NatureBoy
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Posts posted by NatureBoy
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Encounters Twitchers 1996, on YouTube. Proper funny in almost fast show stylie. NB
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Seen very bold waxwings locally in Mid Suffolk last two days. Stunning birds in winter light. Fresh dead little orc found on local shoot last month. Not the first found so far in land, but very unusual. I still have a guillemot i found on job 30mls in land 8yr ago. When birds like that get blown off course and grounded they are doomed. NB
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Lady H apologised other day. Was she made to? Was on lunch time news briefly (with pics) so not private that they met a the palace. Shame! Strange it was not on later or other news either. Lot of folk, women of African origin have called her and "her" charity out. Staff/spending seem to be family. Refusing to help mixed race ("privileged") women. Interesting she has links to Megan Markle (same high end photographer), and BLM funding. On go dispute with Hackney Council over charity shop/building space they had provided for FREE! Friend of that well known political mathematician Diane Abbot MP. Palace thing was at start of 16 days of planed activism she just happened to be recording. Like we all would. NOT! NB
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Going to be 180km in total and trash a lot of habitat and important sites doing it, including SSSI's etc. . . . . Also interesting in local news, 2 seals have managed to gain access (separately) to the salt water intake to Sizewell power station and have been living in the station for some months despite efforts to return/remove them. Not very secure? NB
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Very late to this. Interesting topic with a lot of varied views. Especially for what is/was a pigeon shooting (rural/farming based) forum. Many comments seem down on rural folk and communities? Very different picture in what is rapidly becoming a very crowed rural Mid Suffolk. Up to 60% of homes in some towns/villages are second homes, buy to let or air BnB's. Many second home owners have been using loop hole registering as lets when not to avoid charges. Causing resentment destabilising communities hence the hike in charges. Many villages the average age is 59+, affecting health care providers etc. Villages/communities would be far from deed without monied incomers. It's almost like a reverse long commute now. Monied urban folk buying up property/in to rural living, (bringing there entitlement, insecurities and negativity with them) having to commute earlier to top jobs in town/city to pay for it. Yet many more who were rural born n bred trade/services based priced out, but now have to commute from towns to work at the many rural business's that are based/developing on farms as result of diversification. These are so diverse from garden centres, motor/engineering works, Accountants, antique's, florist to big 24/7 players like Aspal Cider/ Coors. With 80%+ 0f UK population being urban based should i be surprised peps are so down on rural folk? No connection and very few stay, care or really get it! Especially field sports. Seem to have a lot to say opinions and want to change things , then they are gone. Often wondered from some of the comments, observations and topics in past what percentage of PW members actual live rural? Have we ever done a poll? NB
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Burn it! Just in case, as if any chance of AI or complications from, the virus can survive in a freezer for more than a year. 3 new out brakes of it in farmed flocks been reported today in Suffolk already. Gona be a hard Winter for some and bird life. A harbour porpoise was found to of died from it last week, as well as seals and a dog previously. So jumping species. NB
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Very sad time! Not really interested in working today. Everyone has there own memories and stories. She looked so, so much like my dear old mum wo died 21yrs ago. Same age, hair style, figures, smile and mannerisms. Especially in some of the pics when they were young or wearing a head Scaff. They nearly met once. That would of been something. The Queen was staying/ working her dogs on local estate shoot where my mum was working. I always joked she was a changeling as her mum worked up the big house where the royals visited at the right time. Fooled a few folk and had plenty of laughs and stories with it over the years. Remember having to draw a picture of our mums at school and was laughed at and asked why i had drawn a picture of the Queen. R I P. NB
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15 hours ago, twenty said:
A TURTLE DOVE spotted at Epney (GLOS), yesterday (11/7/22).
