Nature UK blog and website now live
| 14:18 UK time, Tuesday, 18 May 2010
A quick post to let you know that the new Nature UK blog and website are now up and running. We won't be posting here any more (but you can still comment for a bit longer) so please make sure you follow us on the new one. We're pretty excited about the new possibilities it will bring. Hope you are too!
Comments
Great to see it live :) I am looking forward to following the blog through out the year :)
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Billy, you took the words out of my mouth.
:-)
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I have one lonely wasp in my garage that has started to make a nest on the underfelt lining of the roof. It is using the cardboard boxes that I have stored in there...amazing to see how it started, but in a few days it is already like a concave disc the size of 50p piece with smaller discs in the middle...I'm so sorry I don't have photos..no camera..but will keep you posted.
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I have seen swifts this year, I cant remember seeing any before for many years.
Also there was a Wheatear in the fields, to some people this is probably quite a silly observation :) but I haven't seen them before.
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i have a bird box in my garden on the front of my shed we think we had blue tits in there nest but after the hot wether we had the other week the chicks had died the parents were feeding them up until then.
the same thing had last year what can we do to stop this happening again. it nice to see them
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Hope you guys cover bats - we bought our first heterodyne detector 5 years ago and are loving watching the pips, notctules and seretines buzzing around. Keep up the good work guys ! x Wenjoy of Bournemouth
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Saw our first green hairstreak butterfly and marsh fritilliary at Martin Down in Wiltshire this weekend - wow ! Wenjoy of Bournemouth
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dear kate and team if a swan looses it young do thay mate again in the same year ?
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Yesterday you spoke about blue tits bringing mint to the nest, well last week I watched some starlings biting the tops off my lavender plants and carrying them away. Do you think this is the same behaviour as the tits?
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Last Autumn I set up a bug box, a number of the holes have been sealed with what looks like mud. What bugs are likely to be in the sealed up holes?
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During this very hard winter we housed a very small hedgehog in a friends old rabbit hutch in our garden. Well protected fron the snow and ice that persisted for weeks here in Cambridgeshire. Happily our "Baby" survived and now returns nightly with 3 others {that survived the horrors of the winter} that visitly our garden nightly. Each night I put out 4 dishes of meal worms ~ fruit ~ nuts and a special food bought from the pet shop devoloped for hedgehogs. I get immense pleasure watching these delightful animals and am looking forward to a new set of offspring this year.
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There is a wren nesting in a box provided for cigarette butts, at the entrance to the Ladies conveniences in Dyke Road Park, Dyke Road, Hove. A notice has been placed near the box, asking people to avoid the nest.
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I have something 'nesting' in my fireplace. The cats don't seem bothered but I am wondering if it could be a nest that has fallen down the chimney stack. I can hear noises -like moving about, but no sqeeks, tweets etc., coming from behind a closed off fireplace on the ground floor. I cannot hear anything from upstairs.
Does anyone have any idea what could be there and what should I do?
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Although this has nothing to do with 'spring watch' - but one of our cats was dived bombed today by a herring gull - there are no nests near by - although the cat is small and female - colour, black and white - why would the gull do this?
would it be looking for 'food'?
or just 'having a practice run?
yours faithfully Mike Symonds
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Music to my ears,I have never heard or seen so many bees in the garden this morning all be it carder and bumbles. They are nesting in the strawbales I use for growing strawberries.I also grow large quantities of different comfreys which they love. I have recently become a member of the BBCT conservation, great work. I have also read in Lost Country Life, Dorothy Hartley, that wild bees where once used for Honey production etc. Now there's a thought, why is that no possible now as there are many more bumbles and other bees, than honey bees, Vicky
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We were fishing today and hand fed Blackbirds Chaffinch Thrush Male and Female with there young a Stunning day at Upchurch Kent
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Where I work there are a pair of doves who keep trying to build a nest on some horizontal pipes, the male keeps pushing twigs around the female but they fall to the ground. Its exhausting just watching him. Unfortunately, I have found 3 smashed eggs in 3 different locations. Do you think these particular doves are just not very good nest builders or is this usual for doves in general? I feel so sorry for them, especially as the female has laid 3 eggs and they have just dropped to the ground.
