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Red Squirrel - Sciurus Vulgaris
Highlands, Scotland.
The red squirrel is found in both coniferous forest and temperate broadleaf woodlands. The squirrel makes a drey (nest) out of twigs in a branch-fork, forming a domed structure about 25 to 30 cm in diameter. This is lined with moss, leaves, grass and bark. Tree hollows and woodpecker holes are also used. The red squirrel is a solitary animal and is shy and reluctant to share food with others. However, outside the breeding season and particularly in winter, several red squirrels may share a drey to keep warm. Social organization is based on dominance hierarchies within and between sexes; although males are not necessarily dominant to females, the dominant animals tend to be larger and older than subordinate animals, and dominant males tend to have larger home ranges than subordinate males or females.
Red squirrels that survive their first winter have a life expectancy of 3 years. Individuals may reach 7 years of age, and 10 in captivity. Survival is positively related to availability of autumn–winter tree seeds; on average, 75–85% of juveniles die during their first winter, and mortality is approximately 50% for winters following the first.
Although not thought to be under any threat worldwide, the red squirrel has nevertheless drastically reduced in number in the United Kingdom; especially after the grey squirrels were introduced from North America in the 1870s. Fewer than 140,000 individuals are thought to be left in 2013; approximately 85% of which are in Scotland, with the Isle of Wight being the largest haven in England. A local charity, the Wight Squirrel Project,[26] supports red squirrel conservation on the island, and islanders are actively recommended to report any invasive greys. The population decrease in Britain is often ascribed to the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America, but the loss and fragmentation of its native woodland habitat has also played a role.
In January 1998, eradication of the non-native North American grey squirrel began on the North Wales island of Anglesey. This facilitated the natural recovery of the small remnant red squirrel population. It was followed by the successful reintroduction of the red squirrel into the pine stands of Newborough Forest. Subsequent reintroductions into broadleaved woodland followed and today the island has the single largest red squirrel population in Wales. Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour is also populated exclusively by red rather than grey squirrels (approximately 200 individuals).
Great Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopus Major
The great spotted woodpecker occurs in all types of woodlands and is catholic in its diet, being capable of extracting seeds from pine cones, insect larvae from inside trees or eggs and chicks of other birds from their nests. It breeds in holes excavated in living or dead trees, unlined apart from wood chips. The typical clutch is four to six glossy white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs, feed the chicks and keep the nest clean. When the young fledge they are fed by the adults for about ten days, each parent taking responsibility for feeding part of the brood.
The great spotted woodpecker occurs in Eurasia from the British Isles to Japan, and in North Africa from Morocco to Tunisia, and it is absent only from those areas too cold or dry to have suitable woodland habitat. It is found in a wide variety of woodlands, broadleaf, coniferous or mixed, and in modified habitats like parks, gardens and olive groves. It occurs from sea-level to the tree line, up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in Europe, 2,200 m (7,200 ft) in Morocco and 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in Central Asia.
The great spotted woodpecker became extinct in the island of Ireland in the seventeenth century, due to deforestation, but the island was naturally recolonised by this species, with the first proven nesting in County Down in 2007. Its expansion in range is continuing, with breeding proven or suspected in at least 10 counties by 2013, with the main concentration in Down and County Wicklow. Genetic evidence shows the birds to be of British, rather than Scandinavian, ancestry, with the populations in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic having separate origins. The great spotted woodpecker was also found to have been nesting in the Isle of Man from 2009.
Population:
UK breeding:
140,000 pairs
Bullfinch - Pyrrhula Pyrrhula (F)
The Eurasian bullfinch, common bullfinch or bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) is a small passerine bird in the finch family, Fringillidae. In Anglophone Europe it is known simply as bullfinch, as it is the original bird to bear the name bullfinch.
The bullfinch is a bulky bull-headed bird. The upper parts are grey; the flight feathers and short thick bill are black; as are the cap and face in adults (they are greyish-brown in juveniles), and the white rump and wing bars are striking in flight. The adult male has red underparts, but females and young birds have grey-buff underparts. It moults between July and October, but males do not have the duller autumn plumage that is typical of some other finches. The song of this unobtrusive bird contains fluted whistles, and is often described as 'mournful'.