One of their last strong holds here! See adults and pairs daily. Never tyre of them. They quieter now. Some well grown young out on a few sites and reports of others locally. 3 young down feeding other day. Some on second and third attempts. Expanding those numbers is the hard thing! "Conservation" orgs will not admit publicly that predator control is essential if we really are going to help them. Emotion and money over real conservation. They really don't need a lot. Little of the right mixed habitat and food. 3 successful pairs on just 7 acres the best site. Scruffy big gardens, equestrian sites and mixed small holdings just as important to keep them going as any farmland sites. But rarely get mentioned, because no money or grants attached and they more interested in farmer bashing. These sites easier to manage and monitor to. Even though the "science" is flawed and there is more than the 2,200 odd pairs they speak of i think sadly they will go. . . . . Corn buntings nested successfully again. Yellow wagtails had 2 broods on same farm again. Tree sparrows doing well on a new site. Wild pheasants well feathered up and english looking well . , , . Green Sandpipers and green shank passing through local water. . . . . . Seeing good numbers of hummingbird hawk moths daily last few weeks. . . . . Rescued some huge swan mussels the other day from a tiny dried up stream. No idea how they got there unless someone dumped them. NB
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The Packham 3 court case coming up next year will be interesting. He and his team Leigh Day trying to intimidate them out of it by claiming big money.
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Worse! Greta Tonburg was on the Pyramid Stage spouting her same old spiel. Has not improved any. NB
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Just not seeing the pigeons in numbers my way. Plenty of likely crops and covers, but not seeing more than 20 odd birds. Had more blacks than pigeons lately. Others seem to be struggling to as not seeing or hearing anyone out. NB
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A neighbour done this to 3 small branches of my tree while i was out. He chucked them back over on to and destroying a pheasant nest at point of hatch. I was not happy! Apparently he couldn't wait to ask me to do it. Worth checking what's over the fence before "offering" them back. NB
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Packham going to be speaking at Glastonbury this year. On Left Field and Speakers Forum stages. Trying to get the youth on board i guess, as most folk are fed up with him. Friends and folk i know working there go to try and engage in QnA's, if just to show his lack of knowledge, spin and avoidance of detailed debate. NB
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Nice! And "they are very much now part of our countryside". Said the hypocrite Chris Packham on Spring Watch 2022. Shame he can't tell and avocet from an oystercatcher. NB
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Well summed up! I still don't get why they write proposing such stuff for more regulation. Now! I think many do realise change is coming. The challenges affecting a lot of shoots this year will probably change shooting and a lot of how things are done going forward. That will have a knock on effect on farmland birds, wildlife and conservation to. Including pigeon shooting and pest control. Bird flu will still be a big driver of that! Because sadly it is still with us in June. Not good! Lot of dead and dying seabirds being found in Suffolk and Norfolk Including breeding terns and gulls on the Minsmere reserve scrape. Reports of a lot of deaths from other sea bird breeding sites all around the country. Cases of scavenging predators getting it to. Packham trying to blame and say it came from the poultry industry. I have always stood up for shooting, angling, conservation and tried to educate others. Even when been told i shouldn't. We all can and should! Change comes from knowledge and education. It's a way of life that is ours to loose! Last thing we need is pressure/division from within! Possibly for others commercial agender? As the old school are giving up(some because of more regs) or dying are they being replaced by new/younger shooters?
Anyone read another article in last weeks ST, 8th June " Lets put aside our differences"?
R.S.P.B Turtle Dove experts/advisors for Essex &Suffolk? Really? Two fieldworkers only 2hr site visit boxes ticked. Is that it? No wonder so much goes unrecorded.
