Cats, dogs, pets and other animals....

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Too many bones in a Pike ---- and when you try to take the hook out of it's jaws ----- watch your fingers !!!
I use the word "Jaws" advisedly !!

[gma]

I miss having dogs horribly, even now and I have not had one in the house for years now, working hours of both H-etc and I too long to be fair. However, one of the joys of shooting is that almost everyone has a gundog of some description so see them almost every weekend. Had agreat walk on Jan 2nd with one gunclub as this is their annual get to gether wirth all the dogs, some 40 mad mutts allover Virginia Water usually but this year we did Remenham Lock Walk which was amazing, sunny but freezing cold.

Now working on an army base, we have the regiment, munitions and sniffer dogs so am surrounded and get to play all the time but no responsibilties! (Sure my Mum would say that was just as it was when we did have dogs!! )

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

GMA --- Your talk of gun dogs, reminds me of a Shoot, on which I once was, when one "Gun" had tied his untrained dog to his waist ----- sure enough, as he fired, the dog lurched round and the charge went perilously close to the owner of the Shoot ! ------- I do not believe he was ever invited again !!

My Cousin was on a Shoot and, since he is somewhat infirm, (But much younger than I am ---Ho-Ho !) he was allocated a young man to carry his gun, and to see him from Stand to Stand. The chap was very good company, and Glen wondered whether to give him a Tip at the end of the day.
He happened to ask him "What do you do for a living ?"---thinking Dairyman -- Thatcher --- Farm Labourer ---

The reply was --- "Well, actually I'm an Airline Pilot -- I fly 737s, but I like getting out in the Country ! "

Glen did NOT offer him a Tip !!

[anniexf]

Thanks Annie...yes, the mottled thrush-like markings were more of a bib than a breast, so I will look out for the eye markings. I have a pair of small, not very superior, binoculars on my bedroom windowsill so I will employ them pdq in daylight tomorrow.
Thanks again for your guidance.

Kerren, my guidance may have been misleading, or else it's a regional variation - but not one of the fieldfare flock that arrived this lunchtime had a white stripe around the eye! They did have what looked like small white "epaulettes" though. In fact they all varied slightly - some had honey-beige bibs with a darker waistcoat effect coming round from the wings but not quite meeting in the middle front, some were spottier than others. Very awkward, but definitely fieldfares!
We saw several redwings among them, quite a bit smaller & a warmer brown - and these had a very obvious white eye-stripe.
Sorry for the misinformation, & I hope you do get to see them both. The fieldfares love apples, so if you've got any to spare that might attract them. Being a silly old wotsit I bought a bag of "Basics" apples (80p) for them in JS this morning!

[kerrensimmonds]

Thanks Annie! Good tip re apples. I buy 'valuemix' sachets from the local petshop - pellets of scrunched up apple/meat/fat/berries, and they go like hot cakes!
I've just been talking to a friend who has seen several redwings in her suburban garden this last week - I must look out in mine.

[J.R.]

Now that the snow is starting, at last, to thaw off the patio immediately outside our patio sliding-doors, I've been putting seed and bread out there.

Tobias, (Toby to his friends), learnt his lesson on Saturday when he charged headlong onto the re-inforced glass after a pied wagtail that had been happily feeding there.

Today, we had 8 wood-pigeons strutting around on the patio, right up to the doors, satisfying their hunger. Toby was absolutely beside himself in anger with his nose pressed against the doors, the pigeons, protected, less than six inches from him, blissfully filling their tums !

It was great entertainment on a cold miserable day !

Reagan knows to stalk them by exiting via the kitchen cat-flap. However, the birds know the sound of the flap shutting and by the time he gets round to the patio, they've gone

[Angela Woodford]

Today, we had 8 wood-pigeons strutting around on the patio, right up to the doors, satisfying their hunger. Toby was absolutely beside himself in anger with his nose pressed against the doors, the pigeons, protected, less than six inches from him, blissfully filling their tums !

This made me laugh!

Does Toby make a chattering noise when he spots birds out of his range?

[kerrensimmonds]

My (indoor) cats make hideous noises of protest whenever they see birds feeding from the generous feeding stations in my back garden. They (the cats) position themselves on windowsills and watch, avidly. The noisiest problems are with the seagulls - they don't feed in my garden because it is too narrow for their wingspan (although they might pick up breadcrumbs from my garden shed roof). However, they mischievously divebomb the windows inside which the cats are sitting, and wheel away at the last moment. It's very deliberate. Don't let anyone tell you that seagulls are stupid.

[Angela Woodford]

I find seagulls rather scary birds! Not long ago in Exeter I saw one divebomb a student and snatch a hamburger from her hand. Those beaks! The size and aggression of the birds!

Quite right, Kerren, not stupid!

[J.R.]

Toby does tend to 'chatter' Reagan doesn't.

When we were breeding and showing Chinchilla's, they were terrible chatterers.

Seagulls can be out and out dangerous when they have chicks. They can dive-bomb and make contact with their claws if they consider you too close to their young.

[sejintenej]

My (indoor) cats make hideous noises of protest whenever they see birds feeding from the generous feeding stations in my back garden. .

The late Charlie (a canine) absolutely hated birds in his garden. The children and their friends would tease him by saying there were birds in his garden (even when there were not) and he would rush out wildly to chase them - he never learned! One day there was a "bird" with a long tail which, instead of flying away, ran up the fence post, along the fence and up a tree; Charlie couldn't understand that a squirrel is not supposed to fly away!

[kerrensimmonds]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8454288.stm

[kerrensimmonds]

Back to fieldfares :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8457214.stm

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Re Seagulls ---
When I worked for the Atomic Energy Authority, I had a Laboratory with a nice view,about 100m, over grass to the next building on the Complex.

The seagulls would arrive, in the Morning and "Paddle" on the grass --- dozens of them !

I assume that this was to imitate Rain, and cause the worms and insects to rise up to the surface -- and be eaten !

Has anyone else experienced this ? ----- no JR , not "Being Eaten !"

[kerrensimmonds]

Yes.. the seagulls do this on all the grass verges near my home. And your analysis of such behaviour is spot on!