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Yesterday afternoon I sat in the wood watching a Mother Shipton moth enjoying the sun by resting on a dead leaf that had fallen to the ground. A buff tailed bumble bee buzzed about and when it went close to the leaf the moth flew into the air and appeared to chase the bee for two or three yards until it vanished. The moth then went back to sit on the same leaf.
I have never associated moths with aggression, but do some of them have this trait?
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Hi, I don't know if I was seeing things, but while I was sitting in my garden in Warwickshire last evening, I saw three raptors flying at a very high altitude. To the naked eye they looked like Kites, but when I saw then through my binoculars they were very large and the tails ended sqaure and one of them had a white tail. It was difficult to keep them in view at the altitude they were flying at. I can only think that they were White Tailed Eagles. Am I right?
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i have had a visit from a greater spotted woodpecker to my feeding station i put nuts,raisins,mealworm and fat pellets in it i am only a quarter mile from manchester city center and they are nesting for the 2nd year is this uncommon
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06.05 2010.
At the east cliff between West Bay and Freshwater is a nesting pair of Peregrin Falcons. It looks as if the chick is about to leave the nest.
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Hi we on the isle of wight in Niton near St Catherines Light House. For two years now we have seen and photographed a herron that has nested sucessfully the middle of a pond at the bottom of our land. Last year 3 chicks hatched and this year two... we found this to be quite interesting as we thought they normally nest in the top of trees.
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At about 9.30pm on the 6th of June my wife was driving along Denby Dale Road in Wakefield West Yorkshire, she had to slow down as a very dark brownish/ black fox crossed the road in front of her, it went into the Merc. garage forecourt, we have never seen a fox this colour before, it looked quite fit and healthy as it strolled across the road, heading to the open ground behind the garage.
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Can you answer this please? On Saturday morning I saw a large bumble bee flying to some flowers on a road side hedge. It looked strange, so I took a closer look - there was a smaller bee on it's back! The larger bee was trying to dislodge the hitch hiker and they were making a lot of noise. It all happended too quickly to capture on my Mobile! They both flew off over the hedge and I haven't seen them since!
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our 6 blue tits have all successfully fledged on ~Sat this was our first ever successful bird box nest do we clear out the old nest or leave it to mother nature???
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Hi there, I love to see birds of prey and was amazed to find a kestrels nest near my house in a large beech tree. It has 3 half grown chicks and having spent hours watching, they are only fed by the female. She meets the male away from the nest who passes her food and only when he has left she secretly returns to the nest. The amazing thing is that it is only 12 feet from the floor and ... in the lowest fork of the tree. Its amazing to watch.
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i know it's been a few days since i blogged about the pigeon nesting on my sky dish. Well,i watched as she came back with food for her only chick, which had hatched sunday afternoon. As she came in she knocked the whole thing to the ground, where my cat was waiting. she flew to the fence and never made a noise, then took off. i've not seen her since, nor do i exsepect to.
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I have an entry for most unusual place for birds nest. A Wren having already built a nest in an old coat pocket hanging in my workshop had a change of mind and built its home in the spout of my wood chipper. Will try to get a photo.
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I have discovered a nest full of chicks inside a metal (field) gatepost-at the fastening bar slot! Went to open said gate while out with my dog and heard merry cheepings very close by... to my amazement there were 4 tiny gaping mouths all shouting for their tea! parents soon flew in after I retreated to safe distance but were against the light so I couldn't be sure of identification... Kate - watch out I'll be after your job!
