Crab attack!

On Wednesday, we went crabbing. We went on the jetty on the side of Langstone with no Ship Inn on it. Even though we are all vegetarians, we bought some bacon to use as bait. It works a treat! I filled a tub with water and dropped in the crab-line. My third catch was pretty big. About a two-inch carapace. My line got tangled so I gave it to dad to untangle. He said I could use his line. I took it out of the water. It felt very heavy. I looked down, and a four-inch Common Crab was dangling down from the bait!!!!!!!! EPIC. It had nearly devoured the bacon and was about to drop off, so I quickly removed it to the box and gave it some more bacon. I met a boy called Jason who was going to Warblington in Year 7 like me. But I mainly wanted to say about the birds.

Spotted:
2 Little Egrets
a Grey Wagtail
a Pied Wagtail
Great Tits in nearby tree
Magpies
Black-Headed Gulls
Herring Gulls

No photos, sorry!

EPIC WATERFOWL-WATCHING!!!

You know that waterfowl reserve near the plum trees I told you about? Well I visited it again, fully kitted out with a drink, a packet of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate-Coated Peanuts, my new (well, third-hand) phone with a really good camera, my field note-book, my Birds of Britain field guide, a pen, and plenty of insect repellent sray and bite and sting cream, all squashed in a Tesco carrier-bag. Not an ideal container, but who cares? On with the birds.

Waterfowl Reserve. There are a further two ponds, but they didn't fit in the photo.

Spotted:

This time, some Mallards, a couple of drakes, but mainly ducks.
A Mute Swan couple and their cygnets, plus a lone pen (female swans are pens, males are cobs).
Shovelers, don't know how many.
Lots of Coots.
Lots of Moorhens
A Wood Pigeon feeding it's squabs in the nest.
Lesser Black-Backed Gulls
Black-Headed Gulls
Herring Gulls.

Also, two Red Admiral butterflies, loads of Large White butterflies, and a White-Banded Snail

I dropped my pen (writing implement, not female swan!) in the Stinging Nettles (or "stingers" as we call them) a few times, and had to use the leg of a folding chair to get it out. We had a walk down by the sea, too. The tide was well in! Salt-water splashed up over the edge of the raised path, and it completely covered the breakers below. I bet they were just a sort of gull, but we spotted some large birds in the distance, fluttering with gentle wing-beats in circles, and then suddenly shooting like Gannets into the waves, and bobbing up again moments later. Oh, and you would like my Gannet and Kingfisher poems too!! (I love writing animal poems!!!!) Shall I show you them? I think so.

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!

Sums the beautiful bird up perfectly, doesn't it?

Gannet

As I draw my wings closer

I accelerate until

At the moment of entry

I am a perfect spindle.

From sharp beak

Through streamlined body

To fine, black wingtips

Slamming into the sea

With a mighty splash.

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

The perfect tecnique isn't it, diving? Well the Kingfishers and Gannets prove it! I hope to show you my other animal poems at a later date. My other poems are: Stoat, Golden Eagle, Capercaillie, Wildcat, Red Stag, and Hoverfly. I have also written a poem called The Candle and a metaphoric one called The Hound of the Seas that I would like to share with you. Six of them, Gannet, Kingfisher, Golden Eagle, Stoat, and The Candle have been published by my great-uncle Alan Carter and his Q.Q Press team in their poetry magazine, Quantum Leap. Anyway, on with the waterfowl!

I found some bindweeds along the coast. A pink-and-white striped Sea Bindweed, and a white bindweed. It could have been a form of Sea or Field Bindweed with no stripes, or a Greater (or Hedge) Bindweed that had grown very small due to the harsh coast conditions. Who knows? Both of the flowers were about an inch (2.5cm) across, and were quite bushy (they had nothing to climb).

Sea Bindweed, an inch across

Small White Bindweed (un-striped Sea or Field or a small Greater. Who knows?)

If  you do, please tell me. Also, I found numerous tiny plants with red flowers dotted around as well. The whole plants were about two-and-a-half inches across and the single flowers were about half a centimetre across. I couldn't identify the plant, but you readers may be able to. T+ake a look at the flower.

Weeny isn't it? Have a go at identifying it for me.

One time, before I started this blog, I was walking around ---------- (remember, the location is secret until there is no plums left!) when up in a tall English Oak (or Pendunculate Oak if you prefer, Latin name, Quercus robur. Sorry, I love all the technical stuff!), a huge open-fronted nest-box was fixed alongside the trunk. I could see the nesting material from below, but it could have been put there by a person. I hope it was put in the box by a bird. I wonder if it has been used by the Kestrel I have seen hunting voles on a hill near the coastline. I'll have to write a poem about that fantastic bird! I don't have a photo, it was too high up to get a clear one, but I really want to see a parent bird go inside! Happy birding, folks! Please try to identify the mini-flower for me! Bye-bye, and thank-you for reading.

Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 2

On Getting Started with Bird-Feeding 2 we will talk about types of feeder. scattering bread on the lawn is the simplest way of feeding the birds. but bread (especially white bread) is hardly nutritious and on the ground it could attract rats which, although are fun to watch, in the long run, will bring disastrous consequences. to use a feeder or table is a much more hygienic option. The feeders you most likely to be familiar with (as a beginner) are the perspex seed-tubes and the mesh peanut tubes.

Seed-Tube in Crap Weather

Peanut Tube

Not Very Serviceable Pear Peanut Feeder

You may only be familiar with the mixed bird seed that you can buy practically anywhere, but this is not the best type of food to feed the birds with (see Getting Started About Bird-Feeding 1.) You can buy many other seeds on their own to put in seed-tubes. I only used mixed seed in the photo because the shop had run out of black sunflower seeds. One type of seed you can buy has it's own special type of feeder. Nyjer (also spelt niger on some packets of seed). Nyjer feeders are basically seed-tubes without the "ports". Instead, they have small holes with perches underneath, although some suppliers sell "Goldfinch feeders", tube feeders made from very fine mesh, also for feeding nyjer.

Nyjer Feeder with condensation in it (I'll give it a clean and dry)

Fat Ball Feeder

    Peanut tubes are for feeding peanut kernels, not whole nuts. But other things can be put in them too. Dried peas, chickpeas, and basically any seed which will not fall through the mesh. Remember, it is best to not feed mixed food!
     Other feeders include fat-ball springs ("Suet Spirals"), suet block holders which can also be used as household scrap baskets or bread slice holders, live meal- or wax-worm feeders, and predator-proof seed-tubes and peanut tubes which are ordinary tubes with a "cage" around them. Small birds, like finches, tits and  sparrows can fit through the bars, but anything up to the size of a small thrush is excluded.
     Bird-tables come in hundreds of styles, with or without roofs, wood or metal, squirrel deterrent or no squirrel deterrent. Choose a table with battens round the side and either drainage holes or a mesh base. A roof  is good if you get lots of rain and to save space, hang feeders underneath it with cuphooks. Only put out as much food as the birds will eat. Scatter food on the floor for large birds such as pigeons and doves.

NO NEWS FOR NOW EXEPT TWO SENTENCEs. Next time, we will think about water for the garden birds. Carry on feeding and watching! Bye-bye! News sentence: I actually made a Nibbles-Dish feeder instead of a bird-bath because the wooden board buckled! And, I have left Barncroft School (so sad) and I am going to go to Warblington now!

BUT I DO HAVE THE USUAL GENERAL PHOTOS!!!: and lots of them!

Seed Mix: Total No-No

Table Food

Broken-Up Peanuts on the Ground

Yay! Buds!

Calendula (Pot-Marigold) 1

Calendula (Pot-Marigold) 2

Calendula (Pot-Marigold) 3

I actually made a feeder

The middle dish smashed.

What A Mess! All on the floor. EPIC FAILS!!!!

Rotten Sour Plums! Tasty for birds, though!

   

EPIC NEWS! (sorry I love the word Epic)

NEWS (This was actually on Saturday and Sunday)

Yesterday, we went to the Bedhampton Show at Bidbury Mead. Chucking it down, but still, "show spirit", it was on. I was looking for a nice bowl to use as a suspended bird-bath for the garden. I managed to find a nice flan-dish, just the right depth (so the birdies won't drown), and just the right diameter (so more than one bird can bathe/drink at the same time). I also got a lazy Susan-type partitioned dish (which we call the "Nibble dish" ) to use as a bird-feeding unit. I got an ornament of a Spotted Fly-Catcher for my collection, which I am very happy about. Oh, yeah. Dad was at a craft fair (an Epic Fail he said) at the time, and bought a huge toffee cake!!!! Lovely, but sickly.

Flan-Dish and Board

Epic Toffee Cake

Last Pickings

"Nibble Dish"

Today we visited the Secret Location Plum Tree to see if the fruits were ripe. One of the boughs was full of  red-ripe juicy Delicious plums, but the rest of the row's plums were all still green. Weird. We picked the last of the elderflowers form a nearby bush to make a last lot of champagne.

Ripe Plums

NOW FOR THE EPIC NEWS!!

