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 theyāre drinking)
Must confessā¦ youāve 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
How lucky you are!
And if you arenāt sure how to differentiate them, remember weasels are weaselly distinguished, whereas stoats are stoatally different.
mustelidae
Thank you Stella you have lessened my paranoia. Itās 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.
Thatās an āordinaryā Eurasian Jay rather than a Blue Jayā¦ hereās the Blueā¦
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 āNeverā do I put water and/or food near to the houseā¦ that way Nature benefits and doesnāt feel itself invited to come indoorsā¦ (well, sometimes but not often)
I wish - no something plucked from the 'net.
Ah yes, youāre 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¦ itās 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 weād 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 ānuthatchā with a French accent 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¦ thatās a blah blahā¦ and actually I thought they were mocking meā¦ all I heard was the word ātosspotā
but of course it was āsittelle torchepotā
The Nuthatch is pretty rare in Oxfordshire, and we donāt see it very often.
but when you do see itā¦ you can name it in Frenchā¦ youāre making progressā¦
Little tosspot. Do you think that is a good translation?
@Ancient_Mariner you can stop laughing !!! (it was rather worrying at the timeā¦ but I soon discovered that our neighbours are āsalt of the earthā folk who wouldnāt be rude to a poor, ignorant Britā¦ so even when we didnāt understand one anotherā¦ it was always friendly)
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 ācrowā about.
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 didnāt arrive by itself (unless a bird dropped it of course).
Good tip Stella about the water bowl and trail camera.
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.
Sadly, as we renovated we destroyed some of the habitats for the local birdsā¦
For instance the Blackcaps didnāt like the way we removed the ivy from ātheirā 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 weāve had one or two Blackcaps backā¦ only occasional sightings at the water bowls, but very excited to see them.
Perhaps theyāve finally forgiven us.