Spectacular Epic Poems 3 - TREES

The Epic Face does frickin rule, but birds rule more! LOL

I had to do trees before beasts-of-prey because the Pussy Willow (the British Goat Willow) is so EPIC. We will have a new Epic Face. "I am Epic Face! I frickin rule!" but not over birds.

Right. Poems:

(AGAIN (c) me!!!!!!!)

Yew

Thy great Yew who stands in the churchyard old,

Ruthless and up against damp and cold,

Lichen, and moss, and fungus, and mould,

this cat is worshipping the Epic Face.

But soon this wood will come down to be sold.

Thy great Yew who’s had the best of the Wood,

Say goodbye to the churchyard where you once stood,

And the berries that killed us if we ate them as food,

Crash down to protect us and, lo, so good.

As the longbow archers fire more to the sky,

Up and up and up more than high,

Down to the enemy with a whistling cry,

The Brits are victorious! Never to die,

And all to the Yew, dead and let lie.  

Holly

On a well walked-by hedgerow

On a winter’s day,

There’s a redness more akin to a rose in May.

The Holly berries cluster

In a bright array

To await the Robin Redbreast

And be plucked away.

By the well-trodden dirt-path

On a winter’s morn,

When all the other trees are looking bare and worn,

The Holly is as green

As a garden lawn.

The dim light twinkles

On every leaf-tip thorn.

Scots Pine

Scotland is my love

And my mother and my father

And my life and my home and my place to be.

Scotland is the health

And the strength and the glory

And the country of Scots Pines and my place to be.

We Pines stand alone,

 In a forest or in spinney

And keep our great Scotland like it’s meant to be.

English Oak

I stand tall for England

Stately for my homeland

Proud to be native, I stand tall.

Shade for my people,

Acorns for my squirrels,

Acorns for my Jays and my mice and my deer.

 I stand tall for England,

The beautiful England,

Stately for England, I stand tall.

Field Maple

Whoomp! Whoomp!

My seed-wing beats round.

My seed-wing beats round

Gently to the ground.

Whoomp! Whoomp!

Far from any tree.

Far from any tree

Is my place to be.

Whoomp! Whoomp!

I sail through the air.

I sail through the air

I need to get there.

Yes! Yes!

I’ve touched to the floor.

I’ve touched to the floor.

What could I want more?

Yes! Yes!

This land is fertile.

This land is fertile.

My flight was worthwhile.

Grow! Grow!

I put down my roots.

I put down my roots.

To feed my growing shoots.

Up! Up!

I put up my shoots.

I put up my shoots.

Fed by my roots.

Years! Years!

Years go by.

Years go by.

Reaching for the sky.

Whoomp! Whoomp!

My seeds’ wings beat round.

My seeds’ wings beat round.

To faraway ground.

Pussy Willow

It’s just not the thing with the Willow,

To think what the Pussy is up to now.

But what will come next for the Willow

Is what we should think about anyhow.

It be springtime next, the woodland a-spangled,

Glittering leaves thrust forth to the air.

Grow, strong Willow, youthful when age-old,

Splendour like Pussy, a wonder so rare.

It be summer next, with pollen a-blowing, 

Smoke on the wind of a beautiful fire.

Fly, oh fly, on the air be going,

On ‘til you find it, never to tire.

It be autumn next, the green is a-fading,

Orange and red, the forest ablaze.

Walk on home, in embers a-wading,

A wonderful sight in the last sun-rays.

It be winter next, the woods are a-silent,

Skeleton-Willow, branches bone-bare.

The winds are icy, the storms are violent,

But in Willow’s heart, the life is safe there.

So think of the future for Willow,

The coming of the next season of the year.

Pussy, my Pussy, the Willow,

Make it a good one to feel so near.   

Make it a pleasure with nothing to fear.

Totally epic ain't it? There is another Other Birds one that was written too late for the post. READ IT!!!

A Blackbird Courts His Lady in Spring

Lest more are others welcome

In the garden in the Spring

Than the Blackbird cock so merry,

To his audience brightly sing.

Blackbird hens and Starlings,

The cat upon the wall,

Heed to hear the darling,

The sweet refrain of his call.

His golden beak a-shining

As a hen-bird perches near,

On last year’s apples dining,

Faces with her ear.

Then finally she meets him,

They court upon their perch,

And in the mating greets him

To start the nesting-search.

A Blackthorn-tree is found so

They build together there.

Here and there pluck a sloe

To feed the working pair.

A week and it is fully

Done to suit an egg

And safe to keep the bully,

The Magpie, there to beg.

Busy are the bird-pair

Finding insect food.

Too busy are to more care

Of anything not good.

Out come the fledglings,

Take off one by one.