This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia. It is mainly resident, but many northern birds migrate further south in the winter. Mixed woodland with some conifers is favoured for breeding, including parkland and gardens.
This species does not form large flocks outside the breeding season, and is usually seen as a pair or family group.
The food is mainly seeds and buds of fruit trees, which can make it a pest in orchards: in England for centuries every parish paid a bounty for every bullfinch killed. Ash and hawthorn are favoured in autumn and early winter. If wild bird cover is planted for it, kale, quinoa and millet are preferred, next to tall hedges or woodland.
Population:
UK breeding:
190,000
This is National Tree Week here in Ireland {5th of March onwards} where we celebrate
our trees. We havent got many but thankfully since 2000 they have started planting more of our native hardwood species and less of those horrid Norway Spruce that block out light from the forest floor and prevent all the wonderful undergrowth, fungii and wild flowers from growing. Of course they are a commercial crop and vital for the economy. Indeed, Coilte, the forestry people here do great work as they allow access through there land and plantations to access the trails and mountain tracks which I love so much.
I dont think theres is anything more wonderful than Oak trees.
This tree which is an Irish Oak [Quercus Petraea] is reckoned to be over 400 years old and is growing in the Powerscourt Valley, near the waterfall here in Co. Wicklow. The ground and the humidity seems to suit them better than the more common English Oak [Quercus Robur] which are also magnificent trees.
I would really love to see more of your tree photos here on Flickr as the truly are such beautiful things.
Do hope you like it! Catch up with you later,
P@t. x.
Waldwirtschaft
February 2023 - Ferenberg-Bantigen BE, Schweiz
Mamiya 7II, 4/80 mm, Kodak Tri-X 400, D-76 (1+1)
Print auf Fomatone 132 mit Moersch ECO 4812
Selentonung MT1 1+9, 1:30 min
Goldfinch - Carduelis Carduelis
On closer inspection male goldfinches can often be distinguished by a larger, darker red mask that extends just behind the eye. The shoulder feathers are black whereas they are brown on the hen.In females, the red face does not extend past the eye. The ivory-coloured bill is long and pointed, and the tail is forked. Goldfinches in breeding condition have a white bill, with a greyish or blackish mark at the tip for the rest of the year. Juveniles have a plain head and a greyer back but are unmistakable due to the yellow wing stripe. Birds in central Asia (caniceps group) have a plain grey head behind the red face, lacking the black and white head pattern of European and western Asian birds. Adults moult after the breeding season with some individuals beginning in July and others not completing their moult until November. After moult birds appear less colourful, until the tips of the newly grown feathers wear away.
The goldfinch is native to Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. It is found in open, partially wooded lowlands and is a resident in the milder west of its range, but migrates from colder regions. It will also make local movements, even in the west, to escape bad weather. It has been introduced to many areas of the world. It was introduced to Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Uruguay, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, in the 19th century, and their populations quickly increased and their range expanded greatly. They now occur from Brisbane to the Eyre Peninsula in Australia, and throughout New Zealand.
Because of the thistle seeds it eats, in Christian symbolism the goldfinch is associated with Christ's Passion and his crown of thorns. The goldfinch, appearing in pictures of the Madonna and Christ child, represents the foreknowledge Jesus and Mary had of the Crucifixion. Examples include the Madonna del cardellino or Madonna of the Goldfinch, painted by the Italian renaissance artist Raphael in about 1505–6, in which John the Baptist offers the goldfinch to Christ in warning of his future. In Barocci's Holy Family a goldfinch is held in the hand of John the Baptist who holds it high out of reach of an interested cat. In Cima da Conegliano's Madonna and Child, a goldfinch flutters in the hand of the Christ child. It is also an emblem of endurance, fruitfulness, and persistence. Because it symbolizes the Passion, the goldfinch is considered a "saviour" bird and may be pictured with the common fly (which represents sin and disease).
