What have you seen

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  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,596 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #602

    Nice piccies Brue.

    One can only hope that nature with all its wonders will be one of those things that suddenly becomes fashionable with the yoof. Once a Celeb starts telling them all on Faceache that nature is great then maybe....

  • Tammygirl
    Tammygirl Club Member Posts: 7,957 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #603

    Just walking to the shower block and there it was just sat on the ground 2 pitches along from us a Red Squirrel, didn't bother to move just sat looking at me. On the way back as i approached he took off up the tree, lovely little thing.

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited June 2017 #604

    Hi Tticky

    Been offline for a while, to busy to log on. The Gower region has introduced us to spoonbills, linnets and several more common birds this week.

    Tech radar is just the review of what they believe to be the best 4 free software. Gimp seems to be very powerful and appears to be re similar to photoshop or nearest available for free. Paint.net they say is easy to use. Check out the reviews and choose what you belive suits your skills best. As they are free, it wont matter if you download 2 to try.

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited June 2017 #605

    Glad you've seen some interesting stuff. Watching SpringWatch last night threw up some disturbing stats on the decline in a broad range of bird species.

  • triky auto
    triky auto Forum Participant Posts: 8,690
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    edited June 2017 #606

    wink Thanks 'Blue .  Will try.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #607

    Strumpshaw yesterday, great day, highlights 5 x Swallowtail Butterfly's, 2 x Immature Scarce Chasers dragonfly's.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #608

    Would love to see a Swallowtail, will have to travel eastwards to see one I think?

     

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited June 2017 #609

    Used to see them quite regularly near my Spanish apartment. Haven't seen any for a couple of years.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #610

    It's true that you can see Swallowtails in many parts of Europe but the Norfolk Swallowtails are the largest resident butterfly in the UK. They are a member of the Papilionidae family, which is one of the largest butterfly families in the world. The British race is the subspecies Britannicus which is confined to the fens of the Norfolk Broads in East Norfolk. 

    We see them mainly at two locations, RSPB Strumpshaw and at NWT Hickling Broad.  Interestingly they often make two  appearances a year, end of May/June and Often in August as well.

     

     

  • Freelander359
    Freelander359 Forum Participant Posts: 107
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    edited June 2017 #611

    That's a good pic Oneputt. The one below (if I have managed to upload it ) was taken in SW France but it doesn't have the red dots that yours has. Is it a slightly different species perhaps or maybe the female ?

  • Freelander359
    Freelander359 Forum Participant Posts: 107
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    edited June 2017 #612
  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #613

    Ours is a sub species and resident in Norfolk.  I have another photo showing a swallowtail with a chunk taken out of the tail.  Predators (birds) take the red dots as eyes and attack that end of the butterfly.  

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #614

    I took this photo yesterday, shows a swallowtail with part of the tail bitten off, just shows that the red spots worked in this case.  The butterfly didn't appear distress and flew around with no proble

     

     

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #615

    Thanks once more OP, seeing things I can't see in my part of the UK.smile

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,192 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #616

    Soooo excited, sitting in the garden watching the bird feeders fledgling blue tits, sparrows and Dunnet helping themselves, parents closeby. Robins feeding another brood and then WOW male goldfinch and offspring. I know lots of you have loads of these delightful birds but we haven't had any. I'm so pleased and delighted with what our garden attracts in the way of wildlife 😆😆😆. The speed at which fat balls and the seed feeders are going down suggests lots of new broods too. Good job we've got cover for feeding the birds whilst we're away 😉 

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,192 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #617

    Same here. Wonderful to see such things I'm good at just missing them 😭😭.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #618

    Walking round Clumber park lake today we saw what we thought were Oyster Catchers on an area of grass, pulling out bugs with their long beak. We could not get close enough for me to get a photo with the phone and I didn't take my camera with the zoom lense. The beak was orange and about the right length, the top half dark and the bottom half white. Although the top half was only dark grey not black, like the photos on my bird app. We have never seen these particular birds at Clumber before and we are 70 miles from the sea. I can't find anything else they can be though.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #619

    Steve. There might be a Clumber Park bird list on line somewhere.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #620

    Thanks brue good idea. I have had a look but can't see them listed. Perhaps nobody has spotted them. Or more likely we have it horribly wrong.😖

  • Freelander359
    Freelander359 Forum Participant Posts: 107
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    edited June 2017 #621

    If you google "oyster catchers clumber park" it comes up with previous sightings there a couple or so years ago so you are probably correct.

  • triky auto
    triky auto Forum Participant Posts: 8,690
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    edited June 2017 #622

    cool We've a family of Oyster Catchers on Oare Creek ,she's just had her second brood .Very noisy and vocal if you get near them !!wink.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #623

    Thanks for that FL359. Found it now. I tried chrome rather than safari. I'm not sure why but you get a different list with a different browser. I wonder why they are so far from the sea. Although thinking about it, tidal parts of the Trent are not that far away.

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,596 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #624

    Steve, they do indeed nest inland as well. Same as other wading birds such as Curlews etc. There are always plenty of Oystercatchers inland in Scotland. We saw them one year on the golf course near Killin.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #625

    Thanks for the info Wherenext. I will have to take my decent camera next time and perhaps get a photo, if they are still about. We have been walking around the lake, observing the wildlife,  for over 30 years ( not constantly of course 😬) and this is the first time we have noticed them. So perhaps only a rare visit.

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited June 2017 #626

    Steve, we frequently see Oiks many miles inland, they seem to follow river valleys. There was a pair sitting on eggs on a nest in the centre of the CC's Altnaharra site 5 weeks ago. The wardens had put up warning tapes and bollards to stop visitors disturbing them. 

  • nelliethehooker
    nelliethehooker Club Member Posts: 13,636
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    edited June 2017 #627

    During a visit to St Abbs Head we managed to spot the rare Northern Brown Argus butterfly, as well as thousands of Guillmots on the cliffs & the sea. Then yesterday at Duns Castle Woods there were many small near black "butterflies" which I took to be Small Blues, but after an e-mail to "borderbutterfies" I discovered that they were in fact Chimney Sweeper Moths, which are much more common but are often mistaken for Small Blues. Not my photo, unfortunately.

  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,596 ✭✭✭
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    edited June 2017 #628

    Nice one, NTHlaughing

  • triky auto
    triky auto Forum Participant Posts: 8,690
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    edited June 2017 #629

    undecided STILL trying !! surprised "Storks photo's "

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited June 2017 #630

    Where are you with resizing down to 500Kb? Unless you are under this number for file size, your pic will be declined.

    There is a guide to posting pics somewhere on the forum thatmay help, but ignore the 800 pixels if your file size is still above 500Kb

  • Bluemalaga
    Bluemalaga Forum Participant Posts: 936
    edited June 2017 #631

    Quick post while the wifi is available.

    Presently on Red Kite touring site near the Clwydog reservoir. Fabulous sighting of an Osprey catching a nice trout for the family supper. Chicks have hatched, but wardens not sure how many at least 2 maybe three and two weeks old,

    Red Kites in action over the A44 near the feeding station.

     

    Finally approx. 10k Puffins have been feeding their Pufflings on Skomer and 4 pair of Short Eared Owls also in residence. What a great sight, Puffins landing at your feet to scurry into their burrows laden with sand eels.