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a visit to a friend. i found her trying to put up a fence section which had fallen. the base had been chewed. that side of her garden backs on to a field, which at the moment is full of sheep. would sheep chew wood, and if not, what would. There are lots of hedges around and quite a few groups of trees, almost like small woods. Please can anyone help.
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I was walking with my Jack Russell on a woodland track near Brighton when the dog was chased back to me by a female deer which dived into the undergrowth when it saw me. I picked up my dog and carried on walking but the deer appeared again and ran towards me (to within about 5 or 6 yards) then jumped into the undergrowth again. This unusual agressive behavior was repeated half a dozen times until I had walked about 100 yards down the track when it stood on the bank and watched me go past. Normally deer run away or remain stationary when I walk near them. Were there young very close?
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Plover Nest Attack, Why not fashion a large dome out of chicken wire (self supporting) and place over the nest, gaps big enough for the plovers to jump through easily, but too small for the bigger bird to get in and pinch eggs.....
Rhia West, St Neots
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I have a pair of swallows who have tried unsucessfully to build for the past 4 weeks. The dry weather meant that the mud would not stick to the wall and now we have had some rain the mud looks to be too 'peaty' and falls tp bits. They now appear to be giving up. The female will not allow the male to mate her and appears to be 'sad'. By that, I mean that she seems tp be flying less and shows less interest in building. I have ordered an artificial box which I hope to put up this weekend. Is there anything else I can do to help?
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Theres a Fox earth rite near my house that I keep going to look at the pups have started to come out now they look so cute also how do I contact the team 2 ask questions ?
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on monday morning this week i witnessed a magpie collecting some twigs a piece of yellow plastic a pigeons feather some other bits and then started selecting pebbles to make what i jokingly called "magpie art" when it had finished and flown away i went for a closer look and in amongst the "sculpture" were the remains of what i think was a blackbird which had probably been killed and mostly eaten by one the many cats that live near us can you please tell me if this is normal as i have never seen any wild birds do this before
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I have heard there are not many cuckoos this year, but I have had wonderful cuckooing all through May - they seem to love it here, singing all day. Also we have swallows nesting in our garage, they arrived at the end of April It is strange, but we always seem to have 3 arrive. why is that?
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The BEES take over the blue tit box
Hallo everyone
The blue tits started to survey the nest box in my garden earlier this year and all seemed to be going well.
During late May they were back and busy building.
I noticed in late May they"d vanished, so I thought perhaps one had died.
To my astonishement I noticed that the box had been taken over by a bee colony. I believe the bees are bombus hypnoram, which as you know arrived in the UK about 2000.
I am a volunteer at Titchfield Haven Nature reserve on the Solent and met Chris Packham when he opened our new "Knights Bank" hide.
I have spoken to our top naturalists but this "take over" has never been seen before.
It is possible that the tits had startd to lay or that there may even be some very young but dead chicks inside.
I shall look later in the year.
Can you throw any light on this.
Jane Humphry.
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we have herions nesting in the middle of our pond is this normal, we thought they only nest in top of trees...???
Lucy, on the isle of wight.
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Great show last week with the gent from Salisbury taking photo's in his back garden. Can you post his lens details? It is obviously a macro lens but I'd love to have more information on it. I thought his photos's were so crisp and sharp, they were brilliant.
Thanks
Roger
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Two things really,
Has anyone noticed that there seems a profusion of blossom this year. I think the hawthorn and the elder has been covered with more blossom than usual. I wondered if this has anything to do with the hard winter we have just had. Both the Hawthorn and the Elder, flower on the branches made in the previous year. If more wood has 'ripened' than usual due to the cold weather, could this explain the profusion of blossom.What does anyone else think? Is it only my area where this has happened? I live on the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire border.
On a more humorous note, I cam back from a few days away to find a common frog in the bathroom- (the bathroom is on the first floor). However I did leave my 19 year old son at home and he swears it had nothing to do with him. I am absolutely flabbergasted as to how it got there? Any suggestions? perhaps I need Jonathan Creek!