As some will know i have a big passion for turtle doves and the conserving of. Along with grey partridge's. Doing OK to. So following The Flea Barn Project is one of the reasons i still get ST. Also interested as this project is very local to me and what i do and where i carry out pest control. I am just not sure what's to be gained by by having an org/experts involved that is/are hypocritically opposed to shooting and pest control. So why give them a platform in a shooting mag? If shooting and pest control is not recorded or mentioned in anything they publish surly it's just yet more flawed science? Data to make them look good and get funding, But it's off the back of shoot conservation. A lot of us spend many hours doing for free what they get paid for. Is that recorded? I think not. I have asked many times to! Just get blanked/ignored. Why? Because we are not Farmers, landowners, managers, keepers or contractors that can help them get access and funding. Blind ignorance of our knowledge, local knowledge and skills. When the successes and evidence that it works and what they want the data from is there in front of them. Can prove this to. As they are on/advising/getting funding another farm near by. Their signage everywhere. Covers are actually laid out and it looks like a shoot. But in the wrong places, near foot paths, to exposed and there's nothing in them come January. Limited habitat management and control of human disturbance. No pest control! In their 4th year but only have a 10th of the bird numbers on twice the acreage with same type of farm cropping and some of this is spill over from our ground and others. Only 2 visits/counts a year. Not prepared to show data or share info. Boxes ticked, more funding got. That's not conservation! Nor is blind bidding to get funding for turtle dove conservation from them. Regardless of what we do for wildlife and conservation and proving targeted pest control works. We don't want nothing from them. But they want rid of us! NB
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Used to fish Nacton Decoy in the film and Lady Wood lake on the estate. Lovely place, had few genuine old strain of wild carp in it. Ospreys used to visit and fish. Hairs on back of ya neck stuff seeing them strike up close. There's a site on FB about decoying and all the old/lost decoys in Suffolk and Norfolk. Some being restored. NB
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Think back to the names he called us on msm at the start of their anti shooting campaign. He started it. Calling us "Satanic psychotic murderers". So anything that helps take him down helps. Remember he labelled us as "the nasty brigade" on Spring Watch years ago. Spring watch seems like the badger lovers club this year. Gets worse. NB
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Did many folk still read shooting times? It seems not. Did anyone read the article by David Whitby in May 18ths copy titled "We must win public hearts and minds"? Interesting article, but i am not sure why? And why now? Is there some kind of new collective money making group, agenda going on in shooting to prompt such an article?? Some of it proper having a go at certain areas, people and practices in shooting. Calling for limits, training and yet more regulation. Really!? It could of been written by and reads like a kind of piece you would find on WJ or Anti's site. Just when WJ and a lot of the mob have gone quiet to. I think the public don't feel strongly one way or anther. When given facts and info many are in support of. Would they have published an article with these views from our side 2 years ago? I think not! So why are people within sport wanting to cause division? Now! They were expecting backlash but the only reference in lasts weeks copy were two letters they printed in support of, and one of those a regular contributor. . . . It can't be because the editor, contributor's have new books to flog. Can it? 😉
Is this the way to build bridges? NB
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Seeing that mouse and they way the nest has been built, i wonder if mice started filling the other box and blue tits took it over and just built on top. Mice can also predate eggs and young. Blue tits are nesting in the thatch of a job i am on at mo. just shows hole size ain't as important as location. Same with tree sparrows. they been doing well. Got them nesting in adapted food catering tins on one site. just another experiment to deter predators using what you can to try and get them to expand on site i can't control so much. Can't keep up with them. 🙂
Fella my way opened his swift boxes (quite big) up at start of May when he saw they had returned. Great tits immediately decided to build a nest just in one corner and started laying. This week swifts have just come in and kicked them out and started using/sitting/roosting on great tits nest. He can't see on his cam if the eggs are still in the nest or if the swift has started laying. Just this smug looking swift sitting on nest. So the drama continues. Will the great tits return?
Turtle doves are back settled and paired up on 9 sites i know and poss a few others. 3 pairs on two sites. Rains came just in time for growth spirt on tree cover and weeds etc they feed on. Still supp feeding on some sites. They been taking lot of small water snails to. Back on track keeping corvids and squirrels in check on what sites i can. So hopefully they'l have a good year. Still loosing to much safe breeding habitat though! Never tire of watching and listening to them. Same with English partridges (or have we got to be PC and call them grey now?). Watched as hen came off nest the other night and proud cock bird keeping guard over her as she fed and dust bathed along farm track. Turtle dove was purrrring, nightingales, yellow hammers and whitethroats were singing in hedge beside my truck. The sun was warm and a spotted flycatcher was having a go at a massive hatch of insects from a nearby perch. Was like a proper bit of old England and i was a boy again.
