OT Blue Tits
Sacha
in their gardens? Chaffinches seem to have declined rather but Blue Tits
are higher in number and as I mentioned some time ago, we've seen long
tailed Tits for the very first time.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)
andrewpreece
"Sacha" <sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:BE941931.124EF%sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk...
Plenty of Tits in my garden, not sure if they're Blue Tits or Great Tits
though.
Also, saw a group of Long-Tailed Tits in March, first time I'd seen them.
Andy ( Plymouth ).
Harold Walker
"andrewpreece" <andrew...@onetel.net.uk> wrote in message
news:426e...@212.67.96.135...
I would love to respond to this one but think I might be banned if I
did...HW
>
>
Sacha
Walker" <middleto...@comcast.net> wrote:
I accidentally sent this to a royalty discussion group and someone sent me
the following:
"Believe it or not but there is an organisation called The Royal
Tit-Watching (Ornithological) Society of Britain.
http://www.nice-tits.org/types.html"
There is even a Tit Shop......
This society has a mere 160 members, so I can only hope that my mistake
recruits for them!
Kay
<andrew...@onetel.net.uk> writes
>
>"Sacha" <sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:BE941931.124EF%sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk...
>> Has anyone else in S. Devon noticed an increase in the numbers of Blue
>Tits
>> in their gardens? Chaffinches seem to have declined rather but Blue Tits
>> are higher in number and as I mentioned some time ago, we've seen long
>> tailed Tits for the very first time.
>> --
>
>though.
Blue tits - plain yellow tummies, blue heads.
Great tits - black stripe down tummy, black head, bigger.
And just in case ...
Coal tit - white blodge on back of head, tummy not yellow. Blue tit
size.
>Also, saw a group of Long-Tailed Tits in March, first time I'd seen them.
>
Lovely, aren't they :-)
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"
Mike Lyle
[...]> I accidentally sent this to a royalty discussion group and
someone
> sent me the following:
> "Believe it or not but there is an organisation called The Royal
> Tit-Watching (Ornithological) Society of Britain.
> http://www.nice-tits.org/types.html"
>
> There is even a Tit Shop......
> This society has a mere 160 members, so I can only hope that my
> mistake recruits for them!
I wonder how long they'll be allowed to get away with the "Royal"
bit! Very draughty in the Tower at this time of year, as P. Charles
said to Peter Sellers.
--
Mike.
Sacha
<k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote:
But what is bringing them around now? Ray has lived here since 1981 and has
never seen them here before. Andrew is in Plymouth, half an hour from us,
so possibly less for a Long-Tailed Tit (?) and neither of us have seen them
before. I'd *like* to think that it's something both of us are doing right,
rather than something the rest of the world is doing wrong - like loss of
habitat etc. ;-( We haven't changed the way we feed the birds or what we
feed them, so it really is a mystery. And I can't say that we've noticed an
increase in any particular insect infestation. The Blue Tits are sometimes
seen in the big double greenhouse and others but the Long-Tailed don't seem
to do that swooping in and out of the houses at all. And BTW, we had someone
in from Newton Abbot on Sunday who said he hadn't seen a house sparrow in
ages - and then he looked at the eaves of the tea room and the hedge in
front of it and nearly fell over! AND a couple of months ago, we had a
blasted Sparrow Hawk chasing the sparrows right into the green house and
back into the huge pots they were hiding behind. Bloody things!
Sacha
<mike_l...@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Did you look at the web site. ;-)
Bob Hobden
"Sacha" wrote ..
> Has anyone else in S. Devon noticed an increase in the numbers of Blue
> Tits
> in their gardens? Chaffinches seem to have declined rather but Blue Tits
> are higher in number and as I mentioned some time ago, we've seen long
> tailed Tits for the very first time.
> --
Coal Tits around her over the last couple of years. Never seen one here
before about 3 years ago and now they are the one you are most likely to
see.
Families of the beautiful Long Tailed Tits visit on there way back and
forth, Blue Tits are again nesting in my sparrow nesting boxes on the side
of the house and Great Tits visit our bird table daily.
Other birds that have appeared in the last couple of years are Black Caps
and Goldcrests.
Birds that appear to be reducing are Ring Necked Parakeets, no longer do I
see flocks of over 50 birds, the maximum I've seen recently is 14 flying
together.
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London
Sacha
<m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> "Sacha" wrote ..
>> Has anyone else in S. Devon noticed an increase in the numbers of Blue
>> Tits
>> in their gardens? Chaffinches seem to have declined rather but Blue Tits
>> are higher in number and as I mentioned some time ago, we've seen long
>> tailed Tits for the very first time.
