Surprised today to see the Dippers have taken over the nest site of the Grey wagtails under the footbridge at St Asaph. They were in and out carrying nesting material and busy diving in off the concrete apron, no doubt taking advantage of the much lower river levels.
On Saturday afternoon I noticed two honey bees working on my peach trees in the greenhouse which are a mass of blossom this last week, come Sunday there were at least 20 including a large bumble bee.
They have come back more and more each day since, this morning about 11.00 am it was literally a hive of activity as a procession of honey bees too'ed and fro'ed through the open greenhouse doors. Should get a good crop this year at this rate.
I still continue to remove frogs from my Nexus, this morning just 4, moved on to the wildlife pond to join the others breeding there, must be about 40 lots laid so far and mounting!
Spring is nearly here!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven-
All's right with the world!
Robert Browning
That time of year again when the sparrows are battling with the bluetits over the nest boxes, this is despite the fact that the sparrows cannot squeeze through the deliberately sized 28mm holes in the bluetits boxes!
I made two lots of 4 compartment, communal nest boxes for the sparrows which one pair have only used three times in last five years!
The awkward little beggars prefer to peck the hole wider on the bluetits boxes.
Two springs ago a pair of sparrows moved in on a bluetits nest box and despite strenuous efforts from the bluetits, evicted them and built a new nest over the bluetits ten eggs!
Such is nature, survival of the fittest, or, strongest!
I've doubled up the thickness of nest box entrance on some of the bluetits nest boxes to make it far more difficult for sparrows.
Strange thing this year but the newts seem to be making a late entrance in eating the frog tadpoles?
I've only seen one so far and the first laid spawn is now hatched and hundreds of tiny tadpoles are covering the flattened out jelly feeding on it, the perfect diner to a newt!
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven-
All's right with the world!
Robert Browning
That time of year again when the sparrows are battling with the bluetits over the nest boxes, this is despite the fact that the sparrows cannot squeeze through the deliberately sized 28mm holes in the bluetits boxes!
I made two lots of 4 compartment, communal nest boxes for the sparrows which one pair have only used three times in last five years!
The awkward little beggars prefer to peck the hole wider on the bluetits boxes.
Two springs ago a pair of sparrows moved in on a bluetits nest box and despite strenuous efforts from the bluetits, evicted them and built a new nest over the bluetits ten eggs!
Such is nature, survival of the fittest, or, strongest!
I've doubled up the thickness of nest box entrance on some of the bluetits nest boxes to make it far more difficult for sparrows.
Strange thing this year but the newts seem to be making a late entrance in eating the frog tadpoles?
I've only seen one so far and the first laid spawn is now hatched and hundreds of tiny tadpoles are covering the flattened out jelly feeding on it, the perfect diner to a newt!
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Now it's official, spring is finally here. The spring solstice started on March 20th 2016 at 04:30 GMT.
Also don't forget to change your clocks this coming weekend, British Summer Time starts on Sunday 27th at 01.00 when the clocks 'spring' forward by an hour. I think this means that we'll have an hour less in bed on Sunday morning and also it'll be light until around 8.00 PM.
Also don't forget to change your clocks this coming weekend, British Summer Time starts on Sunday 27th at 01.00 when the clocks 'spring' forward by an hour. I think this means that we'll have an hour less in bed on Sunday morning and also it'll be light until around 8.00 PM.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
SPRING
Spring is not the best of seasons
Colds and flu are two good reasons
Wind and rain and other sorrow
Warm today and cold tomorrow.
Anon.
Good to know it'll be light until 8.00PM Colin, the gardeners list of chores is about full this time of year when all the jobs you've put off until now because of the cold dark days are now screaming out to be done.
I've been stuck into lots of pruning recently in our garden as trees hedges and shrubs start to burst into growth and just cannot be delayed any longer.
I no longer prune in the winter dormancy period as the winters we have had over last few years have been too wet and as a result winter pruning can (and does) introduce debilitating scab and canker, particularly to apples and pears.
I either summer prune in July or in spring when growth starts, usually late Feb; early March.
I was fly fishing up on Llandegla moor at Llyn Cyfynwy on Friday with Nigel and just after 11.00AM we had the weird experience of thick cold fog suddenly closing in so dense we couldn't see the ends of our fly lines fifty feet out.
It persisted until about 1.30PM but we (Nigel) managed to catch a salmon or a trout?, difficult to tell what it was it was so silvery but a beautifully conditioned fish nonetheless.
Just about surreal standing up there on the top of the moors in thick fog hearing a Skylark singing above our heads and a Curlews bubbling call off in the distant hills, then a Lapwings plaintive 'pee-wit pee-wit at the back of us and fairly close. It was also a strange dis-orienting feeling casting blind into the fog but we certainly enjoyed the experience, especially when a watery sun partly burned the fog away just after 1.30PM then a breeze sprang up and cleared the fog and put a strong ripple on the lake.
