Excellent pictures of South Stack Colin, scary place to be on a windy day though.
Coincidence you being on Anglesey Colin but I was fly fishing up above Penmaenmawr yesterday with Nigel and looking down on Anglesey, in particular Puffin Island, due a visit there soon to see the nesting birds I hope.
A beautiful sunny day yesterday but just too bright for good fly fishing, just one decent two pound rainbow in 6 hours fishing, still, its the day out in such stunning scenic mountain views that counts!
My frogspawn is all hatched out and still the newts are scarse, strange phenomenum this year?
Spring is nearly here!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Forgot to mention on the subject of bird spotting, I saw my first swallow this year, yesterday while fishing, skimming across the lake taking advantage of a good hatch of chironimid midges, swarms of them, fortunately the none biting variety!
I also saw my first dragonfly this morning, a large brown chaser female darting after the flies hatching around my koi pond.
Yesterday morning as I approached Penmaenmawr I saw snow still on the top of Tal-y-Fan!
Winter apparently still not lost its grip up there on the Carneddau yet.
I also saw my first dragonfly this morning, a large brown chaser female darting after the flies hatching around my koi pond.
Yesterday morning as I approached Penmaenmawr I saw snow still on the top of Tal-y-Fan!
Winter apparently still not lost its grip up there on the Carneddau yet.
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roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Have I discovered a new variety of Bird, the bearded jackdaw?
Unfortunately not, it's just the local jackdaw population collecting horse hair to line their nests. The ponies don't seem to mind the birds attention and stand quite still whilst munching on their breakfast of haylage (A type of moist bagged hay suitable for feeding to horses and ponies).
- Bearded Jackdaw.jpg (128.02 KiB) Viewed 12706 times
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Excellent photo Colin, I actually like the smell of haylage, I'm sure its caused by the molasses they put in it.
The ponies coat looks like it could do with a good session with a curry comb.
Or, a large flock of jackdaws!
We went to a talk last night in Bodfari given by the resident architect for Chester Zoo.
Accompanying the video show were lots of interesting facts about the on-going development of the largest zoo in Europe that's rapidly growing even bigger and better by all accounts, and with some eye-watering amounts of money spent in making it more attractive to the public.
Yet another frosty night last night with more to follow tonight.
I've been getting my gardeners fleece out regularly this last fortnight to cover the fruit trees over at night as my plums and cherries come into blossom.
The ponies coat looks like it could do with a good session with a curry comb.
Or, a large flock of jackdaws!
We went to a talk last night in Bodfari given by the resident architect for Chester Zoo.
Accompanying the video show were lots of interesting facts about the on-going development of the largest zoo in Europe that's rapidly growing even bigger and better by all accounts, and with some eye-watering amounts of money spent in making it more attractive to the public.
Yet another frosty night last night with more to follow tonight.
I've been getting my gardeners fleece out regularly this last fortnight to cover the fruit trees over at night as my plums and cherries come into blossom.
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Very sad to report that a week or so after taking the Jackdaw photo we had to have the mare shown being plucked by them put down.
She was an Icelandic horse aged around 30, and was originally imported into this country from Iceland by an Icelandic doctor working in Anglesey. She had been a bit unsteady on her feet recently and after she fell and failed to get back to her feet my sister-in-law called out the the Vet and it was decided to end her struggles.
The local knackerman was called upon to dispose of the carcass and, because the horse had been put down by lethal injection, she couldn't go as animal feed and it's cost £119 for the disposal.
She was an Icelandic horse aged around 30, and was originally imported into this country from Iceland by an Icelandic doctor working in Anglesey. She had been a bit unsteady on her feet recently and after she fell and failed to get back to her feet my sister-in-law called out the the Vet and it was decided to end her struggles.
The local knackerman was called upon to dispose of the carcass and, because the horse had been put down by lethal injection, she couldn't go as animal feed and it's cost £119 for the disposal.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
That really is sad news Colin, our sympathies to your sister-in-law. Trouble is, as animal lovers you get so attached to them over the years, that at the end, when it comes to letting go it is very difficult to do so and quite distressing and traumatic to make that final fateful decision that will end their life.
Only an animal lover would appreciate what you go through when you have to discharge your duties in this way, it is after all a family bereavement of a loved one!
On a different subject.
"Ne'er cast a clout till May be out"
The above quote of course refers to the May flower or hawthorn and not the month!
How true that's been this last freezing cold month, with six nights of frost in April!
We spent last Bank Holiday weekend in South Wales at Aberavon in a hotel that fronts onto the beach for our North Wales/South Wales family re-union.
However it would have been a brave soul that ventured onto the beach any day from Thursday when we arrived to the Monday when we left.
