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Post by tony38337 on Sept 22, 2006 3:51:06 GMT -1
Yesterday morning I went up the garden path to go to work as I got to the gate I came face to face with a Fallow Deer, rather unusually he stopped dead in his tracks but he didn't bolt, just casually turned and wandered back in the direction of the woods. What a way to start your day uh? As we live on the edge of a woods we tend to get all sorts in the garden foxes, hedgehogs, deer, toads, slow worms and years ago we had stag beetles now sadly endangered, in fact we haven't seen any for about 15 years now.
Tony T
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Post by Lisa on Sept 22, 2006 9:45:36 GMT -1
Hi Tony, I wish I'd been there to see the Deer. How lovely to be on the edge of nature. I too live on the edge of a protected wood and we get badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits etc. Once in London I woke in the early hours as I heard a noise outside my window, I didnt turn on the light but could see the outline of a long-eared owl on my chimney. As my eyes acclimatised, I could see the owl just three feet away and he was looking straight at me. It seemed to last for ages, but I'm sure it was only minutes. He then flew off with a big woosh of his wings, which were enormous. I'll never forget that moment of pure bliss looking into its eyes, man and beast united as one for just a few minutes.   |
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Post by BABS on Sept 22, 2006 17:55:13 GMT -1
Hi Tony
What a lovely place you and your family live in,we get the odd fox from the woods at the back and toads but never deer.
I only have one regret in life and that is that I havent seen much of the world,I am a bad traveller.
BABS
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Post by Lisa on Sept 22, 2006 17:57:15 GMT -1
Hi Babs, Ah but you have the life skills of someone who has travelled !!!  |
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 23, 2006 2:45:18 GMT -1
About 25 years ago I found a Tawny Owl chick on the ground. I n the tree above was another dead chick and parent bird, To cut a long story short I took the chick home and hand reared it, finding roadkills was gruesome but we managed to fledge the bird and he was better than any guard dog as our insurance man would tell you. Much more is known about owl now and I don't think that what we did was the right thing to do but we all survivrd it. When a Tawny leaves the nest he sets up his own territory as near as he can moving further away as necessary but returns to the nest site for two or three years at birthday time and this happened for four years in our case.
Tony T
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Post by marie fernandes on Sept 23, 2006 12:36:35 GMT -1
;)hI Tony, I think I have told you before that we visited your part of the UK a couple of years ago. We stayed with two friends who we met in l990 in India. They live in Lyndhurst, which you perhaps know, right on the edge of the new forest. What a gorgeous spot. The young horses used to come up to their garden fence because that was all that was separating them from the forest and the garden. We saw a lot of wildlife while we were there and they had snakes living in the compost heap, which I didnit like the look of. One shed a full skin and they brought it to show us at the end of a stick. I am not afraid of the large snakes funnily enough, but my husband is. He cant even touch them. I like to stroke them as they are quite warm not what you expect. My daughter lives in W.Yorks. in what we call Heathcliffe country and when we go up there we see lots of owls and different birds. marie. |
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Post by marie fernandes on Sept 23, 2006 12:48:12 GMT -1
Babs, mentioning foxes I must tell you this. My daughter Francesca lives on greenbelt near me about 10 mins in the car. Its called a farm but she doesn't have animals, just a lot of sprawling land and they have renovated a cottage. Anyway for her husbands 40th we bought him some hens from a friend who breeds them. We got him some prime layers, 40 in fact and someone else bought him a c*ckrel. It was a very majestic c*ckrel, but no match for foxy Reynard. Although they had them penned in and had them for about 2 months, and they provided eggs. Their numbers became depleted. The fox had been digging under the fence and taken out almost all the hens in two days. When I went down one day I saw him in broad daylight trying to finish the last few off including the c*ckrel. My daughter was scared of him because he was quite a big fellow but I gabbed the sweeping brush and charged after him and he scuttled away but sadly he finished them off in the middle of the night. What I cant forgive him for was most of them he took the heads off and buried them. At first I was sympathetic, thinking he was feeding young, but I didn't know he was taking their heads off and burying them. No more hens on the daughters land. !! Funnily enough I have a large fox and baby, in my bedroom, furry and beautiful, but its only a pyjamma case. ;D ;D
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Post by christine on Sept 23, 2006 12:57:30 GMT -1
oh what a nice person you are marie xxchris
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Post by BABS on Sept 23, 2006 14:18:10 GMT -1
HI MARIE
Hope you are feeling better today.
Sorry I missed you again.
Foxes are well known chicken killers,once they start on chickens they dont stop till they have killed them all,it must have been awful.
will try to catch you soon .
TAKE CARE
BABS
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 24, 2006 3:04:06 GMT -1
Hi All, Lyndhurst is in the New Forrest OK in fact went through Lyndhurst on the bike last Sunday going to Muddeford. the snakes in the compost heap were likely to be Adders though there are smooth snakes in the forrest. Once in Brockenhurst I had to get a pony out of a shop before I could get served, one of the part time ladies used to feed him at the door but she left but trying to explain that to the pony was a waste of time.
