Grumpy little mystery bird

I came across this strange little fledgling down by the canal. At first I thought it might be a young robin that had recently left the nest.

Then it turned its grumpy face to the front and showed a strongly speckled breast.

Clearly a fledgling - note wispy 'chick' feathers

This is mum (or dad) complete with a large caterpillar:

Mystery solved by the presence of attentive parents: they are song thrushes.

Common when I was growing up .... now only rarely seen. This will be their second brood of the year. Lots of juicy insects along the canal sides to feed the brood.

Birds of the Summer

So far it has been a good summer for birds here in the southwest of the UK. The weather has been mainly mellow.

My starling flock is now into its second brood. Here are some pictures of them (a species in decline in the UK) and other birdy spectaculars from the last few months.

Once fledged the young brown starlings follow the adults around begging for food.

Young starlings with mum (or dad) in the Hawthorn tree.

Starling and Honeysuckle

On the canal the mallards have been raising their young.

Mallard chicks

Spot the odd one out

Here's how they look some weeks later - with proud mum

Grey heron at the canal

Young blackbird (at the badger drinking trough

 Back to the starlings -

a fine fledgling

One adult shows the way

Then the whole family joins in.

 And finally -

The rare marsh tit - at the canal side

Badger Summer Update

By vast popular demand - here is the cub. Caught staring quizzically at my camera which had a small flashing LED on it (and which was being operated remotely from the hide that is my house).

He charges around the garden occasionally bumping very deliberately into the older badgers who typically move much more sedately.

The group seem to be doing well. I wonder where they normally drink during these dry summer months. They now often empty my two small bird baths... but there is always the small garden pond for that special tipple.

On several nights the smallest adult female, Twobar, has arrived first (long before the others) eaten most of the snacks then left. She then returns again later with one or more of the others. I think she has worked out there are better snacks the earlier you come to the party.

The early day light arrival of the cub above was even more surprising. He is already about two thirds the size of the adults and seems very independent. Maybe that's just the way it is with with young badgers.

Badger Extra:

Food is hidden under a plastic lid with a pebble on top: watch what happens:

four adults and the cub (top right)

Resume fox hunting? Not in my name!

It has just been announced that the vote originally scheduled for tomorrow in the UK House of Commons on hunting with hounds has been delayed.

Readers will probably not be surprised to know that I personally strongly oppose a return to fox hunting. The ban was hard fought more than a decade ago and Britain became a better place for it.

Howver, I see little kids chasing and kicking out at pigeons on the street whilst their parents look on, people throwing stones at ducks on the canal, and there are still stories here of badger baiting and dog fighting (both of which are illegal). There are many other example of callous or deliberately unkind treatment of animals in my country and how can we tell people that such things are wrong if we again license a sport for the rich that has animal cruelty at its core?

If you are British, making your opposition known to your member of parliament on this topic remains important (there is evidence that the vast majority of British people oppose this retrograde step) and you can do this via the Humane Society International/UK link HERE  (Click on the wording under 'Tell your MP')

Whaling deal looms!

It may seem all quiet on the whaling-front - no big meetings, no obvious developments, no action at sea but this period of seeming peacefulness is deceptive.... 

See my latest in the Huffington Post HERE.

Little house in the ferns [Spider image warning]

I know some people are really freaked out by the sight of spiders, so please go no further with this blog if you are! 

Looking down onto curled fronds and a shiny roof 

Something has very carefully curled up some of the fronds of one of the ferns in my garden.

Something has created a water-proof roof of the finest transparent silk over the curled fronds. (It has been raining this summer Sunday afternoon and little drops of water glisten on the roof.)

Under the roof is a capsule made of webbing and safe inside are some tiny - pin head-sized - animated, multi-legged dark bodies.

This is a spider nursery and nearby, ready to defend her numerous young is 'mom' - a beautiful adult female Nursery Web Spider.

She will do guard duty for just a few days and then the little ones moult and leave their nursery.

Side-view: the little black specks (middle right) are the spiderlets

Here's mom - she is 13 mm across (about half an inch.)

Independence Day Special

Here's a little something special for my 'merican readers.

The American Museum in Bath staged a reenactment of the American war of Independence with some worthy souls turning out in the rain to show the costumes and weapons favoured by the losing British side.



Here are some images.

Regrettably rain stopped play!

the watching crowd

Tea time for the red coats

I have a theory that the bright red coats and interesting head-ware may not have been viable camouflage.

The Pelicans of London Town

The Serpentine - looking towards Horse Guards and The London Eye

It is a beautiful summer's evening in London and I take a few minutes to stroll around the Serpentine - the long streak of water in the middle of St James' Park and between Horse Guards Parade and the famous roundabout outside Buckingham Palace.

This is a great place for birds. Some exotic ducks and geese are kept here. Their flight feathers are cut so they cannot fly away, but many others choose to live here.

Goose Corner - some Canada and greylag geese

Hundreds of people are strolling through the royal park and around the lake this evening. The Victorian model of parks for the people in the middle of cities - as places where the working people could take exercise and 'find oxygen' - is still serving us well. But actually the great bird-infested water-.feature are older than even this.

