wildlife – Page 3 – University & Unicorns

14 April 2009

Baby Blackbird Drama

I was just settling down to watch the Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead repeat (just to give it one last try to see if I didn’t change my mind about it) when a REAL drama unfolded.

Earlier in the day I’d spotted our resident male and female blackbirds (who I refer to as Mr & Mrs B). They were behaving quite erratic and seemed to be getting very flustered over the presence of a magpie. They both kept flying onto the fence on the other side of our strip of lawn, and going from there to the roof of the house opposite, to the fence again, and back and forth from the tree.

As I started to watch Planet of the Dead, Chrissy kept looking at the shrub outside. Then, suddenly Em spotted what must have been the cause of Mr & Mrs B’s earlier frenetic behaviour. There was a blackbird chick in the shrub outside our front room window! Chris was obviously in raptures. And I became enthralled too – and frantic – no 3rd chance for Planet of the Dead I’m afraid. Please be mindful there is sound on the video and it does contain some strong language (sorry).

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Here’s poor little bub looking defenceless in the shrub. Mr & Mrs B were fab though. They kept coming back to check on it and feed it. When they could find it! Mr B sort of knew where it was and came over to the shrub and fed it. A little while later Mrs B came over and did the same thing, then bub got the courage to try and fly back over to the other side of the garden.

What I think had happened earlier in the afternoon was that bub got lost in the shrubbery on the other side of the garden, by the fence. And I think Mr & Mrs B lost it for a while. It certainly explained their behaviour to me once I’d seen the baby.

So, now here is bub as he gets the courage to try to get over to the other side of the garden.

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We were watching with hearts in mouths. As you will see below, the poor bub JUST makes it over, flutters a bit on the fence, then takes shelter in the conifer tree. We kept watch. Mum and dad were still looking out for him. Mrs B even managed to feed bub while it was in the conifer.

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Eventually bub moves on, as you will see below.

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It’s on the compost bin now. Mum comes along with the BIGGEST worm to give to him, but can’t land near him. She keeps the worm for him! Bless!!

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From there he ended up in the hebe bush above, and stayed about 15-20 mintues. Then, finally, finally, after a bit of coaxing from mum and dad, he took a plunge for the oak tree. He made it!! Mum and dad kept on flying back and forth from the large conifer trees in the gardens beyond (where we think the nest might be). They were trying to entice him to fly with them over to the conifers. After a few minutes of wing flexing and branch hopping, he took one final leap. From what I could see he had just about enough energy to make it to the first branch of the conifers. There are three large ones in a row. I think he got to the first one, but I think the nest is in the third one, so he had a little bit of branch hopping to go to actually make it home.

Mum and dad were taking really good care of him the whole time though. I didn’t intervene as much as I wanted to. When I watch Springwatch, they say time and again, if you see a baby bird in peril, try not to intervene as you can make a bad situation worse. All I could do was keep watch and make sure he didn’t end up on the ground and look out for cats. The magpie was hanging around a bit, but mum and dad kept him away, and I don’t think he was even aware of the chick anyway.

I just hope the little thing made it and is okay. I haven’t seem Mr & Mrs B much today. They’ve only visited the garden once since I’ve been up. Mrs for a drink and a bite to eat, and Mr for his obligatory bath.

PS: In the time it’s taken me to upload the videos, I have seen a baby blackbird flapping around the conifers beyond where the nest is. I can’t be certain it’s THE baby, but I hope it is. At least I know it lives to fight another day 🙂

19 December 2008

Was That A Kite?

Yes, but not THAT kind of kite! It was one of THESE kind of kites!

I saw it as we got near to our place. We’d just been shopping with Em’s dad, and were in the last half a mile home and I saw it circling around. Not THAT particular kite mind you, but one just as spectacular. What a sight to see.

It was HUGE!

9 December 2008

The Jay Returned!

Amazing! I never thought I’d see it again, the jay returned to the garden today. Em was taking FOREVER to get the camera ready. He was on the ground for a minute or two, but by the time slowcoach had the camera, he was in the tree.

STILL – we did manage to get two shots.

He’s trying to ignore us here! Someone else (pictured below) was EAGERLY watching!

13 November 2008

Yes, We Have No Nuts, We Have No Nuts Today!

We had, for the first time that I am aware of, a squirrel in the garden earlier this week. It was aVERY rainy day, and he was getting very wet. There were no nuts out there, so I think he was just snacking on the seeds out there for the birds. I’m hoping he’ll visit again.

