Wildlife

[whitestone]

Hundreds of roe deer round my way this year (ok slight exaggeration but I've seen way more than years past recently) I was speaking to someone involved in land management who reckons it's down to an increasing reluctance by farmers to allow people to shoot on their land due to the liability hassles along with increasing cost and hassles of gun ownership. I'm slightly on the fence with this as I don't personally agree with shooting fluffy creatures for the sake if it, whilst being OK if it puts them onto a dinner table. But as roe deer have no predators (other than cars) then no shooting means their numbers will increase, they will over-run habitats and chomp their way through young trees, plants etc....

Wolves are the answer

Wolves definitely are the answer (along with Lynx) but this government aren't interested (wealthy elite against it maybe?)

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/202 ... -hold.html

There's the guy (Paul Lister - family own MFI) up in Alladale (next glen down from Croik) who has long term plans to "rewild" that estate. Then there's Anders Povlsen at Glen Feshie who took the deer population from 50/km2 down to a couple - https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022 ... ng-holiday

Like it or loath it, we (humans) are the top predator now. In the 1980s the Forestry Commision and/or the management company undertook a cull of red deer in this commercial woodland http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=338910&Y=486195&A=Y&Z=120, they killed 1500 deer and reckoned there was still a substantial population. Back to Glen Feshie, there was a TV series on "Wild" Scotland where they interviewed the estate manager and he was describing the clientele who'd come up on shooting weekends/trips as essentially drunken louts. Rifles and rounds suitable for deer have to have a minimum calibre and muzzle velocity (punch) to ensure it's a kill rather than a wound - think along the lines of the size of a AAA battery but weighing 100g and travelling at over 800m/s - and that's not something you want in the wrong hands.

Wolves (and to some extent Lynx) tend to need proper wilderness which, without extensive depopulation (actually de-agrification) of the upland areas, we don't have in the UK. Wolves and livestock tend not to mix too well as the latter are easy meat for the wolves. Just look at the hassle sea eagles have (allegedly or otherwise) caused regards lambing. Lynx might be better suited, certainly for Roe Deer, but you might have to restrict any human access to some areas - dunno much about how they react to human disturbance and on what level/frequency.

Rewilding sounds good in principle but the sticking point is just to when do we wind the clock back? Go back 25,000 years and you'd have to get McAlpines in with a fleet of bulldozers stripping all vegetation and soil away but then they might have a little problem replicating the couple of kilometres of ice sitting on top of the landscape!

[riderdown]

just to when do we wind the clock back?

Mesolithic is as far as is needed, early neolithic probably more practicable

[fatbikephil]

The cynics suggested that Paul Listers 'Re-wilding' project was just a way of fencing out the plebs and getting an exemption from access rights....

[Bearbonesnorm]

On the rewilding subject, I saw a short film a few months ago that detailed what had happened after wolves were reintroduced to one of the national parks in the US ... it turned out that pretty much all flora and fauna had benefited in some way and the park was much healthier than it had been previously.

[psling]

On the rewilding subject, I saw a short film a few months ago that detailed what had happened after wolves were reintroduced to one of the national parks in the US ... it turned out that pretty much all flora and fauna had benefited in some way and the park was much healthier than it had been previously.

[tongue in cheek]That's possibly a side effect of less humans visiting because they're scared of the wolves![/tongue in cheek]

[Johnallan]

The swifts are back

[rudedog]

Rewilding sounds good in principle but the sticking point is just to when do we wind the clock back? Go back 25,000 years and you'd have to get McAlpines in with a fleet of bulldozers stripping all vegetation and soil away but then they might have a little problem replicating the couple of kilometres of ice sitting on top of the landscape!

Is that really a sticking point? The purpose of rewinding isn't about returning the landscape to a particular point in time, it's about increasing biodiversity and mitigating climate change. (Or at least thats my understanding)

[fatbikephil]

A few weeks ago I spotted my first red kite in the local hills. Then last weekend I saw another above Glendevon res and today on a march through the hills in a similar area, I saw another one (or the same one.) As I sat drinking tea it circled overhead for a couple of minutes and then drifted away



Not a great pic. When I saw it last week, a bloke with a camera that almost certainly cost at least twice as much as my bike was pointing a huge telephoto lens at it, which I guess is what you need to get a decent photo of flying bird...

[Johnallan]

Large bird of prey with a grey underside taking off from the field to my right, then flying overhead and out of sight. It was early morning on my commute, just entering Huddersfield. If I thought goshawks were in the area, I'd say it was a goshawk. However, I didn't think we had them around here? Either way, a magnificent bird

[whitestone]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

Heard the first cuckoo of the year yesterday while over at my brother's. Not heard any of our local birds.

