WCMUT....what cheered me up today

Cobra said:
Blue sky? so you have it, I wondered where it went!
Its thick cloud and chilly wind down here, its been like that all day! :(
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Maybe conning us all and is just good at photoshopping blue skies in :D
 
Not too shabby a few miles inland, either!
 
Cobra said:
More of a chuckle really,
I was watching a couple of dozen Starlings probing my lawn for grubs.
Enter stage right, a House Sparrow, who proceeded to bully them for their catch.
She largely won too. I guess she had kids to feed.
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That's interesting..ie "a couple of dozen" The reason I picked up on it was that I'm aware that starlings are,actually, on the red list. It's been mentioned on here some time ago..probably in Talk Nature. Down 89% between 1967 to 2018. I almost posed about the 20 I counted that descended onto the back lawn on two occasions, two weeks ago. I was really pleased to see so many in the light of that red listing. Now you've seen a flock of similar size. Hopefully, that could be an indication they are making some measure of comeback because I haven't seen many over the years. We had two sparrows sitting on the sundial watching them and also the two resident robins sitting on a large shrub and the robins regularly dine on our lawn and very successfully, too. :) I've seen them fly several metres from the fence or a large shrub to a worm, or whatever they see, so they must have excellent eyesight.

Btw. It's fascinating watching the starlings move around the lawn as if they were clockwork with their fast jerky movements..
 
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JohnC6 said:
That's interesting..ie "a couple of dozen" The reason I picked up on it was that I'm aware that starlings are,actually, on the red list. It's been mentioned on here some time ago..probably in Talk Nature. Down 89% between 1967 to 2018. I almost posed about the 20 I counted that descended onto the back lawn on two occasions, two weeks ago. I was really pleased to see so many in the light of that red listing. Now you've seen a flock of similar size. Hopefully, that could be an indication they are making some measure of comeback because I haven't seen many over the years. We had two sparrows sitting on the sundial watching them and also the two resident robins sitting on a large shrub and the robins regularly dine on our lawn and very successfully, too. :) I've seen them fly several metres from the fence or a large shrub to a worm, or whatever they see, so they must have excellent eyesight.

Btw. It's fascinating watching the starlings move around the lawn as if they were clockwork with their fast jerky movements..
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We had around 5-6 Starlings visit in the past couple of weeks. Rounded off with a pair of adults and a single begging fledgling.

Previous years we have had maybe a dozen or two with many fledglings.

They can be mob-handed in driving off other birds but as mentioned, sadly very low in numbers comparing to years back :(
 
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JohnC6 said:
That's interesting..ie "a couple of dozen" The reason I picked up on it was that I'm aware that starlings are,actually, on the red list
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There are loads here, always have been,
they gather in the thin tree line between the houses, before heading off to roost, the tree tops are black with them.
Noisy buggers too, then one shouts "bed" and they are gone.

It's like "gulls" being protected because of the decreasing numbers, they just need to look in the right place.
Every landfill I've ever worked, across the UK, has a resident population of around a1000.
The largest was up North, north of Aberdeen, with a rough estimate of 5,000.

And of course I've never worked every single landfill site in the UK, just a small selection.
 
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Cobra said:
There are loads here, always have been,
they gather in the thin tree line between the houses, before heading off to roost, the tree tops are black with them.
Noisy buggers too, then one shouts "bed" and they are gone.

It's like "gulls" being protected because of the decreasing numbers, they just need to look in the right place.
Every landfill I've ever worked, across the UK, has a resident population of around a1000.
The largest was up North, north of Aberdeen, with a rough estimate of 5,000.

And of course I've never worked every single landfill site in the UK, just a small selection.
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That's really good news. There are bound to be large flocks around the country,then. Yes...lol. I wonder what status the one who shouts "bed" has ? It's truly a wonder of nature which I've seen here in Gloucester and have photos of. Word got round that there was a large flock each evening..a murmuration.... by the hospital so I went to see them and suddenly they stopped their arial manoeuvres and swooped,as one, into a nearby tree where I was able to get more photos. The nearest I've seen to how they looked in that tree were in documentaries..such as David Attenborough's..re bats 'asleep' hanging in trees. They were making quite a noise,too chatting to each other. Maybe saying, "That was another good display. Are we all here ? Anyone missing ? :D

I was surprised to learn,some time ago, that gulls were protrected. It was when I read about efforts to get them out of town and city centres and killing them wasn't an option.
 
Or the biggest attributes!
 
A raven landed in a tree about 30 meters from where I was walking. It was immediately attacked by two jays.

A right kerfuffle ensued.
 
JohnC6 said:
That's interesting..ie "a couple of dozen" The reason I picked up on it was that I'm aware that starlings are,actually, on the red list. It's been mentioned on here some time ago..probably in Talk Nature. Down 89% between 1967 to 2018. I almost posed about the 20 I counted that descended onto the back lawn on two occasions, two weeks ago. I was really pleased to see so many in the light of that red listing. Now you've seen a flock of similar size. Hopefully, that could be an indication they are making some measure of comeback because I haven't seen many over the years. We had two sparrows sitting on the sundial watching them and also the two resident robins sitting on a large shrub and the robins regularly dine on our lawn and very successfully, too. :) I've seen them fly several metres from the fence or a large shrub to a worm, or whatever they see, so they must have excellent eyesight.

Btw. It's fascinating watching the starlings move around the lawn as if they were clockwork with their fast jerky movements..
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When we did the big bird count, we had 24 on the lawn at one point. Thing is with Starlings, they flock, break into smaller family units, then join together again. We have 6 or 7 nests in the eves this year.
 
Starlings are constantly noisy and argumentative. Give me a robin. Genuinely interested in what you are doing and happy to sort out whatever bugs you leave out. Them or a blackbird. We sometimes use the blackbirds garden at the back of our house and happily tells us off with areal mouthful - but then sits in a tree nearby and sings us a song. Love it when they bring the kids along.
 
Jelster said:
We have 6 or 7 nests in the eves this year.
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When bamboo grows it sheds what looks like dry leaves, ( its a sheath ) I often see one scrabbling about under the bamboo, grabbing a beak full and flying off to a house about 100 yards away, and going under their tiles, I bet they are impressed, there must be a sackful over there now :D
 
A coiple of years ago Iooked into chaneing to an electric combi boiler from my cureent imersion tank etc.
We have just had 2 days with no water supply due to problems at the pumping station, water company did supply bottled water but it wasn't that easy for some to get to and the queues were horrendous
At least with a full tank of cold water I could still flush the loo, wash etc. Hot water tank was an emergency only thing.
I never realised this could be a problem until the post appeared on the local FB pages. the new builds have combi boilers and absolutely no water supply except what they could get in bottles, luckily as a village community we do help each other
 
That was one reason we stayed with our old system when we had a new boiler 11 years ago.
 
Reading that it is throwing it down where we were supposed to go on holiday this week but had to cancel! Sorry for anyone who is there though!
 
Seeing the Swans colonising the other end of Clyst Bridge...

Swans on the banks of the Clyst G5 P1070099.JPG
 
Cobra said:
I would have enjoyed it more, had she been playing in English.

:D
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I don't know if you know classical music but that is a renowned piece..renowned for its speed . It's "The Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky Korsakov born in 1844 in Novrograd,Russia. He wrote it in 1899 (part of an opera) and he died in 1908. Thought you'd liike to know that :D
 
WCMUT was seeing 2 or 3 Red Kites circling over the g*lf course. The reason I say 2 or 3 is that I spotted one, then another while they were low enough to be positive about the ID but when I saw the third, they were too high to be 100% sure. I know they're common as muck in some parts but there still relatively rare here.
 
Nod said:
WCMUT was seeing 2 or 3 Red Kites circling over the g*lf course.
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Here's another sort of kite that, I was told, always comes in threes...

Three kites flying at Wroughton airfield 05102Misc18.jpg
 
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JohnC6 said:
An unusual post in WCMUT but I watched this video on the TV and this little girl is an absolute delight. She's only 6 years old and speaks no english. I'll say no more.Enjoy.
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She did well and she's cheeky :D
 
On Friday I got someone to look at some roof repairs that need doing.
Yesterday he gave me a quote of £650.
Three men were here today from 0800 to 1530, he found some other work that needed doing and also repaired a gutter leak and replaced a broken gutter bracket and cleaned out the gutters.
Final Cost £650 - he said that he quoted £650 so that was what the cost was. :)
 
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This acknowledgement of a purchase made me laugh.

This afternoon, after a lot of time spent researching lawn mowers, (mentioned in another thread on lawn mowers) I bought a STIGA lawn mower directly from the company. Electric start (much easier on my shoulder than pulling on a starting chord) cordless and very easy to adjust the height of the 42cm blade. Infact, I was doubly cheered because my wife happen to see a scrap metal chap by his truck on her trip to the supermarket and asked if he wanted the old Mountfield petrol mower (Mountfield is actually part of the STIGA group) and he said he yes and to leave it on the front. It has a plastic housing over the engine so I didn't think a scrap metal dealer would want it. He collected it 10 minutes later along with a few old oven roasting trays so a good pick-up. That saved booking a slot at the tip which involves a 12 mile round trip. Btw. I was shocked to see that a replacement 5Ah battery costs £172. :eek: Review after review on electric mowers emphasised the importance of having a battery and charger included.

Here's the Email.

Hi John

Thanks for placing your order!​

Your order is being picked and prepared by our fantastic Warehouse Team. As soon as your order is processed and is ready to leave us (which is quicker than you can mow a football pitch), you will receive a confirmation email detailing the journey your product is about to embark on. If your order has been placed using our White Glove delivery service, please allow 7 working days for the assigned dealer to contact you.

We are super proud of all our garden products and are sure you will be very pleased with your purchase. If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to contact our excellent Customer Service Team who will be delighted to help or you can call for a chat. Please remember to quote your order reference number (shown below) in all correspondence.

We hope you enjoy using your new STIGA purchase and that you will recommend us to all your friends and family.

Happy Gardening.

The STIGA Team

 
Caught up with an old friend today, not seen him or his wife properly since before Covid. He does my printing for me, he knows his onions there. I wanted some prints done today, so popped through and what was supposed to be a fleeting visit, turned into a few hours catching up.

Just like old times and despite having numerous Covid infections between us, it was like there'd never been a pandemic. I can't believe it's been 3 years since I enjoyed their company, just good, honest folk.

As a bonus, the prints look rather special too, I've seen them but can't have them yet as they need to dry and be flattened. They're going on our walls at home, into exisitng frames but I may just knock up some new, fresh frames for them.
 
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