Springwatch - bbc2

1 & 2 on iplayer...oc

Steve Backshall.....Sherbourne not very dangerous....surprised he's on this !

Goldcrests.....family of those near Leopard Towers in Ealing

Slugs ....niche interest !

Great programme.

Steve carbining up a tree and will sleep in it tonight....some danger there !

I have to record Springwatch then fast forward bits as I cannot stand that women in the Shetlands.

We have lost the charismatic Martin Hughes-Games for BBC tick-boxing nonsense....agreed
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http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-05-29/why-isnt-martin-hughes-games-on-springwatch/.

i had a goldcrest in me garden this year, first time i ever saw one

tiny little thing.

Just checked the Goldcrest pics and the birds near me are actually Goldfinches

Their songs are a bit more complex than Goldcrests it seems
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cemdoZj1F5s

I'm going to play it out the window on my ph....see if there is a reaction !

Goldcrest :
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FG41MHVYvM

goldfinch have a beautiful song, even in flight.

i never heard my goldcrest sing, nor seen it back in the garden since its brief visit


we went out to see our local skylarks singing today, amazing birds.

they've just been back in area for 2 years or so,

Caught a few minutes of this recently, I was amazed to see Kestrels catching insects in flight with their FEET then eating them.

Learn something new every day.

It puts my "accidentally eat a fly" story the other day into perspective. It wasn't disgusting, it was just proving I'm a mighty hunter, at the top of the food chain

Used to go up and see my Grandma in Hordern, Co Durham, when I was a kid, ....there were always Skylarks on the hill behind her house....stunning song as they climbed upwards !

Bit sad that woodpecker taking those tree creeper chicks.

JC....flies are good for you....try to eat more !

Just not the ones with brown feet !

Just played the Goldfinch singing to the Ealing Towers goldfinches.......they were looking everywhere....heads spinning....they couldn't pinpoint it to my phone....lol

1-0 !

In the last few weeks I've had a plethora of blue tits and robins picking at the bird feeders but butterflies are notable by their absence as I pretty much never get them fluttering in my garden for some reason. No squirrels either but that's solely down to Muttley always chasing after them

Need more butterfly friendly flowers maybe....must be on the interweb !

not many butterflies up here this year, maybe the late snow did for them

theres a few white ones about, not many admirals nor peacocks yet

was watching the bees in me foxgloves, as i pulled a few weeds out

left door open and got two wasps and two flies in the house, mrs not pleased ...

hordens about 20-25 minutes away from me

T.L. I'll have to have a look at getting butterfly friendly plants, there is a garden centre around the corner so I'll ask in there. I do like gardening, a nice sunny afternoon, 80's music playing in the background and a chilly Aspalls cider on the go and I'm sorted for a few hours

we have a couple of buddleia bushes to feed the butterflies and redcurrants for them to lay their eggs

lots of caterpillars for the feeding birds too

Thanks for that tip donny, I've just looked up 'buddleia bushes' and I'll plant a few of them sometime soon.

Gardens/gardening connect you with your ancestoral past.....that's why they are relaxing.... I reckon.

Buddleia....that's right.....was trying to recall it !

Hordern was black and grey when it rained back then.....better now.

I think butterfly numbers have gone on a massive decline over 20 years.

They all burnt coal in their fires I suppose.

Guardian :

Butterflies have vanished from towns and cities more rapidly than from the countryside over the past two decades, according to a new study.

Industrial agriculture has long been viewed as the scourge of butterflies and other insects but city life is worse – urban butterfly abundance fell by 69% compared to a 45% decline in rural areas over 20 years from 1995.

Butterfly species such as the small copper and small heath have suffered particularly disastrous urban declines, according to the study published in the journal Ecological Indicators.

Scientists at Butterfly Conservation, the University of Kent and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology found that numbers of small heath fell by 78% in urban areas compared to just 17% in the countryside, while small copper abundance fell by 75% in urban areas compared to 23% in the countryside.

