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dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45457
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Jun 15, 19 3:18 pm Post subject:

the bramble flowers are starting to open which means bees

i do a one min sample of how many species i can see along about 20 ft by 3ft of flowering tops fairly often and today, which is cool and damp, 3 to 5 bee spp seen in a minute is the score

the other measure is how many? today some perhaps one a foot along the length.
i should probably try to refine numbers as a few more than some is lots and so on

right now it is raining heavily again and bees do not exist.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2506
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 19 1:07 am Post subject:

I'm going to be a grandmother!

Box turtle back this evening, for the third time. She is digging a hole in the very edge of our lawn to lay eggs within an inch or two of our front walk.

This will be interesting - eggs take 3 months to hatch. That's unless the youngsters overwinter in the eggs. Unlikely with a mid-June "deposit." But apparently I should protect the 5 or 6 eggs from skunks and raccoons that will excavate and eat them.

Most hatchlings never make it to adulthood. If they do they can live for 100 years.

Stay tuned for future developments.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15572

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 19 7:42 am Post subject:
That will be interesting. Do you have any ideas about protecting the eggs? At present we have lots of bumble bees visiting the foxgloves, which are making a good show in the woods. Didn't look too closely yesterday as I was doing a flora survey, but think there were several different varieties around them.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45457
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 19 10:54 am Post subject:
electric poultry netting or some careful digging and recreate the conditions of temp/humidity required in a safe place? meth, rocking chair and a shotgun for a few months iirc the place of safety method works for sea turtles, crocs etc.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4563
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 19 12:04 pm Post subject:
Any Crockett`s living in the area,lol.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2506
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sun Jun 16, 19 12:28 pm Post subject:

I intend to call a nature center, or several, for suggestions. What I have found so far on Google -

Apparently eggs are difficult to relocate. Unlike chicken eggs if they are rotated it can kill the embryo. Most sites recommend making a cage / cover over the nest site. With opening either suitable for hatchlings to scurry out or too small for them to do so. They are about the size of a quarter, a US coin. Quite small, in other words.

Another issue is that adults are very territorial in the sense that if relocated they will do their best to get back to home base. When I find them crossing a road and want to relocate them to safety it is critical to figure out which way they are headed. Turn then around and they will stubbornly reverse to get to where they were going. So I need to find out the limitations if I try to move newly hatched youngsters off the lawn to a more suitable place. Will a few yards not matter, how many yards are critical . . .

They need to burrow underground for winter dormancy. Didn't know life could be this complicated for a turtle, did you?

Our lawn is of the "if it is green it may be mown" school. Would prefer to not mow over nest.

And it is amazing how undisturbed the area over the nest is. She had to dig down about 5 inches, one hind leg scoop after the other, to make a flask shaped excavation. I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. and she was still there. Himself came to bed about an hour later, having gone out with a flashlight and saw she was gone. So figure about 3 1/2 to 4 hours for labor and egg delivery.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15572

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 19 7:04 am Post subject:

If they are like other turtles, they firm the area over the nest so that it doesn't show. I would suggest letting the area over and perhaps a bit round the nest grow until you know the hatchlings are out. If you leave an area round it, the actual nest site will be less obvious to predators. In the UK, if you leave a lawn unmown for a few months, you often find lots of wild flowers appear. Don't know if it is the same with you, but if so, might be an interesting experiment to find what is there too.

Good luck with them.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45457
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 19 11:42 am Post subject:

it seems the defend the nest is better than trying to move them.

a metal mesh basket ( shopping trolley etc ) might be enough if well fixed but i have a feeling skunks and raccoons are pretty good diggers so a layer of chicken wire on the floor outside the box might be useful ( hen house style ) or go electric if you can borrow the kit for a few months ( in the uk a rig that would protect a small area could be bought/improvised for about $ 150 but it would have a resale value after turtle patrol use )

did the how to online stuff suggest any "castle" designs

how do folk keep raccoons and skunks out of the poultry?
the stuff about defending from foxes and badgers etc from uk downsizers over the years might work just as well on yankee wildlife

my experience of american vermin in the henhouse is limited to deputy dog cartoons but fox rules work with most critters ie robust physical defences and or well designed electric ones

protecting them in the nest and the young when hatching/dispersing is likely to up the survival rate a lot.
the long grass around the nest might make sense if the hatchlings are to leave when they choose but did mum turtle chose that spot because the short vegetation of a lawn is a perfect nest site?

