Wildlife Corner

I'll take my 'Grinch' hat off for 5 seconds, @fairygirl, and say that top photo of yours would make a great Xmas card! Lovely, wee bird you looked after.

They can look very tatty in Spring when they moult. But at this time of year it's not usual to see them like that. Maybe it has a mite or flea problem and is scratching itself. Not many feathers around that neck.

They're wonderful, but I won't be showing them to my daughter as she panics on sight and OH or I have to go and remove the offending articles from bathroom, bedroom etc.I don't know why cos she's been brought up in old houses in the countryside with all sorts of creepy crawlies inside and...

A Redwing in Aberdeenshire the year before, we do get these in the garden usually Winters coming

I like birds as much as the next gardener, but spending money on bushels of seeds would seem a bit extravagant. This is not a problem, however, as round here nearly every garden supplies 5* dining opportunities with all manner of doodahs and gizmos designed for the purpose. I chip in with some...

We have rats here, seen both in the daytime (just once) and on a trail camera at night in the hedge. My neighbour's patio edge can be seen from our garden as it is on raised and sloping around. Underneath are holes where something is living. But there are other holes in the adjoining bank and I...

Thank you.

I try to keep them in the greenhouse as they eat pests although I did see one wrapping up a bee. We get those white flower spiders in the garden too. I thing fear of spiders goes way back in our makeup but you can get over it. When I was a school technician I regularly removed spiders from labs...

Empire of Ants by Susanne Foitzik and Olaf Fritsche (2021)

Hence the term snail mail.

... or vole, as small as they are they shift a lot of soil, as do moles. Can't say that either would make a hole in a shed mind you.

I could only find ones with vertical stripes @fairygirl

Yes - an old seed tray of water or similar is sufficient, and then some little hiding places around the garden. Logs, rocks and some plants in a shady spot, where they can hide and stay cool. They spend very little time in water.

I came across a large black spider with a round matte body. Not hairy . Google only offers widow spiders but they're shiny. Can anyone suggest what it might be so that I can refine my search a bit. It's hiding in the garden but I don't want disturb it for a photo opp.

I don't have red tailed ones nesting, but the white tailed ones I have don't use the same nest, and because I'm rebuilding my shed just now, and they're nesting under it, I did a bit of googling to check the length of time they might be there, so that I can then sort the main bit they're using...

Think this is the best site I've found for bird recordings xeno-canto.

100% that's a common frog

Fez

I have them here, it's a female Tawny Owl and yes, they squawk loudly.

June is now the time I leave the slugs doing what they want as most plants have developed. They save a lot of my time in Spring, when there is almost everything eaten by them.