Little Blackbird hedgelings,

What good your elders have done! 

Byeee! Keep birding and making your pond and wildlife garden! Now the damned Mayan Apocalypse is over....... nah, don't talk about it. It is all BALLS. Goodbye. 

Getting Started With Bird-feeding 4

In this post, we will be focusing on water. Drinking is just as much a part of eating as nomming (my word for stuffing your face). My garden is extremely small, so there is no space for a pond. But who cares? A pond is better, attracting a wider range of wildlife, plus you can grow plants in it, but a bird-bath would do as well. You can buy loads of different types of bird-baths from loads of suppliers. The RSPB sells a wide range of bird-baths from the Anywhere Bath which is for use on a pole, the ground or hung from chains, to the attractive Terracotta Hanging Cone Bath which is quite small and not winter hardy (see Product Reviews on the RSPB website), to the fantastic Echoes Ceramic bird-bath.

RSPB Echoes Ceramic bird-bath

 All are suitable for birds ranging from the tiny Blue Titmouse to our largest dove the Wood Pigeon, although the Terracotta Hanging Cone Bath and the Anywhere Bath if hung will not support a Raven or bigger (in fact you can't get bigger. The Raven is the largest passerine, or perching bird, that is with feet modified to grip a branch or other perch). In winter be prepared to go out every early morning and break the ice. Remember, if your bird-bath is terracotta, even if it is classed as "frost-proof", bring it inside, and always have a back-up ice-hardy bath ready to put out. If your ice-hardy bath is out, but you don't like breaking the ice every day (or it is so cold it freezes solid all the way through) earlier in the year, put a small aquarium-heater in the water with the thermostat as low as possible. You don't want the birds to burn their tootsies to get chilblains (I don't know if birds can even get them) do you? There is no point covering up the bird-bath at night to stop it frosting over, because there may be owls or even a Nightjar or if you're really lucky, a Nightingale or Thrush Nightingale (for European peepz) stopping to drink in the dark. Cleaning your bird-baths is vital. Birds are prone to many infections and diseases and stagnant water is the perfect place for bacteria to breed. ARK-KLENS Veterinary Disinfectant (also available from the RSPB) is perfect for cleaning bird-baths, bird-tables (only if they have a tray), bird-feeders, and food-hoppers. Just spray on, leave for a minute and wipe off. Simples. (By the way I am NOT a meerkat) ARK-KLENS is completely safe for all animals, wild or domestic. The good thing about bird-baths is that even if you live in a high-rise flat with just a balcony, you can still give birds a bath! Once, and it is extremely unlikely, a damselfly urgently needing somewhere to lay her eggs, laid them in my bird-bath! Only one hatched into a nymph and because there was nothing to hunt in the bird-bath, was going to die soon. I felt I just had to help it. It's mother looked so healthy, it would be a shame not to pass on her genes. So I did some pond-dipping at Leigh Park Gardens. I caught several toad-tadpoles (I like to call them "toadpoles"), a dragonfly nymph (liked it, kept it), a "newtpole"  (newt-tadpole), some frog-tadpoles, a Great Diving Beetle (I put it back), and some Whirligigs. I found a bucket and put them into it. When I got home, I found a bigger tub and tipped all of them into it. I added the damselfly nymph (fortunately the two nymphs didn't kill each other) and they started hunting. I kept the prey topped up and they both moulted their final skin into adults. Ahh the joy of raising an "insect-of-prey"!

The Damselfly Nymph

The Damselfly Emerges! She was a Large Red female.

The Dragonfly Emerges! He was a Southern Hawker male. (He is pale because he has only just moulted)

That's it for baths. Onto ponds. Even a tub of water can attract pond-life. I tried it once. A family of Common Toads lived there and so did some mayflies.

Common Toad female

Pre-formed Liner (not suitable for a wildlife pond)

