Your day's wildlife

[biggs682]

Positioned our trail camera last night to record what comes in and out of our rear garden.
Results are
8 recorded hogs entering ( might have all been the same one )
8 recorded hogs leaving
3 cats entering but none leaving.
Oh and one cyclist leaving and entering

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

European hornets! Had two of these fly into the cottage we were staying in on the weekend. Darn things were over 3cm long! The humans won but it was a close thing for a while, they are really, really hard to kill.

We had one pretty much crushed at one point, when we lifted the rock we had thumped it with ( and stood on! ) it started trying to stand up!

I borrowed the picture from the web, by the time we thought of taking a picture they were pretty much squished.

 

[Gillstay]

European hornets! Had two of these fly into the cottage we were staying in on the weekend. Darn things were over 3cm long! The humans won but it was a close thing for a while, they are really, really hard to kill.

We had one pretty much crushed at one point, when we lifted the rock we had thumped it with ( and stood on! ) it started trying to stand up!

View attachment 704200

I borrowed the picture from the web, by the time we thought of taking a picture they were pretty much squished.

Why are you killing them? If its daylight you can open a window to let them go and if its dark you do the same, but switch the lights off and they go. They tend to be curious rather than aggressive like wasps and they frequently take wasps.

 

[Willd]

I saw one one holiday in Wales & it got itself into a spider's web, the tiny spider (about 100 times smaller than the hornet) looked on thinking it's luck was in, but the hornet managed to free itself

 

[Proto]

We've had a few hornets in the house and after my initial terror I now leave them alone, they don't seem to be aggressive. Same with wasps, just let them go about their business and they'll move on.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The guideline here is that if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. They are aggressive if you approach too close to their nest, or attack it (which is illegal anaway). They don't nest on the same place for two years anyway, so when winter comes they'll go away.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Why are you killing them? If its daylight you can open a window to let them go and if its dark you do the same, but switch the lights off and they go. They tend to be curious rather than aggressive like wasps and they frequently take wasps.

Usually I’ll go through quite an effort to save things, but it’s that time of the year when they are aggressive and I was in a cottage full of screaming women, all of whom wanted it dead.

Usually something rare and interesting like that is captured for some close examination prior to being released unharmed. Less interesting stuff is just shown the door.

 

[Proto]

Found this sad little creature in the woods today, next to a trail the deer and foxes have made. Pretty well intact but very dead. Left him on a log to see if he'd get recycled.

Common or pygmy shrew? I'm guessing pygmy but admit to knowing very little. Anyone able to comment?

 

[Gillstay]

Usually I’ll go through quite an effort to save things, but it’s that time of the year when they are aggressive and I was in a cottage full of screaming women, all of whom wanted it dead.

Usually something rare and interesting like that is captured for some close examination prior to being released unharmed. Less interesting stuff is just shown the door.

Yes, I can understand what you mean, I used catch snakes to show school kids, but only showed the teachers last as they often reacted foolishly, if not stupidly. Which was annoying when you have just explained it all to the kids ! Often the kids would be staring at their teachers reaction in amazement. Hornets and wasps do seem very different as I have got close up photo's of hornets through out the year without any problems. Mind you when they get curious back and come right up to your face it takes a lot of bottle not to turn and run.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Yes, I can understand what you mean, I used catch snakes to show school kids, but only showed the teachers last as they often reacted foolishly, if not stupidly. Which was annoying when you have just explained it all to the kids ! Often the kids would be staring at their teachers reaction in amazement. Hornets and wasps do seem very different as I have got close up photo's of hornets through out the year without any problems. Mind you when they get curious back and come right up to your face it takes a lot of bottle not to turn and run.

I was once cruising down a side street near my parents house, a young buck in my Ford Mustang with my pretty girlfriend… this is a lot of years ago…

Anyway, I spotted a little guy chasing the local girl population about with a large garter snake, perhaps two or more feet worth. I pulled over and asked the kid to come and show it to my girl friend, which he was delighted to do, trotting over and shoving the poor reptile through my window into the car. This was a test of sorts I guess… testing the quality of the girl as it were. Well, the young frauline reached over and carefully took the snake from the lad and proceeded examine it quite carefully.

And knew then that I had a keeper. Still have her.

 

[Proto]

I was once cruising down a side street near my parents house, a young buck in my Ford Mustang with my pretty girlfriend… this is a lot of years ago…

Anyway, I spotted a little guy chasing the local girl population about with a large garter snake, perhaps two or more feet worth. I pulled over and asked the kid to come and show it to my girl friend, which he was delighted to do, trotting over and shoving the poor reptile through my window into the car. This was a test of sorts I guess… testing the quality of the girl as it were. Well, the young frauline reached over and carefully took the snake from the lad and proceeded examine it quite carefully.

And knew then that I had a keeper. Still have her.

Nice, I didn’t think garter snakes lived that long.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Nice, I didn’t think garter snakes lived that long.

The females are much longer than the males, and bigger around. As a kid catching a three foot one was not unusual and I believe they can get a bit longer than that. They’ve built the area where I live up quite a bit so the days of catching snakes in the fields across the road are over.

Too bad, it was a lot of fun.

A group of us went out one evening in the spring, right at dusk, and came home with well over 100 snakes in a big cardboard box. The next morning we left it the sun for an hour or so until it was quite noisy with the sound of slithering then we took it out into the middle of the field and flipped it just to watch them all go. That was pretty cool, I think half the boys on the street came to watch. That was back in the seventies when you didn’t worry about handling the wildlife a bit.

 

[Windle]

Found this sad little creature in the woods today, next to a trail the deer and foxes have made. Pretty well intact but very dead. Left him on a log to see if he'd get recycled.

Common or pygmy shrew? I'm guessing pygmy but admit to knowing very little. Anyone able to comment?

View attachment 704392

View attachment 704394

Looks like a cat might have had it, they kill the poor wee buggers but won't eat them for some reason. I sometimes find them in our outside cat run.

 

[Windle]

Positioned our trail camera last night to record what comes in and out of our rear garden.
Results are
8 recorded hogs entering ( might have all been the same one )
8 recorded hogs leaving
3 cats entering but none leaving.
Oh and one cyclist leaving and entering

Regarding the missing cats.... did the cyclist have a saddlebag by any chance?

 

[biggs682]

Regarding the missing cats.... did the cyclist have a saddlebag by any chance?

Afraid not one big enough to squeeze a pussycat into