We enjoyed howling gale force winds and almost constant rain, i.e. typical bank holiday weather!
It relented temporarily on the Saturday when we went to Cardiff for the two back to back rugby matches (Judgement Day) at the Millennium Stadium between Dragons v Scarlets and Blues v Ospreys.
Ourselves, my in-laws or very few hotel guests dared put a foot on the shore at Aberavon so bad was the weather yet it is a really lovely beach.
We could see from our hotel room that it would only be good for surfing judging from the size of the rollers roaring in, that is; if you could see through the stinging horizontal hailstones and rain!
Monday we set off back home in driving sleety rain up through the Brecon's, the wind and rain finally eased off as we stopped at the Tesco's in Newtown (the only place we found open on the Bank Holiday!) for a coffee break.
As we approached Welshpool the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and joy oh joy!
It's stayed out since!
I discovered on my return that a heron has been busy and eaten all the frogs and tadpoles from my wildlife pond, it's cleared everything.
I went out Tuesday morning at seven am to open the greenhouse doors and disturbed it.
On closer inspection there was nothing left moving around the pond,
I suppose the grey bugger came back on the off chance to check he'd missed anything.
Only an animal lover would appreciate what you go through when you have to discharge your duties in this way, it is after all a family bereavement of a loved one!
On a different subject.
"Ne'er cast a clout till May be out"
The above quote of course refers to the May flower or hawthorn and not the month!
How true that's been this last freezing cold month, with six nights of frost in April!
We spent last Bank Holiday weekend in South Wales at Aberavon in a hotel that fronts onto the beach for our North Wales/South Wales family re-union.
However it would have been a brave soul that ventured onto the beach any day from Thursday when we arrived to the Monday when we left.
We enjoyed howling gale force winds and almost constant rain, i.e. typical bank holiday weather!
It relented temporarily on the Saturday when we went to Cardiff for the two back to back rugby matches (Judgement Day) at the Millennium Stadium between Dragons v Scarlets and Blues v Ospreys.
Ourselves, my in-laws or very few hotel guests dared put a foot on the shore at Aberavon so bad was the weather yet it is a really lovely beach.
We could see from our hotel room that it would only be good for surfing judging from the size of the rollers roaring in, that is; if you could see through the stinging horizontal hailstones and rain!
Monday we set off back home in driving sleety rain up through the Brecon's, the wind and rain finally eased off as we stopped at the Tesco's in Newtown (the only place we found open on the Bank Holiday!) for a coffee break.
As we approached Welshpool the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and joy oh joy!
It's stayed out since!
I discovered on my return that a heron has been busy and eaten all the frogs and tadpoles from my wildlife pond, it's cleared everything.
I went out Tuesday morning at seven am to open the greenhouse doors and disturbed it.
On closer inspection there was nothing left moving around the pond,
I suppose the grey bugger came back on the off chance to check he'd missed anything.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
After Nigel and I removed the water lily tub from my pond some months ago I noticed I was losing water at quite a rate, about ten gallons a week and assumed we had managed to puncture the liner.
I decided to leave the repair until it got warmer.
I started to tidy up my veg filter a few weeks ago and found the source of the bad leak!
I discovered to my relief that it wasn't the liner but the veg filters single retaining wall at the back of the main pond that had subsided due to a minor leak and this had gradually worsened , no doubt through this last very wet winter.
The shrubs growing close by had then pushed roots though gap between capping stone and wall thus increasing volume of leak.
Today I have put a double concrete base in some 12" wide right around veg filter and when its set I will replace the capping stones on external tile cement instead of mortar, that will stop the roots invasion.
One pleasant surprise was when I bypassed the veg filter I found hundreds of newly hatched tiny toad tadpoles amongst watercress that are now trapped in a static pond that is the veg filter.
They would have been washed out into main pond and been eaten by now but for bypass, very lucky indeed!
They are now fed on a daily basis along with the frog tadpoles in the overflow pond, some of these are developing back legs so they wont be around for much longer.
Had a count of the bird boxes occupied today, three by Bluetits, one by a Great Tit and one by Sparrows that are feeding young.
One Sparrow box has dried grass sticking out, usually down to Sparrow activity but no sign of occupancy yet!
I decided to leave the repair until it got warmer.
I started to tidy up my veg filter a few weeks ago and found the source of the bad leak!
I discovered to my relief that it wasn't the liner but the veg filters single retaining wall at the back of the main pond that had subsided due to a minor leak and this had gradually worsened , no doubt through this last very wet winter.
The shrubs growing close by had then pushed roots though gap between capping stone and wall thus increasing volume of leak.