>> --
> Not quite Devon but we have noticed that there has been an big increase in
> Coal Tits around her over the last couple of years. Never seen one here
> before about 3 years ago and now they are the one you are most likely to
> see.
> Families of the beautiful Long Tailed Tits visit on there way back and
> forth, Blue Tits are again nesting in my sparrow nesting boxes on the side
> of the house and Great Tits visit our bird table daily.
Oh, I do WISH I knew what causes all this va et vient. It's fascinating.
>
> Other birds that have appeared in the last couple of years are Black Caps
> and Goldcrests.
>
> Birds that appear to be reducing are Ring Necked Parakeets, no longer do I
> see flocks of over 50 birds, the maximum I've seen recently is 14 flying
> together.
!! I used to see love birds in my Jersey garden at one time. They nested
and roosted in the eaves of a large old house a field and a lane behind my
house. I might see 6 or 8 at a time but never more than that. Every year I
worried that a cold winter would kill them but in the 8 years I lived in
that house they returned every year and we did have one or two frosty
winters!
Kay
<sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> writes
>
>But what is bringing them around now? Ray has lived here since 1981 and has
>never seen them here before. Andrew is in Plymouth, half an hour from us,
>so possibly less for a Long-Tailed Tit (?) and neither of us have seen them
>before. I'd *like* to think that it's something both of us are doing right,
>rather than something the rest of the world is doing wrong - like loss of
>habitat etc. ;-( We haven't changed the way we feed the birds or what we
>feed them, so it really is a mystery. And I can't say that we've noticed an
>increase in any particular insect infestation.
BTO Garden bird watch has an article on 'changing faces at bird tables'
and seems to be ascribing it to learning to making use of new food
sources (rather in the same way that blue tits learnt to use milk
bottles). And of course, many more people are feeding the birds now -
I'd have thought that birds would be more likely to learn to use a
common resource rather than a rare one.
Further trawling through the BTO site shows that their abundance has
been increasing since the 80s (and in farmland too, so it's not a
migration from farmland to birdtables)
The summary by BTO is:
'Both CBC and CES index trends show increases in Long-tailed Tit
abundance since the mid-1980s, but the species tends to undergo large-
scale fluctuations in numbers, probably because of the effects of winter
weather. Improvements in nesting success at the egg stage, (19 days,
comprising 13 days incubation + 6 days laying) from 54% to 87%, have
accompanied the recent increase. The trend towards earlier laying maybe
explained by recent climatic changes (Crick & Sparks 1999).'
last autumn they ranked no 17 on the list of sightings by Garden
Birdwatch members, ahead of, for example, song thrush, mistle thrush and
bullfinch.
>The Blue Tits are sometimes
>seen in the big double greenhouse and others but the Long-Tailed don't seem
>to do that swooping in and out of the houses at all.
Ble, great, coal, marsh and willow tits are all Parus, long tailed are
Aegithalos - same family, different genus. Whether that has anything to
do with different behaviour, I don't know! ;-)
Kay
<sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> writes
>On 26/4/05 18:29, in article 3d7c2rF...@individual.net, "Bob Hobden"
><m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Sacha" wrote ..
>>> Has anyone else in S. Devon noticed an increase in the numbers of Blue
>>> Tits
>>> in their gardens? Chaffinches seem to have declined rather but Blue Tits
>>> are higher in number and as I mentioned some time ago, we've seen long
>>> tailed Tits for the very first time.
>>> --
>> Not quite Devon but we have noticed that there has been an big increase in
>> Coal Tits around her over the last couple of years. Never seen one here
>> before about 3 years ago and now they are the one you are most likely to
>> see.
BTO summary:
"Coal Tit abundance has been rather stable since the mid 1970s,
following an earlier rapid increase. The ratios of Coal Tit to Blue and
Great Tits caught for ringing have both shown a sustained increase since
1960 (Perrins 2003) although, in these figures, population change may be
confounded to some degree with changes in behaviour among birds and bird
ringers. Confidence intervals are wide, but BBS shows large changes in
population sizes that have varied geographically across the UK. This
pattern suggests that Coal Tit abundance in the UK may be controlled by
a complex range of factors."
Though they also say that they will have had less need to visit gardens
this winter because of an abundance of beech mast.
>> Families of the beautiful Long Tailed Tits visit on there way back and
>> forth, Blue Tits are again nesting in my sparrow nesting boxes on the side
>> of the house and Great Tits visit our bird table daily.
