MankyMallardDucklings

Everyone loves ducklings, and this female Mallard had ten in tow. Along with them was this odd specimen below, which I first thought must be the father and had me wondering what rare breed I had discovered. However wiser heads prevailed (thanks Sheila) and surmised that it is in fact a juvenile from the last brood that has stuck with it's mother. It is a funny coloured mongrel Mallard, the result of cross-breeding and genetic mutation, but a mallard nonetheless. This web page coins the term "manky mallard" and has a massive rundown of the varieties of Mallard that are out there, including endless pictures from around the world. I had no idea before today!

MankyMallardTeenager

You can see in the picture below (and the one at the top) that one of the ducklings has inherited this colouration, presumably it being from the same father as that of the juvenile.

MankyMallardDucklings2

09. May 2010 · 1 comment · Categories: Birds

RobinJuvenileFeeding

I had the pleasure today of watching a family of five Robins feeding just outside the window. Two adults and three juveniles, still begging for food and being passed it by the adults, but clearly thoroughly mobile and capable. I hadn't seen juveniles before so this was a new experience for me.

The youngsters weren't obviously Robins on their own, and I wouldn't have recognised them without the adults beside them. They have the gaping yellow maw of many a young bird and there is the hint of a red breast, but otherwise it's not obvious to the untrained eye.

RobinJuveniles

BeetlePupae

I was digging up the edges of borders in my garden this evening and in amongst the turf and the soil I found quite a number of what I assume to be beetle pupae. I found a lot of similarly sized white grubs in similar places late last year, so I figure these are probably the pupal stage of the same thing. Perhaps a chafer beetle of some sort? There seems to be a dearth of beetle pupae pictures on the web, at least that are easily found via Google, so I've struggled to identify these. Maybe they're not all the same? Can you help?

These were up to 20mm long (very approximately – I seldom remember to actually measure these beasties that I find) and the pointy ends were waving about in circles after being disturbed, which was a bit freaky since they otherwise look dormant and inanimate. Next stage should be for them to emerge as adult beetles, but I left them on the decking for the birds so I don't think we'll see that in this case.

Update: thanks to regular correspondent Blackbird for letting us know that they're almost definitely Noctuid moth pupae. This page has an extreme close-up of one of these pupae near the bottom (you'll have to scroll right down) with the parts labelled.

Back in January we wrote about how the cold weather here in the uK had led to an increase in the number of bittern sightings. It now seems that a BBC camera crew have managed to go a step further at the RSPB Minsmere reserve and have caught on film a male bittern "booming" in daylight for the first time in the UK.

Male bitterns make their booming noise as a way of attracting females in the spring. It is thought that there are 82 booming males in the UK at present, but they are notoriously difficult to spot which makes capturing one on film even more special.

The full story of the "return of the booming bittern" was shown on last night's the One Show which should be available on the BBC iPlayer for a week or so.

06. May 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: News

It's finally the day of the 2010 general election here in the UK, so if you've not done so already then please remember that you've got until 10pm tonight to head to your polling station and put your "X" on the ballot paper. 

We're not going to try to tell you who to vote for, but if you're still making up your mind between your local candidates then you might want to take a look and see if any of them have signed either the Wildlife Pledge 2010 or the RSPB Letter to the Future. Also, if you've not yet signed the latter then it's a good opportunity to do so!

04. May 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: News

The RSPB is launching a new approach to nature conservation, dubbed futurescapes the programme calls for wide swathes of the British countryside to be made more friendly to wildlife, going far beyond the boundaries of official nature reserves. They hope to encourage and partner with organisations to help make this change, citing successes in the Greater Thames region which included partnerships with Veolia, DP World and Port of London Authority.

This makes a lot of sense as wildlife reserves, wonderful though they are, make up only a tiny fraction of our crowded island, and the flora and fauna that are trying to survive don't recognise the borders of those reserves. Good luck to them.

WindsweptBeach

Just a pictorial reminder that even on a wet, wild and windswept day there's still a certain sort of beauty to be found out there.

SnailEggs

As I pulled dandelions out of my lawn this afternoon I noticed some tiny clear balls around the base of one plant and wondered what they were. About 2mm across, spherical and with a rough surface but no noticeable contents other than clear gel – which I found out when I squished one. Until I'd done that I almost wondered if they were plastic or glass ball bearings like you used to get in fountain pen ink cartridges at school.

Though I've never seen them before I guessed they might be snail eggs and indeed there was a large garden snail close by. A bit of internet research shows I was probably right. Apparently they hatch within about four weeks having been laid by both of the snails that mated – snails being hermaphrodite.