tracking

The thing about snow is that you don;t always have to be tunneling underneath it (see these two blog entries) to find out how the small mammals are doing, who's about. They leave little tracks on the surface. Of course with my nose I can tell you about tracks without the white stuff, but these little tracks are definitely useful to those without such a gift

Tim Dee, The Running Sky & gannets

She says ought I to get a little more serious, do some reading of other peoples' writing on nature.
SO: Tim Dee The Running Sky
and a great quote about gannets (not that I have seen any but she says it is a very good description...)

“the rapid origami of themselves and their brilliant white match strikes” ”it was impossible to hear them break through the sea…but the splash they make looks exactly like a sound and I found myself adding it to the ruckus!”
“mind wiping swirl of birds”

searching part 2

searching

 How much wild life is there under the snow, expecting small mammals such as voles and mice.

humph

not exactly getting a helping hand with my nature notes.
She just spreads paper over the floor and looks at it. I join in but it doesn't seem an all together appreciated action. She mutters things about Em Ay and reading and reasearch.

holidays and extermination

I have been away on a 5 week holiday. Plenty of domesticated wild life to keep me company.
But tonight my biggest collection of fleas ever has been attacked and I hear there will be more chemicals tomorrow. Heard her saying something like "he's covered in them, never seen anything like it". Well yes was getting a bit itchy.

goldfinches

most odd thing this morning: we were doing our stroll up to the chooks (I'm a little slow having injured my leg: some idiot threw my ball and didn't bother telling me an 18" drop to encounter, not best done at full speed); as we went under one of the birch (Betula pendula - silver birch) trees there was a pitter patter sound not unlike rain, and some drops fell on our heads. Well it wasn't rain, it was some of tye growing flock of goldfinches up high eating the seeds. Considering how many seeds scatter the ground I am surprised any left to nibble. She says it reminded her of hearing crossbills on Ynys Môn/Anglesey. Well I wouldn't know about that.
The goldfinch flock has been growing from about two dozen a few weeks ago to perhaps 50 in total at times. Usually we meet them of a morning up at the chook run as they take off all a twitter from the vast knapweed patch. See knapweed above.
Here is a goldfinch from a few years ago that stunned itself by flying into a window. It recovered.

A brief quote from Gilbert White, that other naturalist of similar name to myself:
August 19th 1791: A second crop of beans, long pods, come in. Sweet day, golden eve, red horizon.  Some what of an autumnal feel. 
The robin was singing his head off here, this morning, right old harbinger of winter to come....so would agree that we have an autumnal feel, especially as above mentioned birch tree has been shedding leaves for more than a week.

Goldfinch
Carduelis carduelis
you will find a description and recording of its song here

Knapweed:
Centaurea nigra
lesser/common/black knapweed, knob weed, hardhead
cornish: pederow/pennow
cymraeg/welsh: y bengaled
irish: Cnapán Du · Deutsch: Schwarze Flockenblume · Español: Garbansón · Nederlands: Zwart knoopkruid