As we walked along the row of plum trees, we noticed a path that we had not been down before. so, guess what?  We investigated! And, we found a big waterfowl reserve lake which I had not known about before!!! I will take some photos, but I forgot the camera. There were Tufted Ducks and Shovellers, Mandarin Ducks and Teals, Green-Winged and Blue-Winged Teals (The Teal, the Blue-Winged Teal and the Green-Winged Teal are all slightly different species), Goosanders and Red-Breasted Mergansers, coots and Moorhens, only one drake and one duck Mallard (Extreme surprise!), and one cob and one pen Mute Swan with two cygnets, all swimming around happy as ever. A true reserve in the sense of the word!! As we walked back to the car, Dad noticed a slight rustling in a gorse bush (Common Gorse, Furze, or Whin [depending on what you like to call it], to be exact. I am into wild plants too.) A patch of agouti (to use the proper rabbit term)  appeared from the covering of spines. I pulled back a clump of cleavers to reveal a tiny baby bunny (or rabbit kitten. I like to use the proper word). AWW. How cute! It wouldn't run off, as it was too inexperienced, and had a spine stuck in it's skin. Dad unpicked the spine, being careful not to touch the rabbit and pass on the human scent, therefore discouraging the mother rabbit to care for her offspring.  You might think "why didn't you take the injured rabbit home and look after it?" but 1,  it was not injured, just scared. 2, it might upset the doe to find her baby gone. 3, we have house-rabbits of our own (a very badly marked entire Blue Dutch doe named Frances and a castrated Blue Dwarf Lop buck who is in a permanent stage of moult called Malcolm) and the wild "bun" would freak out totally. (I love phrases like that!!!)  I will tell you, fellow birders the location of the waterfowl reserve when plums are out of season!

Rabbit Kitten

After that, we  went to the pound shop to get some essentials. I also bought a wooden chopping-board to use as a hanging platform for the flan-dish bird-bath, and a hanging basket for the chains to hang it by.  

Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 1

I am making (or going to make) a series of posts about Getting Started With Bird-Feeding. I am going to get a lot more serious about it, and I have decided we can do it together. Beginners begin, amateurs (like me) and even experts, improve. This first post will be about feeders and man-made food, plus some general news and bird-related photos. Firstly, feeders.

There are two basic types of feeders. Mesh, and perspex tubes. The mesh ones are for peanuts, and the perspex tubes are for seeds. I will tell you more about feeders in Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 2. Although they are the most obvious option, and I must admit to using them, don't (or try not to) use seed mixes. These are wasteful, as birds (notably Greenfinches) are messy, picky eaters. Greenfinches search through the seed mix for sunflower seeds, throwing any other seeds out of the feeder onto your lawn. You can buy many seeds separately. Some of them are listed below:

These ones you can buy especially for birds:

Nyjer (Noug) - Long used by cage-bird keepers as a substitute for thistle seed, and now used for wild birds too.

Sunflower - Black and striped seeds are sold. Black are better as they are higher in energy. The flowers are very attractive to insects. Easily grown in your garden.

Barley - Used in  seed mixes and sometimes sold on it's own. One of the most nutritious grains for birds. Similar to wheat.

Linseed (Flax) - Used in seed mixes and also sold on it's own. A high-energy food (500 calories/100g!!!!!)

Millet - Mainly used for seed mixes, some suppliers sell it on it's own. Rich in protein and iron.

Canary-Seed (Canarygrass) - Originally for cage-birds, but now increasingly for wild birds, it is high in unsaturated fat, oil, and protein.

Wheat - Similar to barley, and used as the main ingredient for many seed mixes. Highly nutritious.

Peanut - Very commonly sold for birds and humans. Highly nutritious. Beware of low-quality peanuts, as moulds such as aflatoxin are fatal to birds.

Maize (Corn-On-The-Cob) - Wholegrain,flaked and kibbled maize is sold for birds, all dried. The whole grains and flakes are eaten by pigeons and doves (and sometimes corvids [crow family]), and the smaller kibbled maize is eaten by much smaller birds. Good source of carbohydrate.

Many other grains, seeds, legumes and pulses can be bought for humans but used for birds:

Oats
Rape
Swede
Kale
Turnip
Hemp (Obviously the non-drug variety! lol)
Safflower
Quinoa
Pumpkin and other vegetables in the squash family
Buckwheat
Rice (Preferably raw brown rice)
Poppy (Blue Maw)
Sorghum (Milo)
Rye
Chick-Pea (Wood Pigeon heaven)
Coconut (if peanuts aren't available this will be the choice of tits)
Lentil
Mungbean (Green Gram)
Pea
Other nuts

All of these can be scattered on the ground or a bird-table, or put in a perspex tube feeder (or a homemade coke bottle one, or a bottle  fitted with a commercially available bottle adaptor). The larger seeds can also be put in a mesh peanut tube. Specialist feeders for holding suet blocks or slices of bread can also be bought. Many variations of the basic mesh and perspex tubes exist, as do ones with predator-proof  large mesh "cages" around the main feeder. Hang out as many feeders (with individual seed types in) as you in as many different places as you can, and the birds will come pouring in!