Just in time for going home!
Spring is not the best of seasons
Colds and flu are two good reasons
Wind and rain and other sorrow
Warm today and cold tomorrow.
Anon.
Good to know it'll be light until 8.00PM Colin, the gardeners list of chores is about full this time of year when all the jobs you've put off until now because of the cold dark days are now screaming out to be done.
I've been stuck into lots of pruning recently in our garden as trees hedges and shrubs start to burst into growth and just cannot be delayed any longer.
I no longer prune in the winter dormancy period as the winters we have had over last few years have been too wet and as a result winter pruning can (and does) introduce debilitating scab and canker, particularly to apples and pears.
I either summer prune in July or in spring when growth starts, usually late Feb; early March.
I was fly fishing up on Llandegla moor at Llyn Cyfynwy on Friday with Nigel and just after 11.00AM we had the weird experience of thick cold fog suddenly closing in so dense we couldn't see the ends of our fly lines fifty feet out.
It persisted until about 1.30PM but we (Nigel) managed to catch a salmon or a trout?, difficult to tell what it was it was so silvery but a beautifully conditioned fish nonetheless.
Just about surreal standing up there on the top of the moors in thick fog hearing a Skylark singing above our heads and a Curlews bubbling call off in the distant hills, then a Lapwings plaintive 'pee-wit pee-wit at the back of us and fairly close. It was also a strange dis-orienting feeling casting blind into the fog but we certainly enjoyed the experience, especially when a watery sun partly burned the fog away just after 1.30PM then a breeze sprang up and cleared the fog and put a strong ripple on the lake.
Just in time for going home!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Spring!
First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus-
Crocus.
Lilja Rogers.
The frogs have about 'done their thing' it would seem for this year as no new frogspawn has appeared for a week, yet they still manage to get into the Nexus K1, two small ones fished out yesterday.
The newts are still noticeable by their absence, most I've seen so far is three small newts in overflow pond three days ago.
This is where this year's first spawn was laid.
Some of the newly hatched tadpoles are getting their independence, they're starting to move around the pond bottom away from the flattened out spawn that's rapidly disappearing into the pond bottom silt.
The Dippers that have taken over the Wagtails nest site under the footbridge in St Asaph have babies!
We heard them chirping yesterday as the parents went in with food, that's really early for a brood, just hope the river levels keep down around what they are at present so they can be fed.
The sunny weather the last few weeks coinciding with my now crystal clear water have brought the inevitable consequences; BLANKETWEED lots of it, hanging in lazily moving streamers from the pond sides and showing dark green patches on the pond bottom.
Looking on the positive side; it extracts nitrogen from the water!
First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus-
Crocus.
Lilja Rogers.
The frogs have about 'done their thing' it would seem for this year as no new frogspawn has appeared for a week, yet they still manage to get into the Nexus K1, two small ones fished out yesterday.
The newts are still noticeable by their absence, most I've seen so far is three small newts in overflow pond three days ago.
This is where this year's first spawn was laid.
Some of the newly hatched tadpoles are getting their independence, they're starting to move around the pond bottom away from the flattened out spawn that's rapidly disappearing into the pond bottom silt.
The Dippers that have taken over the Wagtails nest site under the footbridge in St Asaph have babies!
We heard them chirping yesterday as the parents went in with food, that's really early for a brood, just hope the river levels keep down around what they are at present so they can be fed.
The sunny weather the last few weeks coinciding with my now crystal clear water have brought the inevitable consequences; BLANKETWEED lots of it, hanging in lazily moving streamers from the pond sides and showing dark green patches on the pond bottom.
Looking on the positive side; it extracts nitrogen from the water!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
Charles Dickens-
Great Expectations
Well the frogs have proved they 'haven't done their thing' yet as more frogspawn was laid this last few days and its another three more frogs I've removed from Nexus this morning.
The original spawn has hatched into free swimming tadpoles exploring the small overflow pond yet the wildlife pond down the garden has yet more new spawn laid today!
A hedgehog managed to trap itself inside the bird ground feeder last night, it would seem it squeezed under but not back!
It looks like our resident male hedgehog, he has now got quite tame apparently as he never curled up when we lifted him out early this morning.
The dogs never barked at him but just sniffed furiously and wagged their tails, they must be getting used to the sight of hedgehogs, or the smell!
He must have been very hungry as he immediately got stuck into a dish of hedgehog food we gave him, unperturbed by our presence, or our dogs!
Standard procedure is to put him in a covered box with plenty of food and water in shed and release him tonight at dusk.
We can now start to leave food out for them although judging by the size of the jobbies on our back lawn just recently, they seem to be well fed!