>
>Oh, I do WISH I knew what causes all this va et vient. It's fascinating.
Sacha - why don't you join BTO Garden Bird Watch? It costs about 12 quid
a year, but gives you access to various bits of the BTO web site that
aren't generally available, plus a quarterly magazine that discusses in
some detail the fluctuations of bird numbers in gardens and the reasons
for them. You don't have to send in your own bird records, or, if you do
decide to, you don't have to do it every week. And of course, if you do
send in your records, then it's a handy place to keep them - you can
look up at any time what your records were for any time in the past. You
can record a number of non-bird species too (although I was taken aback,
when entering 76 newts, to receive the warning message 'abnormally large
*bird* count' ;-) )
>>
>> Other birds that have appeared in the last couple of years are Black Caps
>> and Goldcrests.
Goldcrests are much more common than I thought. They're just difficult
to spot!
Sacha
<k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote:
<snip>
> Sacha - why don't you join BTO Garden Bird Watch? It costs about 12 quid
> a year, but gives you access to various bits of the BTO web site that
> aren't generally available, plus a quarterly magazine that discusses in
> some detail the fluctuations of bird numbers in gardens and the reasons
> for them.
Very good idea. Thanks, Kay.
w.g.s.hamm
"Sacha" <sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:BE941931.124EF%sa...@weedsgarden506.fsnet.co.uk...
increase in recent years.
Magwitch
> Goldcrests are much more common than I thought. They're just difficult
> to spot!
Like blue tits they are small birds without much insulation against cold
winters, we haven't had a cold winter for quite a few years, so more are
surviving and the population increases.
For goldcrests try some thistle seed in your bird feeder, you have to buy a
special feeder but it's worth it.
Kay
to scurry around in the undergrowth as suggested by their other name
'golden crested wren'.
You're not thinking of gold*finches* are you? - they are seed eaters and
attracted by thistle seed.
Magwitch
> In article <BE9496D8.17473%Magwitch@b.c>, Magwitch <Magwitch@b.c> writes
>> Kay muttered:
>>
>>> Goldcrests are much more common than I thought. They're just difficult
>>> to spot!
>>
>> Like blue tits they are small birds without much insulation against cold
>> winters, we haven't had a cold winter for quite a few years, so more are
>> surviving and the population increases.
>>
>> For goldcrests try some thistle seed in your bird feeder, you have to buy a
>> special feeder but it's worth it.
>>
> I've never seen a goldcrest come to a bird feeder - their usual habit is
> to scurry around in the undergrowth as suggested by their other name
> 'golden crested wren'.
These are definitely goldcrests, they are much smaller than the finches,
recently we've see them collecting spider webs for their nests in the thatch
of our house.
>
> You're not thinking of gold*finches* are you? - they are seed eaters and
> attracted by thistle seed.
I've seen both at the feeder, but only when it's very early and the cats are
indoors. They aren't stupid.
Dave
>Sacha - why don't you join BTO Garden Bird Watch? It costs about 12 quid
>a year, but gives you access to various bits of the BTO web site that
>aren't generally available, plus a quarterly magazine that discusses in
>some detail the fluctuations of bird numbers in gardens and the reasons
>for them. You don't have to send in your own bird records, or, if you do
>decide to, you don't have to do it every week. And of course, if you do
>send in your records, then it's a handy place to keep them - you can
>look up at any time what your records were for any time in the past. You
>can record a number of non-bird species too (although I was taken aback,
>when entering 76 newts, to receive the warning message 'abnormally large
>*bird* count' ;-) )
Nice one :-)
I had newts (common crested) in the new pond the second year after it
was built, but then saw no more of them. I neglected everything last
year (apart from the grass cutting) following my marriage break-up,
including the pond, but this spring I made a supreme effort to get back
into everything, and removed 5 cu m of pond weed. I then found a few of
my fish - only 2 out of 6 orfe. After a few weeks and the weather
warming up they have all reappeared, including some new tiny goldfish
and golden rudd! And my 2 larger golden tench appearing out of the
depths like submarines. There was a frog or toad still calling on
Monday.