First, you must make a pond. You can buy ready-formed pond-liners at garden centres but these are generally not suitable for birding ponds as they rarely have a shallow shelf around the edge, plus, it is difficult to cover up the edges and marginal plants cannot grow there. You also can't choose exactly the size and shape you want the pond. The most highly-used liner is black plastic sheeting. This is fine, but it is better to use butyl rubber. It is stronger and thicker, plus it doesn't make that loud crinkly-rattly noise that wee birdies' ears are so sensitive to. Dig a hole the size and shape (a random curvy shape is way better than formal angles and remember to leave a shelf that is at least 30cm wide and no more than 6cm deep) of the pond-to-be. Remove every stone of rock or anything else sharp and if it leaves a big hole/dent in the ground, fill it in with soil that you dug. Go to your local pond or lake and get a few buckets full of pond-water. Take them home. If there is algae on it or insects or even a Minnow in it, keep them for your own pond. Just make sure they have food until you are ready to put them in your pond. Remove Duckweed or Frogbit though, because they will take over and block out light. Line the dug-out hole with old newspapers, many layers, at least four. Double-check there are no spiky stones poking out then roll out the butyl rubber across the hole. Push it down into the hole to line it, pushing it up against the angle of the shelf. A pond-making tip: dig about three small tunnels, one in the bottom of the pit, one in the side (not above the shelf) and one in the side (above the shelf). When you have lined the pond, locate your tunnels underneath the butyl rubber then, using a Stanley Knife, cut out holes in the butyl rubber so your tunnels can be accessed. Creatures will hide in these later on. Put rocks or logs (leaving a space for access) around the pond to hold the butyl rubber in place.  Lay the garden hose into the lined hole. Turn it on full-blast to get the job done quick. Leave it to stand for about an hour before adding your buckets of established pond-water. Go pond-dipping at the local pond to catch lots of insects and tadpoles to start off your pond. Add them in, making sure there is plankton in there. You will see the larger shrimp larvae and other zooplankton (planktonic animals) if there is any. This must mean phytoplankton are present too, as zooplankton feed on phytoplankton. Now, there is one thing missing. Oxygenators. You may think an aquarium oxygenator would do, but plants are far better at this job. Buy special aquatic plant baskets. Use plastic sheeting or leftover butyl rubber to line them. Using Sphagnum Moss damages  the marshes and bogs of Wales where it comes from. Always use native wild species, not even varieties of                                             

   
                   

   
  

Pre-formed Liner (Again) This one has a
shallow shelf but not shallow or wide enough.    

Plastic Sheeting 

Another pre-formed liner with crappy shelf

Butyl Rubber

wild plants. These attract far more creatures to the garden. Provide a boggy patch of clayey mud for House Martins to build their nests from. Also, this will be rich in earthworms, great nutritious food for Blackbirds, Robins, Great Titmice and many other birds. You may even attract a Common Snipe (the Jack and Great Snipe are much rarer, but in some areas they may turn up). Woodcock (I wonder why they don't call the hens Woodhens) may also come to wade and pull up pond-snails (I doubt a Woodcock would be able to tackle a Great Pond-snail). Pond tip 2: no pond is a good pond without waterlilies, The White Waterlily is the most stunning of them all. Plant maybe one plant of this. Yellow Waterlily or Brandy-bottle is also very pretty. Least Waterlily is like a miniature Yellow Waterlily. Fringed Waterlily is tiny, and related to Bogbean. It also has yellow blooms. Plant irises on the shelf, Stinking Iris, a purple/white/yellow species is a beautiful plant in my opinion. Its berries are perfect bird-food too. It is rather small though. Its cousin the Yellow Flag is a lot bigger, with bright yellow flowers. It does not have berriesw, but attracts numerous insects. Sweet Flag is native to Mainland Europe but is naturalised in Britain. Its berries will not ripen in Britain however. It was not introduced by Man, but by birds, so use it! It has very small flowers in a huge spike. When not in flower it is very inconspicuous. Put up a hide near the pond. Keep watching the birds! Your pond will soon be thriving!

PS sorry I have not posted for AGES because the PC was being a TOTAL GIT. 

Lets have a nice blue Epic Face this time.

Spectacular Epic Poems 2-OTHER BIRDS

Like the birds-of-prey poems? Well, if you want to see more, give me suggestions! But here is one more that I wrote at a later date.

Peregrine

Flash! and the arrow is gone in the haze.

Then instead a Bird, a Bird in the Dusk,

A Bird in the Dusk rose up to fly away.

Rip! and the Robin is gone from its life.

Then instead rose a Spirit, a Spirit in the Glow,

A Spirit in the Glow rose up to float away.

Flash! and the arrow is gone in the haze.

Then instead a Bird, a Bird in the Dusk,

A Bird in the Dusk rose up to fly away.

 

 Like it? Good. SOOOO EPIC, innit? That was soooo chavvy. Right. These poems are about birds which aren't birds-of-prey. I will have to have another post soon which will be Excess Spectacular Epic Poems That Didn't Get To Be In The Official Spectacular Epic Poems Posts. Now, lets get on with poems.

Swift

Many men have wondered

How the Swift was granted his name.

Swift? The Swift? Who would have that name? 

Many men also do know

How the Swift was granted his name.

The Swift? The Swift?  The Swift? The Swift?

Watch and observe

This glorious bird

Then you will know why that name.

Swift as an arrow, as a lightning bolt,

Swift as a Cheetah, as a midnight bat.

Then lands on the tree-branch, not a jolt

Swift is the name and that is that.    

Blue Titmouse

Flocked as twenty

Blue, yellow, green, white.