Today I have put a double concrete base in some 12" wide right around veg filter and when its set I will replace the capping stones on external tile cement instead of mortar, that will stop the roots invasion.
One pleasant surprise was when I bypassed the veg filter I found hundreds of newly hatched tiny toad tadpoles amongst watercress that are now trapped in a static pond that is the veg filter.
They would have been washed out into main pond and been eaten by now but for bypass, very lucky indeed!
They are now fed on a daily basis along with the frog tadpoles in the overflow pond, some of these are developing back legs so they wont be around for much longer.
Had a count of the bird boxes occupied today, three by Bluetits, one by a Great Tit and one by Sparrows that are feeding young.
One Sparrow box has dried grass sticking out, usually down to Sparrow activity but no sign of occupancy yet!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Spring is sprung; de grass is rizz,
I wonders where de boidies is?
Jimmie 'Schnozzle' Durante
I mentioned on here back in April there was a distinct lack of newts about this Spring, the bonus is a positive mass of tadpoles both toad and frog, the exception being the cleared out wildlife pond due to the Heron.
Yesterday morning I found a female Great Crested Newt swimming in my koi pond, the second this year, very unusual to see them in bright daylight though?
This could be the reason for the disappearance of the much smaller Palmate and Smooth newts, they're being eaten by their big cousins!
I netted the Great Crested newt out and discovered the tip of its tail freshly bitten off, no doubt it had just experienced a close encounter with one of my ever voracious Rudd.
I sprayed its wound with Povidone Iodine plus wound sealant and put it in the wildlife pond to recover.
Next task on the pond agenda is a visit from King Kenny the plum gourmet with his trusty microscope (with a new bulb!) for a check up scrape.
I wonders where de boidies is?
Jimmie 'Schnozzle' Durante
I mentioned on here back in April there was a distinct lack of newts about this Spring, the bonus is a positive mass of tadpoles both toad and frog, the exception being the cleared out wildlife pond due to the Heron.
Yesterday morning I found a female Great Crested Newt swimming in my koi pond, the second this year, very unusual to see them in bright daylight though?
This could be the reason for the disappearance of the much smaller Palmate and Smooth newts, they're being eaten by their big cousins!
I netted the Great Crested newt out and discovered the tip of its tail freshly bitten off, no doubt it had just experienced a close encounter with one of my ever voracious Rudd.
I sprayed its wound with Povidone Iodine plus wound sealant and put it in the wildlife pond to recover.
Next task on the pond agenda is a visit from King Kenny the plum gourmet with his trusty microscope (with a new bulb!) for a check up scrape.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Country Church
The church stands, built from the river stone,
Brittle with light, as though a breath could shatter
Its slender frame, or spill the limpid water,
Quiet as sunlight, cupped within the bone.
It stands yet. But though the flowers break
In delicate waves round the limbs the river fashioned
With so smooth care, no friendly God has cautioned
The brimming tides of fescue for its sake.
R.S.Thomas
I'm sure Thomas wrote this poem about a small abandoned chapel on the Llyn Peninsula in the 60's
Prior to my concreting last Saturday I had to move a tangled mass of vegetation that had taken over the area behind my veg filter.
Over the years the bushes and weeds have proliferated due to the amount of compost I put in there.
There were lush growths of dock, nettles and Lamium to rip out and the incredibly invasive aquatic rush that I bought some years ago when we (the Koi club) went by mini- bus to the East of England Koi show.
One of those "I thought it was a good idea at the time" moments you come to regret as it spread rapidly and outgrew everything around it thanks to the continuous leak.
On clearing the area I re-discovered the large lump of oak that Kevin the toad used to live under at the back of the veg filter and found a huge toad had moved in there, certainly the biggest I've seen so far this year.
I relocated it near to where it was on Monday after the concrete had set and I peeked under this morning, its moved back in! it is a des. res. for a toad.
I had a thought when I saw the size of this toad, has it been helping the Crested newts to eat the small newts I wonder?
They certainly will eat anything live they can get in their mouths, even those huge orange slugs Ugh!
The church stands, built from the river stone,
Brittle with light, as though a breath could shatter
Its slender frame, or spill the limpid water,
Quiet as sunlight, cupped within the bone.
It stands yet. But though the flowers break
In delicate waves round the limbs the river fashioned
With so smooth care, no friendly God has cautioned
The brimming tides of fescue for its sake.
R.S.Thomas
I'm sure Thomas wrote this poem about a small abandoned chapel on the Llyn Peninsula in the 60's
Prior to my concreting last Saturday I had to move a tangled mass of vegetation that had taken over the area behind my veg filter.
Over the years the bushes and weeds have proliferated due to the amount of compost I put in there.
There were lush growths of dock, nettles and Lamium to rip out and the incredibly invasive aquatic rush that I bought some years ago when we (the Koi club) went by mini- bus to the East of England Koi show.
One of those "I thought it was a good idea at the time" moments you come to regret as it spread rapidly and outgrew everything around it thanks to the continuous leak.
On clearing the area I re-discovered the large lump of oak that Kevin the toad used to live under at the back of the veg filter and found a huge toad had moved in there, certainly the biggest I've seen so far this year.
I relocated it near to where it was on Monday after the concrete had set and I peeked under this morning, its moved back in! it is a des. res. for a toad.
I had a thought when I saw the size of this toad, has it been helping the Crested newts to eat the small newts I wonder?
They certainly will eat anything live they can get in their mouths, even those huge orange slugs Ugh!
Re: Spring is nearly here!
A note of interest that may be useful to you Koi keepers out there is I re-acquainted myself this week with a product that is extremely useful;
Gold Label pond liner sealant, comes in 290ml tubes, it is amazing stuff, it will even set under water.
Not cheap, but it certainly does the job, in this case re-attaching the top of the butyl pond liner to the new concrete retaining wall and sealing holes where brass screws had been fitted below waterline.
I paid £28.00 including postage for two tubes, normally £17.00 each in most places, but, I saw one tube of same product today for £20.00 plus postage on Amazon; ----------you pays your money!
Having replaced the single wall with a double, I have replaced original single capping stones with 12"x24" capping to match existing ones and this time used grey frost proof exterior tile cement instead of traditional mortar.
It goes off pretty quick though so you have to be careful you don't mix too much at a time.
While working round there I checked the big toad under the oak log and she is still in residence, I presume it's a 'she' because of the sheer size, I also discovered today three small newts under a solitary flagstone at the back of my greenhouse, its always damp there as it gets all the discharged water when the water butt overflows, hence the flagstone/stepping stone in place where it is.
Our local resident cock pheasant recently nicknamed Cassidy, (Hopalong to all you old Western movie fans) continues to amaze us with his continued survival despite his obvious handicap.
Every morning up to eight am and every evening around seven pm he arrives.
He has been visiting our garden since about November last year but in late March he stopped coming, so we assumed he had been killed and eaten or, 'Gone a courtin.'
He re-appeared about five or six weeks ago looking decidedly worse for wear, with feathers missing, tail feathers damaged and hardly able to walk, this due to a damaged leg or foot, possibly by a dog, a fox, or, fighting with another cock pheasant, there's plenty about judging by their 'cock cock' courting calls all day.
He can fly ok and is now getting slightly better at walking each day but he has to jump up on to a low fence for take off to fly up into the woods.
He now has food put out specifically for him every day, he deserves it after what the poor beggar has been through; and still is!
Gold Label pond liner sealant, comes in 290ml tubes, it is amazing stuff, it will even set under water.
Not cheap, but it certainly does the job, in this case re-attaching the top of the butyl pond liner to the new concrete retaining wall and sealing holes where brass screws had been fitted below waterline.
I paid £28.00 including postage for two tubes, normally £17.00 each in most places, but, I saw one tube of same product today for £20.00 plus postage on Amazon; ----------you pays your money!
Having replaced the single wall with a double, I have replaced original single capping stones with 12"x24" capping to match existing ones and this time used grey frost proof exterior tile cement instead of traditional mortar.
It goes off pretty quick though so you have to be careful you don't mix too much at a time.
While working round there I checked the big toad under the oak log and she is still in residence, I presume it's a 'she' because of the sheer size, I also discovered today three small newts under a solitary flagstone at the back of my greenhouse, its always damp there as it gets all the discharged water when the water butt overflows, hence the flagstone/stepping stone in place where it is.
Our local resident cock pheasant recently nicknamed Cassidy, (Hopalong to all you old Western movie fans) continues to amaze us with his continued survival despite his obvious handicap.
Every morning up to eight am and every evening around seven pm he arrives.
He has been visiting our garden since about November last year but in late March he stopped coming, so we assumed he had been killed and eaten or, 'Gone a courtin.'
He re-appeared about five or six weeks ago looking decidedly worse for wear, with feathers missing, tail feathers damaged and hardly able to walk, this due to a damaged leg or foot, possibly by a dog, a fox, or, fighting with another cock pheasant, there's plenty about judging by their 'cock cock' courting calls all day.
He can fly ok and is now getting slightly better at walking each day but he has to jump up on to a low fence for take off to fly up into the woods.
He now has food put out specifically for him every day, he deserves it after what the poor beggar has been through; and still is!