if the adults are territorial do they assist with hatching by digging them out at the right time?

it is probably easy to make a simple but fatal mistake at the planning stage, it took me a few tries before i could reliably improve survival rates for frogs n toads:roll:

to be going on with a shopping basket or similar wire cage with a big rock on top might be a quick temporary measure

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45457
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 19 8:00 pm Post subject:
over 2 days the bee spp/m has ranged from none to 7, mostly in the 5 to 7 range two new spp in the last two days which iirc takes it to 9 or 10 spp this year

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15572

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 19 6:49 am Post subject:
I am afraid I am not that good on bee species, but we get several different types of bumble bee in the woods. When I see them, I try to write down a description, but often they don't co-operate and wander off before I am sure exactly how many stripes they have etc.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45457
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 19 1:20 pm Post subject:

i can name quite a few but for counting spp purposes i just go for that is one, that is two ( and it has chums ), that is three etc etc

i usually think in terms of shape and dress code to separate spp but some i have common/personal names for.
such as big orange pashmina, white tail, small black, false honey, real honey, miner, mason, chinook, scarf n waistcoat, x,y or z stripe etc etc
once you get your eye in separating spp by silhouette and size speeds up id quite a bit during a count ( a bit like aircraft or bird watching )
foraging behaviour is a good clue as to which sort of dancing blob is that ?.

linaeus would not approve but it works for me

if i was going to make it data rather than observation i would use a named visual key checklist, a stopwatch and a pencil.

to make data from the sparrow behaviour stuff will need a visual key of each individual.

last spp/min came in at 7

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15572

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 19 6:42 am Post subject:

I don't usually watch bees for that long together, as I usually see the bumbles as we are doing our own work; they collecting pollen and nectar, and me doing some woodland work. I am pretty sure we have several different species of bumble, as well as hornets and honey bees.

Yesterday I went out with the people surveying the dormouse boxes and we actually found one. It had made a summer nest in one, although at first the girl that found it thought it might be a birds nest as it was all dead leaves on the outside (dormouse summer nests tend to be of woven grass). It was fast asleep, so they didn't wake it, and all we could see was a tail and a paw, but they heard is snore. One of the showed me a video of a sleeping dormouse that was snoring and it gives a sort of 'whee' sound as it breathes out. What was even better was that we found it on the north side of the pylon line, where we were not sure they were, only having found evidence on the south side before. Double plus there.

The wren is still feeding its young in the wheel arch of the kiln and seems completely unafraid of us working there. Saw both parents yesterday, so hopefully will see fledglings soon.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 19 12:02 pm Post subject:
If you like bumble-bees I recommend A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson. (A Buzz in the Meadow is also excellent.) On a different note the swallows at work have six chicks which may be a record. The parents look absolutely knackered.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2506
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 19 12:13 pm Post subject:

So this morning Mr Poe, our black indoor-only cat, was staring up through the skylight, wearing his stranger-danger-floof-suit and growling. Lo and behold, a black vulture was sitting on the metal stove pipe / chimney for the wood burning stove (obviously not in operation on this, the first day of summer.)

It sat for a few minutes, then unfurled its wings and flew off.

Mr Poe, who usually curls up on a chair to digest his breakfast at this time of day, has been pacing around, staring up through the skylights and muttering to himself.

What an exciting first, for the first day of summer. Or any time of year, actually. I do hope this is a one off, and it doesn't make a habit of perching there.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 19 1:21 pm Post subject:
I initially read part of that post as "Mr Poe, who usually curls up on a chair to digest his breakfast at this time of day, has been packing..." and thought "I'm not surprised." Henry

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