Had a couple of Pied Wagtails check me out when I arrived. This afternoon they were checking out the new wall for nesting sites.

Apart from a couple of interruptions from a quartet of F-14 Tomcats I was serenaded by Skylarks (or Meadow Pipits - I can't distinguish their calls) singing above me.

[Johnallan]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

This was probably twice the size of a sparrow hawk. I actually watched a sparrow hawk take down a pigeon and carefully pluck it apart only last week. Quite a gruesome but fascinating moment

[HUX]

Well I've currently got a pair of mating hedgehogs in the garden. What a racket they make
A couple of weeks ago I was in a farm shop where they keep all the feed and I overheard a mom say 'oh its probably a dove' and then a bloke reply 'it's a sparrowhawk'
Sure enough there was a sparrowhawk sat on top of the racking with its eye on the open roller shutter. 2 blackbirds that ventured in had a lucky escape and a few sparrows. It was fascinating to watch close uo

[fatbikephil]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

This was probably twice the size of a sparrow hawk. I actually watched a sparrow hawk take down a pigeon and carefully pluck it apart only last week. Quite a gruesome but fascinating moment

If it was grey it could also have been a peregrine falcon?

[whitestone]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

This was probably twice the size of a sparrow hawk. I actually watched a sparrow hawk take down a pigeon and carefully pluck it apart only last week. Quite a gruesome but fascinating moment

If it was grey it could also have been a peregrine falcon?

Peregrines are even smaller than Sparrowhawks. Does sound like a Goshawk (jealous)

[rudedog]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

This was probably twice the size of a sparrow hawk. I actually watched a sparrow hawk take down a pigeon and carefully pluck it apart only last week. Quite a gruesome but fascinating moment

Just been reading about this and apparently a female sparrowhawk is similar in size to a male Goshawk and they can be difficult to tell apart.

[Johnallan]

Could have been a Sparrowhawk, Goshawks are pretty big, almost as big as a buzzard.

This was probably twice the size of a sparrow hawk. I actually watched a sparrow hawk take down a pigeon and carefully pluck it apart only last week. Quite a gruesome but fascinating moment

Just been reading about this and apparently a female sparrowhawk is similar in size to a male Goshawk and they can be difficult to tell apart.

Thanks! More likely to be a female sparrowhawk than goshawk I suspect I'll try get a better look next time if the opportunity arises

[Raggedstone]

I thought I better have a ride up the hills late this afternoon to make sure the bike was ready for the weekend all the squeaks grinding noises and rattles were there so good to go . While I was out I heard my first Cuckoo of the year and then as I was going along one of the most popular tracks on the Malvern's I saw a bird of some some description sitting on grass just above the track it took off and flew a bit further along I wasn't sure what it was but suspected it was probably a Sparrowhawk this was confirmed moments later as a missile shot across in front of me and attacked a bird in the air which escaped the bird song and aerial activity immediately ceased .
And to top it all my regular springtime visitors a pair of Red legged Partridges appeared in the garden lovely plumage terrible racket :smile:

[fatbikephil]

I'm definitely seeing a lot more birds of prey in the last few years. As well as the usual Buzzards (whose numbers have gone up) I often see Kestrels, quite often see sparrow hawks, see an eagle or three most years, now red kites can be added to the mix and occasional things which could be peregrines / goshawks / etc.

I suspect that persecution is a not happening anything like as much as it used to so despite the decline in habitat, numbers are going up. I 'spose introduction schemes are also helping

[Verena]

That's great about all the birds of prey.

And quite a few cuckoos heard I believe this weekend in WRT land...

Just read this, quite the impressive wildlife encounters here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65412680

[rudedog]

Talking of birds of prey, this landed in my backyard in Edinburgh yesterday - manage to snatch a quick pic before it flew off looking for sparrows to munch on:

[Bearbonesnorm]

Redstarts on the bird feeders this morning. Quite unusual as they generally keep themselves very much to themselves.

[Johnallan]

Talking of birds of prey, this landed in my backyard in Edinburgh yesterday - manage to snatch a quick pic before it flew off looking for sparrows to munch on:

Thats a beauty!!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Beetles? Has anyone noticed more beetles this year? Seems to be a mixture of Bloody nosed and Lesser Stag ... although my beetle knowledge isn't top notch.

[Bearlegged]

I saw a couple of oil beetles at the weekend.

[rudedog]

I saw a couple of oil beetles at the weekend.

These are rare and considered endangered, you can record sightings here:

https://www.coleoptera.org.uk/meloidae/home