What’s in your garden.

[john.r.davies]

Young magpies around here - look the same as adults by no tail!  And beg food from parents.

 

[john.r.davies]

Last night, I noticed three patches of white on my grass lawn.  I thought they were flowers, but looking more closely, they were creamy-white blobs, all over the grass and clover stems.   This morning, the blobs have 'melted', into what looks like spilt clotted cream:

Can anyone suggest what this is?     Snail/slug eggs?

John

[RogerH]

Could it be cat/fox vomit.

 

Roger

[john.r.davies]

Yes, Roger, you might easily say that from this morning's pic, but last night this was composed of many individual pearls along the grass blades, that have now 'melted' together.

[RobH]

Slime mould?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/slime-moulds-on-lawns

"Fuligo septica: Irregular yellowish cushions (this has the common name of dog vomit fungus)"

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by RobH

[john.r.davies]

Brilliant, Rob, that is exactly what they looked like originally, except white.

Roger wasn't far wrong - another species that  appears on lawns is called "dog sick slime mould"!  https://thelawnman.co.uk/dog-sick-slime-mould-mucilago-crustacea/

 

[Kiwifrog]

Behind our shutters we have several bat colonies and every year we have wag tails that nest on the front veranda on top of a wall. They had 5 chicks this year but unfortunately two were kicked out/fell out of the nest and died

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

Tadpole feeding frenzy

Today’s brunch….boiled cucumber and lettuce.

 

[Kiwifrog]

We have a family of Hoopoe's living in a tree in our garden

Alan

[Lebro]

Edited April 29 by Lebro

[RobH]

I get Blackbirds, lots of assorted Finches, the usual little brown jobs, the odd Magpie and of course Doves and Wood Pigeons. I've even had the odd Heron raiding the pond. Hoopoes would be different but it's more likely to be a ring-necked Parakeet since they reportedly are spreading westwards from London.  Only a matter of time. 

Mammal-wise it's Squirrels, Hedgehogs and sometimes even a Fox. 

 

 

Edited April 29 by RobH

[Peter Cobbold]

2 hours ago, RobH said:

spreading westwards from London

When I was a lad ca 1957-ish the Essex Bird Watching and Preservation Society magazine had a photo of the  first collared dove to nest in UK. In only 70 years they have spread all over UK.

And even to Iceland: https://ornosk.com/2022/06/10/eurasian-collared-dove-in-husavik/

Peter

 

Edited April 29 by Peter Cobbold

[PodOne]

See Parakeets most days flying around Sheffield and Red Kites visit my Mums garden looking for earth worms in Leeds. I get a lovely flock of Long tail Tits in the winter months which are lovely to watch on the feeders before they get pushed off by the bigger Tits and Gold Finches along with the occasional Bull Finch which are a real treat.

The Tree Rats are a real pest for us as they love to dig up containers of bulbs and bury bird food and raid any nests or bird boxes for eggs and chicks - lets just say they get special treatment

[john.r.davies]

Red kites are a wonderful success story of recovery from near extinction!   From a relic population of a few in North Wales, thanks to persecution and rat poison, they are, as PodOne says, spreading all over the UK.

I was driving along the M40 towrads LOndon once, and saw a red kite over the motorway.  I was so excited, I turned off asap, went back on other roads and was able to watch it again.  I even reported it to the RSPB, speculating that they were spreading along M-ways from the carrion on them.   The RSPB informed me of the captive breeding and release centre in the Chilterns!

Marsh and Hen Harriers are still being persecuted, and even birds with tags and radio locators are killed by 'gamekeepers'.

John

[RobH]

There are at least a dozen Red Kites local to me, and someone nearby feeds them.  They can often all be seen circling the area together and wheeling and diving in turn to get down to the food in their garden.   The resident Rooks don't like them and will chase individual birds despite being half the size. 

[Peter V W]

Red kite in mid Wales

[Hamish]

6 hours ago, Peter V W said:

Red kite in mid Wales

Can’t even see the string !!

wonderful birds to see up close too. 

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

23 hours ago, Lebro said:

Tree rats

[Drewmotty]

Deer, pheasants, sparrowhawk……and a Skoda

Edited April 30 by Drewmotty

[SuzanneH]

A Heron on the side of our above ground swimming pool and a Holly Blue butterfly and our Bramley Apple Blossom a couple of weeks ago.

Edited May 1 by SuzanneH

[Charlie D]

About 8 years ago I built a bird box and fitted it with camera. Every year since then it has attracted blue tits usually laying between 5 and 8 eggs.

They were late arriving this year, but the nest was built quickly and now we have 10 eggs waiting to hatch. We do realize that it’s likely that several will not make it, but we will have a few weeks of entertainment watching the progress.

[SuzanneH]

7 minutes ago, Charlie D said:

About 8 years ago I built a bird box and fitted it with camera. Every year since then it has attracted blue tits usually laying between 5 and 8 eggs.

They were late arriving this year, but the nest was built quickly and now we have 10 eggs waiting to hatch. We do realize that it’s likely that several will not make it, but we will have a few weeks of entertainment watching the progress.

[john.r.davies]

Not garden, but kitchen.  My Phalaeopsis amabilis cutting from last year, has flowered! While it's 'parent' is barren.

the flower is bigger than the plant, and they is a second still to open!

John

[Peter Cobbold]

Our garden is an oak wood with ancient woodland indicator plants, thanks to 25 years' elimination of sheep.

 

[john.r.davies]

Peter,

Sheep undoubtedly prevent the development of scrub growth, and ultimately woodland, by eating the saplings. They are as bad as goats, which where they have been introduced have led to extinctions, or near extinctions of local fauna, when they are all the forage.   Like Galapagos tortoises (Goats must go to save the Galápagos tortoises | New Scientist)  And while bluebells are an indicator of long-untilled land, they are toxic to sheep, and other mammals.  Farmers regularly have lambs die if they can get to bluebells.   Adults may have learnt to avoid it, or else the more stupid ones die off in youth.

The other woodland floor plant in your first pic is wood anemome, which is also an ancient woodland indictor but also poisonous!   In addition tastes horrible, even to a sheep.

"Ancient" woodland is land that has been wooded since before 1600, just before The Enclosures started, taking what had been Common Land into private ownership, and as the name suggests, doing away with the Open Field system, and starting the hedgerows that are thought to be a 'typical' feature of the English landscape.     Before that, woodland was a special area of the farm or manor, providing coppicing for fuel and wicker, forage for pigs, and other vital items.    Yes, these plants would have been gobbled up by sheep, so that they would have been kept out of the wood, by hedges, ditches or fences.   

So yes, you are right that the forest floor plants of ancient woodland are there because sheep didn't eat them.    But it was humans that kept them off! 

John

Edited Monday at 06:17 PM by john.r.davies