Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~

[LVG]

I hate mosquitoes. They ate me alive while I was in Florida.

[teatree]

On 2/19/2017 at 10:15 AM, Muledeer said:

I saw the year's first mosquito yesterday.  Not as thrilling as your butterfly, but still it was the earliest I have ever seen a mosquito around here.

Noooooo! Not in February!

[vervain]

Neither mosquitos nor butterflies yet here.  But the light levels have really shot up and when I wake up in the morning I can hear greenfinches wheezing and blackbirds singing their heads off.  I suddenly feel so much better.

[Myssterry]

There is frogspawn in the pond.  Spring is officially on the way.   Sadly, it has been a rather cold, dull day today though.

[vervain]

It is bright and sunny here in Finland !  that is, at least, it was earlier on...

 

Still winter here, beautiful white landscape with the snow and the birch trees really glowing.

[Blackthorn]

It is a blustery day here, but it is great that it is lighter in the mornings!  All the daffs and crocuses are out in my garden now.  I saw a pair of robins the other day so that is a sure sign of spring!

Mz Terry - yes I was on the bus crash and several people were injured - I was lucky I was just shaken up.  The driver of the car was arrested as he crashed into the bus on purpose due to some kind of alternative reality problems.  His passenger was badly injured.

[Blackthorn]

Saw a goldcrest in my garden yesterday - the first I have ever seen!  She was flitting about looking for tiny insects on the shrubs (I think).

[Myssterry]

The goldcrest is such a beautiful little bird.  I see them here, but never often enough.  They are full of a nervous energy and never keep still.

[Autumn Sunrise]

Things have finally cooled down a bit here. We've had several good falls of rain over the past week or so, and the big water tank is overflowing again  There are lots of kangaroos on the property this afternoon, and I saw a funny sight when I was walking around a short while ago. I was coming down the drive, past the big shed, and I suddenly spotted a very young roo beside his mother. As soon as he spotted me, he ducked behind his mother and crouched down so I couldn't see him. (She was a bit more cool - she just stood there, watching me). He soon crept out into the open again, but he kept an eye on me while he went back to grazing.  I've been noticing lately that the roos seem less disturbed by us, as long as we don't approach too close; maybe eventually we'll be able to get near - maybe even touch one. But for the moment, they definitely seem less wary of us 

[vervain]

@Blackthorn I love goldcrests so much, they are adorable (tseep, tseep, ...).  I hope yours stays around !  I remember watching a pair fluttering around right in the top of a pine tree near Grantown-on-Spey, I think if you had traced the flight-path it would have made a proper Celtic knot pattern.

 

@Autumn Sunrise  wow !  I guess the little chap will learn you're wildlife-friendly as he grows up and gets used to you.

 

It's still really cold here but the ice on the river is starting to melt, and the streets and paths are drier so it's much easier to get around (by this I mean that I was not too scared to walk up a steepish hill to a park which looks out over the city...).  There have been lots of great tits and bullfinches about all week, looking really colourful against the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

[Myssterry]

I can imagine those colours, @vervain.  I was lucky enough to see a buzzard circling overhead today.  There is something so effortless about the way they float in the sky.  Not such a nice sight for the little creatures down below.  It all depends on one's perspective.

[vervain]

21 hours ago, Mz Terry said:

I can imagine those colours, @vervain.  I was lucky enough to see a buzzard circling overhead today.  There is something so effortless about the way they float in the sky.  Not such a nice sight for the little creatures down below.  It all depends on one's perspective.

See, this is why I'm glad to be a person and not a rodent.  You can appreciate raptors so much better

[Myssterry]

The great tits have decided to nest in the garden nestbox again.  I have seen them going in and out of it.  I am hopeful the blue tits will use the smaller one nearer the house, but that one is a bit harder to see from the window.

 

There are two lots of frogspawn in the pond, the crocuses and small daffodils are in full bloom, and the large daffodils will be coming out soon.

[teatree]

I love daffodils! Such a  cheery, "friendly" flower and they have a nice scent. 

[Muledeer]

14 hours ago, Mz Terry said:

The great tits have decided to nest in the garden nestbox again.  I have seen them going in and out of it.  I am hopeful the blue tits will use the smaller one nearer the house, but that one is a bit harder to see from the window.

 

There are two lots of frogspawn in the pond, the crocuses and small daffodils are in full bloom, and the large daffodils will be coming out soon.

I just googled frogspawn.  Never seen it before, but I did catch tadpoles from the "frog pond" when I was a little kid.  I just love hearing how spring is progressing in different places.   I am so amazed how much warmer and milder the climate is in the UK compared to the Western US.  I was in Salt Lake City last weekend, and the grass is just beginning to turn green and grow.  There are a few leaf buds on the lilacs and the forsythias have buds but no blooms.  I was happy to see a fresh pansy flower.  Of course that is at the balmy low elevation of 4200 ft in a warm valley.  Back here in Southwestern Wyoming, I still have a 4 ft heap of snow by my driveway and the bare grass will not be exposed for at least two more weeks, maybe longer.  The river is still frozen and it is snowing and blowing and a crisp 17 degrees F as I write this post.

Here is how our spring looks around the first of June:

Spoiler

 

[Skycaptain]

This has more to do with the variations in our climate. They're still skiing in Scotland, whilst palm trees love Cornwall. 

On many Hebridean islands buildings don't have West facing windows because they'd just get blown in 

[Myssterry]

Lovely photo, @Muledeer.  More signs of spring here.  I am lucky enough to live opposite a little wood and there are large, mature woodland trees in some of the neighbouring gardens. This morning, looking out from the kitchen, I saw a crow flying in one direction and a magpie pass it in the other direction, both carrying nesting material in their beaks.

[Skycaptain]

Little signs of spring. A large bumble bee on the heather in my garden this morning 

[Muledeer]

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 0:07 AM, Skycaptain said:

This has more to do with the variations in our climate. They're still skiing in Scotland, whilst palm trees love Cornwall. 

On many Hebridean islands buildings don't have West facing windows because they'd just get blown in 

OK.  Three things I just learned from your post.

1) palm trees growing in Cornwall England - (or is that in Wales?)  Really? 

2) there are ski resorts in Scotland?  I've heard of the Highlands but nobody told me they were mountains.

3) I'm too lazy to google the Hebridean islands but I assume they are a brutal place to live if the wind blows that bad there.  Part of the greater British Isles, I presume?

 

 

 

[Tanwen]

It's thanks to the Gulf stream keeping the west coast a few degrees warmer than we should be  . They have palm trees in (on) the Isle of Man too and Southport (to the north of Liverpool).

Aviemore in the Cairngorm mountains is a well established ski resort

http://www.cairngormmountain.org/

 

The Hebrides are (is?) the first land mass the winds his after crossing the Atlantic...so they can get up to a good few knots

 

 

We're also at the convergence of 4 weather systems and it depends on the position of the Jet Stream what we get

[Skycaptain]

The top of Cairngorm is the second windiest place in the world, after Mount Washington, they recorded 172mph a couple of years ago 

 

The East coast of Cornwall is known as the Cornish Riviera due to the lack of winter frosts 

 

Good sign of spring around here. The cherry blossom has all come out in the last two days 

[Muledeer]

From my archives, here is what our spring looks like just after the snow melts, around late April.  We have had a banner year for snow so I don't expect it to melt off until early or mid- May this year.  The colors of those willow bushes were really interesting last year.  Yes, their stems really did appear purple, gold and orange.

Spoiler

 

[Muledeer]

@Mz Terry, @Skycaptain , @Blackthorn and @Tanwen Thank you for sharing your beautiful country with all of us.  The more I learn about the UK, the more I like it.  I may just have to come visit you someday.

[Tanwen]

Spring and autumn - when England is at her most dazzling and I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else

 

[daveb]

That looks magical, @Tanwen!

[LVG]

Blue bells.  

[Autumn Sunrise]

What a glorious picture, @Tanwen Although I have some in my garden, bluebells always seem to say "England" to me 

[Tanwen]

English bluebells are different to their continental cousins - and are, unfortunately, under threat because of them  

 

http://www.bbowt.org.uk/blog/bbowtblog/2016/04/18/how-tell-difference-between-native-bluebell-and-spanish-bluebell

[Autumn Sunrise]

That's a shame, @Tanwen. We have similar problems with some introduced (and aggressive) plants. One notable case is Acacia baileyana, the Cootamundra wattle. Because it's so showy, with great masses of very bright yellow flowers, it's been transported/transplanted all over Australia, and as well as displacing the local varieties it also tends to hybridise with them. Unfortunately the people who transported these plants from had no idea of the problems they were creating . . . and might not have cared even if they had. I'd be very sad to see the English bluebell displaced (just as I mourn the almost-passing of the beautiful little red squirrel )

[Tanwen]

THe Victorians have so much to answer For - rhododendrons, Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed, grey squirrels to name but a few. It's the trouble with islands (Australia may be continental size but you're still an island  ) you get flora and fauna developing in isolation and adapting to particular niches...they're unable to cope with an introduced species. Dingoes aren't native and the introduction of cane toads didn't have the intended result