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Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 19 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks Buzzy, I will look at that later. There are plenty of green corridors for them to spread Dpack. We are the end of a run of about 4 km of continuous woodland, varying, but worst is well grown native hardwood plantation and plenty of lower canopy through a fair bit of it. The other way there are hedges and smaller woods, some coppice hazel. Not sure there is a direct route via trees over all the roads, but with any luck they can find a route that way, so plenty of habitat. Reading up on it, that is about the maximum density that is ever found, so they will probably disperse, although we do have prime dormouse real estate there for them.

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 19 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Roads can be a problem for Dormice. A good few years ago I was walking along a quietish country road in Dorset when I spotted a dead small creature. My subconscious brain said "Oh, a Dormouse." I continued for a few yards until my conscious brain woke up and said "THAT WAS A DORMOUSE!!" I turned back and retrieved the poor little flattened corpse from the tarmac. They are beautiful creatures, even when flattened! I think I still have the pickled body somewhere.

I have seen a live one, hurriedly exiting a bat box, in woodland in Kent.

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 19 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ditto watch later , thanks.

good to know there are paths for them to move about

the only live one i have met was wandering along a pavement looking lost, even though it bit my chum it was relocated to a nearby hazel thicket which might have been where it came from or where it wanted to go or perhaps it was trying to move on to thickets new.

cute wee things

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 19 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

bird report

sparrows+2 fat woodies, dik and a bluetit being bullied by sparrows this am all at the same time

we have sammison visits to the old homestead, but they have not recolonized so far.

there were a couple of pic a nik wasps yesterday, neither was a queen so i guess their lady was late getting off and leaving them to their retirement

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 19 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The only dormouse I had seen before was part of a captive breeding programme. Rather than being frightened of people it 'viewed its public' with great interest as it regarded people as where its food came from.

I have watched the video, and quite interesting. Ours are a wild group, and they are actually quite common in our area, in spite of not being mentioned in some sources as a good place for dormice. The local dormouse man told me that in this area the assumption is that they are there, even if never seen, so we could even have some in our garden as there are definitely some just up the road, and there are survey tubes in the hedge the other side of the road, although not sure if any have been found there.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 19 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the sparrows are eating almost full time today, it is cold ish and rather damp having rained steadily for 24hrs so far.

dik likes worms.

winter feeding matters but now is the time to build them up for winter, not quite letting nature get on with it but there are so many bad for nature human actions that a bit of rebalance seems ethical.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 19 8:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes, feeding birds, if not taken to excess is never a bad thing.

Slim



Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6533
Location: New England (In the US of A)
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 19 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mistress Rose wrote:
Yes, feeding birds, if not taken to excess is never a bad thing.


That also applies here, with the caveat "when bears are already hibernating"

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 19 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    



wildlife is great but a bear waiting for me to fill the feeders would be a bit tense.

in the uk squirrels upset some folk by sharing the birdfood without permission, i only get cross if they run up a tree with my cheese.

any place where there are bears is pretty good but i am sure how i would feel if it was a bear i could dance with

as i am pretty scrawny i might go for the billy goats gruff tactics and tell it there was a fat ham in the kitchen.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 19 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

having found out a bit more about sparrows some seem to act as "handmaids" in the hope of being chosen as a potential breeding partner.
that might explain my observation of "helpers" with fledglings they did not parent.

the social stuff seems a plausible feeder study although it does seem a bit complex with pairs, clutches , playing away and the occasional multi female family add to the complexity.

it seems being able to tell them apart is important and to complicate that the feathers change according to age season and gender.

they are all different but working out how to catalogue that is tricky.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 19 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

back to wildlife i saw another pic a nik wasp today, not a queen, a retired one looking for sugar in vain.

tis chilly and late in the season so i found it a bit odd

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 19 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You might find it useful to read up on the private lives of sparrows. I have been doing that with dormice, and apart from some apparently contradictory statements, it seems the objective is to pass the genes on, so siblings and cousins may help each other with sparrows.

The odd wasp is still around. They will probably continue until all the fruit and other sugars are gone.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 19 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the ideal thing would be to find a AI photo id thing that can deal with something as complex as sparrow markings but ....

the mk1 eyeball is pretty good at photo recon so i will give that a go for a start

i am getting to know the camera a bit better and the birds know me well enough to pretty much ignore me even up close

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 19 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I believe that several wildlife researchers use pattern recognition software to identify individuals (whale tails and seal heads come to mind). I think some programmes compensate for angular distortion. I don't know, however, if such software is commercially available.

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 19 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

it is cold, wet and november.

the foraging worker wasp i just saw looked a bit lost and hungry and very unseasonal

the tree leaves are starting to turn but autumn seems a long and late process this year

at the mo there are over 20 sparrows and one fat woodie gleaning the bits they drop from the feeder

no resident sammisons although i have seen the occasional scout.

we still have local rats, not resident here but at some risk of the free meals with my "typical serving suggestion" ie on the treadle of a fenn number 4.
hruuumph

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