 Flocked in the Hawthorn

Loudly heard but out of sight.

“See? See? See the hawk?”

“Fly! Fly! See the hawk?”

A flutter of wings.

A torrent of feathers.

Flown to the safety of the next tree.

But always one Blue Titmouse

Says good-bye in the claws of his greatest fear.

Capercaillie

The great male Capercaillie grouse

Struts and gurgles around the lek*.

He fans his tail and throws back his head

To crow and crow with all his might.

A real spectacle for the watching hens.

“Come, ladies, come! I am the best at the lek!”

Say the plumage and display of the cocks.

But after mating, the hens go off

To build their nests among the leaves.

The fathers never help with such,

And never even see the nest

Or the eggs

Or the chicks

So they will never know who to love.

* A "lek" is a large arena in a woodland clearing free of debris that male grouse and pheasants and also Ruffs use to display on. A place near the centre guarantees several hens. When a spectating hen has chosen a cock, she will push past the other cocks, mate with him, then go back to the undergrowth to build a nest and lay eggs. Woodcock and snipe (there are three snipe species. The Great Snipe, the Common or Middle Snipe, and the Jack Snipe) use a similar clearing to do their display-flights (roding) but it is not worn bare by feet.  

Great Titmouse

The greatest of the Parus Titmice

Black, white, yellow, green, and blue.

Sings his heart out in the Blackthorn

“I need you women, I'm singing for you!”

Agile climber, feasting on the ripe black sloes.

 Purple juice runs down his bill.

Always busy, never static.

Hopping, calling, never still.

Kingfisher

A kingfisher waits

By the side of a river

A shimmering arrow

Drawn out of its quiver

Patiently waiting

For the little fishes

For a big fat one

The little bird wishes                                                                         

That wish has come true

And under the water

Comes the big fish

The bird’s gonna slaughter

The kingfisher darts

And all is still

And comes back up with a fish in his bill! 

Nightingale

The Nightingale sings at dawn, at dusk.

At midnight, and all the way after, before.

The Nightingale sings, all when the Moon is lighting the Sky.

O, the great flare of the Moon in the Dark,

And never the flare of the Sun in the Light.

The Nightingale sings, as the silver lantern rises and all the time

Until the light will dip down.

The light will dip down.

The light will dip down.

The light will dip down, but the Spirit of the Song never will go.

The Graceful Silence of a Mute among Whoopers  

Vibrant curling notes

Winding around the tongues of the Whoopers,

Suddenly out of the open bills fly

Out – and whoooooOOP! – curl, twist and coil

Out of the bill fly to summon more for the wedge*.

But out in the middle,

Passing through like royalty,

A Mute is silently going.

The Whoopers humbly back away to clear a path.

No noise, no curling notes,

No sound comes out from this bill.

Gracefully gliding through the water, bigger and sleeker

Than any Whooper could be.

*A flock of swans is called a wedge.

Copyright Eleanor Woodcock 2011-2012 MWAHAHAHA!!! Copyrights are EPIC! (No, I don't know what that's about.) 

Like them? I'm doing a Mute Swan one next. It will be EPIC and SPECTACULAR I promise you.  I will also do one on a Gean (Wild Cherry). Yes, it isn't a bird, but I will still mention it. I put the Epic Face (I didn't make it up on the PC. Search Epic Face in Google Images if you don't believe me) again just for Epic Luck that some people will stick up comments on more birds they want me to do poems on. Oh yeah, I'm going to do a Raven (the largest Passerine or perching bird, that is with feet modified to grip a branch or other perch, in the whole world) and one on the Merlin (Britain's smallest bird-of-prey, little bigger than a Mistle Thrush.) Byee peoples! KEEP COMMENTING!!!!!!!! 

Forest of Bere

The Forest of Bere is a fantastic place for woodland birdwatching. The only disadvantage(s) are the fact that it is a perfect dog-walking place too. Because some dogs have a strong prey-drive, this can be a disadvantage to the wildlife. And even very docile dogs are likely to scare wildlife. You are a small Woodmouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) foraging for acorns among  the leaf-litter. Something shimmering catches your eye (or maybe mice aren't good with peripheral vision but it's the principle that matters) and you look up. Imagine those big forward-facing eyes. Bigger than your own face. Freaky right? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with dogs, in fact I would love a Basset Hound myself, but you get the point. Small animals freak out. Right. The other disadvantage is the amount of harvestmen (harvest spiders or harvestman-spiders) around. The Phalangiids are the worst. These are very very long-legged arachnids that look like spiders. The differences between spiders and harvestmen are:

• Spiders spin silk, harvestmen can't.
• Spiders have three body-sections, harvestmen have one.
• Spiders have eight or six eyes, harvestmen have two very rubbishy ones.
• Spiders sit still most of the time (apart from Wolf Spiders), harvestmen have a habit of touching everything including your hand (eugh!) 
• Spiders are scentless, harvestmen emit a smell when alarmed (Thankfully we humans can't detect it) .