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on the way home today 14 june 1600hrs i saw some pine trees with what looked like black smoke coming up from them, weather was humid aqnd overcast at the time, could this be pollen rising?
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last friday I spotted a bright red butterfly in my garden which i think may be a haworth Butterfly is this rare as i have never seen this before, also this year we have been plaqued by the brown Tailed Moth? which has given me a terrible rash
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Sunday 6th June 2010 approx 10 miles off Lands End and about 12 miles from Wolf Rock Lighthouse, while out sailing saw 2 (two) Basking Sharks swiming together.
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On the 14th June just above Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset (where Simon was that evening on Springwatch) my husband and I noticed sitting on the top of some gorse, a bird the main body and head the colour of sunflower yellow and the size of a sparrow. It had a red cap on its head and was sitting alone singing. What bird was it?
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We have recently returned from the Lake District and on Windermere we saw a Greylag Goose who had apparently paired up with a Canada Goose and produced babies. Mother and father were proudly showing off their 3 chicks. They were staunchly fending off the surrounding Canada Geese but seems quite happy with each other. We watched them for a while and are certain that they were in fact a pair with young. Is this common?
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I have seen a Black Squirrel from the window at my work, not been able to get a photo though, Are they unusual, Rita from Cambridgeshire.
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can anyone explain why a roe deer attacked me from behind bitting me on the buttocks ( i was wearing shorts) and butting me into the canal ,which I was walk along? do you need more information?
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I wanted to share an unusual event with you and wondered if you heard of it before? Last year swallows again returned to nest in our back porch. They reared two batches of eggs; 4 in the first nest and 3 in the second. The parent birds then began to build another nest in a porch at the side of our house at the end of the summer, just before they left in October. To our utter amazement, the swallows returned and went straight for the nest they had pre-prepared last year and laid eggs, again 4 chicks have hatched and another nest is being built alongside. My question is; does this prove that swallows are capable of planning ahead, and for what possible reason....weather conditions?
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Hello. My comments are not specific to a particular area of 'Springwatch' It's to the whole of Springwatch. BRAVO, BRAVO and BRAVO, for an outstanding television programme of enthusiastic passion, for our entertainment with the fauna & characters that are all around us. So well presented by the naturalists, each with their style that enthuses each of us to open our senses so that we want to be part of this glorious scene just on our doorsteps. Whilst watching one of the evenings shows, a hedgehog wandered into our lounge, wanting seconds after cleaning out the contents of our cats food dish. ps. Please mention your programm to the broadcaster Stephen Fry. He could not have known it was being televised. Best wishes to the entire Springwatch team.
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Moderator. Please add a letter 'e' to my word programm(e) on the eighth line. Thank you.
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I live in a cul-de-sac with open plan front gardens. The gardens are former meadow land ,after seeing the article about the Adonis blue butterfly and the plant that attracts it. To my amazement i found that both are just outside my front door .Yes i do live near to the south downs
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still waiting for someone to give me advice re . bats surely someone out there is interested
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I'm so glad I found this blog, great resources, great advice, everything is great.
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each year at this time, at dusk i have small brown beetles ,just over 1 and a 1/4inches flying from my tree ,to many to count can you tell me are they rare please g murphy
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What a beautiful blog Tim. Thank you for all the hard work you've put into it.
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I have a wren nesting in my entry between my house and nextdoors, ingenious spot, in an alcove which is about 3 inches wide, free from rain, wind etc, it has babies, don't know how many, saw one today having a nosey out.
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I have a sheet of cavas in my garden which has some rainwater in it and in the water there is lots of black larvae swimming and twitching about, i don't think it is tadpoles because we dont get any frogs, mabye mosquito larvae? What do you think?
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The other day i was travelling along a contry road and beside us, hovering quite low was a kestrel, just outside the forest and next to the wall, it was absolutely gorgous!!!
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