OMG weasels in the garden


should we be worried?
shocked to see in Brico poison for them

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We had stoats and weasels in UKā€¦ never bothered us and we never bothered them.
Could be that the hot weather is bringing them nearer to youā€¦ (they look like theyā€™re drinking)
Must confessā€¦ youā€™ve got me lookingā€¦ I think the one on the left is a stoatā€¦ maybe they both areā€¦ but no matter which they areā€¦ enjoy them. Nature is wonderful.
Our stoats turned white in winterā€¦ so keep your eyes open and be patient :rofl:

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How lucky you are! :heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:
And if you arenā€™t sure how to differentiate them, remember weasels are weaselly distinguished, whereas stoats are stoatally different.

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:heart::heart::heart::heart: mustelidae

Thank you Stella you have lessened my paranoia. Itā€™s just that they are so big, strong, muscular. Yes they are drinking. Hope you are well. Love the hat. I have become a convert to casquettes.

Yes. We are lucky. What about this? Blue Jays?

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Thatā€™s an ā€œordinaryā€ Eurasian Jay rather than a Blue Jayā€¦ hereā€™s the Blueā€¦
image

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thank you for that - your drawing? Am impressed. Whatever they are they un-nerve this townie.

If you put water outā€¦ you will find all sorts profit, especially during these exceptionally hot spells. I have saucers dotted at all levels, some on the ground, some along walls etc
but ā€œNeverā€ do I put water and/or food near to the houseā€¦ that way Nature benefits and doesnā€™t feel itself invited to come indoorsā€¦ (well, sometimes but not often)

I wish :slight_smile: - no something plucked from the 'net.

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My OH says dā€™accord. He says we have European robins too not American ones.

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Ah yes, youā€™re Americanā€¦ thus you will possibly/probably be seeing some quite different birds here in France.

There are some birds in France which we never saw in UKā€¦ itā€™s always fun spotting something new and covid has forced most of us to spend some timeā€¦ doing nothing muchā€¦ and thus noticing more and more of what is going on around us.

We were newly arrived and flummoxed our French neighbours when I pointed out a nuthatch, a bird which weā€™d often seen in UK and perhaps this one followed our removal vanā€¦ of course it flew off and the neighbours saw nothingā€¦
Mind you, in those days I was bleating ā€œnuthatchā€ with a French accent :rofl: and they all thought I was barmy, until I explained about its ability to walk headfirst down the trunk of a treeā€¦
Then one of themā€¦ ahaā€¦ thatā€™s a blah blahā€¦ and actually I thought they were mocking meā€¦ all I heard was the word ā€œtosspotā€
but of course it was ā€œsittelle torchepotā€ :+1: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

image

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:rofl:

The Nuthatch is pretty rare in Oxfordshire, and we donā€™t see it very often.

but when you do see itā€¦ you can name it in Frenchā€¦ youā€™re making progressā€¦ :+1: :rofl:

Little tosspot. Do you think that is a good translation? :wink:

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@Ancient_Mariner you can stop laughing !!! :wink: (it was rather worrying at the timeā€¦ but I soon discovered that our neighbours are ā€œsalt of the earthā€ folk who wouldnā€™t be rude to a poor, ignorant Britā€¦ so even when we didnā€™t understand one anotherā€¦ it was always friendly)

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Oh yes, do you love them all? Wait till you see a Wolverine, or an Otter (?) in the garden, Then that will be something to ā€˜crowā€™ about. :rofl:

I am pretty bad at Identiifying wildlife but I do know most of what I see in the garden, various Tits, Robins, Crow, Magpies, Jays, occasional Pigeons and the Nuthatch which, as already said, walks down trees.

And once, only once, a Heron landed by the bottom pond looking for fish. No luck, there is nothing in there that didnā€™t arrive by itself (unless a bird dropped it of course).

Good tip Stella about the water bowl and trail camera. :wink:

During our recent month in France I made good use of my BirdNET app to identify the bird behind the song. We enjoyed the Eurasian Blackcap very much - very pleasing call. I had never heard or heard of the European Serin before as far as I recall. Then there was the Nightingale and the Short-toed Treecreeper and so on and the app displays a map showing me where I sampled the birdsong.

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Sadly, as we renovated we destroyed some of the habitats for the local birdsā€¦
For instance the Blackcaps didnā€™t like the way we removed the ivy from ā€œtheirā€ buildingā€¦ and vanished soon after.
We had to do some rebuilding, but have since let nature take its course as much as we could.
And this year weā€™ve had one or two Blackcaps backā€¦ only occasional sightings at the water bowls, but very excited to see them.
Perhaps theyā€™ve finally forgiven us.