^
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/16/urban-butterfly-declines-69-compared-to-45-drop-countryside

Buddleia is a bit of a red herring for Butterflies.  It's a decent food plant for the butterfly but only once its alive and in flight, BUT its the larval food plants you need, AND most of them are weeds - Couch Grass, Stinging Nettles, Thistles, Milkmaids, Hedge Mustard, Docks, etc etc.  You can plant all the Buddleia you want but without these, no butterflies!!!.

the caterpillars also enjoy munching on hollyhock leaves

by end of summer there are a few flowers at top of stem, and no leaves

all part of the balance i suppose

Donny - They are probably moth caterpillars!!

On again....watch from start on Iplayer is an option....got distracted by work nonsense !

could well be blackbarn

they eat the plants, the birds eat them

we dont use pesticides, nor detergents, just try to keep the garden balanced

i may remove the odd full grown snail if hedgehog cant cope, but nothing else

apart from weeds

May 31, 2018 -- 6:47PM, blackbarn wrote:

Buddleia is a bit of a red herring for Butterflies.

May 31, 2018 -- 6:47PM, blackbarn wrote:

Buddleia is a bit of a red herring for Butterflies.

Not sure what happened there! Thanks for that bit of advice blackbarn.

Had to pause prog.....no spoilers !

Spoil away....I will read later

Fullers 1845 ...cold...1st one of the day....not bad

Nasturtium flowers are very attractive to butterflies. Eggs laid on underside of leaves. Soon masses of caterpillars munching on the plants.

Cheers for that tip as well Facts, I'll be on the case this weekend sorting out some new plants. The garden looks well but palm trees and lots of bamboo are a bit dull and various other trees and shrubs which I don't really know what they are . A few rose bushes are in bloom but not a great deal of colour.

Any cats ?

Catching up now

On again....how has this Japanese guy muscled in on the prog.....taking a paycheck from a British film maker !

Girlfriend on the production team ?

Weasel .....booooo !

weasels have to eat too, , sad though it is to see

young blackbird didnt make it either

Missed first half......can't we just send round a daily MacDonalds for the kestrel ?

3 more blackbirds in nest for little owl to chase ....

Little owl was it....got distracted ....raptor anyway !

Little Owl won the 1981 Cheltenham Gold Cup, the dinosaurs on here will remember that very good horse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Z7m7gJpes

Not sure why but I never think of Owls as raptors because of the imprecise definition of raptor. I do like little owls; we have loads around us, much more often heard than seen mind.

On again !

Chris was definitely not going to wear that hat....lol !

I think that Chris Packham has qualities as a broadcaster, but he should not be allow anywhere near any programme that professes to present an accurate and objective view of the British countryside.

Love springwatch great to watch.

On again !

Eel woman moves her head too much....gets annoying

and she struggles to read the script

I want the old guy back !

Diversity bollocks ruins again, she is rubbish and he was great, racism in itself, hired because of the colour of her skin...BBC as usual...

On again !

Toad tadpoles toxic....didn't know that !

No werewolfs ever featured? I sense coverup.

Unlucky newt !

"Pissed as a newt" has a whole different meaning in American English if it's being eaten

The roses in my garden T.L. have absolutely taken off, never have I seen so many in bloom before at the same time. It looks great!

Nice....brightens things up !

"I reckon those tits will be out by Saturday night"

This is why I watch this program.

Must be playing innuendo bingo tonight

"I shall try to follow through"

On to the Eng game....from Elland Road !

On again !

starling watch...

we have twice as many starlings this year, and sparrows

our local sparrowhawk has gone, might explain it?

I haven't seen any house sparrows in Ealing....some hedge-sparrows ...some starlings...magpies...paraqueets....goldfinches.... robins....the odd jay...mistle thrush....blue-tits etc

usually see two or three house sparrows in garden, but this year after breeding there
are 20 or so flocking together with the starlings. good to see.

oddly the blue tits and great tits are not about, i just see odd one