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

SS, it is getting to that time of year when things 'kick off' as you put it. Great fun

Websailor

Fri. 2nd May 08
Weather: Sunny spells with the odd shower.

Last night I was so tired I went to bed before any wildlife showed up. I only woke up once at 12.31am by which time the table was over and the dish empty

I woke early this morning and fed the birds, and was pleased to see them all tucking in. The feeder levels are going down so fast I can’t keep up. I shall have to put another bird food order in on Monday I think. *Peeks* at the bank balance Oh, well it’s all in a good cause

The robin and the nuthatches have been very active, as have all the <blue s etc. but there is no sign yet of any young ones so I think they didn’t rush to nest this year. Our streets are loaded with pollen and causing PHM and others some problems but I guess the bullfinches are well pleased with all those buds. There are certainly several males here, and the females are less visible, so I think they must be sitting. There is usually an ‘auntie’ around too.

The Bovver Boys are still coming daily, but not in great numbers, but that will soon change when the fledglings appear. Bucket and brush at the ready

The magpies are still chasing around like they own the place, so they will be getting a severe ticking off soon if they don’t behave

Several s are passing through again, but none have been a nuisance so far.

No woodpecker seen today, no stock doves either but I am sure they are still around, and unfortunately I can’t watch as much at the moment.

Back tomorrow. Have a nice weekend everyone



Websailor

Just been back to sainsbury's before their 25% off clothes thing ends. I got another slightly differant colour pair of green coloured trousers of the type I mentioned before for birdwatching and as being only around a third of original price can't go wrong really!
What was good was I found a wide brim green floppy hat of the sort I have been wanting to buy but since they are around £20 in shops I was put off. This one is perfect and as in a 25% off sale it worked out at only £4.50 which is fantastic! The reason I want one is if out in the sun a long time birdwatching it can be a bit too hot as I have a number 2 haircut and can get a sunburnt scalp. Also i find too much sun on head/neck can be a cause of dizziness. The hat has a neck cord which is great if windy and to prevent me losing it, another reason a cheaper hat is better. Also I don't want to go over the top and spend a fortune on birdwatching as takes the joy out of a free really imteresting and fun hobby! Also of course the hat, trousers, etc have dual uses, which is good.

SS, you clearly like a bargain as I do. Why pay more when you don't have to?


Sat. 3rd May 08
Weather: Warm and Sunny all day



At 10.15pm last night the dish and lid was heard to *clank* loudly as the badger nudged the brick off and struggled to get his head in the dish He spent some fifteen minutes chewing noisily away, occasionally looking down the garden to see if there were any others queueing up to eat .

I saw no sign of another badger or indeed any foxes and eventually at about 10.31pm he trotted off down the garden exiting left in a hurry. He obviously had another appointment elsewhere. No further activity was noted.

This morning dawned bright and sunny and it seemed to bring the birds out more than usual. Several bullfinches vied for perches on the nyjer seed feeder, and the jay dropped in for some peanuts - its’ first visit this week.

A flash of bright yellow/green revealed a rare visitor, a greenfinch . It looked in fine fettle but I do wish it would bring along a mate. Fingers crossed we may see another one soon.

Ignoring the forecast (which turned out to be wrong) I cut the lawn and strimmed too - there’s dedication for you. It wasn’t long before the magpie, blackbird, collared dove and wood pigeons voiced their approval of the newly manicured lawn - who you kidding . The lawn looks lovely from the house where you can’t see the badger snuff holes, the squirrel digs and the magpie cylindrical holes . Oh, and the daisies, dandelions and plantain, not to mention the moss and clover!

The badgers of course will also be pleased as they find it easier to find worms in short grass.

Blue s, great tits and long tailed tits made a brief appearance along with a robin and a nuthatch, but I think my appearance in the garden for the whole morning rather upset the applecart a bit

I am off shortly for some and as I reckon I’ve earned it, what with mowing, strimming and scribbling

See you all tomorrow,



Websailor

Sun. 4th May 08
Weather: Warm and showery

Last night the fox did a tour of half the garden at 8.30pm looking for any peanut or raisin leftovers but didn’t come up to the dish. 10.15pm and either the same fox or another did a complete tour of the whole garden, inspecting the lawn and any changes in vegetation as a result of my efforts. He/she walked quickly round the dish but didn’t sniff or touch, before trotting out again.