On the bird front I watched the robins foraging right up to where I was
clearing weeds. I have a big colony of sparrows - 20 odd - who gobble
all the seed. And last year we had a buzzard. I also had a red kite (re-
introduced some miles away) and of course the sparrow hawk. Plus all
three types of woodpeckers - they have been clearly audible here since
early March and throughout this month. Total species is 37 atm,
including kestrel and tawny owl. There are short-eared and little owls
nearby but not so far in the garden. I have a good mix of dragonflies
and damselflies in the summer, and an amazing variety of bees but I
haven't yet found a good 'field guide' which lets me identify them. I
know some are rare - bombus terrestris I think is one, huge with the
rusty brown tail? Bees were very quick to start on the heather flowers,
but not till 16th March. Butterflies are also plentiful but not so many
species - but I'm getting better at identifying them. There is a really
tiny holly blue and a brown ringlet with yellow circles.. 19 types so
far.
So its a challenge to see what additional plants and flowers I can bring
in to attract and support more wildlife. Considering I started with an
empty patch of meadow ten years ago its coming on well. I have a new
mixed native hedge that is now waist high, and my son's conker has grown
into a sapling that last year outgrew him with an 18" spurt, much to his
amazement!
And the sun is shining on the new cherry blossom and the pink
'ballerina' is just in flower.....
--
David
Kay
<David@||||.com> writes
>
>I had newts (common crested) in the new pond the second year after it
>was built, but then saw no more of them. I neglected everything last
>year (apart from the grass cutting) following my marriage break-up,
>including the pond, but this spring I made a supreme effort to get back
>into everything, and removed 5 cu m of pond weed. I then found a few of
>my fish - only 2 out of 6 orfe. After a few weeks and the weather
>warming up they have all reappeared, including some new tiny goldfish
>and golden rudd! And my 2 larger golden tench appearing out of the
>depths like submarines.
Lovely! We have either one or two green tench - during the day they make
themselves known by the tidal waves as they dive out of sight on our
approach, but on can usually be seen cruising if we shine a torch on the
pond at night.
>
>On the bird front I watched the robins foraging right up to where I was
>clearing weeds.
I read somewhere that the original 'robin niche' was following wild boar
and picking up the grubs turned up by their rooting. Now there are no
wild boar, we fulfil the same function.
> I have a good mix of dragonflies
>and damselflies in the summer, and an amazing variety of bees but I
>haven't yet found a good 'field guide' which lets me identify them. I
>know some are rare - bombus terrestris I think is one, huge with the
>rusty brown tail?
Have you tried the Collins Field Guide to insects? Michael Chinery.
Supplemented by his Garden Wildlife book - a good start as to what
you're most likely to see.
>
>So its a challenge to see what additional plants and flowers I can bring
>in to attract and support more wildlife.
You probably can't!! - that's a pretty good lot so far. The next step
might be to start getting interested in the minority interest things -
beetles, bugs in general, fungi, grasses. How many species of leech do
you have, for example?
Mike Lyle
> The message <wsw9r9OA...@scarboro.demon.co.uk>
> from Kay <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> contains these words:
>
>> I read somewhere that the original 'robin niche' was following
wild
>> boar and picking up the grubs turned up by their rooting. Now
there
>> are no wild boar, we fulfil the same function.
>
> local paper has a report today of one that's just been shot by a
> farmer in Dumfriesshire, because it was killing and eating newborn
> lambs. It weighed 15 stone, one of 6 which escaped in 2001. Up in
> the hills there's a couple of churned up acres which the boars
> dug..good robin habitat :-) ISTR there are also wild populations at
> large in S. England.
Forest of Dean, among others, I believe.
--
Mike.
Dave
> this spring I made a supreme effort to get back
>>into everything, and removed 5 cu m of pond weed. I then found a few of
>>my fish - only 2 out of 6 orfe. After a few weeks and the weather
>>warming up they have all reappeared, including some new tiny goldfish
>>and golden rudd! And my 2 larger golden tench appearing out of the
>>depths like submarines.
>
>Lovely! We have either one or two green tench - during the day they make
>themselves known by the tidal waves as they dive out of sight on our
>approach, but on can usually be seen cruising if we shine a torch on the
>pond at night.
>
and don't see him/her until evening if I decide to feed them. I put the
food in a tin and soak it in hot water to soften it so when they attack
its Ok to swallow. The funniest things are the rudd who play water-polo
with the pellets, pushing them along with their mouths at great speed.
The tench (generally bottom feeders) seem to wait until the food sinks,
and catch it on the way down.
>>
>>On the bird front I watched the robins foraging right up to where I was
>>clearing weeds.
>
>I read somewhere that the original 'robin niche' was following wild boar
>and picking up the grubs turned up by their rooting. Now there are no
>wild boar, we fulfil the same function.