Again, there's nothing wrong with harvestmen, it's just I'm an arachnophobe. Only with spiders, harvestmen and whip-spiders (spider-like segmented arachnids which I have never seen in the flesh) but I love scorpions. Anyway, on with the birds. There are a number of beautiful little pools and ponds full of wildlife. Hundreds of hawker dragonflies flew strongly after insects. One even caught an Emperor Moth! Many dragonfly species were present, mainly Aeshna cyanea and Aeshna grandis (Brown Hawker). The Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator also came up a lot. Damselflies and stoneflies  and a couple of mayflies also made an appearance. The main prey for the dragonflies was daddy-long-legs (crane-flies), blow-flies  various moths and, very very thankfully, clegs. These are one of the few animals I would say are a total nuisance! Clegs, fleas, gnats and lice would rate about 1 out of 10 on the satisfaction scale, with Phalangiids and daddy-long-legs rating 2. Most spiders except the widdly weeny teeny tiny money-spiders would rate 3 etc. etc. Whirligigs  whirled, water-measurers well, measured I suppose, backswimmers and water-boatmen  and pondskaters skated. I saw loads of birds so I will just list them.

BIRDS SEEN:

Kestrel hunting voles in adjacent field and her mate (probably) ripping up a mouse
Treecreeper creeping up a tree (a Sessile Oak Quercus petraea to be technical about it)
Yellowhammer feeding
Several different flocks of Blue and Great Titmice at ponds and pools feasting on Haws (Hawthorn berries) and a Glastonbury Thorn (Double-flowering Hawthorn)
Various doves mainly Wood Pigeons (Ringdoves) pretty much everywhere
Crows and Ravens, also Rooks
WOODCOCKS!!! Oh my god it's me Woodcock in miniature with wings and a long beak!
Epic Kingfisher by the spring with a stream forming after it and going through a hole in a block of earth that acts as a bridge
Various warblers, mainly Chiffchaffs
A Little Egret and a Grey Heron
A Jackdaw
Many Nuthatches
Siskins
Other finches
House Sparrows
Grey Partridge
Dipper
Peewit (Lapwing) flying overhead
A roosting Tawny Owl
Common Pheasants
Gold and Firecrests feasting on Common Yew berries

OTHER ANIMALS:

Fallow buck  and doe
Roebuck and Roe doe (oh my god loads of deer)
Dace and Minnows
Dozens of day-flying and night-flying (that came out at dusk or seen resting by day) moth species
A very large yellow-and-black caterpillar with spines on it
Brown Trout
Red Admiral, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Large and Small White, Peacock, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Small Copper and Swallowtail butterflies plus many hairstreaks
Brown Hare
Rabbits
Various bees and wasps
Staghorn Beetles

PLANTS:

English and Sessile Oaks
Scots Pines
Field Maple in field
Viper's-bugloss (oh my god it's soooo purple! Oh my god I love saying oh my god)
Norway Spruces
Common Yews and a Lutea Yew ( The Lutea Yew is a yew with yellow arils)
Several buttercups
Wood and Sun Spurge
Mistletoe
White, Yellow and Least Water-lilies     
Wood, Bloody, Meadow and Hedgerow Crane's-bill
Herb-robert
Common Stork's-bill
White and Bladder Campion
Common Bird's-foot Trefoil
Yarrow (Milfoil)
Elder
Ground-elder
Juniper
Holly
Salad Burnet
Great and Dark Mullein
Sheep's-sorrel
Bittersweet
Black Nightshade
Ivy-leaved Toadflax
Lords-and-Ladies (Wild Arum)
Devil's-bit and Field Scabious
Whatever grasses grow in the field but I know False Oat-grass and Cock's-foot  is in there
Wall Barley (oh my god Flydarts are so fun to throw!)
Wall-screw moss along the wall
Field Wood-rush
Maidenhair Spleenwort
Hart's-tongue
Male Fern
Bracken

.......Oh my god there is so many plants at that place!!!!                  

Let me get the point across.
GO THERE!!!!

Byeeeeeeeeee peoples! Have an epic time! :o):o)

PS if you don't have an epic time you are not paying attention to the epic wildlife!!!!!     






