Wildlife in the garden - Spring and what is this bird?

[oldravendale]

Ahhh!
Forgot Gareth was Stateside and my phone screen isn't the best......
Still, if we have black panthers roaming around why not black bears?

Just throw torn up newspaper out of the window every morning. See post #659...

 

[Dai88D]

Last night Smudge brought a Hedgehog to the patio door, the first hog that we have seen this year.

Alive?

 

[Dai88D]

I agree with the greenfinch identity.
Are people aware of the Merlin bird ID app by Cornell Labs? It allows you to identify a bird by opening the app and it records it's song. It is available for different parts of the world and now is a good time of year to start listening. It was recommended to me by an avid 'birder'.

I use the Merlin-ID app, and find it really excellent. It can hear birds that you can’t-I’m popping on a bit, so upper frequencies are missed by my lugholes!

 

[Osgood]

Alive?

Whilst walking around the fields, our first German Short-haired Pointer (forever dipping in and out of the ditch lines) would regularly appear alongside me carrying a rolled-up hog in his mouth.
A quick "Drop" and the hog (quite probably often the same one) was on the deck.
A few minutes later the hog would be unrolling itself, no doubt wondering which field it was in this time!
Amazing how soft a dog's mouth is, and that they do not get pierced by the spines.

 

[richard carr]

Whilst walking around the fields, our first German Short-haired Pointer (forever dipping in and out of the ditch lines) would regularly appear alongside me carrying a rolled-up hog in his mouth.
A quick "Drop" and the hog (quite probably often the same one) was on the deck.
A few minutes later the hog would be unrolling itself, no doubt wondering which field it was in this time!
Amazing how soft a dog's mouth is, and that they do not get pierced by the spines.

Our firt springer used to do that, he would find them in the garden and bring them into the house !

Fortunately the 2 we have now just stand there and look at them. There was another in the front garden last night.

 

[Dai88D]

My eyes ain’t what they used to be, so imagine my surprise at my seeing a long-tailed goldfinch in the garden. Knowing there isn’t such a thing as a long-tailed goldfinch, I decided to take a closer look. The result: my first spotting of a lesser-spotted woodpecker. It has been seen a few times since —- I’m chuffed!

 

[richard carr]

He's found one, it is night time but this one is by the shed door and the flood light has come on.

 

[40057]

Cool weather again today, but at least it’s sunny and not raining. At last, the vegetation in the garden Iooks like it’s spring. I have never wanted a manicured garden, so many wild plants are welcome and are allowed to spread unchecked.

Primrose in flower, with the new leaves of wild strawberry:



Blaeberry (or whortleberry, depending on where you come from):



The new fronds of oak fern:



And lots of bees on our garden Rhododendrons:

 

[Lancastrian]

Ladybirds..."running away"!
Well, the one furthest away decided to do a runner as I caught the pair up to some mischief! I'm not sure what all the yellow stuff is