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Nature thread??


craftycarper

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Completely off of snakes but I read somewhere that a species of owl, called a humes owl has been discovered in Oman, thought to have disappeared completely many years ago, it's DNA was matched with a stuffed one from the natural history museum, said to be 135 years old,

Birds that are believed to be extinct do seem to reappear much more often than mammals. Can't think of a logical reason why.

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Completely off of snakes but I read somewhere that a species of owl, called a humes owl has been discovered in Oman, thought to have disappeared completely many years ago, it's DNA was matched with a stuffed one from the natural history museum, said to be 135 years old,

Can you buy them on higher perches?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last week I made 1.5 litres of rose hip syrup, and this week while I was at frampton I collected a carrier bag full of walnuts will prick them and and soak them in brine later ready to pickle in a few weeks time for Christmas, and then the slow gin making starts at the weekend, surely that's worth a section on nature, pleeeeeaase, have also watched a young peregrine falcon practicing going into a dive from a tiny spec way up high until it pulled up just above the houses, there were know pigeons around and he done it a few times so assume he was practicing

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Last week I made 1.5 litres of rose hip syrup, and this week while I was at frampton I collected a carrier bag full of walnuts will prick them and and soak them in brine later ready to pickle in a few weeks time for Christmas, and then the slow gin making starts at the weekend, surely that's worth a section on nature, pleeeeeaase, have also watched a young peregrine falcon practicing going into a dive from a tiny spec way up high until it pulled up just above the houses, there were know pigeons around and he done it a few times so assume he was practicing

What recipe do you use for the Rose Hip Syrup?

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What does one do with rose hip syrup? Is it a food/alcohol/cough mixture/what?

Not alcoholic after the war we were given it as kids as a good source of Vitamin C. Schools (at least in our rural area) used to run collections with the kids bringing hips to school and the school paying them. The hips were then sent off to be made into syrup presumably the school being paid by the firm.

 

More a sort of cordial.

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Not alcoholic after the war we were given it as kids as a good source of Vitamin C. Schools (at least in our rural area) used to run collections with the kids bringing hips to school and the school paying them. The hips were then sent off to be made into syrup presumably the school being paid by the firm.

 

More a sort of cordial.

it was luvverly smile.png

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Not alcoholic after the war we were given it as kids as a good source of Vitamin C. Schools (at least in our rural area) used to run collections with the kids bringing hips to school and the school paying them. The hips were then sent off to be made into syrup presumably the school being paid by the firm.

 

More a sort of cordial.

 

However

There is this

 

Which I make slightly later in the year to drink after Easter

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Last week at Barlaston we saw a pair of crows chasing off three buzzards, it reminded me of the day some years ago when one dispatched a heron in similar fashion.

I remember while working on a reserve in the Highlands the warden said to me "Look Lapwings mobbing a Buzzard". When we got the binoculars on them it was two Buzzards mobbing a Golden Eagle.

 

Small Passerines regularly mob Tawny Owls if they find them roosting during the day.

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I saw a little white heron type thing (egret?) last weekend. We're fairly close to Derwent Mouth but I've never seen one round here before. There are loads of normal herons. Would they and the egrets co-exist okay?

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I saw a little white heron type thing (egret?) last weekend. We're fairly close to Derwent Mouth but I've never seen one round here before. There are loads of normal herons. Would they and the egrets co-exist okay?

 

Sort of......we have both around here (Thames Estuary) At one time it was only herons then about 10 or 12 years ago occasional egrets started appearing. We now have far more egrets than herons, this morning for example there were four egrets fossicking around on the mudflats (low tide) but it's been a few days since I last saw a heron

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I saw a little white heron type thing (egret?) last weekend. We're fairly close to Derwent Mouth but I've never seen one round here before. There are loads of normal herons. Would they and the egrets co-exist okay?

Little Egrets (which it probably was) coexist with Herons OK. They have been slowly colonising the country since the first breeding in the late 80s. They can now be found in about 12% of the country mainly England and Wales. Up here in Cumbria we are more or less at the top of their current range in the UK.

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Sort of......we have both around here (Thames Estuary) At one time it was only herons then about 10 or 12 years ago occasional egrets started appearing. We now have far more egrets than herons, this morning for example there were four egrets fossicking around on the mudflats (low tide) but it's been a few days since I last saw a heron

I take this to imply you think Egrets are displacing the Herons. As far as I am aware there is no evidence of this.

 

Heron are up about 15% in numbers since Egrets first started to visit UK. I have watched both feeding and living happily in the same area.

 

You will see numbers of Egrets because of their size. If I liken it to domestic animals a field might feed say 20 cattle but 60 sheep. So any niche in the habitat which Egrets are filling will support more Egrets than Herons. A Heron will be 3 or 4 times the weight of a little Egret.

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Re muntjac dear, they are a scourge, ask any forrester, but it would be useful to know where you see them, I'm curious to know how fast they are spreading, ditto wild boar, coypu and other non native pests

 

It's a sweet syrupy stuff one eats on rice pudding. Just like at skool. Lurvely!!!!

 

(I made a load last year. All seems to have gorn now!)

Used to be able to buy it in Boots, if memory serves its high in vitamin C.

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I take this to imply you think Egrets are displacing the Herons. As far as I am aware there is no evidence of this.

 

Heron are up about 15% in numbers since Egrets first started to visit UK. I have watched both feeding and living happily in the same area.

 

You will see numbers of Egrets because of their size. If I liken it to domestic animals a field might feed say 20 cattle but 60 sheep. So any niche in the habitat which Egrets are filling will support more Egrets than Herons. A Heron will be 3 or 4 times the weight of a little Egret.

 

No...wasn't implying that they were necessarily being "replaced" but there definitely has been a slow long term reduction in the numbers viewed locally, this could well be due to other factors. There has been a lot of marshy land purchased by the RSPB locally and flooded (some tidal, some fresh) this could be better pickings for the Grey Heron, they may be more frequent there.

The tidal mudflats here, were mostly only used by the Herons along the hard edge of the channel (where small shallow pools stay through low tide). Whereas the Egrets fossick all over the soft mud occasionally right up to the boats

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