At last a Swallow decided to nest in one of the Barns that we could put a camera in. In past year it is the first place that they have nested in. Then this morning we found in our ? outside our kitchen door that a Swallow is building a nest in ?above the door. They have never nested in this area before
Tag: swallow
Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.
Northern California , near San Jose/San Francisco:
Golden Gate Bridge with fog rolling in. Penny
Looking back up Lombard Street. Penny
Almaden-Quicksilver State Park. Penny
Big Sur. Penny
Dolphins off the coast near Monterey. Penny
I really thought that you would be more imaginative than you have been. Just a few guesses of what the new webcam is going to be. I have written down at least 50 ideas that there are with the clues I have given, and that was not even trying, and I know what it is. Still as long as it is up and running in the expected time you wont have long to wait.
The Cob Swan is still eating well and looking alright even with the lump on it neck. The new Cob is being collected on next Tuesday. Not to sure how he will be greeted when we introduce him onto the Lake with our three. Speaking to the person we are getting it from there is no telling how it will go. His experience has been with the Pen playing hard to get, chasing the Cob all over the place. They eventually got together but it took a few weeks. Another person has told me that the Cobs may have a bit of a set to.
Sorry that I have been neglecting the webcams recently. For the past few weeks we have been very busy. I need to replace a couple of infra-red bulbs. One in the Valley and the other on the Lake. I also need to find the break in the cable for the webcam that faces onto the Badger Sett. It is not the best of jobs, but it would have been worse still if I had of tried to do it in the rain. One of the webcam cables for the Swallows was broken earlier in the year. The Barn that it is wired to is the only place that the Swallows are still nesting in. Usually the Barn that the working Swallow webcam is going has Swallow nest this time of year, but since the Tawny Owl raided the Swallow and Doves nest a month or so back nest no birds have nested in the Barn.
There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one. A few photographs were sent in today so we are able to put five on tonight.
A PARAKEET THAT HAS VISITED OUR GARDEN A FEW TIMES LYNNE.
The Italian Chapel made by the Italian prisoners of war at Scapa Flow on the island of Orkney. It was made from a nissen hut and concrete used to build the Churchill barriers on Scapa Flow. Lindsay.
Newquay Harbour. Wales. Judy.
I’ve seen these sheep several times and thought they had similar markings to Thornton. Usually I don’t have a camera or am unable to stop the car. Today, however, Chris was driving and I DID have the camera! I’d always thought that only Rams had horns, but now I find that in some breeds Ewes also have them. I was going to ask whether Thornton’s Mum had ever been to Barrow Gurney where these were photographed. (I remembered that you were unsure of Thornton’s paternity!!!)Julia.
I took this picture of this unusual looking tree at Savil Gardens in Surrey. Bec.
We saw our first Swallow of the year yesterday evening. As I went into the Barn to get the Badger food, one flew out. It must have missed hitting me by a whisker, It frightened the life out out of me. A few years ago before I did the webcams one hit me in the side of the head. It didn’t do either of us a lot of good. The Swallow fell to the ground, I thought that it had killed itself. I picked it up, after a minute or so it flew away. I will try to get the camera working in the Barn why they are building their nest.
We have had another pair of Geese hanging about around the Lake for most of the day. The two pairs have been honking awasy all day long. The new pair landed on the Lake a couple of times, that put the resident Gander on the war path. Other than the Moorhens and Coots he chases off everything that he sees, including Tass and Kye, so with a bit of luck and the Ganders aggression the Gosling when they hatch may survive this year.
It must be well over a week since the Swallow chicks left their nests and they are still returning. The first fledglings from the first nest perch on the wire every night, and sometimes in the day if it is raining. The fledgling from the roof nest are going back to the nest of a night and when raining. It could be that the nearest perching place is at least six foot below the nest. Now and then they perch there. They all seem to be managing well in this bad weather. I have not managed to find any other nests to watch, but again it is still not to early.
I cant remember if I told you when I had converted the holiday cottages. We had a booking for a holiday in the four bedroom cottage. In the kitchen area a Swallow decided to nest in the ceiling space. We hadn’t noticed it until we went to put the plaster board up. We couldn’t remove the nest as the eggs had hatched, There wasn’t long before the booking. Every morning we would check to see if the chicks were ready to fledge. Of course when you want them gone they seem to stay longer. We finished the cottage as best we could. We were fortunate that we had stable entrance doors fitted, so the was little chance that any creature could have got into the cottage, as we were able to close the bottom part, allowing the adults to get to the chicks with the top part of the door opened. We also had to make sure that no other birds tried to nest in the cottage.
There was no way that the cottage could have been used with the Swallows nest still in the ceiling space. You don’t realise how much mess they make until you experience it. To us it looked even worse. The day before the holiday guest were due we found the fledglings sitting on the kitchen worktops. They weren’t given the opportunity to go back to the nest. That came down real quick, the plaster board up and painted over, having to plaster it at a later date. We left the door open until the day the quest were due to arrive, and on the first opportunity when all the Birds were outside we closed the door. An Orthodox Jewish family with eleven young children had booked the cottage for the fortnight. No television was allowed, but the children enjoyed the Swallow fledglings flying in and out of the cottage. Mum weren’t best pleased though.
There were two good sightings on the cameras in the past twenty four hours, with a bit of luck some of you saw them.
At about 9.pm last night I turned the valley camera on and there was a Muntjac Deer. I have never seen one on the camera at night before. I have only ever seen them in the day, and more than not with a Fawn. I always seem to startle them, the Hind going one way and the Fawn the other. I always feel guilty and worry that they may lose each other. Of course the next time I see them they are together again. The Muntjac is not a native breed, although I have not looked it up, I was told that they originated from China, and imported by a wealthy land owner, some of them escaped and colonised in this country.
The other sighting was on the normally SWT Blue Tit nest camera page. The centre Manager told me that when they looked at the nest box, that was put up for the Woodpeckers, there was a Red Squirrel in the box, he immediately put it on so that we could all see it. Unfortunately it was a black and white camera. It was very still when I saw it, looking like a ball of fluff, I thought at first that it was some sort of Mouse, until it moved. It slept in the box for a good while before moving onto the feeder, by the side of the nest box. The Red Squirrel did not return to the box, but there is a chance that it may return and breed. I have sent a colour camera to the SWT centre, to install in the box. If it does return we will be able to see it in colour. The Red Squirrel by all accounts breeds in the latter part of May. It could well be that it is looking for a nesting site.
When the new cameras are installed at the Lock of the Lowe’s centre there will be other wildlife to see. I understand that it could be this weekend.
I managed to install the Swallow camera today, it tuned out to take longer that I thought it would, because of the type of camera it is, it needs a piece of equipment to make it work on my system. This camera is controlled from one of my computers, on the computer it is the correct way up, on your computers the wrong way. It should have been installed in only one position and I forgot. I hope not to many of you saw the picture upside down. I will have to change it around first thing in the morning, then you will be able to see the nest. The Swallow is sitting on the eggs, but I will try to count how many there are.
I lost all track of time whilst installing the Swallow camera, by the time I had finished I realised that I had not phoned the Veterinary about Woody. She has been up on her legs all day and looks a lot better than she did yesterday and the day before. I will contact them tomorrow.