Tony T
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Post by wynwilliams on Sept 24, 2006 3:26:42 GMT -1
Hello tony sounds like you live in a wondefful part of england. l love wild life and all the animal world, we have wild ducks coming into our pool, so far they have not made a mess, people tell us to shue them off, but l like watching them, the c-o-c-k-a-t-o-o-s are very noisy, and fly around in groups,and boy can they make a mess of a tree, but my favorite is the kookaburra bird, when l hear them, l go outside to see where they are
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 25, 2006 8:23:56 GMT -1
Wynn?
When I was in Oz (My baby girl lies in Moranbah Ql) in 2000 the house where Alison lived then was visited by Sulphur Crested c*ckatoos every day, also Happy Jacks I actually have some movie footage of Happy Jacks attacking the cat who had ideas of an early lunch, he was mistaken! We also saw one Kukaburra on that occasion, for a member of the Kingfisher family he is quite big, we saw more of the Kukaburra this year, yes a truly beautiful bird. As for shooing birds out of our garden, no, they're all welcome, in fact the only animal that isn't welcome is the Grey Squirrel, they have almost completely displaced the Red Squirre from southern England and they kill young birds, they raid nests and do a lot of damage. I have a method for dealing with them. Unfortunately it's rather permanent.
Tony T.
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 25, 2006 8:38:54 GMT -1
Tommy ? in about 1998 we went to Texas to visit friends, their house was set in nine acres of Texas scrub, I used to go out every morning with my camcorder to see what wildlife I could find. One morning Lou's two older boys came out with me to show me where the waterhole was, they were not paying attention and we disturbed a Jaguarundi, it's a big cat sometime called a weasel cat because of it's long body and shortish legs. It had been sighted by others in the area so I know I wasn't halucinating. Up to that time I had never heard of this spiecies but I laooked it up and it's more concentrated in South America but is known to be spreading into Texas but not usually coastal areas. We were staying at Rockport near Corpus Christie.
I have seen Eagles in captivity and in the wild and yes they are magnificent birds, I know what you mean about the noise of the wings, I was within 10 yards of a pair of Swans trying to get airborne from the river Itchen some years ago and it was an awesome sound, I was ready for it, I can imagine it would scare the hell outta ya if you were'nt expecting it.
We have smaller birds of prey locally, there is a Sparrow Hawk that visits our garden now and again, unfortunately he nearly allways leaves with his dinner. Threre are also Buzzards in the area but these are shy birds that would not come into a garden.
Tony T
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Post by Lisa on Sept 25, 2006 11:29:21 GMT -1
Hi Tony, I once spent two weeks on the edge of Fordingbridge in a cottage and there was an estuary or tributory to a river (dont know which, I thought it was the Avon but someone said it couldnt have been)and I walked along the river one evening just before dusk. I sat and watched hundreds of swans flying in to rest for the night and the sight of a v-shaped formation of swans was spectacular. I didnt know that the swans at the end of the formation landed first while the others circulated, then two more dropped off until the last ones came in to rest. The noise was amazing as they chatted before settling down. I went to watch it every night and I can still hear their chattering.
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Post by Lisa on Sept 25, 2006 11:37:24 GMT -1
Tony, You can go off people you know Please dont shoot the squirrels.  I know they are a nuisance, but there must be other ways to get rid of them. We have a cat near us who catches them regularly and, although I dont like to see it, at least its nature at work. All creatures have a right to live on this earth that we share and humans are not omnipotent. Imagine the roles being reversed.......would you tolerate someone taking a pop at you?  |
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Danny
Junior Member
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Post by Danny on Sept 25, 2006 13:21:35 GMT -1
My house backs onto a bird sanctuary. I can go out of the back gate to a beautiful full creek. There are loads of different birds throughout the year, black swans , tall white herons and ibis to name a few,but my favorite is the pelican. It is such a massive creature and amazing to watch in the air it just flaps its wings once or twice and seems to glide forever. Its incredible how such a huge bird can stay up there
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 25, 2006 18:48:26 GMT -1
Hi Lisa,
I can understand to a degree what you are saying and yes Grey Squirrels have a right to exist but in their own country i.e. Canada, the thingyhead that brought them to this country in the 19th century is the one to blame, he thought that they would enhance the natural beauty of his estate in Dorset. In that 100 years they have spread throughout the British mainland. They are considered by most naturalists as a threat to many British speices starting with the Red Squirrel, garden birds etc. Many people call them tree rats, I think that's a fair description and very deserving of extermination in this country.