I did wonder the other day how robins became so confident / cocky in the
way they follow me around, and are not shy of landing on the fork the
minute I have walked 2 ft away.
>
>> I have a good mix of dragonflies
>>and damselflies in the summer, and an amazing variety of bees but I
>>haven't yet found a good 'field guide' which lets me identify them. I
>>know some are rare - bombus terrestris I think is one, huge with the
>>rusty brown tail?
>
>Have you tried the Collins Field Guide to insects? Michael Chinery.
>Supplemented by his Garden Wildlife book - a good start as to what
>you're most likely to see.
No, but I must make a note... I've got the Collins complete british
Wildlife, which also covers fungi, funnily enough, and the Readers
Digest (yes, I know, but its actually not that bad) Field Guide to
Butterflies & Other Insects
>>
>>So its a challenge to see what additional plants and flowers I can bring
>>in to attract and support more wildlife.
>
>You probably can't!! - that's a pretty good lot so far. The next step
>might be to start getting interested in the minority interest things -
>beetles, bugs in general, fungi, grasses. How many species of leech do
>you have, for example?
>
Ah, not looked. Don't go in the pond that often :-)) Are there many?? I
was staggered to read there are 227 different types of solitary bee in
UK!!
But I was browsing the fungi just this afternoon, and wondering where
they might be - there are a lot of woods nearby, come the autumn. And I
have sort of gravitated to other insects as part of a 'what is it?' type
curiosity.
Also had a real first, saw a male Orange Tip butterfly today, resting on
the aubretia ?/ purple lookalike in the rock garden. Amazing. Tiny,
Bright white, with vivid orange tips inside. Only flies for 18 days a
year, apparently.
Frog still croaking, woodpecker still hammering away all today, and then
the first cuckoo this late afternoon. Its a good feeling to hear and see
all that after beavering away on 'deep weeding' duty in the nether
reaches of my trellis and under the towering ceanothus. Makes it all
worthwhile.
Anyway, better feed the fish whilst I can still see them :-)
Oh, anyone any ideas on how to identify where my pond liner has been
breached? Its gone down 4 or 5 inches, and as its some 44 ft long by 15
-18ft wide it has quite a boundary. But is there some sort of dye or
whatever I can use to see where its going out? Its not continuously
leaking, but just settled at a lower level. If I fill it, it drops back
to the same level.
--
David
Mike Lyle
[...]
> Oh, anyone any ideas on how to identify where my pond liner has
been
> breached? Its gone down 4 or 5 inches, and as its some 44 ft long
by
> 15 -18ft wide it has quite a boundary. But is there some sort of
dye
> or whatever I can use to see where its going out? Its not
continuously
> leaking, but just settled at a lower level. If I fill it, it drops
> back to the same level.
You wouldn't identify the site of the leak with a dye test: that just
tells you where the water reappears if it isn't too dilute by then --
you know, cheerful stuff like "Does the septic tank connect to the
well?" But it must be somewhere along the settled waterline, so it
shouldn't be hopelessly difficult to find. If it's a big enough leak,
you may be able to pick it up by running a finger along the low water
mark.
--
Mike.
ned
"Dave" <David@||||.com> wrote in message
news:tWVaqQAG...@crown-cottage.demon.co.uk...
>
<snip>
>
> Kay <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> writes
> >
<snip>
> >>haven't yet found a good 'field guide' which lets me identify
them.
> >
> >Have you tried the Collins Field Guide to insects? Michael Chinery.
Good choice .... but,
it's gone 'out of print'.
I've just managed to get a second hand copy through Amazon.
--
ned
http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 28.04.2005
Kay
<David@||||.com> writes
>>>
>
>No, but I must make a note... I've got the Collins complete british
>Wildlife, which also covers fungi, funnily enough, and the Readers
>Digest (yes, I know, but its actually not that bad) Field Guide to
>Butterflies & Other Insects
there's a Collins guide to caterpillars, which classifies them by food
plants. I find it immensely useful. Caterpillars stay still long enough
for you to identify them.
>>>
>>>So its a challenge to see what additional plants and flowers I can bring
>>>in to attract and support more wildlife.
>>
>>You probably can't!! - that's a pretty good lot so far. The next step
>>might be to start getting interested in the minority interest things -
>>beetles, bugs in general, fungi, grasses. How many species of leech do
>>you have, for example?
>>
>Ah, not looked. Don't go in the pond that often :-)) Are there many??
I don't think so. Less than a dozen.
> I
>was staggered to read there are 227 different types of solitary bee in
>UK!!