Charles Dickens-
Great Expectations
Well the frogs have proved they 'haven't done their thing' yet as more frogspawn was laid this last few days and its another three more frogs I've removed from Nexus this morning.
The original spawn has hatched into free swimming tadpoles exploring the small overflow pond yet the wildlife pond down the garden has yet more new spawn laid today!
A hedgehog managed to trap itself inside the bird ground feeder last night, it would seem it squeezed under but not back!
It looks like our resident male hedgehog, he has now got quite tame apparently as he never curled up when we lifted him out early this morning.
The dogs never barked at him but just sniffed furiously and wagged their tails, they must be getting used to the sight of hedgehogs, or the smell!
He must have been very hungry as he immediately got stuck into a dish of hedgehog food we gave him, unperturbed by our presence, or our dogs!
Standard procedure is to put him in a covered box with plenty of food and water in shed and release him tonight at dusk.
We can now start to leave food out for them although judging by the size of the jobbies on our back lawn just recently, they seem to be well fed!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
N'er cast a clout till May be out!
How very true the above quote; for Good Friday saw us sitting out in the back garden at 10.00 am with a friend over from Merseyside enjoying the warm sunshine of a lovely spring day.
Yesterday, we met up for a meal and a family get-together chat with my in laws at Dolgellau, but just before we met up we walked the dogs along the old disused railway track on the Marian in a bitterly cold wind that felt it was straight down from Cadair Idris ( or the Arctic!)
On the way home we saw the Arrans were snow capped, again!
The last time we came past they were snow capped but that was in the dark in the winter.
How very true the above quote; for Good Friday saw us sitting out in the back garden at 10.00 am with a friend over from Merseyside enjoying the warm sunshine of a lovely spring day.
Yesterday, we met up for a meal and a family get-together chat with my in laws at Dolgellau, but just before we met up we walked the dogs along the old disused railway track on the Marian in a bitterly cold wind that felt it was straight down from Cadair Idris ( or the Arctic!)
On the way home we saw the Arrans were snow capped, again!
The last time we came past they were snow capped but that was in the dark in the winter.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Oh, to be in England
Now that Aprils there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the Elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
In England - now!
Home thoughts from abroad
by Robert Browning
As the frenzy of frogs diminishes the titillating toads take centre stage coupling up just about anywhere around pond and garden!
We are certainly well blessed with amphibian guests this year, I opened the greenhouse door on Monday morning and there's a mating couple of toads on the central path, I've fished several out of koi pond just about every day for last week and 'Kevin mark two' has croaked every day for last week in the same place beside veg filter waterfall that original Kevin occupied for several years, that is, until his death by hedgehog last year!
REMINDER, AGM TONIGHT FOLKS.
Now that Aprils there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the Elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
In England - now!
Home thoughts from abroad
by Robert Browning
As the frenzy of frogs diminishes the titillating toads take centre stage coupling up just about anywhere around pond and garden!
We are certainly well blessed with amphibian guests this year, I opened the greenhouse door on Monday morning and there's a mating couple of toads on the central path, I've fished several out of koi pond just about every day for last week and 'Kevin mark two' has croaked every day for last week in the same place beside veg filter waterfall that original Kevin occupied for several years, that is, until his death by hedgehog last year!
REMINDER, AGM TONIGHT FOLKS.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
The AGM went well, on Wednesday night, it was well attended and we now have another new member joined us , so a warm club welcome to Carl and Wendy.
Carl has had some acute pond water problems of late and sought help from us, he couldn't have been in better hands it turns out!
Our illustrious ' King Kenny' promptly went around to his house and sorted his problems out for him with scrapes for the microscope followed by a water test.
This is the very reason it makes perfect sense to belong to a Koi club! Your problems become our problems as there is a positive wealth of information within any club through its members.
You can own a library of books on Koi keeping and treating and if you have a computer you have literally thousands of worldwide internet advice sites, but--- they don't come around to your house and sort your problems out for you as soon as you get a problem, with a wealth of hands-on experience.
Also as a member of a Koi club, this comes with masses of free advice and practical help from years of hands-on experience at keeping and treating Koi from just about most other members!
I suppose I should mention in passing that at the AGM my raffle ticket was drawn first!
Dave, to his credit after an impromptu expletive when he saw the winners name, promptly offered me a bottle of wine, but, as I pointed out to Dave, I had just brought a bottle of wine to the meeting as a raffle prize.
I, almost reluctantly had to refuse the wine and chose the Sanke Koi instead.
We have had friends of ours as house guests this last few days over on holiday from Canada and they were very impressed with North Wales.
A trip to Snowden on Thursday was partly successful in that we parked at Pen-y-Pass car park in the Llanberis Pass and our guests set off up the miners path but the rain which had been a light drizzle became more persistent as they ascended.
They got within sight of the old copper mine workings at the start of Llyn Llydaw as the mist descended and they lost sight of Crib Goch!