                  

Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3

Hello, fellow birders. In Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3, we will talk about nesting-boxes and other nesting-related things, such as what to feed in the breeding season. Although this is not feeding the birds, if you want a total bird-paradise garden backyard   It is well worth taking the time to make or spending  the money to buy a nesting-box (or a whole load of them) as the delight of having a family successfully fledged on your property is one of the most rewarding experiences in birdwatching  for both bird and man! The RSPB sells some really stylish yet functional nesting-boxes and minature wildlife cameras to go in them. As soon as I can afford one, I will be getting one! click here to access the shopping website. There are some epic feeder deals on there too! The most common type of nesting-box is the titmouse-box.

A Cheery Titmouse-box but not very serviceable

Some have multiple holes to encourage communal nesting, but the floor space is rarely big enough for more than one nest, as one typical Blue Titmouse nest is about 15 cm diameter, although there are exceptions. The RSPB sell a communal sparrow nesting-box, the Sparrow Terrace box, designed to encourage Tree Sparrows. It may still be used by one pair of birds though. You can buy metal titmouse-box hole-plates to prevent Greater Spotted Woodpeckers enlarging the hole to eat the young or eggs. Perches are not really necessary as they act as a perfect spot for House Sparrows to ambush the titmice living inside. Other specialist nesting-boxes are available from some suppliers and artificial House Martin nests are rising in popularity.

My nesting-boxes poster

You can make or buy owl chimneys which are rectangular wooden tubes closed off at one end and have a hinged roof for cleaning and inspection. They are suspended below a forty-five degree tree branch or if there is no mature trees, under a plank of wood simulating a branch. A really easy way to make an owl chimney is to just wire a size 4+ welly boot under the branch or branch-simulator, it will suffice as well. Make sure you poke drainage holes in the bottom though. Open-fronted boxes are just like titmouse-boxes with half of the front panel taken off. Spotted Flycatchers use them when tucked away in some ivy, and Robins love them anywhere. Giant ones are used by Kestrels and sometimes Collared Doves. Robins will nest in the hole left by taking a brick out of your wall or in a flowerpot, or on a shelf in the shed, or pretty much anywhere, but they really appreciate the extra protection of a nesting-box. Swift-boxes are available to fix under the eaves of the house and Swift-blocks are Swift-boxes the size of a wall brick, so you can take a brick out of the wall and replace it with a Swift-block. Always have the hole projecting into the garden so the Swift parents are bombarded with a big supply of tasty insects as soon as they leave the nest. Natural nest-sites are important too. Time to get pruning! Remember all those berry-bearing shrubs you have? The ones who provide plenty of energy in the winter? They can also be a total boon in summer! Find the growing tip of a side-shoot which is in the middle of a nice at-least-three-pronged fork of stems. Cut it out like on the poster. It's worth having your hands cut up by thorns to do this (wear gloves and your hands won't get cut up) with Firethorn (Pyracantha), Hawthorn (or Glastonbury Thorn), Buckthorn, and any other thorny shrub, as the thorns (especially of Blackthorns or plums - they are like nails!) keep predators at bay. If you find a nest already in a shrub, sod pruning and wait til next year.  Leave some unused items such as cracked flowerpots or jugs, and leaky watering-cans lying around. A Robin is sure to move in. Late is better than never with nesting-boxes. I have put up a titmouse-box as late as April before, and a family of Great Titmice moved in and were successfully fledged in the same year! Now, it's all very well creating nest-sites, but if there is not a sufficient food supply, no birds will move in. Insects and their larvae are the most important food for chicks and fledgelings. Your shrubs and trees and any other plants (if they are native) should provide good hunting ground for insects. Leave some rotting logs hanging about to attract more. Supplement this supply with meal-worms, maggots, crickets, and waxworms. You can buy mealworms, waxworms, and maggots live online from the RSPB, and dried mealworms from many places. Pet-shops sell crickets for feeding to reptiles, but these are first-rate for birds too. Mealworm feeders are available from the RSPB for hanging and on the ground. Use a high-sided dish for crickets because as we know, crickets are class at jumping! Waxworms are the larva of the Waxmoth. If you buy them from a reputable supplier (the RSPB is the best one, as for everything!) they will never pupate. Breeding your own mealworms is easy. They come with bran mixed in, so just put them in a cool dark place like a garage. Use the sack they come in, or a biscuit tin, and just top up the bran or buy a mealworm feed. They will breed on their own. Total money saver! Fat is a good substitute for "insects" as they are generally classed in shops ("live foods" is the correct term that the RSPB and other online suppliers use) as it has much the same nutritional values. It is high in protein and moisture, for chicks, and it is a good source of energy for the parent birds. You can make your own bird-cake (suet-cake or block) by following this recipe:

Take a yoghurt pot (cleaned out) and pop a hole in the bottom (only if you want to hang it up) tie a string through the hole. Melt some suet or tallow (not lard as this is greasy and will make a bird's bill sticky and render it useless, and it melts, and it is not as nutritious) on the heat, and pour it into the pot (make more than one if there is too much fat, the more the merrier!) Stir in a mixture of bird-seed mix (for once and once only, use it), stale cake crumbs, dried fruit, poppy seed (blue maw), ant's "eggs" (these are really cocoons), and chopped dried meal-worms. Leave to set then turn out onto the bird-table or hang up. Suet or tallow won't melt in the sun like lard does.

