rust belt sites can be interesting to watch as they develop from "in use" to "wild" with a few interesting bits of archaeology poking out
in use has eco impacts, some more attractive or biodiverse than others
ex use, ditto
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8972 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 24 10:13 am Post subject:
Anyone noticed wasps still about?
Nextdoor neighbour has, indoors
The usual nest in my stock shed is empty, but that is an uninsulated wooden 6x4 garden shed
Only wildlife of sorts, but went up to the woods for the first time since the storms yesterday as husband and son have mainly been doing firewood, and I have had things to do at home. Went for a walk round to see some of the trees that are down; one large dead oak barring our way to the coppice, which is going to take some shifting, and a large beech branch still blocking one footpath, which is going to take a lot of consideration and shifting as it is resting on several branches. Hoping we can get our friend who is a cutter to come to help as with him cutting and son on forwarder to hold things, should be the safest way of dealing with both.
Love kestrels. Wonderful it was so close. We used to get a lot of them, but the highways people cut all the scrub along the motorway and dual carriageway banks, so don't see them so often as that is where they hunted.
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8972 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 24 2:45 pm Post subject:
I had a walk around the village. Trees full of sparrows and starlings, the odd seagull and crows doing acrobatics...must be more Wind on the way
We get some starlings, but not as many as we used to. I do sometimes hear a bush twittering as I pass, so must be full of hedge sparrows, and do sometimes see them. We get gulls and rooks, mainly in the fields after work being done, but some gulls have taken up residence down our local shops. We are about 15 miles from the sea, so not really seagulls any more.
gz
Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 8972 Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 24 10:20 am Post subject:
Gulls move to the food.. unfortunately that is humans' rubbish...and there aren't so many fish in the sea
The ones at the shops might be there for rubbish, although on the whole this isn't a particularly dirty area. Think they mainly come for the pickings from the fields as this is semi-rural.
Went down to help at an activity centre in the New Forest yesterday and there was a deer out in one of the fields. Clear up work as they had some fallen trees. One of the trees; a medium sized oak had about half a dozen varieties of lichen on it. Really wonderful.
Have seen quite a lot of deer over the last couple of days. In our own woodland complex we have seen a group of 5 roe deer, which is more than we usually see in the woods together, although more have been seen together in the adjacent fields. Yesterday, where we were cutting birch, son saw a herd of about 20 fallow deer and we saw some more crossing the ride ahead of where we were having lunch. Couldn't see them properly but just the tops of their heads bobbing across the track.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2577 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 25 2:53 am Post subject:
With the cold weather and snow the white tail deer are traipsing around the house. This yearling was so close that any closer and it would have been IN the kitchen.
I don't know if you can zoom in on the image - it is crisp enough that you can see the eyelashes.
How lovely. Are they looking for food, and is there any for them?
We have seen a few deer lately. I saw some not far from a road we use, which surprised me as it is quite a busy one and between an industrial and a housing estate. I am pretty sure they were fallow deer. We have seen up to 4 roe deer in the woods at one time lately. They are in their dark winter coats at the moment.
We were out in the main part of the wood yesterday and there was a lot of bird song. We have had several storms lately, so whether they were making the most of it between them, or starting to get interested in breeding, not quite sure.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2577 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 25 6:49 pm Post subject:
They are pawing through the snow, Mistress Rose, eating certain groundcover plants in my garden. Also some evergreen shrubs.
I scatter what's labeled as squirrel & critter food - it is black oil sunflower seed, some peanuts in shell, and mostly corn kernels. The squirrels prefer to hang head down on the bird feeders filled with black oil sunflower seed.
That one yearling deer comes close to kitchen steps - I'm sure it is for the corn.
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