That was enough incentive and they wisely turned back as a dozen or so young people caught up with them who had also turned back.
We meanwhile walked the dogs part way up the miners path and met them on their descent
We were all headed for the Youth Hostel café at Pen-y-Pass for a welcome coffee.
Coming out of the café we heard then saw the yellow Search and Rescue helicopter from Valley hovering over the Pyg Path on top of Crib Goch, obviously someone was in difficulty up there.
The Pyg Path is one of the most difficult paths up to Snowdon summit as parts are through jagged rock strewn scree beds, you have to see it to believe it, rough as a bears bum its been described as, so a twisted ankle up there is very bad news!
I first went up there and later on to Snowdon summit when I was twelve as a Boy Scout with my eldest brother Ken who was an avid mountaineer and Scout Leader then.
There were about fifteen of us scouts including three of my elder brothers, we camped by the old copper mine alongside Llyn Llydaw and we had to hump all our old fashioned heavy camping and cooking gear up there on our backs!
There was no café, or Youth Hostel or Joe Brown climbers shop at Pen-y-Pass then, just a bus stop and rough stone parking area as entrance to the miners path.
Carl has had some acute pond water problems of late and sought help from us, he couldn't have been in better hands it turns out!
Our illustrious ' King Kenny' promptly went around to his house and sorted his problems out for him with scrapes for the microscope followed by a water test.
This is the very reason it makes perfect sense to belong to a Koi club! Your problems become our problems as there is a positive wealth of information within any club through its members.
You can own a library of books on Koi keeping and treating and if you have a computer you have literally thousands of worldwide internet advice sites, but--- they don't come around to your house and sort your problems out for you as soon as you get a problem, with a wealth of hands-on experience.
Also as a member of a Koi club, this comes with masses of free advice and practical help from years of hands-on experience at keeping and treating Koi from just about most other members!
I suppose I should mention in passing that at the AGM my raffle ticket was drawn first!
Dave, to his credit after an impromptu expletive when he saw the winners name, promptly offered me a bottle of wine, but, as I pointed out to Dave, I had just brought a bottle of wine to the meeting as a raffle prize.
I, almost reluctantly had to refuse the wine and chose the Sanke Koi instead.
We have had friends of ours as house guests this last few days over on holiday from Canada and they were very impressed with North Wales.
A trip to Snowden on Thursday was partly successful in that we parked at Pen-y-Pass car park in the Llanberis Pass and our guests set off up the miners path but the rain which had been a light drizzle became more persistent as they ascended.
They got within sight of the old copper mine workings at the start of Llyn Llydaw as the mist descended and they lost sight of Crib Goch!
That was enough incentive and they wisely turned back as a dozen or so young people caught up with them who had also turned back.
We meanwhile walked the dogs part way up the miners path and met them on their descent
We were all headed for the Youth Hostel café at Pen-y-Pass for a welcome coffee.
Coming out of the café we heard then saw the yellow Search and Rescue helicopter from Valley hovering over the Pyg Path on top of Crib Goch, obviously someone was in difficulty up there.
The Pyg Path is one of the most difficult paths up to Snowdon summit as parts are through jagged rock strewn scree beds, you have to see it to believe it, rough as a bears bum its been described as, so a twisted ankle up there is very bad news!
I first went up there and later on to Snowdon summit when I was twelve as a Boy Scout with my eldest brother Ken who was an avid mountaineer and Scout Leader then.
There were about fifteen of us scouts including three of my elder brothers, we camped by the old copper mine alongside Llyn Llydaw and we had to hump all our old fashioned heavy camping and cooking gear up there on our backs!
There was no café, or Youth Hostel or Joe Brown climbers shop at Pen-y-Pass then, just a bus stop and rough stone parking area as entrance to the miners path.
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
I visited the RSPB reserve at South Stack in Anglesey today. It was an amazing sight to see all the guillemots perched on the cliffs.
I think the birds are only just starting to nest and I'll have to return in a few weeks time as it should be quite a sight to see all the hungry chicks being fed.
My frogspawn has all hatched and at the moment I have a load of small tadpoles. I've also got some of last years stragglers who never quite made it to the frog stage before the winter, most of these now have their back legs formed so it shouldn't be long before they leave the pond. No sign the newts yet although there's quite a bit of debris at the bottom of the pond so they may be hiding under there.
- South Stack Lighthouse.jpg (143.96 KiB) Viewed 13931 times
- Guillemot.jpg (253.78 KiB) Viewed 13931 times
My frogspawn has all hatched and at the moment I have a load of small tadpoles. I've also got some of last years stragglers who never quite made it to the frog stage before the winter, most of these now have their back legs formed so it shouldn't be long before they leave the pond. No sign the newts yet although there's quite a bit of debris at the bottom of the pond so they may be hiding under there.