The final touch is nesting material. What use is a nesting-box without a nest? Make your bird-garden just that tiny bit better by stapling a piece of wire mesh to a fence or tree or whatever and stuffing it with pet bedding, hay, or even the hair from the dog (or fluff from Malcolm the Blue Dwarf Lop and Frances the Blue Dutch rabbits in my case.) Practically anything snuggly will do. The RSPB sells these cute little apple wool-pots and the wool to go in them. Refill them even when you think no more birds are nesting in your garden, for many birds outside of your garden may be using it too. THANKS, PEOPLES!!!! Keep commenting.

Spectacular Epic Poems no.1 BIRDS-OF-PREY

I have finally got around to showing you the Spectacular Epic Poems!!! I have written so many there will have to be several parts. Spectacular Epic Poems no.2 OTHER BIRDS will come after Getting Started with Bird-Feeding 3.  Please comment on the Poems and give me ideas for new ones. Animal, vegetable, or fungus, but only native British species, and no protists or monerans(bacteria). I do NOT have an electron microscope!!!! This part will show you all of the Birds-of-Prey poems. There will be parts for Trees, Herbaceous Plants, Other Birds,  Beasts-of-Prey, Other Mammals, Insects and Arachnids, Marine Life/Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fungi. I promise you there is that many (more are being written all the time! In fact I am in the middle of one about the Brown Hare right now.) You will get to see every one. Even if I have already put up all of the subject parts and have another poem, I will just plonk it on the end of the next post. By the way, a new damson tree has been found just past the garden centre on Bartons Road. There is heaps of damsons on there so I don't mind telling you about this one. Anyway lets read poems! (Or write for me.)


Golden Eagle

Silently swooping

Suddenly looping

Spotted a partridge

Crouched on the ground.

Fixes her eyesight

Glint in the sun light

Splays out her wingtips

Don’t make a sound.

Partridge not seen her

Soar ever nearer

Got right above it

Ready to dive.

Close in your wings girl

Give it a nice twirl

Shoot through the sunset

Right on your prey.

Fly off with your meat

Now ready to eat

Take to your eaglets

Feel satisfied.

Glide off to your sky

Let out your war cry

You got to kill more

To feed your young.

Effort’s not wasted

Got to be tasted

Eaglets will love you

Their caring mum.

Golden Eagle has been published in Q.Q Press's Quantum Leap poetry magazine (My great-uncle is one of them.) I AM HAPPY!!! I got £12 for 6 (Golden Eagle, Kingfisher, Candle, Gannet, Stoat, and Hound of the Seas) 

Kestrel

I, the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Hangs in the air on my silent wings.

I, the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Waits in the sky as the Skylark sings.

I the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Dives on a vole in the long green grass.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Stoops like an arrow and twice as fast.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Tears up my prey in my blade-sharp bill.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Must rest my wings and for once is still.

(Windhover is the country name for the Kestrel. It comes from the way the Kestrel "hovers" in flight, although it is only resting on a thermal.)

Sparrowhawk

Watching with her staring eyes,

Listening with her hidden ears.

Spots a titmouse in the bush,

Beats her wings with so much power.

Grabs the titmouse with her claws,

That is her, the Sparrowhawk.

Copyright Eleanor Woodcock 2011 and 2012 (AGAIN YOU ARE NOT STEALING MY POEMS!!!!!)

Warblington School is actually a very good place for birds. The courtyard is covered with Hawthorn and Firethorn (Pyracantha) trees. Loads of titmice come to feed there in flocks every day. A resident Sparrowhawk keeps the flock in check! She is an old female who's eyes have darkened to a blood-red colour! Just think, when she fledged, they were creamy-yellow. Check out the www.britishbirds.com  blog post about eye-colour in birds. It is strange but cool! That is it for Birds-of-Prey Poems. THERE WILL BE MORE!!!! I'm going to do a Peregrine and an Osprey poem soon. BYEE!!! Keep watching those birds, keep commenting about them, and keep giving me wildlife-for-poem-subjects suggestions!!!!! 

