The tadpoles didn't last long this year and there's no sign of any survivors. There are quite a few newts in the pond so maybe they've eaten all the tadpoles.
I've just put some very small koi back in the pond for the summer. They've survived this years mild winter very well in an unheated pond which I'm in the process of cleaning out ready for our G&S Goshiki.
Colin
Spring is nearly here!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Hi Colin
That's what happened to my tadpoles last year if you remember, they've performed a comeback with a vengeance this year. I've been feeding a full handfull of koi pellets every day to them and today they're on three handsfull!, there are still literally hundreds of them despite my giving three lots away. A truly remarkable year for frog tadpoles, it seems as though they have over compensated for last years disaster with the sterile spawn and overwhelmed the newts with sheer numbers, strength to their elbow I say,(do frogs have elbows?)
The Great Crested Newts seem to have taken over the bottom wildlife pond and eaten most if not all of the tadpoles down there so I'm toying with the idea of putting in another wildlife pond next to it thats deeper and shorter but with a larger capacity of 1,000 litres.
I aquired it from a neighbour just recently so now I could have a bigger bog garden in between that would suit the amphibian population, watch this space!
That's what happened to my tadpoles last year if you remember, they've performed a comeback with a vengeance this year. I've been feeding a full handfull of koi pellets every day to them and today they're on three handsfull!, there are still literally hundreds of them despite my giving three lots away. A truly remarkable year for frog tadpoles, it seems as though they have over compensated for last years disaster with the sterile spawn and overwhelmed the newts with sheer numbers, strength to their elbow I say,(do frogs have elbows?)
The Great Crested Newts seem to have taken over the bottom wildlife pond and eaten most if not all of the tadpoles down there so I'm toying with the idea of putting in another wildlife pond next to it thats deeper and shorter but with a larger capacity of 1,000 litres.
I aquired it from a neighbour just recently so now I could have a bigger bog garden in between that would suit the amphibian population, watch this space!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Did an update on nest population in my garden and we now have two sparrows nesting, one in the purpose built sparrow box with eggs and one in a bluetits box that they enlarged the entrance on. This one has three almost fledged nestlings in, I'm aprehensive about that one as the woodpeckers found a wasps nest next to it and completely destroyed it in ten minutes, they would eat the baby sparrows too if they discovered them.The woodpecker ripped the beautifully constructed cone apart despite the swarm of angry wasps for the grubs inside so they must be feeding young! Mixed blessings really because the wasps besides pollinating my fruit trees and gooseberries particularly are a great predator of caterpillars and aphids; but, they built their nest at face level right next to the door in the entrance to our summer house.
Great tits are raising a family in the other sparrow box near our kitchen and the bluetit box on the side of my small shed has a family of tiny bees that have been there since early March. Don't know what they are yet but they're not the Banded Carder Bee's we had last year in the sparrow box, these are slightly bigger and darker.
A pair ofwoodpigeon have built a nest in the Leylandii hedge right opposite our kitchen window and made a right mess with twigs while building it. I got the impression they collected three times as much nest building material and just dropped it in our yard, they are now sitting on two eggs. Bluetits occupying a box on the side of our summer house have laid ten eggs up to now and started to brood them so they should hatch as the sparrows on other side of summer house fledge.
Just one nest box unoccupied as yet but something has put some spaghnum moss in there so; watch this space!
Great tits are raising a family in the other sparrow box near our kitchen and the bluetit box on the side of my small shed has a family of tiny bees that have been there since early March. Don't know what they are yet but they're not the Banded Carder Bee's we had last year in the sparrow box, these are slightly bigger and darker.
A pair ofwoodpigeon have built a nest in the Leylandii hedge right opposite our kitchen window and made a right mess with twigs while building it. I got the impression they collected three times as much nest building material and just dropped it in our yard, they are now sitting on two eggs. Bluetits occupying a box on the side of our summer house have laid ten eggs up to now and started to brood them so they should hatch as the sparrows on other side of summer house fledge.
Just one nest box unoccupied as yet but something has put some spaghnum moss in there so; watch this space!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Forgot to mention, last meeting at the Farmers Arms tonight then its members ponds for June July and August, its at yours truly for the July meet. I won't be going tonight as Cyn starts back at playschool this evening; (night school in Denbigh)
Also I am involuntarily feeding the local crow rook and magpie population on koi food!
just lately these crafty birds have sussed out that I feed my koi twice a day and as soon as I go back in they descend and fish the 6mm pellets out, Cyn reckons they will have supersized young on this high protein diet as they also rob the small birds fat balls given half a chance. I now have to stand and watch that the koi eat it all before I go back in; its the same thing with the tadpoles but I now put a piece of polycarbonate over them otherwise they eat the fish food and the tadpoles!
