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Your Wildlife Sightings!

Discussion in 'TalkCeltic Pub' started by cidermaster, May 22, 2014.

Discuss Your Wildlife Sightings! in the TalkCeltic Pub area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. An Madadh Rua

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    I've been making a bit of an effort in the garden for the past couple of years and been trying to encourage wildlife while also trying to keep it elderly parent friendly. I've tried to do small sections at a time - birds, bees, frogs, squirrels, in-laws. So I planted rowan, hawthorn, apple and holly trees for the birds and put some pyracantha in a couple of gaps in the hedge. We put up nest boxes on a couple of 50 year old sycamores we share with next door. We created a wee path between two parts of the garden and edged it with a small lavender hedge. There are flowering hebes and other shrubs for the bees. At the bottom we have logs piles for the frogs and leaf piles for a couple of hedgehogs who wander by sometimes. For the in-laws, there's the quicksand zone and bear traps. We have now goldfinches, greenfinches, blue *, bullfinches, wrens, great *, a pair of doves, a woodpigeon (who looks permanently spaced out) and a pair of blackbirds who seem to live somewhere in the garden. The blackbirds are really tame and will happily approach to within a couple of inches. Some mornings, it's like a scene from the Hitchcock film. We also have grey squirrels who love the two large oak trees and this year there are a couple of very young squirrels who are as intellectually challenged as their parents. I put up a couple of squirrel feeders last year but they just perch on top of them and still try to use the bird feeders! I was always a bit sceptical about claims that if you do this or that to attract wildlife it will come but it really is true and even small changes can produce great results.
     
  2. bagforlife Gold Member Gold Member

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    Your garden sounds wonderful, live in a tenement so it's a shared back space, I'm bottom flat so have hung lot's of bird feeders on the washing poles and it's amazing how many birds come to feed and they tell all their pals :giggle1:
     
  3. Scotia Gold Member Gold Member

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    problem with that BFL , the birds will come to rely on the food source … so start stocking up on the seeds and fat balls for winter . its a good thing your doing .
     
  4. bagforlife Gold Member Gold Member

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    Thanks Scotia I will, that's me commited to it now :50:
     
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  5. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Brilliant you are Garden Wildlife Hero:50:
     
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  6. Scotia Gold Member Gold Member

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    ach ive went too far BFL , 3 nesting boxes , few checked them out but no nesters yet. Got a big bird table built and secured to the fence , I put bread and scraps in there , crows , magpies , and the odd seagull feed there . Bought a stone birdbath and it sits below the table but im forever cleaning it , wee buggers do their business in it and a crow brings hard food to it and leaves it in it to soften and comes back later . 2 trees nearest the house is where I put the feeders ( 2 on each tree ) and a nest of fatballs on each , I could refill these daily but I dont so they still forage about the garden for insects . The pigeons are practically tame now and follow me about the garden , always give them mealworms they love them .
     
  7. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Another Wildlife Garden Hero kind Sir:50:
     
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  8. strike twice

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    First thing this morning ( circa 5.30 ) when I stepped out of the house , I spotted a Heron silently winging across the town . It looked majestic against the blue sky , a great sight to start the day .
     
  9. An Madadh Rua

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    I don't know they do it. We saw goldfinches when we were out walking near the coast but had never seen them in our garden. We put out sunflower hearts in one of the feeders and literally on the next day we had two goldfinches. Now we have several but I'd love to know how they find out and then pass it on to their chums!!
     
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  10. StevieBhoooy!

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    Cleverest bird in the planet crows - so I’m told. Can solve simple problems.

    When I first lived in the far NW highlands ... kept putting fat balls out in the trees for the birds as there were all sorts of coloured finches and gold crests ... just forest around so no food shortage but brought them into view..

    The fat balls kept vanishing overnight and couldn’t figure out why.. fixed them with wire , kept happening even with big ones weighing over half a pound.

    Finally worked out it was this * nicking them in among raids on the few neighbours
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2019
  11. An Madadh Rua

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    Once one thing works, you get a real thrill and want to try something else. You get hooked.
     
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  12. StevieBhoooy!

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    They must use ‘twitter’...
     
  13. Scotia Gold Member Gold Member

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  14. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Amazing photo cool Bhoy:60:
     
  15. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Today i will be looking at Pub Wildlife all afternoon and all evening,let you know how i get on:giggle2:
     
  16. johnboy19

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    Great photo mate. It's true about Crows, and other Corvids mate, really clever. My daughter and I were up at Hogganfield Loch one sunny morning, and watched a Carrion Crow take a piece of hard bread, walk over to the loch and dip the bread in the water to soften it up. Brilliant to watch.
    Pigeons are super clever as well mate. They're not just the pests that people think they are.
     
  17. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    I saw and spoke to some lovely Birds. :84:
     
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  18. Scotia Gold Member Gold Member

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    [​IMG]

    fekkin drinking and swimming in the water feature now .
     
  19. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Cannot see the Image cool Bhoy:39:
     
  20. cidermaster Gold Member Gold Member

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    Another Springwatch tonight,brilliant,but 2nd last episode of this the best ever of this Series!! Love it!!