Farlington Marshes Visit (Sorry, no photos, but there is a video)

A few days ago, me, Nan and Dad went to Farlington Marshes to do some birdwatching, or I did the birdwatching, because dad knows nothing about birds. Epic day it was. Plenty of  "good" birds to see, as well as the usuals.  Scores of Redshank and Greenshank, lots of Coots and Moorhens, about five Little Egrets, loads of Wood Pigeons (Ring Doves), Collared Doves, Stock Doves and even a couple of Turtle Doves. There was a couple of Ringed Plovers, some Reed Warblers, and the usual Great and Blue Titmice, as well as Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Titmice. No Willow Titmice though. There was a family of Mute Swans (two adults, six cygnets, probably very experienced parents, those two) on one of the water bodies, when the cob decided there was more water plants to eat on a different pond. He got out of the pond they were in, and made sure his family were coming with him. One of the cygnets was a runt, a lot smaller than it's siblings. It lagged behind a bit as they crossed the big piece of land before them. The pen stayed at the back to make sure none of the cygnets turned back. There certainly was a lot of Frogbit and Duckweed and many other waterplants in there! Every so often, the cob would come across a Redshank or a Little Egret or Coot of what ever, and hiss(sssssssss) and snap and curve his wings into a love-heart shape at them. Occasionally, he would beat his wings in the air (two metres of pure aggression ready to snap some bones) noisily. One of the cygnets seemed to like copying his (I'm guessing it was a he) father, clapping his bill and beating his wings. The cygnets were nearly as big as their mother, but still had the grey-brown juvenile plumage. The runt cygnet had a Spectacular Epic Fail and fell bill-over-big-rubbery-black-flippery-foot-things. Unfortunately, it was in the long grass when he/she fell over, and I could just see some black webbed plastic-like feet sticking out of the vegetation. I don't think my camera could zoom in far enough to catch the whole fail. Shame. It was so funny. But the cygnet lived up to his name. It was totally silent. After a long and clumsy waddle across a very wide space of dry land (or wet land because it was raining), the swan family finally reached their plant-laden pond destination. WELL DONE MUTE SWANS. There was loads more birds.

Other Birds:

Kestrels (two hens)
A trio of Oystercatcher
Tufted Duck
Shoveler duck (and drakes)
Pochard duck (and drakes)
Mallard duck (and drakes)
Mandarin Duck (and one drake)
Robins
Goldfinches
Greenfinches
Dunnocks (Hedge Sparrows to the annoying people)
Wrens

The birds were all too quick to get photos of, apart from the swans which I got an awesome video of.

Also, well done to all of Para GB's athletes for winning us those medals!

PS. Sorry little runt Mute Cygnet for embarrassing you by telling the whole world about your Spectacular Epic Fail. Sorry there hasn't been a Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3 yet. (You have been waiting for a long time) and that I haven't shown you my Spectacular Epic Poems yet. Oh well, I will soon. (I am very lame at this aren't I?)

HERE ARE SOME LINKS WHICH YOU MAY LIKE TO LOOK AT:

www.blackredstarts.org.uk is a non-profit organisation that helps conserve the beautiful little Black Redstart that is now so rare.

www.britishwildboar.or.uk gives loads of information on and super-cute piglet footage of the British Wild Boar that became extinct for so long.

 www.birdsofbritain.co.uk is a fantastic web magazine with stunning photographs and the latest bird updates.

www.bou.org.uk (British Ornithologists' Society Online) has a great blog as well as loads of news on birds around the world. The IBIS journal is really interesting too.

www.britishspiders.org.uk has some freaky photos and interesting spidery news from the British Arachnological Society!

On further posts I may give you more links to other great websites.

Go to this link to see the swan video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5lA5yVbMzA&feature=plcp

Bye for now!

Random Wildlife Up Close

 Here are some random rather queer SEMs (Scanning Electron Micrographs) I found on the Internet!

All images Copyright Power and Syred MicroGraphs.

Please visit  http://www.psmicrographs.co.uk/ for more images.

Radiolarian protozoans all make different silica  shell.  They are like snowflakes.  No two are the same!

Pill Woodlouse

Rainbow Trout scale

Seven-spot Ladybird larva

Black garden Ant with Rose Aphid nymph

Blue-green Algae

Large Bindweed pollen

Chaffinch foot

Common Wasp head

Daisy pollen

House Dust Mite 

male House Spider mouth-parts (ARRRG!!! THIS IS SO FREAKY!!!!)

Large White butterfly larval spiracle

Atlantic Salmon scale

Scots Pine pollen

Swallow primary flight feather 

Water Vole hair

Whirligig head 

Strange aren't they? I find it EPIC that Man has created electron microscopes to view the amazing yet weird world of "mini-life". Thank-you to PS MicroGraphs for the images. There are many more on the website if you want to have a look. I promise my next post will be the Spectacular Epic Poems, and the next one will be Getting Started with Bird-Feeding 3. Good-bye, and keep watching those birds!