Wildlife - wot you got?

[SueA]

I think there are a pair of ospreys nesting in the Lake District which is not to far from us but I think they're probably the only pair in England! You're lucky in Scotland to get such fantastic birds of prey.

[nick the grief]

Hi Sue, I think there may be Osprey's at Rutland as well (re introduced) It's either that or Kites can't remember. They are magnificent birds aren't they, we have quite few Buzzards round here these days & they are impressive as well.

[Alice]

Great thrill for you to see the Osprey Jennie. For anyone who wants to attract more birds to their garden or find out more about the ones they have this is a great site www.rspb.org.uk

[SueA]

We see lots of buzzards these days Nick but not near the house. When I was little we only used to see the odd kestrel but now there seem to be a lot more birds of prey around. Have seen red kites as well but only on holiday in Wales & 'down South' !

[fruit&vegvirgin]

nowadays they seem to have adopted the motorways - has anyone else noticed how many you see 'stooping' down by the side of the roads? I think its great that they can adapt, I'm fascinated by birds of prey and am planning a day learning to fly them at a local centre.

[Jaxom]

Motorways are the UK's largest wildlife reserve. Miles of undisturbed grass and trees just begs to be a new home for wildlife. They say you can work out a hedge's age by counting the lumber of different wildlife species that live in it. There is a certain order in which creatures take up residence over the years. The older motorways are teeming with native wildlife.

[SueA]

We saw lots of buzzards & red kites by the motorways when we drove down to London a couple of months ago, you do see a lot as they do seem to be wildlife corridors.FVV, years ago we went to a garden somewhere that had a garden centre & birds of prey & we were lucky to be there when the keeper had a bird out of it's cage, he let me put on the gauntlet & hold it for a while, it was a buzzard called 'Leighton' (get it?) & was surprisingly heavy although he said it only weighed a couple of pounds.Don't know whose heart was pounding more- mine or the bird's!

[Lesley Jay]

Sue if you go to Fryers Roses Garden Centre in Knutsford there is a bird of prey centre next to it. They have flying displays and you can take the gauntlet and fly one of the birds. They also have half days that you can spend with the birds and surprisingly it is not too expensive.

[JennieAtkinson]

If anyone is interested, Springwatch are doing part of their filming here in Shetland this year. From Monday on BBC (four nights a week for three weeks) Simon King is presenting the programme from Shetland. They hope to cover otter, red throated divers and orca, but at lot else as well. Should be interesting.

[SueA]

Thanks Lesley, I have seen the bird of prey centre at Fryers but not been in it.If anyone who isn't so lucky as to have ospreys near their gardens as Jennie & Rat do, would like to see the Lake District pair on a webcam, they have just hatched 2 chicks. The pics are updated every 10 mins. & I think I have spotted the 2 tiny chicks a couple of times.
www.ospreywatch.co.uk

[sewer rat]

Today whilst at work, I saw a harrier and then, quite amazingly an osprey! (amazing - given my last post on this thread saying I had only seen them twice before) The osprey was heading to the Dornoch Firth and about three hours later, it passed over us again on it's return flight.

[Alice]

Just brilliant when you get the chance to see something out of the ordinary like that. Bet it just made your day Rat.

[JennieAtkinson]

Simmer Dim : A Shetland evening

Forgive me – but thought you might all be interested!

It has been a glorious day today, and other than open the polytunnel doors I have done nothing veg/garden wise today, other than indulge myself in OH’s passion of sailing. We had a great sail, only about 15 miles amongst the islands, but Force 5/6 winds and a 3 metre swell.

On our return, the young puppy needed a good walk, so off the two of us went on to the Taing – the old Shetland Parliament, which lies just below our house. We haven’t been on the Taing for about eight weeks due to sheep and lambs being there, but they have now been moved into another field.

It is 10.30 pm and bright daylight. The Columbine are glorious in their yellows and the flag iris are jutting up out of the soil about 12” high. As we walk onto the Taing two whooper swans drittle past, interested, but not greatly so. Aimee (the dog) finds the spraint of otters and has a good old rumble on her back in the grass (she will smell fishy, so she’s not sleeping in the bedroom tonight!). She then has a great time chasing after stones I’m throwing into the Loch. The wind has really died away now and the trout are rising – small rings on the loch, but we know they are there. Just as we make our way back a cormorant ( a bit far inland) flies right past us, only about 5 feet from the ground, not bothered whether he sees us or not.

As we make our way up the field, oystercatchers and snipe are calling and also lapwing are fussing about, worried about us being near their nests.

As I type this, blackbirds are singing. It is nearly 11 pm and still sort of daylight, what Shetlanders call the Simmer Dim, like a gloaming, daylight, but not quite. And we still have another three weeks to go yet.

ABSOLUTE MAGIC !

[Alice]

Far from the madding crowd. Just glorious. Enjoy, Jennie.

[Jaxom]

What a wonderful vivid picture you paint. It sounds as though all the bad spring weather was worth enduring to get to where you are today.