The goldfinch is also associated with Saint Jerome and appears in some depictions of him.
Mountain homeland
Neukirchen bei Altmünster, Oberösterreich
1999
Noblex Pro 6/150 UX, Kodak CN 400
Lithprint auf Kodabrome II RC
SE5 1+15, +3 f-stops, 5 min
Catechol/NH4Cl 8+10+800, 1 min
A larger view of the log piles in the previous post (see below) to put it in context.
We were on a walking trail in the Symonds Yat area.
HTT!
Not mist but a controlled burn by forestry workers from a nearby conifer plantation that had been felled. An area that I'd visited numerous times over the years and from which I'd managed some lovely pictures, but nothing stays the same and I'd always known it was plantation and would be felled at some stage. Poignant all the same and although "my area" was closed due to the works this adjacent area had smoke drifting through which was backlit creating this mist-like effect and seemed to be a fitting finale.
A reworking of an earlier image. Sadly, I suspect this lovely historical relic was damaged or lost some months after the shot was taken, in the bushfires of December 2019.
As I walk through the forest, I hear that sweet song that can’t be mistaken by non other than the white-throated sparrow. It takes a break from foraging and I snap its photo…
Beckdale is a lovely forestry walk from the town of Helmsley in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, England.
One of the great things about zoos and nature parks, is that they allow us to get close to animals that we would never be able to get close to in the wild... allowing for some very close up photos such as this one.
This bald eagle shot was taken at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm.
HTmT!
This building houses the 'tree specialists' on the Berkeley campus. I think the tall skinny one front and center is a Ponderosa Pine.
"Ponderous" means "of great weight" and "unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size". "Ponderosa" reminds most people of an old television show about a ranch!
Attempted to get a photo of my son when I was in here, bit he was having a ball playing with a large stick.
The Zwickau city park in the forest "Weißenborner Wald" with its three ponds, the beautiful building of the forestry commission office and extended forests is a very popular tourist and recreation destination in the Zwickau region. It includes a forest play- and sportsground and "Bellmann's Fountain". The legend says a bird catcher named Pöllmann was bitten by a viper just beside this source and died from the effects of this bite.
The forest of Weissenborn is the green lung of the nearby big city Zwickau. It offers wonderful possibilities for walking on its many comfortable footpaths, especially the Rhododendron Path , for playing on the Adventure Playground for the children, for relaxing on the shores of its hidden little ponds and for little picnics on its beautiful picnic places.
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Der Zwickauer Stadtpark im „Weißenborner Wald“ mit seinen drei Teichen, der Försterei und dem bis nach Werdau reichenden Waldbestand ist ein beliebtes Ausflugs- und Erholungsziel in der Zwickauer Region. Dazu gehören ein Waldsportplatz, die Wüstung Rappendorf und die Quelle Bellmanns Brunnen, wo der Sage nach ein Vogelfänger Namens Pöllmann von einer Kreuzotter gebissen wurde und an den Folgen dieses Bisses verstorben sein soll.
Eine Augenweide sind die vielen Rhododendronbüsche, die im Mai und Juni im Stadtpark im „Weißenborner Wald“ ihre weiße, rote und lilafarbene Blütenpracht entfalten. Viele davon wurden bereits beim Anlegen des parkähnlichen Areals am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts gepflanzt. Später seien die Bestände ständig ergänzt und erweitert worden.
Wer die Pracht bei einem Spaziergang bewundern will, der sollte vom Waldparkplatz in Weißenborn aus Richtung Waldspielplatz laufen und an der Abzweigung dem Alpenrosenweg folgen. Auch an Bellmanns Brunnen stehen viele Rhododendren.
Der Weißenborner Wald ist die grüne Lunge von Zwickau. Er hält wunderschöne Wanderwege (besonders den Alpenrosenweg) bereit, hat einen Abenteuerspielplatz, schöne versteckte kleine Teiche und Picknickplätze.