Also I am involuntarily feeding the local crow rook and magpie population on koi food!
just lately these crafty birds have sussed out that I feed my koi twice a day and as soon as I go back in they descend and fish the 6mm pellets out, Cyn reckons they will have supersized young on this high protein diet as they also rob the small birds fat balls given half a chance. I now have to stand and watch that the koi eat it all before I go back in; its the same thing with the tadpoles but I now put a piece of polycarbonate over them otherwise they eat the fish food and the tadpoles!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Success with my bee identity at last! I found my Friends of the Earth bee identification guide and the new bee wasn't one of the twenty four listed; so, I grasped the nettle last night and caught one in a fine mesh net as it came out and examined it through a magnifying glass while it was captive.
Its a 'Tree Bumblebee' Bombus hypnorum. just 9mm and quite pretty, it has a rufus thorax black abdomen and white tail.
First recorded in U.K in 2001 in Wiltshire and has rapidly spread through England and parts of Wales (via our birdboxes would you believe) and reached Southern Scotland in 2013.
The good news for fruit growers like me is its one of the very first bees active in spring and they have a preference for downwards hanging flowers like gooseberries, rasberries, and blackcurrants, they have also been very busy on my plum apple and cherry trees!
The bees are highly active agile rapid and effective pollinators and they just love used bird boxes with an old nest in so its good news all round fruit wise; not so good news for the bluetits though so I put a replacement box up.
I used to make my own nest boxes but I now buy excellent well made ply boxes off a local guy in Denbigh for just £8.00 each.
Its a 'Tree Bumblebee' Bombus hypnorum. just 9mm and quite pretty, it has a rufus thorax black abdomen and white tail.
First recorded in U.K in 2001 in Wiltshire and has rapidly spread through England and parts of Wales (via our birdboxes would you believe) and reached Southern Scotland in 2013.
The good news for fruit growers like me is its one of the very first bees active in spring and they have a preference for downwards hanging flowers like gooseberries, rasberries, and blackcurrants, they have also been very busy on my plum apple and cherry trees!
The bees are highly active agile rapid and effective pollinators and they just love used bird boxes with an old nest in so its good news all round fruit wise; not so good news for the bluetits though so I put a replacement box up.
I used to make my own nest boxes but I now buy excellent well made ply boxes off a local guy in Denbigh for just £8.00 each.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
If you don't check your emails regularly take note; the Grow and Show selection on Sunday has been cancelled until further notice due to unforeseen circumstances. 
Check with Colin for revised date.
Phil
Check with Colin for revised date.
Phil
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
I went for a walk up Moel Fammau last week and for the first time in quite a few years I heard a cuckoo sing, reminds me of an old rhyme that went something like this,
The Cuckoo comes in April,
He sings his song in May,
In June he lays his eggs,
July he flies away.
There are quite a few other versions but this is the one I was taught,
Colin
The Cuckoo comes in April,
He sings his song in May,
In June he lays his eggs,
July he flies away.
There are quite a few other versions but this is the one I was taught,
Colin
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Never heard that rhyme before Colin but Cynthia knew it from her childhood. Strange thing is last Bank Holiday Sunday we went to Pemmaenpool on the Mawddach to meet up with my sister in law and her husband to go for an excellent carvery meal in 'The George'.
We arrived early to take the dogs for a walk up the old railway track (now a designated walk made famous by Julia Bradbury on Coast) that runs from Dolgellau to Barmouth. We walked toward Barmouth and heard a cuckoo in the wooded hills over toward the RSPB bird sanctuary at Arthog, first one heard this year and I've not heard one for some time. Its a very distinctive sound that just about everyone knows yet its quite cerebral in its mystery, a bird that very few people have ever seen yet everyone knows its unique call.
Very interesting exhibition on in Dolgellau we saw over the Bank Holiday weekend; on the Sunday afternoon, a very detailed working scale model of the (old spelling) Dolgelly Railway Station put on by Liverpool Model Railway Club; just fascinating to any steam railway enthusiast as Cyn and I, not forgetting my sister in laws husband who first discovered where it was on.
We have been on several excursions with them on old trains, best so far was Crewe/Dartmouth and back last August Bank Holiday with a Red Arrows air display and RAF fly past at Dartmouth.