It is clear that the badger is ‘king’ and it was not until just 1.25am that the dish and table were cleared, the table top standing on edge. The walked through but took no notice of the dish.

This morning I fed the birds early as a magpie was pecking at the plastic lid on the bird table! They have been visiting in ones and two again - a robin, a blackbird, a nuthatch, two blue s, two wood pigeons, two great tits, and the occasional dunnock.

However, five bullfinches arrived, three glowing males and two females, and I am sure there was another one in the tree somewhere, as they usually leave one on watch.

It is showery and very humid this evening, and the birds seem to be finding plenty of natural food. They are singing well too. At least any badger cubs will be getting well fed with worms before they progress to other food. At least we can keep the adults well fed.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I intend to. See you tomorrow if you are ing and not too busy.



Websailor

Since summer is aproaching and warblers are such similar looking birds I have been going through my DVDs of birds. I haven't watched the Warbler section in depth but came across a facinationg one called a Grasshopper Warbler which sounds exactky like a Grasshopper! It really shakes when it calls and realise I could have mistaken one before for a real grasshopper.
I know there are strange sounding uk birds like the Bittern and Nightjar but one sounding like a Grasshopper and looking like a fairly normal bird, unlike Bittern and Nightjar, is odd.

It made my computer speakers vibrate!! What a shame it is on the Red List! It sounds as if you might be very lucky to hear/see one.

Websailor

I went to local wildlife reserve this morning and it really felt like summer. Not due to sunshine, it has been hot on and off recently, but due to wildlife out and about.
The Greenfiches seemed manic and flashing about so fast if it wasn't for their v tail and yellow side stripe it would be hard to tell what they were!
There were Swifts and House martins wheeling across the reservoire water catching insects and a Kestral hovering overhead. I saw a bird I personally haven't seen around here before, a Whitethroat and something I couldn't work out from book. It was grey on back, smoothly from tail to head, and lighter underneath. I only saw it for 5 seconds so didn't get a good view but DVD shows it to be a Lesser Whitethroat as only bird that looks like that.
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I mentioned a few days ago of uncertainty of a Warbler I saw and thought it might be a Reed Warbler or Garden Warbler. Well I checked the list of birds seen on that day and it has been recorded as 2 Willow Warblers. I don't entirely agree with that however since some Warblers look very similar it really is sometimes a case of 'You pay your money, you take your pick!'
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There were a lot of butterflies around today making it even more summer like, however until the dragon and damsil flies are out it won't be completely summer for me!

I mentioned Olympus voice recorders as recomended in a birdwatching magazine for inexpensive bird song recording.
The one in the letters page said get a £30 one however they only had a £40 locally, vn-2100pc, so got that.
After much use the results are a mixed bag. generally they are good fun and good to record uncertain sounds for comparason later with DVDS, CDs, etc. One limitation is that very hard calls like a Robin can overwhelm the recorder a little and be a little distorted. However for general use they aren't too bad and I have found a normal size microphone like used on a Karioki(sp?) machine allows the recorder to cope with harsh calls like a Robin. It comes with a small plug in microphone to go in end of machine which I use a lot. A great advantage of recorder is they are like a small mobil phone so no bother to carry and the bird songs record accurately for future comparason.
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So should you buy one? Well if you do then I would suggest the cheaper £30 recorder as well, cheaper. I think they are great for general birdsong recording when not certain of the bird or want a record. Also you can of course use it for general description of an uncertain bird as you watch it. If you want to notch 100% accurate bird song recording I think you will need to spend a lot more than £30, maybe hundreds and buy a microphone that won't be cheap for a quality one. A top notch machine is likely to be a lot larger and not a top pocket sze thing.
I wasn't certain the £40 was money well spent in begining but think it is now as quite useful for anything from birds to frogs!

As an example I am listening to a recording of when the 4 Squirrels and a Magpie got into a shouting match in my backgarden. You can hear the Magpie doing its call like a small dog yapping, the squirrels tutting away and a Greenfinch with its nasally twang repeated call in background and a Blue Tit twinkling away with its fairly high song.

It sounds like you had another nice day at the wildlife reserve . It is nice to get out in the fresh air, even if its for half an hour .

This morning it was raining here. I had to , a magpie was sat on the fence with a bit of biscuit in his mouth absolutely soaking wet . It didn't seem to bother him, they are being naughty like you said SS, chasing other birds and fighting .

