Hi All:
jsb: At the end of the previous Weekly Chat are two responses to your posting about the birds with French accents. One is from me and not especially profound. The other is from Diane, and reads as follows : Lovely article. I always have two pairs of house wrens (known as jenny wrens here) who return about the same time in the spring. Even though both females are house wrens, I can always tell which bird is singing, no matter where they are. I don't know whether the slight difference is because they winter in different regions or because individual wrens have distinct sounds. I always put up houses for them, but, this year, one pair decided that it would be more fun to nest in the nook above my propane gas tank, where the dials and controls are. So I had to fiercely guard the nest from the gas company employees who periodically check the gas levels. The gas company guys think I'm looney but they didn't dare to defy me and bother the wrens!
Everyone: AQ posted this one: Adelaide 10.50 am 12 C. Pumpkin soup for lunch thanks to friend giving me 2 large butternuts. Today is the Bay to Birdwood Classic for cars 1956-1977. Once upon a time they left from Glenelg (the Bay), but lack of space means they now leave from West Beach (2 km north). They travel about 70 km (44 miles) to Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills where there is a Motor Museum. Next year is the run for the Vintage cars (pre-1956). A picnic day. A bit chilly today but not as chilly as Wattle's.
And Teresa had this tip: If you delete something by mistake it is worth holding the Ctrl key down and clicking on Z. In lots of instances it undoes your last action - not always though but still worth a try.
AQ and Teresa: Hope it was okay to copy and paste your comments on this page - didn't want anyone to miss them.
The coal tits seem to have got used to sharing the feeder with the squirrels now, flitting in and out. Caught a pair of hands climbing a ladder and filling up the peanuts the other day.
Definitely live, Annette, called loch garten live video, although there is a still one too as mentioned above.
Terry in Cumbria
Morning everyone,
Just completed the shopping mission at Tescos. Its a jungle out there.
Weather is dry and sunny but about 4 degrees cooler.
Temp 15.0c , Dewpoint 5.0c , Wet bulb 10.3c , Humidity 51%.
Wind N 9mph , Visibility 50kms. Barometer 1019hPa rising.
Just about to have some lunch and contemplating taking Thunderdog Hamish out for a walk later.
FAB
Morning all! Argh. What's with this waking up at 3:30 a.m.? But a good time to get an early read of posts, and less to read when I "officially" wake up later.
Carol: Thanks for the link to the John Muir Trust - they have a nice website. Had to read the bit about "Still a lot of bananas...." I guess people must think it's okay to discard peels since they're biodegradable (but not pretty or natural to the Scottish highlands). Interesting controversy regarding the culling of male deer. Apologies in advance for clueless comment, but I wonder how nature dealt with (or didn't deal with) overpopulation of one specie at the expense of another before we started "managing" nature. Muir almost single-handedly spearheaded the creation of Yosemite National Park.
George: Thanks for the info re Last Chance to See. I just Googled it and found only the BBC's site with no mention of DVDs but maybe they'll come later. It may show up on the Discovery channel, our Public Broadcasing Stations, or the National Geo channel, though not sure about the latter. I'll keep an eye out.
TerryM. Just checked the live feeder. Couldn't make out what the "wires" running up and down the screen were - thought it was bad reception - then lo and behold, here comes a bright blue tube that reveals a second feeder, followed by a flock (well, two or three) tits. I'll keep my other eye out for the squirrels.
Alan: Hope Tesco was better than on the weekends and hope Thunderdog Hamish enjoys his walk.
Have a nice morning all; back when I wake up.
(Very early) morning Annette - I think you just caught the feeders being filled, one on left was empty last time I looked. Hope you're back asleep now and not reading this!
Annette
We had predators called wolves to control the deer population before we killed them all off to save the sheep! Now some people are considering reintroducing them back. These are old articles.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2065794.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7268765.stm
The only source of knowledge is experience. Albert Einstein
There are a couple of red squirrels on the feeders at the moment.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/webcams/feeders/abernethyvideo.asp
Hallo Alan those red squirrels just eat and eat all the time. They are such a beautiful colour. There is a live cam at Loch of the Lowes and when the red squirrels are there they actually open the lid on the box and get their nuts from there.
Has Hamish been for his walk now?
Margobird
Margobird : The squirrels are very clever and very adaptable. Hamish has had his walk and he helped me cut the grass by dragging his blanket across it to flatten it out. He is also very clever and adaptable.
Hi Alan and Margobird
I, too, am loving the squirrels on the feeders ... its great when the two nut feeders and the squirrel nut box are full ... there seem to be so many squirrels and birds chasing around! Sometimes a squirrel goes righht inside the box :)) Hope Thunderdog Hamish had a good walk. Is lovely and sunny here in Northumberland today, although cooler than previous days
Joan - avid bird and nature watcher in Northumberland!
Index Thread
Hi DjoanS : It is lovely and sunny here too on TI. The weather has been great for the whole of September and looks like continuing into October for a few days at least.