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[Hurdity]

We regularly get pheasants in our orchard because they rear them and have shoots on the farmland just up the lane here. They keep eating the apples we put out for the blackbirds, thrushes and fieldfares - my husband threatened to shoot them himself  if they didn't stop coming  .

It wouldn't be hand fed as such honeybun, but I presume they will get used to humans filling up the hoppers in the rearing pens so are not afraid, and probably come running whenever they are fed.

Our neighbouring farmer regularly brings us pheasants from the shoot - we find them hanging up on the hanging basket hook by the back door  !! My husband makes a delicious stew with them (after plucking and skinning them).

Hurdity  x

[CLKD]

We roast ours 

[Dorothy]

Had a look at pictures of crayfish and the claw I found does look like one of theirs. Ours are the native British crayfish - they reintroduced them after the river had been mink-free for a certain length of time.  We've now got otters back on the same stretch of river - where the crayfish are, the otters follow  .

[CLKD]

So otter catches crayfish, hauls out to eat, = claw in the field ….

[honeybun]

Saw three red deer in a frosty field this morning. Picture postcard perfect.

Honeyb
X

[CLKD]

Camera to hand?

[honeybun]

Unfortunately not...I was driving 


Honeyb
X

[Dorothy]

It's a law of life that you never have your camera at these moments anyway - I see deer every day when I walk my dog...unless I take my camera    Other things I have missed are a family of 7 long tailed tits sitting in a row on a branch and an otter playing by the bank of a stream...both would have made perfect photos but I didn't have my camera. When I do have it, the most interesting thing I see is a rabbit or a crow.   

[CLKD]

  - I saw a family of newly fledged Little Owls one morning - one was in full feather, one was half feathered and the other was fully fluffed ……… in that order each sitting on a different branch one above the other.  No camera.  No one to share it with 

So Honeybun - people use their mobiles, put on mascara, send text messages whilst driving - a photo is far more important 

[Dorothy]

"Well, officer, I was using my camera while driving because I saw these three deer and had to take a photo for the Menopause Matters forum"

 

[CLKD]

Yep 

[honeybun]

The moment I really wanted to share was one morning walking along the shore....a pod of porpoises....about thirty of them in the bay....no hubby there to ooo and ahh with.
There was another woman there obviously wanting to do the same as me so we ooood and ahhhhd together. Such a memorable moment....never seen so many together at the same time.

We did get to share the sight of a basking shark though which was good.

Why is it when you see something really good you are invariably on your own and don't have time to get your phone out.
I have had quite a few of those moments.....deer at the end of our street, a badger walking through a housing estate 


Honeyb
X

[CLKD]

My experiences were in the days before mobile phones 

[purplenanny]

We have a bird box which is used every year by blue tits.

I only normally notice them once they are nest building, which I love. It is on a pine tree out the front and we can watch from our lounge or bedroom windows

I have noticed over the last few days that that one bird is circling the box and frequently flies up to the hole and then down to the ledge where he sits for a while. He then flies to the nearby pine tree and back again. Very busy little thing. He had competition from 2 other blue tits this morning and things went a bit frantic for a while!

Can anyone explain this behaviour please and when will the blue tit actually go in the box? I find it all very interesting

PN x x

[CLKD]

Maybe clear out the box to get rid of parasites etc.?  DH does ours every Autumn.  The bird may be sitting to judge wind direction, how warm it will be - don't want to cook those fledglings  .

We had a wren use a box last year, one that had belonged to his Mum - she would have been delighted.  It kept carrying material in and out but we didn't notice much activity for a while so I put my finger in - prior to emptying the material - only to be pecked hard  : Mum was still sitting and she brought off 3 young 

That box is empty, I tipped water out last week so have turned it around ……. not far from our kitchen window we await with interest!