>
Wow! How on earth does one tell the difference? (No - I don't want an
answer to that)
>But I was browsing the fungi just this afternoon, and wondering where
>they might be - there are a lot of woods nearby, come the autumn.
It's nice watching the increasing diversity of fungi as ones own garden
gets settled.
>
>Oh, anyone any ideas on how to identify where my pond liner has been
>breached? Its gone down 4 or 5 inches, and as its some 44 ft long by 15
>-18ft wide it has quite a boundary. But is there some sort of dye or
>whatever I can use to see where its going out?
That wouldn't help - the dye would flow 'downstream', so you'd have to
put it in the pond and try to detect it in the soil.
You might be able to find that one area around the outside is damper
than anywhere else.
Wen ours did the same, we just bought another and put it on top. But
that's not practical for you.
ned
"Kay" <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:82zedBRM...@scarboro.demon.co.uk...<snip>
>
> there's a Collins guide to caterpillars, which classifies them by
food
> plants. I find it immensely useful.
If that's 'Caterpillars of Britain and Europe' by Carter, I think that
is out of print as well. :-(
Tumbleweed
"ned" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:3dift1F...@individual.net...
>
> "Kay" <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:82zedBRM...@scarboro.demon.co.uk...
>> In article <tWVaqQAG...@crown-cottage.demon.co.uk>, Dave
>> <David@||||.com> writes
>>
> <snip>
>>
>> there's a Collins guide to caterpillars, which classifies them by
> food
>> plants. I find it immensely useful.
>
> If that's 'Caterpillars of Britain and Europe' by Carter, I think that
> is out of print as well. :-(
>
Try here for OOP books.
--
Tumbleweed
email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com
ned
"martin" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:fdo971hlmjlgplucg...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 23:41:36 +0100, "ned" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Kay" <k...@scarboro.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> >news:82zedBRM...@scarboro.demon.co.uk...
> >> In article <tWVaqQAG...@crown-cottage.demon.co.uk>, Dave
> >> <David@||||.com> writes
> >>
> ><snip>
> >>
> >> there's a Collins guide to caterpillars, which classifies them by
> >food
> >> plants. I find it immensely useful.
> >
> >If that's 'Caterpillars of Britain and Europe' by Carter, I think
that
> >is out of print as well. :-(
>
> http://tinyurl.com/as3mh
Thanks Martin and Tumbleweed. URL duly favouritised.
Bit pricey tho'. Depends how desperate one is I suppose.
I think the original price was somewhere around £12.50.
Dave
>> and picking up the grubs turned up by their rooting. Now there are no
>> wild boar, we fulfil the same function.
>
> Apparently there are wild boar still, escapes from farms . Our local
>paper has a report today of one that's just been shot by a farmer in
>Dumfriesshire, because it was killing and eating newborn lambs. It
>weighed 15 stone, one of 6 which escaped in 2001. Up in the hills
>there's a couple of churned up acres which the boars dug..good robin
>habitat :-) ISTR there are also wild populations at large in S. England.
>
IIRC. We have another escapee - the muntjac, which escaped from Woburn
apparently. Generally secretive but I have seen them bounding across the
odd field or escaping into the hedgerow. The main problem in fencing
them out as they eat just about anything if they get into the garden.
--
David
Dave
>[...]
>> Oh, anyone any ideas on how to identify where my pond liner has
>been
>> breached? Its gone down 4 or 5 inches, and as its some 44 ft long
>by
>> 15 -18ft wide it has quite a boundary. But is there some sort of
>dye
>> or whatever I can use to see where its going out? Its not
>continuously
>> leaking, but just settled at a lower level. If I fill it, it drops
>> back to the same level.
>
>You wouldn't identify the site of the leak with a dye test: that just
>tells you where the water reappears if it isn't too dilute by then --
>you know, cheerful stuff like "Does the septic tank connect to the
>well?" But it must be somewhere along the settled waterline, so it
>shouldn't be hopelessly difficult to find. If it's a big enough leak,
>you may be able to pick it up by running a finger along the low water
>mark.
>
concentration of dye on the surface near the exit point (I laughed at
not having realised the dye would concentrate on the other side of the
liner, of course it would :-))
But I covered the inside / water side of the liner with hessian as a
substrate (haven't used that word in ages) for the plant life to get a
grip on, and its worked rather well, so my liner is not only embedded
under them but also rather a lot of heavy sandstones and quite a lot of
earth bank too. I kind of made it a permanent job not expecting to have
to fiddle with it..........
--
David