Here’s some grainy pics as proof of his visit.

15 October 2008

Where Are My Tits?

I’m a keen – never leave home – twitcher. It was partly what got me through my depression in 2006. Normally, through the year we get a range of varying types of birds visit the garden. Various types of tits, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, sparrows, wood pigeons and collared doves, even the odd greenfinch. But the one bird we get with a dizzying degree of regularity is the goldfinch.

Until now.

As of this week, I don’t think I’ve seen ONE goldfinch for about three weeks. This is just unheard of. The only bird I HAVE seen in the last few days has been a robin. Not even the doves and pigeons are hanging about.

WHERE HAVE ALL MY BIRDIES GONE?

With winter coming on and us putting food out, I should be seeing MORE of them, not LESS of them!

As I type, I can hear Mr Robin chirping his pee-d off song. Will he be the only visitor today?

Stay tuned…

11 October 2008

Dude, Where’s My Bra?

We’ve hired a car for the weekend. And while Em was off collecting it, I was having a shower. Once I got out the shower, I was getting dressed. I went to my underwear draw to get my best bra, but oh, my bra wasn’t in the draw? No matter, I thought, it must be around here somewhere…

I searched in EVERY place feasible to no avail. I was starting to get flustered. IT’S MY BEST BRA! I’ve only had it a few months. I had some not very suitable “back up” bras – one too small for me, the other with a hook that had snapped.

Well I had no choice, so I wore the one with the about to bust hook.

I have a ritual, see. I don’t wear my bras when I’m at home. It’s a thing I got from my mum. It just helps to lengthen the life of the bra. So, when I *do* go out and wear my bra, when I come home, I take it off. I normally leave it on the end of the bed to “air off” a while, then put it back in my underwear draw later. The last time I wore it was about a week ago (yes, I go out that often). I remember coming home, taking it off and draping it on the end of the bed, and then…

I’VE LOST MY BRA!!!!

Have you seen it?

On to the car. We’d planned a trip to Cambridge and then perhaps Whipsnade Zoo the next day. But I think we’ll change tack to Hitchin tomorrow and then perhaps a trip to Shepreth on Sunday.

We’ve spent a bit of dosh today, spoiling Chrissy and myself. I’ve got an early birthday present.

As for Chris, these are her spoils…

Thanks to Ikea for Chrissy’s things.

26 August 2008

Baby Greenfinch!

Oh the cutest thing ever is outside! An adult greenfinch with its baby. The baby keeps flapping its wings, begging for food. If gives up after a while and starts feeding himself. Then stops again to do more begging! Oh s/he’s just TOO cute!

28 July 2008

Man Flu, Black Books and Casanova.

I’m already starting to get over my “man flu”, thank goodness! I know it’s hard to believe, but the weather has actually been hot of late and having man flu in the middle of a heat-wave is NOT fun! If you don’t believe me, I snapped this from the TV last night. This is today’s forecast!

YES! That is a three and a zero, together, hovering over London!!!

I can hear titties outside!!! Yay!!! Titties are back!!!! Can you tell I love tits?

Anyway, I am already feeling better with my man flu, but I now have yet ANOTHER fungal infection and my boobs are red-raw, which isn’t fun in this weather either. I wouldn’t care if I only ever got to use it for 2 days a year, I SSSSSSOOOOOOO want air-con!

Just finished watching the 2nd series of Black Books last night and the 3rd is coming in the post today with the Casanova disc. Even MORE David Tennant to OD on! There was a special Doctor Who Prom on at the Albert Hall yesterday. It was broadcast on the radio with a little specially made clip played during the interval. Mr T wasn’t there himself, as he’s being Hamlet at RSC Stratford at the moment, but he was in the little specially commissioned clip. Radio listeners didn’t miss out as it was available on the official Doctor Who web site as well.

Lovely and interactive, must’ve been great fun for the kids there, believing The Doctor was talking to them all, too cute!!

All of series four is being repeated on BBC3 at the moment. Silence In The Library was on last night…that’s SSOO scary the way that ends with “Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved” repeated ad nauseam while a clan of Vashta Nerada (the dust in sunbeams – hidden in shadows) that have invaded a human body manoeuvre it chasing The Doctor and a group of archaeologists down the narrow halls of the library.

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These episodes to come are my faves, the second part of this (Forest Of The Dead), Midnight and Turn Left, all brilliant.

26 July 2008

Wildlife Update.

