Wildlife

[MBH]

Probably too old to have it this long but I don't care. It is a bit alarming when you occasionally get a wolf whistle from BEHIND from a white van man...then you find yourself wondering if they got to the other side and felt like crashing the van once they'd seen the boat race...

Behave yourself or you and I are goin to have 'words'

[Bunnylump]

My brother has an infestation of glis glis. They are eating all his fruit!!

[MBH]

OK - that message seriously worried me, and I wan't sure what body part to check for infestation

[Bunnylump]

I don't think even HE would put up with an infestation of these down his trousers...


I helpfully suggested he should try this recipe...
2 dormice per person
500g forcemeat (made from sausagemeat, 100g breadcrumbs and dormouse meat trimmings)
50g chopped nuts 80g laser (or 6 garlic cloves)
50ml broth (or ½ chicken stock cube dissolved in 50ml boiling water)
olive oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Method: Gut and skin the dormouse. Finely chop any trimmings and reserve. Add any meat trimmings to the forcemeat. Meanwhile add the nuts, laser (or garlic cloves) and pepper to a mortar and use a pestle to create a smooth paste. Add the chopped meat to this and mix thoroughly. Pour in a little of the broth and a drizzle of olive oil on this and mix well. Use this meat mixture to stuff the dormouse. The dormice can be prepared by either roasting in an oven at 180°C for 20–25 minutes or by boiling in broth for 30–40 minutes. Decorate the narrow (head) end with currants for eyes and chives for whiskers to make them look more mouse-like.

[Wulfruna]

aaaahhhhh - doesn't he look sweet?
Though don't forget that the Mad Hatter and March Hare put him in the teapot - so maybe they had the right idea

[Bunnylump]

We had a green woodpecker on our lawn today!

[Scurra]

An unexpected discovery in the shrubbery. I know it's hardly a novelty, but it was for me...

[Wulfruna]

Aaaah - he's cute! Wonder where he came from?

[Bunnylump]

Did you try kissing it to see if it turned into a princess??

[LAT]

That's exactly what I was wondering!

Nice pic!

[Bunnylump]

Seriously, though, is that a frog or a toad? And how can you tell the difference? It's got a very particular pattern on its legs, hasn't it? Anyone got any ideas for identification?

We get frogs in our garden from Ethel next door's pond. I wish they wouldn't come in here, actually, because the cat likes to catch them, and they make a horrible screaming noise (yes, surprising, isn't it?) when she catches them. Also, it's not nice when they get lawn mowered. I's funny in the spring because our bedroom is at the back of the house, and when they are all mating in the pond, they make a REALLY loud noise, which sometimes keeps us awake at night - the water "boils" with frog on frog activity and they make lots of croaking noise while they are at it!!

[clvrlad]

Seriously, though, is that a frog or a toad?

any excuse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfjRuaHkDU

[Wulfruna]

typical Alan Davies...

But yes, my first instinct was that it was a toad, as they are often brown and tend also to be more placid than frog, which tend to leap away from you when you approach them. And yes, the normal understanding is that they have a drier skin that frogs - i.e not so slimy....

We also used to have fun when we had a garden with a pond watching the frenzied activity in the spring with the water heaving with them. They also often got entangled in threesomes, which was disconcerting and occasionally ended in fatalities - but better not go into that in further details or I'll be reported for internet pornography

[MBH]

Walking Maisie yesterday I had my first sight of 2 seals on the far banks of the river Tyne. Too far to see clearly but you could see their trail where they had obviously come onto the bank at high tide, then when the water went down again they worked their way back to the edge.

Looked flaming COLD to me, resting with your chest in the Tyne

[giraffe]

"There's a massive bird on the roof over there. I think it's a flamingo." - Fernando this morning on seeing a heron.

[Wulfruna]

Well I think that's not such a bad guess! I remember being puzzled when I first saw a full-sized heron. Until then I had thought they were quite small white wading birds I had seen near the coast - which I now know to be egrets, but had been told were herons. Herons are much more impressive!

[Bunnylump]

"There's a massive bird on the roof over there. I think it's a flamingo." - Fernando this morning on seeing a heron.

I must say this comment totally cracked Donald and me up earlier.

[giraffe]

He then decided it was an ostrich, but I think he was just being silly at that point.

[Bunnylump]

This may seem a little weird in this thread...but you'll see why eventually!
Tonight we went to the SnoreBins firework display (it's run by the cathedral but is quite a big affair, they let off spectacular fireworks across from the lake which are all reflected in its surface. There were thousands of people packed into the park to watch.

Anyway, back to the subject. They had a DJ who was announcing how long it would be before the fireworks started, but who suddenly said (just before they were due to start)

"I'm really sorry, but there has had to be a delay to the start. A swan has decided to sit on some of the fireworks. We're just waving a big stick around!"

[Bunnylump]

I do love this time of year, with the light evenings. I've only just come in from sitting outside - early evening we were treated to aerial displays by the swifts which nest in next door's roof (shhh, don't tell them!) then we had fox cubs careering about, then the bats came out and started swooping above our heads! What a nice way to relax in the evening!