Pond life in January

[Norm B]

On 5/29/2019 at 11:20 AM, Norm B said:

Saw 1 frog last week, gone now, probably got by a cat. Won't bother getting any more as far too many cats now so they don't stand a chance. There was 1 cat when we moved here 25 years ago, now the are over a dozen, including 3 Bengals and they aren't afraid of water.

Magpies have had the blackbird's nest. Loads of smooth and palmate newts but only seen 3 or 4 female GCN's and 1 male so far, I hope a few more turn up or he'll be busy, lucky git. Anybody in my area, Havant/Waterlooville/ Portsmouth got any spare Canadian pond weed as I've so many newts what I've got this year can't cope, I've had to put blades of grass in for them, any stray tadpoles welcome as I had a phone call the other day that there were some "distressed tadpoles in a ditch" went there next day and all dead as this dry hot weather had evaporated the water. I know it's illegal but better transferred than dead in my book. Got a pair of hogs and another big one, they were fighting the other night, hope fully they breed this year, some bred close by last year as I had 1 small one given me and found a small one in the garden so took it in and fed it for a couple of months and released it when it was heavy enough, it may be one of the pair as it's smaller than the big 2.

[Norm B]

Final score on GCN's, as seen, 4 females, 1 male, smooth newts female, loads, smooth newts male about 6, palmate newts, can't tell the difference in the water, less than last year, for some reason. All newts spawning prolifically, several damsel fly pairs, no dragon flies again. Hogs doing well, seem to have inherited a pair of big ones from the plot down the road that has been sold, all trees cut down and ground "tidied up", not sure what the plan is but council have not had any applications for building on it yet! Council also said that they'd not been notified of tree felling and would "look into it". Owners obviously have friends in high places or they wouldn't of employed tree fellers as both owner and fellers can be fined. 

[Phone]

Norm,

Met your new neighbor yet? Maybe you'll be able to return his hogs to him

Phone

[Norm B]

On 6/2/2020 at 11:28 AM, Norm B said:

Final score on GCN's, as seen, 4 females, 1 male, smooth newts female, loads, smooth newts male about 6, palmate newts, can't tell the difference in the water, less than last year, for some reason. All newts spawning prolifically, several damsel fly pairs, no dragon flies again. Hogs doing well, seem to have inherited a pair of big ones from the plot down the road that has been sold, all trees cut down and ground "tidied up", not sure what the plan is but council have not had any applications for building on it yet! Council also said that they'd not been notified of tree felling and would "look into it". Owners obviously have friends in high places or they wouldn't of employed tree fellers as both owner and fellers can be fined. 

New neighbour? We live in one of three closes in a clover leaf shape, no through roads. If you mean the plot down the road, that is out of our closes on a through road and no planning has been applied for as yet. Can't understand what is going on there. Pay to have trees cut down and ground cleared before applying for planning permission? No doubt they'll get it as it's government policy to  build, build and build again until there are no trees or grass left.

 

[Norm B]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:37 AM, Phone said:

Norm,

Met your new neighbor yet? Maybe you'll be able to return his hogs to him

Phone

Found a dead hog on front lawn last week, no visible injuries, possibly someone has put slug pellets down due to the rain bringing slugs and snails out. I've got a neighbour one side who has lost a rat trap, thinks a rat has dragged it down a hole, I think it may have caught a hog and it's dragged it away, I have told him that traps should not be placed outside as they can also catch birds but some people are so paranoid about rats they don't care. :-(

[chesters1]

Cut down first then the trees cannot be used to stymie any planning permissions if they were brought up first then "bats" would be "seen" roosing in them etc .

The council are desperate to use the field across from us for housing ,they have even got the electricity company to make a "T" on the cable coming down the road so they cannot be stumped by no electricity connections .

We noticed a trench right up the road behind that stopped by the field ,this was ofcourse a gas main both must have cost thousands with both going to nothing but both there to stop protests the facilities dont exist!

We are watching with interest how they are going to force thames water to install a new sewer the existing one only just copes but that would cost millions and i doubt thames would install one for just 6 extra houses,that could be a double edged sword so they could use that to build more houses to make the pressure on the existing sewer force thames to comply with extra houses as the reason

Only ever seen hedgehogs once here they are rare creatures here as the slug population is tiny as the ground is extrememly dry so few slugs if they ate slow worms that would be different lol

Anyone thinking of using protected animals as a reason to stop housing is unfortunately going to be disapointed ,all the protections have loop holes even natterjack toads and sand lizards are not going to stop work ,a gas company installed a 15" ? Gas main right through the village ,all the company had to do was remove them and off they went with their huge trench ,how and when they did is a mystery it went right past our house and we never saw people on their knees hunting for things night or day ,i suppose they just fill in a form and thats it? Badgers will just be "relocated" which may be a man made set nearby but i suspect most will just disapear like they mysteriously have on the bank of that field ,if they aint there they cannot be protected!