The bird scene has been a bit sparse lately. I think since the breeding season is over, most of the adult birds have gone off to recover. I think I *did* confirm the blackbird that died wasn’t our resident Mr B, as there was a male blackbird in the garden with white flecks on the left wing, so it must’ve been Mr B. For about a week now there’s been no presence of either he or Mrs B.

The goldfinches have been away for a while too, but have just started to come back in the last few days. The robin and dunnock have been absent from the garden as well. The only birds that have been frequenting the garden have been doves and pigeons. As much as a I was happy to save the baby pigeon some weeks back, the daily sight of doves and pigeons isn’t exactly a twitcher’s delight! I mean, look at them!

Collared Dove (L),
Woodpigeon (R)

But I’m glad to see the goldfinches back. I hope it means the others are to return shortly too.

As for the hedgehog…

I’ve been seeing him around at night. Last night he was out in the garden, nosing around with that little cute pointy snout of his. I watched him for about 10 minutes. We have a ground-feeding bird tray in the middle of the garden. He made his way over there. Em had given our regularly interloping cat, Kitty (the tortoiseshell one – the cat terrorist as she’s come to known – I’ll explain in a minute) some ham outside and Kitty had left some behind, so little hoggy might’ve been getting that. After a few mins he slowly made his way over to the direction of the compost bin. I lost sight of him then ‘cos he was in the shadows. I hope he found something to snack on. It was a warm, dry night last night, so I can’t imagine too many slugs were around.

Why is Kitty called The Cat Terrorist? Well, about a week ago, she came to visit. Normally we know she’s arrived, because she climbs up on the rubbish bins outside and sits on them looking into the living room windows. This day, she decided to take bold action. Em was downstairs on her own (I was having a shower, or upstairs doing something, can’t quite remember). When she’s sitting in front of a computer, Em can blot out all kinds of stuff, so the fact Kitty had arrived outside had (funnily enough) escaped her attention. Being ignored wasn’t going to stop Kitty! We have the living room window open most days. It’s surrounded by black mesh, to keep insects out and help keep Chrissy in. ANYWAY…Kitty decides it’s no barrier for her, uses a paw and makes a parting in the mesh and busts her way in!!! Em only then turns around to see on the lounge what she thought was Chris, was actually Kitty and nearly has an eppy!! Thank goodness Chris was upstairs with me, otherwise their would’ve been one holy cat war if Chris had seen Kitty in the house!

Another reason Kitty is called The Cat Terrorist – if you don’t get her her ham fast enough, she just helps herself to the food in Chris’s bowl! Naughty Kitty!!! She’s starting to get sick of ham though, so we’re going to have to buy her some other kind of deli meat.

The bats come and go. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don’t. They are little masters of the air though. The way they fly about just on sonar just amazes me.

17 July 2008

Hedgehogs and Hairspray.

Watching DVD’s again. I’ve finished watching my set of Blackpool discs. It was a really good series. I think you need to have something of the Brit about you, or be Anglophilic to appreciate some of it. I can understand why Viva Laughlin (a US re-production of it made by/for CBS) failed. I found something outrageously sexy about David Morrissey’s voice in it. I loved the kitschy musical segues.

More discs arrived by post yesterday. After spending the morning doing the whole bankruptcy petition thing at the local county court, I needed some light relief. One disc to arrive was Hairspray. I’d been wanting to see it for ages. Just the mere notion of John Travolta in drag was funny enough! Oh, it was SO good. I just freaking LOVE musicals! I’m a gay man trapped in a heterosexual woman’s body!! I’d love to see it in the West End now. I’d love to see Michael Ball as Edna. Musicals are even more special when you see them in the theatre. I haven’t been to the West End for a musical for years now. Last one I saw was Cats, just before it ended its run. Maybe, just maybe for my birthday or something. Anyway, it was just the “pick me up” I needed. I LOVE the music of the show.

After watching that, I just had the TV on Big Brother. Chris was looking out the loungeroom window with something in her sight, seemingly. I suggested to Em that she might have spotted a hedgehog, so Em went outside to investigate with a torch. And lo and behold, there was a hoggy outside! He was out in the garden, rummaging around. Em went back inside to get some dog food for him, but then he slipped away under the bushes. It was lovely being able to go out into the garden to see him though, even if it was just for a fleeting glimpse. Em says there are LOADS of slugs and snails around at the moment and she keeps seeing hedgehog droppings (amazingly, very slug-like shaped poo – who’d have thought?).

That’s it for now, I’m off for another DT fix.