We are travelling the Settle Carlisle section by steam train in a fortnights time. Trip is by train from Shrewsbury to Settle, old steam train Settle to Carlisle stopping at Appleby(famous for its horse fairs) then Carlisle back to Shrewsbury by conventional train. Looking forward to that I can tell you.
One sad note, one of my three remaining Rudd swam up the four inch pipe of my bottom drain and managed to flip itself into the central static K1. I found it upside down and very dead this morning its back was very abraided due to its size and restriction of pipe as its 12 years old this month and weighs about one and a half pounds, just two left now!
We arrived early to take the dogs for a walk up the old railway track (now a designated walk made famous by Julia Bradbury on Coast) that runs from Dolgellau to Barmouth. We walked toward Barmouth and heard a cuckoo in the wooded hills over toward the RSPB bird sanctuary at Arthog, first one heard this year and I've not heard one for some time. Its a very distinctive sound that just about everyone knows yet its quite cerebral in its mystery, a bird that very few people have ever seen yet everyone knows its unique call.
Very interesting exhibition on in Dolgellau we saw over the Bank Holiday weekend; on the Sunday afternoon, a very detailed working scale model of the (old spelling) Dolgelly Railway Station put on by Liverpool Model Railway Club; just fascinating to any steam railway enthusiast as Cyn and I, not forgetting my sister in laws husband who first discovered where it was on.
We have been on several excursions with them on old trains, best so far was Crewe/Dartmouth and back last August Bank Holiday with a Red Arrows air display and RAF fly past at Dartmouth.
We are travelling the Settle Carlisle section by steam train in a fortnights time. Trip is by train from Shrewsbury to Settle, old steam train Settle to Carlisle stopping at Appleby(famous for its horse fairs) then Carlisle back to Shrewsbury by conventional train. Looking forward to that I can tell you.
One sad note, one of my three remaining Rudd swam up the four inch pipe of my bottom drain and managed to flip itself into the central static K1. I found it upside down and very dead this morning its back was very abraided due to its size and restriction of pipe as its 12 years old this month and weighs about one and a half pounds, just two left now!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Sequel to hearing the cuckoo at Penmaenpool was early yesterday morning I went fly fishing up to Graiglwyd Springs Penmaenmawr and a cuckoo called for about a half hour in a tree at the back of the lake while I fished. Must have been a good omen because my fishing companion Frank had his best day there yet, I had four out up to 4lb so not too bad for me either. Took the dogs for a run out to Colwyn Bay this morning and saw all the now redundant pipework chopped up and laid out on the newly imported beach there.Still lots of work going on and the entire beach and access area's still fenced off but starting to look good
220,000 cubic metres of sand was pumped onto the shore from a huge sand dredger as part of the new sea defences, very impressive I must say. Theres an information hut open to public in front of the old closed pier that shows all the stages of the new beach and installation of sea defence work to anyone interested.
Found a dog friendly cafe in Rhos On Sea today that serves the best bacon butty for miles, its the blue tea shop next door (to the right of) the Cayley Arms pub, four dog owners and their mutts in there this morning so its popular. Even more popular is the Tan Lan Bakery shop just around the corner selling without a doubt the best bread in Conwy, awsome cake selection too.
220,000 cubic metres of sand was pumped onto the shore from a huge sand dredger as part of the new sea defences, very impressive I must say. Theres an information hut open to public in front of the old closed pier that shows all the stages of the new beach and installation of sea defence work to anyone interested.
Found a dog friendly cafe in Rhos On Sea today that serves the best bacon butty for miles, its the blue tea shop next door (to the right of) the Cayley Arms pub, four dog owners and their mutts in there this morning so its popular. Even more popular is the Tan Lan Bakery shop just around the corner selling without a doubt the best bread in Conwy, awsome cake selection too.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Can't you tell my fruit is ripening! the squirrels have been popping in occasionally over last few weeks but they turned up mob handed checking my strawberries and cherries out this morning; five of them trying to strip unripe cherries already, unwise move with 5 free roaming dogs about in two gardens, next door have two Border Collies that can move like lightning! Talking of which 
Anyone dodging the hailstones this afternoon? some thunderstorm we had about three oclock, just fed my fish and heard them behind me bouncing off the polycarbonate roof of my greenhouse which is were I ended up. It was deafening for a few minutes then the sun came out again just like the end of Disney's Fantasia.
Anyone dodging the hailstones this afternoon? some thunderstorm we had about three oclock, just fed my fish and heard them behind me bouncing off the polycarbonate roof of my greenhouse which is were I ended up. It was deafening for a few minutes then the sun came out again just like the end of Disney's Fantasia.