Edited June 19, 2020 by chesters1

[Norm B]

On 6/19/2020 at 10:15 PM, chesters1 said:

Cut down first then the trees cannot be used to stymie any planning permissions if they were brought up first then "bats" would be "seen" roosing in them etc .

The council are desperate to use the field across from us for housing ,they have even got the electricity company to make a "T" on the cable coming down the road so they cannot be stumped by no electricity connections .

We noticed a trench right up the road behind that stopped by the field ,this was ofcourse a gas main both must have cost thousands with both going to nothing but both there to stop protests the facilities dont exist!

We are watching with interest how they are going to force thames water to install a new sewer the existing one only just copes but that would cost millions and i doubt thames would install one for just 6 extra houses,that could be a double edged sword so they could use that to build more houses to make the pressure on the existing sewer force thames to comply with extra houses as the reason

Only ever seen hedgehogs once here they are rare creatures here as the slug population is tiny as the ground is extrememly dry so few slugs if they ate slow worms that would be different lol

Anyone thinking of using protected animals as a reason to stop housing is unfortunately going to be disapointed ,all the protections have loop holes even natterjack toads and sand lizards are not going to stop work ,a gas company installed a 15" ? Gas main right through the village ,all the company had to do was remove them and off they went with their huge trench ,how and when they did is a mystery it went right past our house and we never saw people on their knees hunting for things night or day ,i suppose they just fill in a form and thats it? Badgers will just be "relocated" which may be a man made set nearby but i suspect most will just disapear like they mysteriously have on the bank of that field ,if they aint there they cannot be protected!

Hedgehogs DO eat slow worms, snakes too. A field near us was going to be sold for housing but an environmental search turned it down as there were rare plants growing there so all went quiet for a year or so, now planning permission has been granted, no reason but a contact tells me that due to the lack of planning permission the owner sold it on to a developer, now planning has been granted, strange?

[Norm B]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:37 AM, Phone said:

Norm,

Met your new neighbor yet? Maybe you'll be able to return his hogs to him

Phone

Don't know who it is as plot was up for sale then sold, a couple of months later trees were felled and brambles etc cleared, no planning permission applied for as yet so wait and see. 

[chesters1]

On 7/5/2020 at 11:29 AM, Norm B said:

Hedgehogs DO eat slow worms, snakes too. A field near us was going to be sold for housing but an environmental search turned it down as there were rare plants growing there so all went quiet for a year or so, now planning permission has been granted, no reason but a contact tells me that due to the lack of planning permission the owner sold it on to a developer, now planning has been granted, strange?

 If they eat slow worms we should be tripping over them ,i just tipped out the composter as the mrs had put plastic in it 'by mistake' and a score of slow worms headed in all directions (i caught a load a few years ago and posted a picture on here) we can find lots and our garden is lacking in cover so they only congregate in a couple of places ,the field should hold thousands its not been touched for ten years and the cows cannot get to most of it so its knee high grass with lots of sunny mounds for sun bathing .Not seen any natterjacks which is surprising our old house just 600 yards was teeming with them and sand lizards hardly any slow worms though perhaps they compete

[Norm B]

On 7/12/2020 at 11:42 AM, chesters1 said:

 If they eat slow worms we should be tripping over them ,i just tipped out the composter as the mrs had put plastic in it 'by mistake' and a score of slow worms headed in all directions (i caught a load a few years ago and posted a picture on here) we can find lots and our garden is lacking in cover so they only congregate in a couple of places ,the field should hold thousands its not been touched for ten years and the cows cannot get to most of it so its knee high grass with lots of sunny mounds for sun bathing .Not seen any natterjacks which is surprising our old house just 600 yards was teeming with them and sand lizards hardly any slow worms though perhaps they compete

At my last house we never saw a slow worm until I turned over the compost heap and found some adults and heaps of baby ones so they were there. I built a pond and within a year there were frogs spawning in it then newts arrived. Asking questions it appeared that over the road where there is now a school there used to be a sewerage works with settling ponds and cinder filters and strainers but it had long been replaced by a more environmentally friendly one underground one so the frogs and newts were just keeping damp waiting for a pond to appear. Loads of hedgehogs too, I counted 7 feeding on food I put out for them one night. Natterjacks like shallow ponds in sandy areas which sand lizards like.