The long lake was dug for King Charles II; for his recreation. He swam there in the summer and skated on the ice in the winter, and he had a collection of water birds which included pelicans sent by the Russian Czar.

Some 350 years later there are still signs that warn about pelicans but where are they?.

A line of coots

Egyptian geese amid the daisies

A herring gull with bracelet

A prominent non-avian local - the American grey squirrel

A moorhen feeds her wierd little 'bald' and blue headed chicks - note their pink 'fingers'. 

And finally here are the pelicans - wisely sleeping out on an island in the middle of the lake.

The Pelicans of London Town

Best Badger

The badgers have got a little more daring and are turning up increasingly in the daylight in the late evening. The quality of the film caught by my camera trap is better in daylight and individuals can now be identified - based mainly on tail shape and pattern. 

So we now have:

Onebar

Twobar

Fluffytail

Whitetip 

and The Cub.

Onebar and Twobar at least are females. Here is a sample of film in daylight. Incidentally if you cannot view these film (and I cannot see them on mobile devices) please try using a lap top. 

And if you are in the UK during this current heatwave - please put out some water for the wildlife!

Top up those bird baths!

The Transgressions of Badger X

Dear Neighbours,

I hope that this finds you well. It has been our pleasure these last few months to host your nightly incursions into our garden, and we were very delighted a few nights back to see your new cub. He looked very well.

I hope you have enjoyed the small snacks and bowls of water (and the pond) provided for your refreshment. I have reassured other neighbours and friends, who were sceptical that having so many of you regularly in our small garden would not cause some problems, that this happily has not been the case. I appreciate that you need to root in the borders for your food and the few small plants that I have had to replant have worried me not a jot.

However, I feel that I have to write and voice concern about the incident on last Thursday night at two o’clock in the morning. As I think you know, we – the house dwellers - are basically diurnal in habit and hence the garden-share with you (as you require it mainly at night time) has worked out well for all of us. I was probably foolish in leaving the bin bag outside, especially as it had an old peanut sack inside it and some other old and smelly food items which no doubt drew your attention, but the noise one of you made in disemboweling the bin bag woke the whole house up! And whichever of you this was, did not seem the least bit inclined to leave when I shone a torch on him (or her) and requested this. Indeed, even when I went into the garden ‘Badger X’ seemed loath to leave the sack alone. This was at least somewhat impolite.

But more seriously, I strongly recommend that you guys do not develop the habit of raiding bin bags as this will not play well with our other neighbours. I believe that the headmaster next door is already a little troubled at your seemingly growing number and I should stress that you will need to continue to cross his garden to get to mine.

Anyway, this is I am sure merely a minor glitch in our otherwise harmonious and mutually enjoyable relations, and snacks and drinks were of course provided as usual last night. I hope that these were satisfactory (and of course the bin bag has been safely stowed to avoid further temptation).

With kind regards,

Mark.

Badger X?

The Jackdaws of Dyrham Park

Roof view - stone eagle

There is a wonderful old stately house to the north of Bath called Dyrham Park. At the moment it is undergoing major roof renovation which means it is wrapped in plastic and scaffolding and there is an extraordinary false roof as big as a modest cathedral draped over the top of this substantive building.

Despite all this disturbance, a jackdaw family has gone on nesting in of the old chimneys of the great house, flying in through a gap in the false roof and going down through a hole in a chimney cover to get to their chicks - which can be heard calling inside.

Incidentally these remarkable once in a generation views of the upper aspect of the old house are possible because the National Trust (which now owns the property) allows visitors up to a specially constructed walk way.

Roof under wraps

Parent jackdaw approaches

Peers inside. Anyone in? (They are and excited calling can be heard.)

Here emerging having fed the youngsters within with a beakfull of wastes

One of the adults - note distinctive blue eye

Fallow deer at Dyrham Park

Oh and Dyr-ham has deer too!

Badgertime REV

Badgers on  a summer evening   

People often ask me if having such a large numbers of badgers regularly in my small back garden causes destruction and mess. Don't these filthy, verminous animals spread pestilence and smear your garden with their mess, threaten your children and pets, undermine your foundations and threaten the future of civilization as we know it, they inquire. 

No, I explain with a smile, the worst that the badgers have done is to unearth a few recently planted flowers (they deftly move them out of the way to find the worm that they somehow know lurks beneath - the worm being their main form of sustenance); and there is the occasional small 'whiffle-hole' (more worm hunting) in the lawn. But these holes are small and easily fixed.

And as for mess, the badgers use a communal latrine (I don't know where it is) but they leave no mess whatsoever behind (which is more than you can say of the local cats). 

As an additional bonus the badgers have kept the snail and slug population at an all time low - and my hostas and other plants are thus doing exceptionally well.

Below badgers in the rain. These two minutes of badgertime were taken over successive nights and the third film shows what these area of lawn looks like in the day time and the arrival of the first day-time visitor.