I can’t wait for my bird hide to be completed and a new side to it has raised it’s head.
I have just seen, and put on my list, a book which advocates walking in the countryside in the dark. The author says that he once walked in a forest and saw a badger coming towards him and he touched his cap and spoke to him in passing. The badger, not used to seeing humans, walked on past without a second glance.
I won’t do that bearing in mind my talent for falling in daylight, never mind the dark, but I do think that a night in the safety of the hide might produce sights other than birds.
That would be super David - in the comfort of the hide, out of the rain and wind.
And you should treat yourself to a Kelly Kettle. There will be plenty of twigs, dry grass, bark and cones in your forest to use as fuel to boil the water for a cuppa. And get yourself prepped up with the phone to take some pictures of the activity around you.
Ahem, the hide is built completely of wood, it will be covered in flammable paint, there are 4 openings all the way round to enable vision of the wildlife, also allowing a healthy fire raising draft within, and last, but not least, it is completely surrounded by trees.
Perhaps you might like to revise your advocacy of kettles and fires and agree with me that a thermos flask is the nearest I will get to warm insides.
Also in winter I might well have a great big furry Beauceron Bear to cuddle up to. If he objects I can shamelessly fain fear or frailty to bring him to my side.
To be more serious I did consider a small fire outside the open door but having thought it all through, decided that necessary layers of clothing would be the better part of valour.
The next job is to start the painting, but first I have to read the instructions that came with the paint gun.
BTW, one of many of my own departures from the, rather sparse, building instructions is to replace the roof and its 6 heavy panels with a very strong transparent plastic sheet so that I won’t be robbed of the sight of the treetops and all they contain. Of course a heavy curtain sliding along underneath it will be necessary to avoid the animals catching on, when not actually being viewed, and realising that there is a human inside.
David, it’s not as dangerous as you think. But I appreciate what you are saying. Whatever way you get your warm drinks, the important thing is that you’ve got a large buddy to keep you warm as a backup. Any photos of the hide yet ?
The doors were a major effort, as the whole thing is living wood with all its vagaries, I had to shave bits off here and there to make the doors fit. There is no action that has no reaction so if I tinker again, and I will, changes will have to be made elsewhere again. It is fascinating as well as frustrating sometimes.
BTW the door pic is well out of date, gone is the bolt and in its place a sliding piece of wood in a wooden channel, but even that suffered from the above. The right hand half of the whole thing was held back by a strap when I designed the slider, once released, it works fine but doesn’t look very pretty.
It now has the roof beams in place, so glad that @toryroo wasn’t there to watch my antics with that, not that it should have been dangerous but I still don’t have full strength in my right, dominant shoulder and the drill machine is bloody heavy.
Should be starting the painting tomorrow but I first need some help with the rather vague instructions.
@plod Internet from the house does not quite reach there so, no, and thus no calls from the simless smart phone.
Noooo, that would be sexist. the latest photo which you may be treated to tomorrow, shows an extra breeze block to the right of the current one, so that the right hand door will be the main ingress and egress. (did you clock the bird reference?)
Mask and goggs already at the ready.
Wallpaper? I know it has to do with birds but I can’t escape the conclusion that you think I have a one track mind.
We’re in Corsica at the moment and are staying on the outskirts. I’ve been putting on the Merlin app and every time it’s identified bee-eaters. I think I’ve seen them flying over us but haven’t been able to see what colour they are but I think it’s the right sound that they make. They’re lovely birds and must be living up the hill from us.
No, next thing on my list. along with soft edge protection. normally to stop babies banging their heads on sharp corners but I want them to ease the roof covering over all the joints.
If I’ve read correctly you’re going to spray paint. If I were you I’d get a couple of liters of old engine oil from a petrol car and a 4 inch brush one coat should do the job if you want the outside darker use oil from a deasel it’ll last longer than paint on pine wood and won’t take so long to apply and clean the sprayer
A pair of Bee-eaters nested in a friend’s garden year after year. Their house is set apart, in the middle of glorious countryside, ideal for all sorts of wildlife. We used to spend many happy times sitting quietly and simply watching Life all around us.
Sadly, the pair of B-E stopped returning just before Covid (that’s how I can date many happenings) so about 6/7 years ago and our friends have died since then, too.
Ah well, just confirms we should try and take timeout from the rat-race to notice what is gently going-on around us.. or we risk missing some glorious stuff.
I hope you do get lucky and manage to spot your local beauties!
I’ll let you know, Stella. The only time I’ve seen bee-eaters was by the Canal du Midi and they were lined up on a phone cable. We’re surrounded by trees and I don’t know if they land on those. They nest in burrows, don’t they?
No idea. We would only see them on odd occasions when visiting our friends. The birds would either be in flight or sitting amongst the same area of shrubs/trees each year… so something in the area appealed to them.
but we never actually saw a nest.
The first time I ever saw a B-E for real was when we first arrived, a neighbour found a dead bee-eater when he was wandering through his chestnut woodland. He carried it back to the village to show us as he felt sure us English would not know what it was.
It was so sad to see it dead but, fortunately, it didn’t show any signs of being attacked/wounded. I’d only seen the bird in my books but I thought I knew what it was due to it’s colouring… he was gobsmacked when I gave the correct name.
. Have you got a night vision/infrared monocular?