Wildlife Corner

[Moh]

We have finally got frog spawn in both ponds but hubby says it does not look healthy.

[PanBiker]

We use the path from Victory Park through to Broad Ing bridge on Greenberfield quite often and have been keeping an eye on the area with staging to walk round the wet / pond area at the side of the beck. There is usually some spawn in there but none at all this year.

Jackdaws on Ash Grove have started fetching more sticks, I though they had finished yesterday.

[Marilyn]

We have a gridded garden drain between the lawn and the back patio, and I have had frogs singing in there for the past two days after rain on the weekend.
Lovely to be busy in the kitchen and hear frogs singing...

[Stanley]

They haven't got a lot to sing about this morning here Maz. It's cold!

[Wendyf]

First swallow spotted this morning circling the barn and one of my little black bantams has gone broody....spring is getting here.

[Stanley]

Lovely! And it looks as though today and tomorrow will be nice days.....

[Wendyf]

We walked down to Kelbrook and back this afternoon and saw a white heron on Harden Beck.

[Stanley]

I love herons. There was one lived on a beck on the road up to Kendal and I very often saw it there early in the morning as I was going to Scotland. It was there for years.....

[Moh]

We walked down to Kelbrook and back this afternoon and saw a white heron on Harden Beck.

Paddled in that beck many times, it was said you weren't a real Kelbrooker until you had fallen in!
We had a deer walked quite slowly through our Close last week, a friend sees 3 of them some mornings in the field next to the Close.

[Stanley]

I saw one early one morning down the side of the Co-op Moh. Must have jumped the fence down at Salterforth.....

[Wendyf]

Three curlews calling to each other through the mist this morning when I took the ponies out. First sign that spring is round the corner.

[Stanley]

Lovely! That's the sort of report we need at this time of the year. I note that there are a few brave daffodils poking their heads up on the Green. Winter is wearing on well.....

[Tizer]

Thanks for mentioning the brave daffodils. It made me look out of the window at the snowdrops surrounding the base of our willow tree and as I did so a colourful bird flew past. Then another and I realised they were spotted woodpeckers and they landed in a tree nearby and spent a while having a good peck at the bark.

[Stanley]

We are as late as anyone in the Isles here in the Pennines and those first green spikes, though very sparse, are our first indication that life is coiling up again to burst out just beneath the surface.

[Tizer]

We've cancelled our subscription to the Butterfly Conservation Trust. We've subscribed for some years now and given them donations but they're pestering us now for more. We had to unsubscribe from their emails but they're pushing for donations with every communication. I know charities depend on donations but they act as if they are the only charity asking and seem to forget that people are already giving to others,

[Stanley]

My immediate question is is it the Trust or their contracted fund-raiser who is dunning you. Contractors have a vested interest in being more aggressive as it boosts their take.
The birds were a lot more active in Barlick this morning. Have we swallows yet? Or is it too early.....

[Tizer]

Too early, although anything is possible with the effects of climate change.

[Moh]

Too early - usually mid April.

[Stanley]

[Gloria]

Our first swallow was flying in and and of the stables this morning chattering it's head off. That's 9days earlier than last year.

[Wendyf]

Wow! I'll start keeping my eyes open.
I just checked back and it was the 19th before mine arrived last year.

[Wendyf]

A while back I posted about seeing a white heron on the banks of Harden Beck just up from Kelbrook. I've since decided that it was more likely to be a little egret.

[Gloria]

Why can't I see this under active topics??? I must be doing something wrong but don't know what.
Ignore this, now sorted......I really would be dangerous with a brain.

[Stanley]

We all have 'em Gloria!
Nice to hear the swallows are returning...... The man in charge of Slimbridge was saying they have had their driest winter ever yesterday on R4.

[Moh]

We have blue tits in our box. Have noticed we have about 6 male blackbirds chasing each other around but no sign of any females yet. We have been chuckling this morning at a male chaffinch flying at the neighbour's window, he must be able to see himself and thinks it is a rival - meanwhile the female sits in the tree probably thinking what an idiot he is.