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An Essex Wildlife Garden Update!

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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Apr 2018 at 9:41pm
When I looked at the photo there were definitely two bottom left. I wondered how no one else saw them. Then when I looked again one had gone! Honestly it was there as clear as anything at first! I'm not looking again as I think it will drive me crazy!
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Liz Heard View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Apr 2018 at 7:32pm
I see what you mean Suzi, that could possibly be another left of the more obvious one. Elsewhere there are Great Pond Snails at the surface.

Thanks Gemma. You're probably right. I usually only change the water when it starts to look a bit iffy and it hadn't. I was aware of the 'inhibiting factor' but didn't realise the poop was the source.
When cleaning out, i gently use a tea strainer to catch the tadpoles when they are small. Great to find alternative uses for household utensils. Perhaps manufacturers could increase sales by promoting their multi-purpose products as such.

Thanks Tim!
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Apr 2018 at 12:17am
I've used a sieve before to catch them Ben. Went posh this year and bought a couple of those little aquarium nets. Sieve worked fine though. Smile
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2018 at 4:20pm
Mini field trip to the end of the garden today:








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chubsta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2018 at 5:23pm
Fantastic photos, how lucky you are to have such wildlife, although from your other posts I can see it has taken a lot of effort to get there!

Any sign of the missing bit of slow worm, I often wonder if it gets eaten?
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chubsta View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2018 at 5:24pm
Originally posted by GemmaJF GemmaJF wrote:

I've used a sieve before to catch them Ben. Went posh this year and bought a couple of those little aquarium nets. Sieve worked fine though. Smile

I use a sieve on the end of a poll to, pretty good tool, and easier to get stuff out of than a net.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2018 at 5:54pm
Hi Chubsta, no sign of the missing bit, noticed it  had lost it's tail tip when it first showed up under the felt a few days ago, does look very recent. Not too uncommon in our garden to see slow worm and lizard with the tails missing. Use to think it was always due to the neighbours cats, not so sure now because we have a lot of deterrents to the keep them out. Possible I guess that the reptiles move in and out of the protected area and may still encounter cats.
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Liz Heard View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Liz Heard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Apr 2018 at 6:48pm
From several perspectives but especially from a herp one, yours is certainly an enviable garden Gemma.
Viv Lizard, Slow worm, Grass Snake, Common Frog, GCN and Smooth Newt (any others?) - impressive tally!
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2018 at 10:30am
We had toads for a while but they didn't persist Ben, that was an introduction of tadpoles from a threatened site and it never formed a breeding population.  Males returned but never any females. Think we can be happy with the herp selection we have now though! If we ever sell the house in all seriousness it would have to be to someone interested in the herps, couldn't bear to think of someone filling in the pond or clearing out the log piles and compost.  As of this year we've be extending the habitat too. Before we kept the wildlife garden as the wild bit, now stopped strimming in the rest of the garden and letting nature take hold, so it's value is only likely to increase for a great range of wildlife. It's not just the herps either, plenty of inverts, birds and mammals too.
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Suzy View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Apr 2018 at 11:28am
I am so pleased with how our garden has become a good place for wildlife. We have an amazing selection of insects as well as a good bird list (admittedly down to feeding for some species) and with the herps, hedgehogs and badgers a good place all round. I do think about what happens when we might have to sell up and think I'd just have to get rid of all the wild areas by mowing/strimming and get rid of the ponds. The chances of finding someone who encourages nature is I feel pretty slim. 
We have plenty of toads as I've said before, but no evidence of them breeding in my pond. 
Suz
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