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[Taz2]

Peanuts are a good source of protein for the birds while feeding their young. As long as they are in a feeder and not available whole then nestlings should be ok. If whole blue tits are especially prone to stuffing them down a nestlings throat and they then can choke to death. By making nuts available to the adult birds you give them enough "fuel" to forage for insects for their young. It has been a dire year for some birds due to the low insect count and they have had to fly much further afield to gather enough to bring up their brood. Many first broods died of starvation and cold earlier in the spring 

We haven't had the woodpeckers this spring and I'm quite grateful for that as the spotted ones do love a tasty nestling or two although they are very nice to watch. We have a green woodpecker visiting but he only eats ants so that's not too bad.. unless you are an ant of course!

Taz x

[CLKD]

 

I think the stuffing whole peanuts down a nestling's throat is not likely - having watched bluetits which take small pieces for themselves to eat, holding the nut in their claw and pecking enough to swallow safely: and having watched bluetits spend a whole day showing the fledglings what nuts are then the following day the fledglings were doing it for themselves without problems ....... live meal worms are the flavour of the day here  - every day ..........

[honeybun]

My mother had a pigeon in her garden with a live chick in its beak.

What's that all about......transporting or eating?


Honeyb
X

[Meggie]

We've just been sat outside with a glass of wine and a baby deer walked up the road, jumped the ditch and walked through our garden ...... no more than 20ft away.  We'd only had the one glass of wine - honest .....

Meggie

[CLKD]

Wild venison + red wine 

[Limpy]

CLKD - are you taking this seriously - no really.....   

[CLKD]

Nope - not after what happened the other morning 

[Taz2]

We had a brilliant spectacle in the garden yesterday evening. Dozens of stag beetles erupted from the trees at the bottom of the garden. There were far too many to count and they looked magnificent. I managed to get a photo of one on my hand as it had fallen off the shed roof into the long grass down the side. It needed a launch pad and my hand served very nicely. These are really wonderful beetles. They spend up to seven years underground in the larval stage and only have a few months above ground. They all die off in the winter. You can read more about them here http://frontpage.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum/atfnews/images/stagbeetles.pdf  The cat was not amused and nor were the neighbours - some of which seemed woefully ignorant of what they had flying around their security lights - you would have thought they were vampire bats at the very least!!

Taz x

[CLKD]

Haven't seen a stag beetle for years    ..... we get chafer bugs round our lights in about April/May. 

[Taz2]

Stag beetles are becoming rare where you live CLKD - they are still quite common towards the South coast though.

We had lots of chafers this year - three weeks later than normal due to the cold spring I suppose.

Taz x

[CLKD]

That heron has been seen again   

[Taz2]

We have one of those - hope you've got your ponds netted now!

Taz x

[honeybun]

Well I hope they are rare here too. One would be bad enough, dozens of them would have me hiding.

Had a very stressful spider encounter today. As I was driving home from mum's I looked in my rear view mirror to see a spider swing between the headrest. I could not make out if it was the front headrest or the back ones. I could not stop to usher it out of the car so spent most of the drive with my nose almost on top of the steering wheel in case it went on my head. Other drivers were giving me very funny looks. Nose on the steering wheel and a mad look on my face.
I could not find the blessed thing when I got home. Black spider and black car interior makes for good camouflage.
It's just waiting for me, I just know it.

Honeyb
X

[Taz2]

Did you leave the window open a bit so it can escape easily Honeybun? I am sure it will be just as frightened by the vision of you driving with your nose on the steering wheel! 

Taz x

[honeybun]

It's persistently raining Taz and it may well drown if I left the window open  .

Heck I was not a happy camper sharing the car with that.

Honeyb
X