The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: in the hills on March 07, 2021, 03:06:36 pm
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5th March ..... The Curlews return to our part of Mid Wales from their over wintering grounds.
We thought that we'd just caught the first part of their iconic call earlier this week but yesterday we definitely heard them and twice so far today.
Glad they're back. Wondering if any will best successfully this year.
Anyone else heard their returning curlew yet?
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Went for a walk yesterday in County Durham / Edge of Pennines and plenty of curlews about!
(Also a lot of lapwings and fieldfare!)
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Not yet, but there's only one pair which comes to this area now. We'll keep our ears peeled ;D
We did hear oyster catchers last week but not since. No lark yet. I am waiting for the Arkaig Ospreys to return - they usually come back from mid-March onwards.
There is the occasional frog croaking in our pond, but my son who lives in Hampshire, has a pond stuffed with frogspawn already.
I wonder if there will be a Curlew cam again this year? I loved watching last year :thumbsup:
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When I was a lad we used to hear Curlews all the time but now the the habitats that they used to like have been opened up as public parks and with the onslaught of dog walkers some commercial with 10 - 15 dogs, people walking , people flying model aeroplanes, and the odd illegal trail biking , they have gone , some kids will never know what they sound like let alone look like , sad day
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CUjimmy ....it's so sad. They are in serious decline here in Wales too. Many factors, I believe. Loss of habitat, drainage, over grazing, cutting of hay, pesticides etc etc
There is a project to 'headstart' the chicks just over the border in Shropshire. It is this year that some of these chicks, now being mature, should hopefully return. They are looking out for them now. The project is called ....Curlew Country......if you are interested in taking a look.
Fleecewife .... I'm not sure about the live cam this year. I think they are embarking on a new joint venture this year. I'll have to find out more details.
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Thanks inthehills - :fc: there's something for the spring and summer. :sunshine:
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Yes, they're doing the live cam again this year!
And they're looking out for the headstart chicks who should be returning as adults this year.
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I've just recently come across the Shropshire Curlew Cam purely by chance as I was looking stuff up about curlews. Looks amazing. It's great they're doing it again this year so hopefully I'll get a chance to see them on the webcam :fc: We've had curlews for a few weeks here now. County Durham/ Pennines. It's def a very distinctive call they have. I used to hear them when I lived high up in Yorkshire so it's lovely to hear them now here as well. We have some proper hay meadows here luckily and we get a lot of curlews. Sounds like I'm not that far from where you are Blondie! We get lapwings here too and leave the barn top door open opposite us as the swallows come every year. They give quite a display right in front of our patio windows esp in early evening. Amazing and certainly feel very privileged to see them so close. Prob after all the flying insects/midges I expect :yum: ;D
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The curlews are back here as well, but do not seem as numerous as in previous years.
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Curlew Cam is nearly ready.
Check out Curlew Country on FB or their website.
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I saw my first of the year last week, plus one on our land this morning :love: .
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Curlew Cam is nearly ready.
Check out Curlew Country on FB or their website.
I don't do facebook, although I tried to see if I could find anything there, but no, and the website has nothing yet about when the camera might start. So for techno-pathetic folk like me, could you put up a link when it all happens please in the hills? I loved watching the curlewcam last year, and with the disaster at Loch Arkaig of no nesting pair of ospreys there, curlews could be my saviours. I can't hear a single curlew here this year so far, and even the lapwings and oystercatchers we usually have are silent :( . There is a pair of martins directly above our front door though, so dodging them and their bombs all summer will be fun :idea:
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Curlew Country’s Curlew Cam is back! Tune in now and follow this pairs journey : https://c Curlew Country’s Curlew Cam is back! Tune in now and follow urlewcountry.org/curlew-cam/ (https://curlewcountry.org/curlew-cam/) #CurlewCam2021
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Oh blow, I'm not sure why the link that I've pasted above isn't showing, FW.
This happened a week or so ago when I posted a website link in the craft section. I think that SITN edited it so that it was visible. Help please ..... SITN!
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I thought I could alter it for you in the hills, but somehow I can't. You can do it yourself by going to 'modify' Then highlight the url and click font size and up it to 10 or 12, then 'save' and repost.
Thanks in advance for posting it :)
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Thank you FW. I've managed to do it! I have little patience with these things but that was pain free. It's odd because if you clicked on the line that showed on my unedited post the link still actually worked and took you to the website.
