Country File

[steve_holmes_11]

They're a nuisance.  I've always expected them in certain places, when we had a short camping break at Kielder a few years ago you had to fight your way through a physical cloud of them at dusk.  They've never been this bad in the garden though.

So I'm now researching how to encourage swallows, swifts, housemartins and bats into the garden to eat them.  Apparently a few birds can take out 1000+ midges in a single evening!

Have you seen the RSPB advice on encouraging housemartin nesting

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/house-martin/encouraging-them-to-nest/

There's probably something similar for swifts and swallows.

Painting the top of the house white seems like overkill, but constructing artificial nests as described could be the next Pendraken non-mini project.
(A long honourable tradition following the covid masks).


Bat boxes are also good, and probably easier to construct.
From memory they're beter installed in trees than on buildings.

[steve_holmes_11]

And an obligatory wargame angle: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ababil_(religious)#:~:text=It%20refers%20to%20the%20miraculous,on%20them%20as%20they%20approached.

Ababil (Arabic: أبابيل, romanized: abābīl) means a "Flock of Birds". It refers to the miraculous birds in Islamic belief mentioned in Surah Al-Fil of the Quran that protected the Kaaba in Mecca from the Aksumite elephant army of Abraha, then self-styled governor of Himyar, by dropping small clay stones on them as they approached.

The event is said to have occurred in 570, the year that the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born.


To bring the event to your tabletop, deploy Pre Islamic Arabs defending against an Abyssinian led Yemeni force.

[Elliesdad]

Have you seen the RSPB advice on encouraging housemartin nesting

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/house-martin/encouraging-them-to-nest/

There's probably something similar for swifts and swallows.

Painting the top of the house white seems like overkill, but constructing artificial nests as described could be the next Pendraken non-mini project.

My daughters house had/has a wasps nest in the attic - fortunately the little bu99ers couldn't get into the house living space 🐝🐝.
She bought a couple of fake "wasps nests" and fixed them to the outside of the house. Now no more wasps - seemingly the logic being that the wasps are "keeping away" from those new nests and whatever lives in them (errr... nothing 'cause they are fakes). Anyhow, she's happy and the wasps seem to have moved on/disappeared. 😎
Cheers,
Geoff

[Leon]

Have you seen the RSPB advice on encouraging housemartin nesting

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/house-martin/encouraging-them-to-nest/

That's interesting, I'd seen the artificial nests and wondered if we could get some of those.  The bit I'm not sure about is that they recommend a 5m drop below the nest entrance but not to put them above a door/human area as the birds need to swoop up into the nest.  The back of the house is above 5m (and north facing) but half of it is conservatory (so not 5m) and the other half has the kitchen door so might be in the 'droppings zone'!  I've got a friend in the RSPB so I'll give him a nudge and see what the best option would be.

Bat boxes are also good, and probably easier to construct.
From memory they're beter installed in trees than on buildings.

Trees are an easier option for us, there's a couple at the back of the garden of a reasonable height so we can put something on those.

[Raider4]

Taken advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to mow the lawn for probably the final time this year. Not sure I've ever done it in October before? 

[toxicpixie]

Taken advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to mow the lawn for probably the final time this year. Not sure I've ever done it in October before?

Great minds think alike... I'm on my way to the shed for the lawnmower as I type

[toxicpixie]

Update! Lawn too long and wet to mow but too long to leave over winter. It now looks like some psychopathic and over enthusiastic barber has had the clippers out...

[Steve J]

First proper day out on the garden for many months and it felt good! Spring like at times the past few days here. My body aches but in a nice way . I'll probably cut the grass tomorrow, after doing the RSPB Big Bird Watch first thing.

[Leon]

We've not had chance up here yet, it's been wet and windy for about 4 months now.  I built a pond in September that has subsequently been filled with dead leaves, so I really need to get them out of there before it ruins the water.

[Steve J]

We've had wind and rain for ages, with frequent gales too of late. Nice to actually have some settled weather for once.

[Roy]

Best viewing in our back garden is when one member of the local pair (a breeding couple no-doubt) of Sparrow Hawks visits and makes a kill. Sometimes you catch them mid-meal. Others, you just see the evidence left behind. One of them must have caught a Collared Dove the other week, as there was feathers everywhere (same colour feathers as a Wood Pigeon, which we can have a dozen or more visit at a time, but have never seen a Sparrow Hawk target something so large in our gardens).

[toxicpixie]

First proper day out on the garden for many months and it felt good! Spring like at times the past few days here. My body aches but in a nice way . I'll probably cut the grass tomorrow, after doing the RSPB Big Bird Watch first thing.

Yeah, very spring like here! All the daffs and snowdrops etc are popping up which is going to be a bit awkward if we actually have a winter over Feb...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

There was gorse budding in Powys last week! 

[Roy]

Driving back from the North Riding Wargames Club meet this lunchtime and spotted two buzzards riding thermals next to the A1 overpass, towards Leeming Bar.

Then got home and watched some Foxes playing with Toffees on the Beeb.

[Raider4]

Woke up to two inches of snow. Don't remember that being forecast.