Spotted what I think was a barn owl somewhere between Barnard castle and Alston on Friday.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Wildlife highlight of the day
(7221 posts)-
Posted 3 years ago #
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@acsimpson, the one Dominic Cummings saw when testing his eyes during lockdown down?
Posted 3 years ago # -
@gembo, certainly the one which he drove to in order to tell if his eyesight was fit for driving or not. I saw the castle and also saw a large amount of traffic blighting what otherwise would be a nice little market town.
Posted 3 years ago # -
The (much) longer version is now in the lovely ride thanks thread.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Not so happy with wildlife on my roof. Pigeons have been nesting under the solar panels. The nest hasn't been occupied for a while so we got a roofer to put up some wire netting. So far we've had to call him back twice (work was done Tues) as they've been finding their way back in but can't get out again!
Posted 3 years ago # -
@wishicouldgofaster, pigeons are annoying. Can you shoot them? Probably not.
I paid the gamekeeper (he dabbles in pest control) thirty quid to kill wasps he came back many many times at no further fee but the wasps are still there (inside the Velux frame we think is where the Queen is holed up) frost is my friend on this one. Mrs Garto on at me to put the hi fi away in the eaves as it is all Spotify and Sonos now. Pros and cons. For the Sonos.
I ain’t going in those eaves until I don’t see no wasps. Global warming?
Posted 3 years ago # -
gembo - I think the neighbours would go nuts (rightly so). Roofer will need to come back as another one has got in. The thing with pigeons is that you can easily get a major problem as they're quite clever birds. Considering a sonic device if the roofer can't keep them out with mesh.
Re the wasps - your problem will soon be over (for this year) as they'll all be dead soon apart from hibernating queens. Hopefully the queen will leave too and find somewhere else to hibernate. They don't reuse the nest. I had a wasps nest in the brickwork and used a spray and then powder. Got rid of them for under a tenner.
Posted 3 years ago # -
@wishicouldgofaster I have disposed of wasps with powder myself for two pounds fifty. These ones though are tenacious Bs.
Posted 3 years ago # -
gembo - I used a spray at first as I'm a big feartie so I could squirt them from a distance. I couldn't see the nest though and ended up using the powder to finish them off. Thankfully there were very few left when I had to get up close with the powder!
Posted 3 years ago # -
@wishicouldgofaster
i used the spray of the IWRATs but you need to see the nest for that. Back in July I then donned a long sleeved shirt with the powder and received a sting for my troubles. I then called in the professionals, they failed.
Many years earlier I could see them taking off from inside my drystane dyke, I powdered the blighters as the kids were wee and running about. They died.
The wasps, not the weans,Posted 3 years ago # -
“
The varroa mite, a parasite that feeds on and attacks honeybees, arrived in Britain in 1992 and decimated the UK’s population. Salbany believes the bees he has found have evolved to survive. “We are not seeing the deaths we would expect to see with varroa.”
“
Posted 3 years ago # -
At least 20 curlew in a field to the south of Burnshot Road, just west of Craigiehall Camp, spotted earlier today.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Same number of Fieldfare. Colzium.
Then pheasant conference Glenbrook.
Posted 3 years ago # -
A grey heron and a white heron (egret?) in Moffat.
Also a sparrowhawk flying about three feet over my head. All the wee birds in a tree twenty metres ahead scattered sharpish, but I didn't see where the sparrowhawk actually went.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Is this a highlight? Rabbits are an introduced* i.e. non-UK-native species that can be regarded as an agricultural pest.
I mean, I know they're cute and cuddly and all that (and they taste good) but I know several people who despair of the damage they do to the vegetables they try to grow in their gardens and allotments.
* By the Normans after 1066, most likely - around about the same time as the common pheasant.
Posted 2 years ago # -
“Is this a highlight?”
Well they argue it is, but I agree it’s easy to regard rabbits as a pest.
Interesting thing about the article is the idea of interventions aimed at improving biodiversity.
But, as ever, things don’t necessarily turn out as intended…
Posted 2 years ago # -
Large owl up the Pentlands this afternoon, it took off from the moor not sure if it had just eaten or hadn't noticed it was still light.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Sounds like a short-eared owl: usually found on moorland/heathland, and partly diurnal i.e. does hunt during the day. Typically larger than the barn owl.
Nice spot. Care to share where, exactly?
Posted 2 years ago # -
I was on the Rangers Road between the plantation and the track to maidens on my way to maidens, it was in the rough grassland on my right it fairly leasurely took off and headed up harbour hill.
Its the second time I've seen owls in the pentlands one went swooping over my bivvy a few years ago. I should probably try and work out how to identify them.
Posted 2 years ago # -
@steveo: The BTO have a video on distinguishing short-eared and long-eared owls: https://www.bto.org/develop-your-skills/bird-identification/videos/sorting-short-eared-and-long-eared-owls.
Barn owls are white. (So are snowy owls, but you'd be very lucky to see one in the UK. The Collins guide describes it as a "rare winter vagrant in Britain". The last breeding pair in the UK was in Shetland in the 1960s-70s.)
Any owl that's not one of the above is a barn owl (probably), unless it's very small in which case it's a little owl (aw, cute! - though actually an introduced species, boo) or very big, in which case it's an eagle owl (not quite as rare in the UK as the snowy owl - the Collins guide reckons there may be some populations in the north of Britain "of captive origins").
The above might be a trifle over-simplistic...
Posted 2 years ago # -
P.S. Thanks for the location info. Haven't been that way for a while myself. If I do, I'll try to keep a sharper than usual look out.
Posted 2 years ago # -
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/13/solar-parks-could-be-used-to-boost-bumblebee-numbers-study-suggests
I've often wondered whether there is any reason why solar parks aren't used like this. Main blocker is the fact that it will cost some money to do, I guess. Would be good to see owners behaving like good citizens without the pure profit motive, but I suppose they'll say we have to live in the "real world".
Posted 2 years ago # -
thanks @ejstubbs, I'd say blunt/sawn off buzzard is the best way to describe the bird.
Posted 2 years ago # -
this is an interesting take on solar agriculture and trying to get a bit more use out of solar farms.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I heard a goldfinch singing from the top of a leafless sycamore in Coates Crescent yesterday as I was on my way to get a haircut from Sweary Jim. I've no idea why it had chosen to have a sing in the middle of December but I stopped to listen to it for a minute amongst the rumble of the trams and buses, so at least it had an appreciative audience for a short while.
Posted 2 years ago #
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