Tony T
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Post by BABS on Sept 25, 2006 19:06:45 GMT -1
Hi Tony orrrrrr don't kill them Do you know one of the squirrels in my garden is Grey with a red stripe and red and Grey tail,so I think it must be mixed breed. BABS |
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Post by BABS on Sept 25, 2006 19:49:26 GMT -1
TOMMY
STOP CALLING THEM , THEY ARE ALL GODS CREATURES
BABS
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Post by Lisa on Sept 26, 2006 10:41:42 GMT -1
Hi Tony, I agree totally with the idiot that brought them to this country. An island in Scotland was depleted of its birds because of the squirrells and they are a problem, even in my wood. One even comes on the window sill and begs for food, and he steals all the nuts put out for the birds, BUT i couldnt harm one even thought at times I curse them. He has even knawed through one of my bird houses trying to get to the chicks when I opened the window he flew through the air. I dont encourage him but he is looking for food, after all. I had hoped the people doing the survey on Red Squirrells would put some here in the wood, but I'm sure, like everywhere else, the Grey's will dominate. Sadly. |
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 26, 2006 18:28:55 GMT -1
Lisa that's the whole point, Reds cannot survive whilst Greys are about, the only solution is to eradicate them, as they shouldn't be here in the first place I think it makes the solution easer. They are an ecological nightmare. Babs? they do have gingery tints in their fur but I dont think they are mixed breed, if you look carefully they are all like that.
Tony T.
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Post by BABS on Sept 26, 2006 19:05:40 GMT -1
HI TONY
I didnt know they had colors in them,because they call them grey,
but there again its only the last 2yrs I have seen them close up.
they are still lovely .
BABS
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Post by tony38337 on Sept 27, 2006 6:02:21 GMT -1
Hi Babs
It's probably because they are outgrowing their habbitat that you see them so close to residential areas now they do breed at a hell of a rate. There was a good article on them in The Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago written by a higher up in the RSPCA (or was it RSPB) saying that a huge cull was desperately needed if we are to protect the wildlife that their growing population has damaged but they are reluctant to make too big an issue of it because they feel that the "Fluffy Bunny Brigade" will stop their donations thus damageing their income. What a great pitty that they have to think like that. Deer get culled, badgers get culled foxes get ripped to bits or shot, all these creatures are beguiling in the right circumstances but when considered a menace they get killed off and Grey Squirrels are no different.
Tony T
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Post by BABS on Sept 27, 2006 7:20:40 GMT -1
Hi Tony
ITS SAD THAT THEY HAVE TO GO,
THE WOODS ARE AT THE BACK OF MY HOUSE,WE SEE LOADS OF THEM IN THE WOODS,BUT THESE TWO ARE CHEEKY THEY COME TO MY GARDEN,AND PROBABLY EVERYBODY ELSE'S.
BABS
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Post by Lisa on Sept 27, 2006 11:06:22 GMT -1
Hi Tony, I totally agree with what you say. It just that my little heart cant bear to kill ANYTHING. I'm sure I was a Buddist in an earlier life. Some of my squirrels have brown tinges in them too but its definitely not like the colour of the true Reds. Red squirrels seem smaller and more timid than the Greys.
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Post by marie fernandes on Sept 27, 2006 11:15:56 GMT -1
Hi Babs, just seen your note about your colourful squirrel, stop pulling our legs. I'M sure its a SKUNK that you have visiting!!
You seem to live in a countryfied part of Manchester. Are you lucky or what as there is not much greenery left. I miss the countryside very much and we used to have quite a few birds visit our garden, bluetits, thrushes, blackbirds, even had a wren and a woodpecker one year. But for the last few years we have only had lots of starlings and they become a nuisance. I put nuts and fat-balls out but still the birds have disappeared. We do get the Canada geese flying over here in V-formation though, where they are going I dont know, and I love their noise. I have just joined the RSPB and had a booklet sent to me advising on enticing birds into your garden.
marie ;D
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Post by BABS on Sept 27, 2006 12:50:51 GMT -1
Hi Marie, Glad to see you on again,but missed you as usual I think the two squirrel's in my garden have rust patches on them thats what the red must be  Talking about starlings we have a lot of scaffolding on the cottage flats near me ,they are putting new roof on. This morning starlings came and covered the scaffolding and were all making the most horrible racket,it was like that film BIRDS it got a bit scary,I would not go in the garden to look at them ,I looked from the window. We can see the hills from house and the views of Werneth Low You see all sorts of birds in the woods. Hope you are feeling better. BABS |
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Post by eileenman on Sept 27, 2006 13:05:56 GMT -1
Hi Babs. You just mentioned that horrible film the Birds. I remember back in the early 70s when I was courting my first husband. He wanted to go to the Midnight showing of that film in M/cr, I didn't want to go but he talked me into it, well we got home in the early hours of the morning, he lived in an big old house in Cheetham Hill with his parents and I was staying the night, I had just told my boyfrient that I would have his bed and he could sleep in the creepy attic where I was supposed to sleep. Well his dad came down the stairs lecturing me about leading his son astray going to the midnight cinema, and I ended up in the attic on my own, petrified, didn't sleep all night. Never liked that film.
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I know they are a nuisance, but there must be other ways to get rid of them. We have a cat near us who catches them regularly and, although I dont like to see it, at least its nature at work. All creatures have a right to live on this earth that we share and humans are not omnipotent. Imagine the roles being reversed.......would you tolerate someone taking a pop at you? 
