Pond life in January

[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. 

Now seen a couple of pairs of dragonflies so hopeful that they breed but no tadpoles for the larvae to feed on so newts may take a hit but a very good breeding year this year as they started early and finished late.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Norm B
Spelling

[Norm B]

On 8/18/2020 at 11:41 AM, Norm B said:

Now seen a couple of pairs of red dragonflies so hopeful that they breed but no tadpoles for the larvae to feed on so newts may take a hit but a very good breeding year this year as they started early and finished late.

 Seen more pairs of dragon flies lately so may be a good year for them but again no tadpoles for them and the newts to feed on but newts doing well with a long breeding season.

Bad year for the birds, thanks to the magpie lovers, Chris Packham and his mates at English Nature, loads of magpies this year as we couldn't cull them last year. We have 2 pairs of Gold Finches which normally have a brood between 6 and 8 chicks, 14 in total, this year we saw 2 chicks early on but just lately we've seen 10-12 so they must of had a second brood which managed to hatch, thanks to my trusty .22 and a serious late magpie cull. Black birds didn't fare too well either, only saw 2 chicks and NO Hedge Sparrow chicks this year, only seen 1 Robin chick also. Box nesting birds doing well as usual as the nests are safe from predators. No young hogs, although we have a pair of adults the hot weather may have encouraged them to nest in the open, bad idea with the amount of foxes and cats around here. 

Was looking at moving to a smaller property with a lot more ground as we wouldn't have to pay tax on it, under£500,000 but Mrs B not too keen as we'd have to get rid of a lot of furniture as ours is for a big house and wouldn't fit in a smaller house so my idea is on hold unless we see something she likes and suits me too. 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by Norm B
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[Norm B]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:45 PM, Norm B said:

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.

 

My local councillor has informed me that planning permission for 4 two bedroom flats has been applied for in the cleared area, it's thought to be, "over intensive use for the area" but will probably be granted if it goes to appeal, the government likes building. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Norm B

[Norm B]

On 8/23/2020 at 5:55 PM, Norm B said:

 Seen more pairs of dragon flies lately so may be a good year for them but again no tadpoles for them and the newts to feed on but newts doing well with a long breeding season.

Bad year for the birds, thanks to the magpie lovers, Chris Packham and his mates at English Nature, loads of magpies this year as we couldn't cull them last year. We have 2 pairs of Gold Finches which normally have a brood between 6 and 8 chicks, 14 in total, this year we saw 2 chicks early on but just lately we've seen 10-12 so they must of had a second brood which managed to hatch, thanks to my trusty .22 and a serious late magpie cull. Black birds didn't fare too well either, only saw 2 chicks and NO Hedge Sparrow chicks this year, only seen 1 Robin chick also. Box nesting birds doing well as usual as the nests are safe from predators. No young hogs, although we have a pair of adults the hot weather may have encouraged them to nest in the open, bad idea with the amount of foxes and cats around here. 

Was looking at moving to a smaller property with a lot more ground as we wouldn't have to pay tax on it, under£500,000 but Mrs B not too keen as we'd have to get rid of a lot of furniture as ours is for a big house and wouldn't fit in a smaller house so my idea is on hold unless we see something she likes and suits me too. 

 

Mrs blackbird now building her 4th and probably last nest but outside our garden, shame but she wants to rear her young and there are few places to build a nest in our area as most of my neighbours have neat and well maintained gardens which don't lend themselves to hiding nests.