A friend of mine told me that on Saturday morning, he could see a magpie from his kitchen window pecking like crazy through the plastic mesh of his vegetable cage . He went to investigate and found a dead Dunnock. The dunnock must have got in, couldn't get out and the magpie basically pecked him to death . Such a shame as we don't see dunnocks' round by us much.

The voice recorder sounds interesting. It must be very quiet so you can get just the bird sounds and not other interference like people walking past and talking .

All the best.

Nigel

Yep Nigel, Magpies can a have a nasty streak when they want.
Talking of birds getting wet, I have noticed that the Blackbirds in my garden work all day long really to get worms from my lawn and are often there even as getting dark. It was pouring with rain the other day and a male Blackbird was absolutely soaked and covered in mud splashes but was quite happy as getting big juicey worms while all other birds had given up ages ago.
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The voice recorder does pick up background noise so have to be careful. I find playing it back through my TV via my DVD recorder lestens the harshness of hard calls like Robins a little.

Wildlife can be so funny .

Nigel

SS, the recorder sounds good. I must admit I am tempted, but there are too many background noises here, usually at the wrong moment so I probably won't.


Mon. 5th May 08
Weather: Warm and showery



it was very humid last night but it had been so wet I felt sure the badgers wouldn’t come till late as they would be worming. I checked at 9.55pm and there was no sign of life, so I felt it was safe to put the kitchen light on while I got supper. I usually do it in the dark which can be a bit dangerous I switched the light off at 10.10pm and went to sit down.

At 10.25pm I returned to the kitchen, didn’t put the light on and grabbed the night vision scope just in case. The badger was already there munching away. In a certain light I can see his jaws going ‘nineteen to the dozen’ and his tongue too. He kept holding the dish with one paw, then put his paw in to stir the food up. Round and round the dish went his tongue. I thought he was going to be there all night, as he munched, and munched and munched..and I waited...and waited…. and waited. Eventually at 10.47pm he walked right round the dish picking up stray bits and I was convinced he had left nothing for other visitors. He ambled off down the garden, doing his customary burst of energy as he ran the last few yards to exit left.

11pm and the fox appeared, running straight to the dish. Lo and behold! There must have been some scraps that the badger couldn’t ‘catch’ as the fox stayed for five minutes munching He finally left, trotting down the path and out of the centre exit, presumably so he didn’t bump in to a badger coming in from the left . Nothing further was seen during the night and the table wasn’t tipped this morning.

7am. It was raining so I dashed out in purple anorak, green garden shoes and old trousers, blue and yellow gloves etc. Well it wasn't the weather for my 'designer' gear. I put the food (in a tub) on the BBQ while I washed the water off the stone table, and a magpie nearly knocked the whole tub on the floor. Fortunately it frightened him before that happened. I washed the badger dish with rain water to save time, and put the peanuts, raisins, seed, cereal and cheese on tables and in feeders.

Now, the magpies are beginning to get me . I can put up with a lot from delinquents, but now they are chasing my precious Jays away. They wouldn’t even let the poor things land this morning. I don't mind them chasing squirrels and wood pigeons, but the jays are quiet and shy.

Four bullfinches came, and the female woodpecker arrived on the peanuts at 7.40am with starlings bent on getting there first, but of course they failed. The robin and nuthatch managed to drop in between magpie raids and the blue and great tits didn’t attract their attention either. A couple of collared doves were treated to a barrage of wings and feet however, before they flew off in disgust.

I shall hope for a more peaceful day tomorrow, but it’s that time of year when ‘a young man’s fancy turns to…’ so I expect it will get worse rather than better.

See you tomorrow, unless you have all gone AWOL somewhere nice.



Websailor

Yes indeed, background noise can be a problem. If I could work out how to do it I would just plug my microphone into my DVD recorder for garden birds as expect would be good quality. There used to be more opportunities for home recording in past as if I remember correctly cassette decks on home stereos had microphone sockets.
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WS, you mentioned a night scope. I was wondering if they are any good and how much yours was? What exactly is it and what does it do? Does it enlarge objects or show real size?

The Jays are always quiet and shy , especially the younger ones.

Nigel

I think I saw a Magpie chase a Jay off here earlier. Squirrels have no truck with Magpies here and turn on them!

Wildlife can be so funny ??I thought you were house trained Nige'