Rarities my way as well as turtle doves and English have been/are, adders, water voles, golden oriole, hoopoe, nightjar, osprey (local lake), purple heron, kite, garganey, hobby, bee eater and sedge warbler. Last one used to be very common.
Like we seem to of had a brambling Winter, has anyone else noticed we seem to be having a blackbird Spring? They seem to be everywhere, singing all hours. Song thrushes to. Don't think the long dry spell helped them. Not seeing many young'uns. Big yellow hammer year to. Great to see loads more insects about! Been some massive hatches.
Been having a bit of a push back at so called experts/boffins and others in conservation and shooting lately! Those that are trying to reinvent the wheel when it come to wildlife, conservation and shooting undermining our way of life. Especially those that seem doubtful/questioning/dismissive of reported local siting's and knowledge cos it nowt they seen, involved in or fits their blinkered agender! I tell them it comes from knowing your local ground, more time in the field on ground they don't have access to and never will. From hunters fieldcraft, a life long heightened awareness knowledge and passion of all things nature that they well probably never have or understand. Above all be willing to listen to and share information with others and admit when you are wrong! I have used just turtle dove survey's to prove that their science is flawed! Like only 2 short site visits a year by folk with limited knowledge, access and refusing to acknowledge targeted pest control or that works. Even though they use it themselves! Strange.
Now is the time for real change!
Little bit of cooperation from all sides and we could really make a difference and achieve so much more.
Didn't mean it to turn into a rant! 😉 NB
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On 21/05/2022 at 12:45, Whitebridges said:
We seem to have an influx of Golden Orioles in Norfolk at the moment. Yesterdays sighting:
West Runton - 5
Muckleburgh - 3
Cley - 2
Titchwell - 2Interesting there were 2 in Mid Suffolk last week to. We kept it quiet. Male calling for a long time one evening, sounded amazing. I thought the female was a juvenile green woodpecker at first and dismissed it until it called. NB
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On 19/05/2022 at 09:46, Mice! said:
I was told that Thrushes and wrens are very susceptible to predation because of where they nest, but we get plenty of wrens.
The thrush to blackbird count in our garden must be ten 2 one, similar sizes but different diets, so it has to be more than just predators, because the squirrels have been hammered.
We've been out of our house for 4 months, sitting here now watching the birds is fantastic, we've had Gold and Green finches again on the sunflower and nyger seed, 6mtrs from the doors, then it's the usual busy little birds, blue, great and long tail tits, blackbirds and pigeons everywhere, Dunnock and wren.
@NatureBoy @twenty so what do you make of this then, you can find sizes for different bird boxes, but I don't think she's read them.
It must have taken her ages to fill that upthem going to put up a camera to see if she's using the feed point to get in and out, if so I'll strap down the lid.
That's a lot of nest material. I wonder if they built it up so much to make the space smaller, easier to protect and regulate nest temperature. They do nest in some strange places. A customer has them nest in and half fill her post box on her drive like this every year. So that's got to be a generational learnt connection. A pair have nested in the top of a metal give way road sign pole opposite mine the last few years. Only about 1m from traffic and a bus stop. Gaining access through broken top cap, adding more nesting material until is suits or will hold up. That's got to be well snug for brooding and come fledging time, which is any day now. But it works every year. NB
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Yep, something for scale would be good. NB
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Saw a pair if lesser spotted woodpeckers getting jiggy today. Not seen any in ages. Literally had hundreds of brambling my way in recent weeks and through Winter. Never known such numbers. Had loads of folk noticing them and sending me pics asking what they are. Still few fieldfare and odd redwing about. One local farm/shoot Rung over a 1000 birds last month. Highlight was 2nd ever firecrest. Saw hummingbird hawkmoth yesterday. Didn't see any last year. Fairly sure they over winter in the ivy on my house and sheds. Grey partridges doing well, see/hear them most days and thankfully seeing less buzzards. NB
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Squirrel, back foot. NB
Odd shaped wood
in Off Topic
Posted
Being on an estate possibly old decoy lakes. Plenty had that layout. NB