Wildlife Corner

[Tripps]

Is this the one? Owl in Barnoldswick

[Cathy]

Beautiful owl. I want one...

[Stanley]

No, that was a visitor in the Town Square. An Eagle Owl lived up at Prospect for about four years, I saw it regularly when I was up at Doc's. Here's one I met in Scotland at Glenfinnan..... The one that lived at Prospect was bigger than this.

[Gloria]

Are we swallow spotting, they can't be far away now. Last year ours arrived on the 18th April.

[Wendyf]

I haven't seen any yet Gloria, we usually get one brave soul a couple of weeks before the rest arrive. Must tell Colin to open up the barn window which they prefer to use as an entrance.

[Stanley]

Brave little birds!

[Wendyf]

Just now, on calm nights, when I go to shut up the barn there is the wonderful sound of croaking frogs coming from the pond.

[Tizer]

I've seen one swallow so far, last Wednesday. It flew over our house travelling north in the early evening. I wonder if the ones going furthest north start out earlier?

[Stanley]

They'll be feeling cold this morning in the sharp frost!

[Gloria]

My brother lives on the coast near Stranraer, his swallows have arrived.

[Stanley]

Very mild there Gloria, especially on the Drummore Peninsula. They hardly ever have any winter. I've fought my way there in blizzards and found bees buzzing about at Drummore itself when I was delivering calves.

[Gloria]

We have a few bumble bees bumbling about looking for homes, surprising how large they are.

[Wendyf]

Someone was telling me recently that these early bumble bees are the queens who have survived the winter.

[PanBiker]

Probably Wendy, Bumble Bee Queens hibernate through the winter then forage for a nest site. She only lives for a year and produces a small colony of only 50 to 400 bees. They only produce enough honey to sustain the colony. Workers only live for a few months. One of the colony females will become the next Queen who will hibernate through winter and the cycle goes on. I like Bumble Bees I think of them as Jumbo Jets compared to the Honey Bees.

Bumble Bee Conservation Trust

[Stanley]

I love the old and oft-repeated 'fact' that in theory a bumble bee can't fly, its wings aren't big enough for its body but nobody ever told her......

[Gloria]

That's a woman for you Stanley, that's a woman........

[Gloria]

Swallows arrived this afternoon, lots of chattering and whizzing about going on.

[Wendyf]

Good news Gloria, not one sighting here yet.

[Stanley]

It's quite warm in the SE at the moment, I wonder if they are having R&R there before coming North?

[Tizer]

Warm days here (16C predicted for today) with plenty of sunshine. Lots of butterflies (peacocks and brimstone) and bees about.

[Tripps]

Same here yet those pesky swallows insist on going a lot further North - what's wrong with our flies and our eaves?
Or as Bob Dylan said -

Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
“How good, how good does it feel to be free?”
And I answer them most mysteriously
“Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?”

[Stanley]

We'll be lucky if we feel better than 6C in Barlick today. It wouldn't surprise me if the showers forecast for this afternoon were wintry, a shower of snow isn't out of the question.

[Stanley]

I noticed in Butts this morning that the jackdaws have taken advantage of the missing swinging louvre on one of the two ventilation outlets on the gable end of the old Pigeon Club. They are nest building in there I suspect!

[Stanley]

They are still busy this morning.....

[PanBiker]

Ash Grove Jackdaws have settled down to the point of all the last couple of weeks activity. No more stick fetching, probably ready for laying.