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Post by Bean on Jun 4, 2018 8:56:08 GMT
We're doing the 30 Days Wild Challenge with the National Wildlife Trust - it's just basically taking a little time each day throughout June to appreciate or investigate something related to the natural world. It could be something like visiting a nature reserve, or even just looking for bugs or admiring flowers in your garden, so it doesn't have to be a major commitment, but the aim is to help everyone appreciate the natural wonders around them. Anyway we're off to a good start. We were visiting the in-laws for the first few days of June, so I wasn't sure what we'd manage, but I took my wildlife camera down and we got some great footage of birds (they have baby sparrows and blackbirds at the moment) and also (through leaving it running overnight) discovered they had a visiting hedgehog which they were delighted about. It's dark (he was right at the edge of the area the camera was filming so the infared didn't work as well) but can you see him?! He was having a good trundle about looking for bugs! We also went on a couple of local walks spotting bugs and animals. My husband has the bug shots on his phone but my daughter snapped these sheep. We saw the cutest baby rabbit but it was too quick to snap! Yesterday we climbed a local hill to see some great views (which we appreciated when our heart rates had slowed a little!). It was a lovely day so you could see for miles around.
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 4, 2018 16:31:45 GMT
Beautiful country The sheep look quite happy munching away
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Post by Bean on Jun 4, 2018 18:56:59 GMT
There was another lamb who had the most hilarious call - it sounded so human, and like it was saying 'Air!' over and over. It was really different to any of the others around it.
I have a bird box in my garden which has blue tits nesting in it. We're very lucky as they've come to have babies with us every year (I think) since we put it up about 7 years ago (so very unlikely to be the same ones, but it's always blue tits!). The parents have been super busy for the last couple of weeks, constantly flying in and out getting food for their squawking youngsters, so they must be about to fledge.
I've set my garden camera on the bird box as apparently before they leave the nest, they often poke their heads out of the hole for a while. It's useless trying to catch the parents with it as they are super fast - just a blur! Even with my nice camera, it's hard to get a good still shot as by the time you've seen them and pressed the button, they're off!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 5, 2018 7:31:14 GMT
Those photos are lovely Bean hunni and I think the 30 day wildlife challenge is a wonderful idea. The sheepies are lovely. It is a shame you couldn't get the bunny or the birds, they can certainly move can't they?
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by Bean on Jun 5, 2018 13:41:00 GMT
My daughter did manage to get nice pictures of a baby blackbird, a wood pigeon and a blue tit. I'm just going to hand over my camera to her, she does a much better job!
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 5, 2018 19:55:08 GMT
Beautiful! You're lucky to have so much to watch
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 6, 2018 8:54:52 GMT
Thank you for sharing these with us Bean hunni, they are just adorable. That baby blackbird looks in need of a cuddle lol!
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Jun 6, 2018 11:57:26 GMT
He's a fluffy little fellow isn't he! He could fly a little, but just sat there looking cute while his parents worked hard bringing his food to him. If anything startled him (like a cat), the racket the whole family would make was unbelievable - it made us all stop what we were doing! The sparrow babies were quite different. They flew and followed their parents around, opening their mouths constantly waiting for their parents to feed them! They didn't get theirn own food at all, even when it was on the floor in front of them all - their parents would still pick it up and drop it in! Here's a still from one of the videos (which I can't easily share as they're too big to upload). It's the blue tit parents I'm in most admiration of at the moment. I'm not sure how many babies we have but they can easily have 8-10, and need to feed them all until they fledge. They don't stop gathering food all day, it's just constantly in and out delivering treats (and you can hear them all squawking when the parents are about to come back in, competing for each mouthful!). The parents must be exhausted!
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 6, 2018 16:54:45 GMT
8-10! Wow! That's like running a day care! They are cute, though, and while the parents are working themselves to exhaustion now, those fledglings will soon be out of the nest.
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Post by Bean on Jun 7, 2018 8:51:00 GMT
They need to go soon before I start getting overly invested (especially if I see the occasional magpie or squirrel trying to access the box - they can't, but it still really annoys me ha!). The reason they have so many babies is to compensate for a generally poor survival rate, so I need to brace myself for not necessarily getting a happy ending!
That said, the farm shop I get my guinea pig supplies from is delivering today, and I added on some tasty mealworms and other snacks that will be good for them (and my other birds too of course, which include blackbirds, sparrows, great tits, robins and starlings).
