{"id":1283,"date":"2019-08-07T09:47:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T07:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2019-08-07T09:47:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T07:47:26","slug":"tell-us-about-the-birds-and-the-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/birding-and-wildlife-trips\/tell-us-about-the-birds-and-the-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"Tell us about the birds and the bees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tell us about the birds and the bees<\/p>\n

The birds and the bees<\/strong>, mmm, I think we\u2019ll start off literally and see where it leads.
\nAlas, the canvas hide<\/strong> overlooking the pool has stood unloved for a couple of years now, if occupation for any nature-oriented purpose is anything to measure love by. In other words, I have had no time<\/strong> to spend in the hide enjoying some of the fruits of my many labours, and it\u2019s a shame. It happens like this: before I can walk the 200 metres or so<\/strong> between my parked car and the pool there are just so many things that I see need attending to and I have so many ideas about what could be done that I can never quite make it.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The compost<\/strong> isn\u2019t doing anything \u2013 you could turn and water it.
\n\u2022 Check on how the trees<\/strong> are doing \u2013 water, aphids, nutrients\u2026
\n\u2022 Turn over a log or move a branch in the wood pile<\/strong> to see if anything moves
\n\u2022 The stairs up to the pool<\/strong> need weeding\/repairing
\n\u2022 Weeding<\/strong>, there is always weeding to do. But are there enough edible weeds to gather and make them into a dish?
\n\u2022 Check to see if any of the flower seed<\/strong> is showing signs of life.
\n\u2022 Scythe the grass<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Improve the paths<\/strong><\/p>\n

And so on, and so on, and so\u2026<\/p>\n

Thankfully, in my prolonged absence we have the trail cam<\/strong> to step into my shoes, and to at least bear witness to some of what goes on at the pool. With it\u2019s motion detection<\/strong> and nocturnal flash<\/strong> function it\u2019s the unsleeping eye – as long as the batteries last, and as long as it\u2019s aligned properly.<\/p>\n

How else would we have discovered that a Red Fox<\/strong> is a regular visitor to the pool, at night, and even at 9 in the morning? Or that Badgers<\/strong> are in the area, and visit when all is dark and still? And that at last those couple of stray tick-infested dogs seem to have moved on?<\/p>\n

\"Red

Red Fox at the Pou del Mano drinking pool<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Badger

Badger at the Pou del Mano drinking pool<\/p><\/div>\n

Having said \u201cbadger\u201d reminds me of a badge I used to wear<\/strong> at Sixth-form college, when I was an active member of Friends of the Earth<\/strong> and Greenpeace<\/strong>, trying to get people interested in saving the world\u2019s wildlife. It read \u201cDon\u2019t badger the badger<\/strong>\u201d, which in itself is quite a succinct endorsement of the English language ie \u201cbadger\u201d can be used as a verb as well as a noun and slots perfectly into a 4-word catchword to convey the message: \u201cLeave the badgers alone, they are not your scapegoats\u201d. Unfortunately there\u2019s no trace of the badge among my personal belongings, and worse yet, I can’t even trace it on the Internet. Has anyone out there ever had one of those badges<\/strong>, and still got it? If so, I’d love to hear from you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems the idea of slaughtering badgers (called \u201cculling\u201d when you have to justify it to constituents or customers) resurfaces every decade or so in the UK, as in its day my old badge was a response to ongoing badger culls in the early 1980s, while the Guardian article<\/strong> below relates to a proposed cull<\/strong> in 2010.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/blog\/2011\/aug\/11\/badger-cull-dont-stop-bovine-tb<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, if you read the article it virtually destroys the logic of any proposed badger slaughter, and please let\u2019s not get started on \u201cSeals eat our fish\u201d, and \u201cFox-hunting is needed to control the vermin\u201d, and all that kind of nonsense.<\/p>\n

Back to the camera: more than 30 species of birds were recorded in the first couple of winter sessions, including the locally scarce Brambling and Hawfinch. Unfortunately, the camera wasn\u2019t set for the spring migration<\/strong>, when I was hearing regular bursts of song from Wryneck, Bonelli\u2019s Warbler and even Grasshopper Warbler<\/strong>. Hopefully next year\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Bumble

Bumble bee on flower<\/p><\/div>\n

And the bees<\/strong>? Well, one of the measures that you can take to encourage native bees<\/strong> is to provide water for them. They need nectar<\/strong> and pollen<\/strong> sources, soft banks to nest or roost in, patches of exposed earth and water. Although the hard truth is that we\u2019ve had more interest at the pool from wasps and even dragonflies<\/strong> than from bees, it\u2019s still early days yet, and once the drought<\/strong> has come to an end hopefully much of the flower seed<\/strong> we have sown will grow into flowers, attracting bees who will then need a drink after gorging themselves on abundant nectar. Either way, we\u2019re going to have a lot to say about bees \u2026<\/p>\n

Next chapter: The frog in the well<\/em><\/p>\n

What real people<\/strong> say about Birding In Spain:<\/p>\n

Julie and Roger Knourek (USA), Marvellous May 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello Steve and Florinda! We’re back in Arizona, rested up and ready to travel to Wyoming for the rest of the summer. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the Marvelous May trip we recently went on with you. Everything worked out perfectly – the birding was excellent, the hotels and food were wonderful, and we enjoyed everyone’s friendship and companionship while we were on the tour. I really appreciate that you were able to accommodate our needs when necessary. It was truly one of the highlights of our lives!!! I will post a few pictures when we get to WY and get settled in. Thanks so much!<\/em><\/p>\n

We recommend:<\/p>\n

Marvellous May Scotland Tour 2020<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  • information to follow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tell us about the birds and the bees The birds and the bees, mmm, I think we\u2019ll start off literally and see where it leads. Alas, the canvas hide overlooking the pool has stood unloved for a couple of years now, if occupation for any nature-oriented purpose is anything to measure love by. In other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-and-nature-photos","category-birding-and-wildlife-trips","category-birding-in-catalonia","category-ideas-for-birds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7I752-kH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1321,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}