The link takes you to the website. Scroll down to where it says 'watch on utube' and click on it. I don't think they've made it very clear that this is how you access the live cam. Might be why you couldn't find it when you looked on the website yesterday.
She is sat in the dandelions in the rain! Looks a wee bit fed up!
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Thank you in the hills. That's worked fine. I think I didn't get beyond 'donate' the first time! I will of course donate again but not just now :thumbsup: .
I see her with the rain sprinkling on her back, but what a lovely meadow she has to admire.
Good news on the osprey front too, as it looks like another pair is interested in the nest at last. It's probably too late for them to raise chicks this year, but they will probably come back next year to the same place :fc:
What a wonderful time of year :sunshine: :tree: :raining: :tree: :sunshine:
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Glad that you've found it FW.
Sounds hopeful for your ospreys for next year.
Do you ever take a look at the live cam for the Dyfi ospreys?
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I watch Dyfi, Rutland (two chicks hatched, one to go), Arkaig, Loch of the Lowes, Various peregrines on spires, a white tailed eagle pair in the Czech rep, and various nesting birds in the US. There's also a live waterhole watch in S Africa, but not a lot happens. I don't watch for hours and hours, just check in from time to time and scroll back to see where they're at.
Today I had a wonderful experience. I was sitting weeding my salad beds in the polytunnel when I suddenly realised the lovely sound I was hearing was a CURLEW, right overhead! Mr F was outside the tunnel and saw it, but I couldn't see through the opaque polythene. Later when we were having a cuppa, we heard it again going right past the house :yippee: . Our curlews are back :sunshine: :sunshine: :sunshine:
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We're supposed to be inundated by cicadas soon. It's a big fat bug that's a clumsy flier that has a call louder than a rooster with a megaphone. They live underground for 14-17 years as a larva, just eating and sleeping the whole time. Then they pupate, climb up and out into the sunshine, fly to the top of a tree to mate... the males die after mating, the females die after laying eggs. They're here for a few months and then they're gone for years.
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Oooooo, great news FW. Have your binoculars at hand!
Those bugs sound fascinating ....... my daughter would love them. I'm not so sure!
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Sad news from a white tailed eagle nest in the Balkans - the two young chicks have both died and the reason is POISON. Someone had deliberately put out poisoned bait, which one of the adults will have taken back to the nest. That some people simply don't see the magnificence of birds of prey is baffling to me. Same with the osprey platform on a lake in Wales, which was sawn down, when the pair had already begun laying. I don't know if they have caught the culprits yet. Does anyone have any news on that?
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Awww, that is really sad.
I've heard nothing since the initial reports about the sawing down of the osprey platform in Wales.
It's hard to believe that people wouldn't want them around. Possibly people with an interest in fishing?
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Still no news on who cut down the osprey nesting platform at Llyn Brenig but a greylag goose has apparently taken over the new mobile nesting platform!
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Still no news on who cut down the osprey nesting platform at Llyn Brenig but a greylag goose has apparently taken over the new mobile nesting platform!
I love it ;D
Did the osprey pair move to one of the other platforms available, do you know, or is that the end of their breeding year?
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I found an update on the Llyn Brenig ospreys:
https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/days-out/ospreys-llyn-brenig?fbclid=IwAR2zHbeqOek5L8sqx2NXY3s_l_kifGeXC32_JeHMuMr6A5dAM00AqW0Nsbs
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The curlews have hatched :thumbsup: Four healthy chicks. Now they start to run their parents ragged :tired:
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Spotted 2 of our local curlew in a stubble field last night. Guessing that they were a pair as they were together and feeding. Sadly no chicks in sight.
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We were delighted the other day to see (and hear) four curlews flying over, backwards and forwards a couple of times. We assumed they were a family, two chicks which were flying together, and two parents flying near them but further away, calling all the time.
The field they have previously nested in but unsuccessfully as it was cut for silage, this year was cut for hay, much later, so we think that has made all the difference :thumbsup:
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That's good news, FW.
We've only seen and heard single birds of late. :(
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Ha ...... Spotted a group of 3 curlew tonight standing together at the foot of a hedge. Hoping that it was 3 young. They were wandering about together and having a bit of a squabble at one point.
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Ha ...... Spotted a group of 3 curlew tonight standing together at the foot of a hedge. Hoping that it was 3 young. They were wandering about together and having a bit of a squabble at one point.
Brilliant :thumbsup: