The Nature News Thread.
- Thread starter Pieface
- Start date
sparkling
Proper country now
foo said:innit PieEye
Swans. they're bloody scary aren't they?
recently, unix and i were pootling down the river in our friend's little scaffie on a nice sunny afternoon, sipping wine and chatting delicately.
a fuckin great swan chased our boat! it was a couple of inches behind us and just the noise from it's wings was enough to make us scarper!
we escaped unharmed.
edit: actually. this isn't nature news is it? it's unix and foo news. sorry PieEye.
I like this kind of nature news but am puzzled as to how you and Unix were chatting delicately?
foo
dirtysweet
sparkling said:I like this kind of nature news but am puzzled as to how you and Unix were chatting delicately?
heh, having met us both i don't think i can get away with pretending unix and i do anything 'delicately' sparkling
PieEye, i'm a twat (as you know...) - a scaffie isn't a type of boat. it's just the name Pete called this particular boat.
basically it's a small sailing boat, smaller than a mirror dinghy, and he stuck an outboard motor on it for our leisurely cruising pleasure. it's great fun.
i want one with an electric motor cos then i can go chase punts. (motorised boats aren't allowed on the backs etc.)
PieEye said:no - I like this bit especially.....
what's a scaffie? That sounds like a lush afternoon out
And it's a well known government health warning that "a swan can break your arm with its wing". You learn that by osmosis when you're a kid don't you?
Nature News Thread Question:
Does anyone actually know anyone who's had their arm broken by an irate swan?
Well, I do quite a lot of fishing so swan contact is inevitable, especially when they hear the rustle of my sandwich bag! I have been 'attacked' by a swan when I tried to stop it taking my sarnies right out of my hand. Basically, as I pushed it's head away it bit my finger (drawing blood) and then chased me flapping it's wings wildly and pecking my arse. Tis' true. Made a right mess of all my fishing gear too!!
I don't reckon they're capable of breaking bones but I wouldn't go head to beak with one again!!
sparkling
Proper country now
Got up this morning and looked out onto the garden to see the whole area had been turned into a sort of bird nursery. There was a daddy blackbird feeding two babies with bits of apple, loads of little families of sparrows all over the grass feeding and sqaubbling and a female blackbird collecting twigs for new nest in the little tree.
I had to lock the cat flap and later walk out there to give all the little families enough time to collect their babies before I let the cats out for their constitutionals.
I had to lock the cat flap and later walk out there to give all the little families enough time to collect their babies before I let the cats out for their constitutionals.
Swarm of bees arrived and settled on a pine tree. A large lump of them. So the bee-man was 'phoned, and came from 30 kilometres away with his bee catching gear.
No wonder honey is so expensive.
No wonder honey is so expensive.
northernhord
Active Member
There is a fleet of bluetits and other tits feeding in the back garden this Morn
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
Saw our swifts today. Flying low, possibly saw them yesterday but today they were easier to identify.
Thought some of you might enjoy this story. I had to wipe tears of laughter away! EJ is a hussy!
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2007/05/12/newsstory9701576t0.asp
Thought some of you might enjoy this story. I had to wipe tears of laughter away! EJ is a hussy!
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2007/05/12/newsstory9701576t0.asp
pennimania
still dre and drooling
It was very sunny here yesterday (surely some mistake?)
I had been clearing up horse shite from one of the fields and I was a bit knackered so sat down by the stream.
After a bit I noticed a caddis fly larva with its house of sticks crawling around underwater. I started watching it and then noticed there were loads of them
Thought I knew this place and that's the first time I spotted caddis larvae
I had been clearing up horse shite from one of the fields and I was a bit knackered so sat down by the stream.
After a bit I noticed a caddis fly larva with its house of sticks crawling around underwater. I started watching it and then noticed there were loads of them
Thought I knew this place and that's the first time I spotted caddis larvae
I keep finding crane flys in my house! surely they arrive in september time
Also I rescued a beautiful irridecent red dragon fly from the living room...it looked a bit like this http://www.csir.co.za/rhp/state_of_rivers/state_of_umngeni_02/photos/dragonfly_800.jpg
The swifts have arrived, lots of herons keep flying over and a pair of jays have started feeding at the bottom of the garden.
No sign of the mighty mr fox yet this year, he was a pain in the arse but i'm a bit sad as he was going grey and might have died...
Also I rescued a beautiful irridecent red dragon fly from the living room...it looked a bit like this http://www.csir.co.za/rhp/state_of_rivers/state_of_umngeni_02/photos/dragonfly_800.jpg
The swifts have arrived, lots of herons keep flying over and a pair of jays have started feeding at the bottom of the garden.
No sign of the mighty mr fox yet this year, he was a pain in the arse but i'm a bit sad as he was going grey and might have died...
maya
timewasting fool (in every universe)
A very local cloud decided to soak the neighbourhood in torrential rain, which then became a shower of hails, only to stop as suddenly as it had begun...
'Twas quite strange, seeing sun and open sky on all sides, then this massive mini-weather freak event in the middle, disrupting things just for the sake of it...
You could even run out of the area, to stand in the sun and watch the rain nearby... Weird!
'Twas quite strange, seeing sun and open sky on all sides, then this massive mini-weather freak event in the middle, disrupting things just for the sake of it...
You could even run out of the area, to stand in the sun and watch the rain nearby... Weird!
Calva dosser said:
a swarm settled in my neighbour's garden in the fork of a tree once - amazing to see so we went to watch the bee man take them away. He puffed smoke from this can all over them and then got me to come over and stroke this shuffling mass of furry bees!
He did say "Come here lad" to me because I had short hair at the time and was a rather unconvincing girl from certain angles. I never mentioned it though because I was so pleased to put my hand on a swarm of bees
northernhord
Active Member
The Masonry bees are still in the back garden, lovely lil critters they are too.
Just don't let them know if you work for building regs. at The Town Hall.
They'll be buzzing around with rolled up forelimbs, offering you brown envelopes before you can say 'Boatz'
They'll be buzzing around with rolled up forelimbs, offering you brown envelopes before you can say 'Boatz'
northernhord
Active Member
I am concerned for all garden wildlife in Hoarrd towerz it blowin up a proper blustery wind ere.
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
The rediscovery of this turtle in Cambodia made me very happy Looks nice, but it can bite through bone!!
I was on the wrong end of a turtle bite once. We were birding in Gunung Leuser Nat Park in North Sumatra and we found some kid swinging a baby softshell freshwater turtle from the end of his fishing line
We grabbed it off him and I started trying to get the hook out of the turtle's mouth. Ungrateful bastard bit my thumb and clamped on it so fuckin hard that it took another member of our group to open it's jaws and get it off me
The kid that was previously swinging it round thought it was hilarious
Looks nice, but it can bite through bone!!
I was on the wrong end of a turtle bite once. We were birding in Gunung Leuser Nat Park in North Sumatra and we found some kid swinging a baby softshell freshwater turtle from the end of his fishing line
We grabbed it off him and I started trying to get the hook out of the turtle's mouth. Ungrateful bastard bit my thumb and clamped on it so fuckin hard that it took another member of our group to open it's jaws and get it off me
The kid that was previously swinging it round thought it was hilarious
Hey there little snappin' turtle....
Right - this one's a corker!
GAY FLAMINGO COUPLE ADOPT ORPHANED CHICK!
Carlos and FernandoD) had been stealing other chicks in a desperate attempt to start their own family but have now been permitted to raise one of their own.
This story is ace - the young chicklet had to hatch not once but twice to ensure creating a bond with his dads and they can feed it with milk they produce from their throats.
The milk bit sounds weird actually but anyway - gay flamingoes aren't that rare apparently.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2084878,00.html
So let's hear it for the leggy foster parents!
They should run workshops with cuckoos shouldn't they?
Right - this one's a corker!
GAY FLAMINGO COUPLE ADOPT ORPHANED CHICK!
Carlos and Fernando
D) had been stealing other chicks in a desperate attempt to start their own family but have now been permitted to raise one of their own.This story is ace - the young chicklet had to hatch not once but twice to ensure creating a bond with his dads and they can feed it with milk they produce from their throats.
The milk bit sounds weird actually but anyway - gay flamingoes aren't that rare apparently.
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2084878,00.html
So let's hear it for the leggy foster parents!
They should run workshops with cuckoos shouldn't they?
They found a tortue in The River Garonne the other day- (Goes through Toulouse) The French don't really have a word for Terrapin. Maybe 'Tortue d'eau douce'- Which doesn't do justice to a half-grown Snapping Turtle, which it most certainly was.
Another pig in the café this afternoon. Why do people keep dogs? Pigs rock, and when they turn nasty, a little above the cute stage, you eat.
Another pig in the café this afternoon. Why do people keep dogs? Pigs rock, and when they turn nasty, a little above the cute stage, you eat.
sparkling
Proper country now
I thought some little bundles of moss had fallen off the roof and got caught in a spiders web only on closer inspection it was too little bundles of baby spiders. A couple of them are at the wandering near the nest stage but the rest are all tightly wrapped up with each other.
I thought a gust of wind is supposed to carry them away and onto their exciting lives. Unfortunately their nests are in a very sheltered position and if the hungry birds spot them I fear they will be served as babyfood very soon.
I thought a gust of wind is supposed to carry them away and onto their exciting lives. Unfortunately their nests are in a very sheltered position and if the hungry birds spot them I fear they will be served as babyfood very soon.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
I saw this on the way to work today:
