't see much bird life around and noted once again that areas with human populations seem to atract the most birds, etc sometimes. Squirrels particulrly can be quite rare in countryside but very common in towns, I have 4 or 5 regular Squirrels in my garden, as man provides so much food for them either deliberately or acccidently through unsecured bins.
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I saw a Great and Green Woodpecker and a Blue Tit but not many other birds, but might have seen more if been there longer in one area. The highlight of holiday must have been the very young and a bit wobbley small young cows. It might be the "ahh" factor but it was interesting to watch them with Swallows wizzing around at ground level.
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Ps, I would have loved to have seen the albino Squirrel seen as saw a black one once!

*waves *

Good to see you again Strangely, nice to hear about your trip and Hi Websailor

There's not always a huge variety of birds in seaside towns in summer, perhaps due to them having to compete with the gulls!

Have seen far less butterflies on the bushes outside work this year. Usually loads of Red admirals but did see a I think it was a Holly blue from my enquiries.