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 7, 2018 14:19:43 GMT
Yes, he is Bean hunni, he is really cute. I remember we had a blackbird est near our tree and one of our cat used to sit in the window. The racket was deafening to such an extent that we had to move puss from the window. Haha, I have watched birdie mummies tirelessly feed their young. I love it when you all you see in a nest is an array of open beaks lol! Thank you for another piccy, it is really lovely. Oh yes, I have seen many a squirrel on a bird table, cheeky things lol! I hope they all survive lovey but nature is very cruel.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Jun 11, 2018 8:09:34 GMT
My blue tit babies finally flew the nest yesterday, and I was lucky enough to catch them plipping out and gliding to the ground. Unfortunately there's no footage of them from the gardencam, despite it being trained on the bird box all week. I was doing my usual check of the overnight footage (so I take the memory card out for about 5 minutes and quickly look through the footage) and as I was on my way back out to turn it back on, that's when I saw them leaving! They must have been camera shy?! Better to see it than film it though, it was very special! I thought there were three babies at first, but it was from a distance, so think I might have mistaken one of the parents for a baby (when the chicks have their feathers fluffed up, they look about the same size) as we stayed and watched, and once they'd hidden themselves in the hedge and were calling to their parents, there were definitely only two. Just look at those adorable and grumpy little faces! They couldn't fly at all at first, but by the end of the day they could flap up a few feet, so hopefully that was enough to get away from anything that came in the night. But the first couple of days are a horribly dangerous time for baby birds. The parents carry on feeding them during this time, so they were as busy as ever. We have a field and loads of trees at the back of our house, so I'm not sure if they'll have stayed in the garden or gone elsewhere overnight (we had a quick look this morning, but unless the parents are feeding them, they're quiet and super hard to spot amongst masses of bushes), but we'll see if we can spot them later!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 12, 2018 10:00:56 GMT
Thank you for sharing these wonderful pics with us Bean sweetie, they are just adorable. They do look grumpy don't they but in the sweetest way? Yes, it is a dangerous time for baby birdies, predators are always on the lookout. Thanks for the continuing updates.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by Bean on Jun 12, 2018 12:19:47 GMT
As of yesterday, they were still there - we could only actually spot one, but could hear the other just behind it. So that's good news, as they'll be able to fly a little better every day, so their chances of survival increase. I was worried about the cats we have going through our garden. Here he/she is, sneering at us!
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 12, 2018 17:32:44 GMT
Aw They do have grumpy little faces, don't they I hope they make it to maturity. I always root for them We had cowbirds doing their mating dances on the front lawn last night. Fun to watch. The male puffs up his wings and does a whole lot of talking. The female just kept eating, lol We had 3 or four pairs working on relationships. Not sure who went home with whom, though
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Post by Bean on Jun 13, 2018 8:12:35 GMT
I don't think I've heard of cowbirds? Their dancing sounds very entertaining though!
I wasn't around yesterday to check if the blue tit family are still around, but I'm hoping they are. I'm seeing a lot more younger birds that have started fending for themselves a bit - able to do things for themselves, but still prone to just opening their mouths expecting their parents to feed them if they can get away with it!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 13, 2018 9:08:00 GMT
He/she is gorgeous Bean sweetie and that is a really good shot, thank you. I am intrigued too Piggles love as to what a Cowbird is. We don't have them here unless they are known by a different name. Typical kids Bean hunni, trying it on lol!
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 13, 2018 17:50:37 GMT
www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/brown-headed-cowbirdThey aren't too big, smaller than the robins. Their bodies look a bit like Grackles, but again, not as big. Some Grackles came in while the cowbirds were here. They may be scrappy birds, but I think they're beautiful. www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/common-grackle This is all I could find on Grackles. The ones we have are Purple Grackles, and they have the changing colors shown on the head, all over their bodies. They are basically black, but since there really is no natural color black, the black is made up of all the different hues.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jun 15, 2018 13:08:17 GMT
He is a cute little fellow Piggles hunni, thanks for the interesting link. Sorry, I haven't heard of Grackles either.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Jun 16, 2018 12:42:59 GMT
Our tractor lawn waterer started out about 5 feet further into the lawn, and facing straight at the right side of the picture. Something came through that was big enough to drag the tractor way off its path. Hubby could find any tracks, but the dirt is very hard. Ooh, to have had a camera on the front lawn last night!
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