Not butterfly related, but I think some of you might be interested in this.
I've never been lucky enough to see a train of shrews, where the mother forms the "engine" and her offspring form a line behind her each gripping hold of the tail in front. I've read she does this when their nest has been disturbed and they need to find a new home.
Here's a great clip of one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALItxhn86Fk
My brother took some snaps a few weeks ago of a pair of Marsh Harriers near his work in Brough, on the north bank of the Humber.
He wasn't certain what the male was passing to the female, but on close inspection of his photos, he's pretty certain that it's such a train of shrews.
It's kind of heartwarming that they were all still united, high up in the air as they faced their fate together, although it's somewhat unfortunate for mum (left dangling down in the second photo) that her fate is sealed by the devotional instinct of her son/daughter immediately behind her not to let go of her tail.
The prey transfer is an amazing piece of skill though and the female would undoubtedly have taken the train down to feed her own young. I wonder if on landing, there was any last thought of releasing tails and trying to escape ? I doubt it.
I know that shrews have a very high heart beat rate, so the shock of this may possibly have given them a heart attack anyway ? But if that were the case, I'm not sure they'd all still be joined together,
Without meaning to be flippant (although it probably sounds it), this must be akin to finding a string of sausages for the harriers.
Brough seems to be an amazing place to see a very wide range of birds.
Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
-
zigzag_wanderer
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:15 am
- Location: Mid Sussex
Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
- Attachments
-
- Handover
-
- Take Away
- 2 Take Away.jpg (20.91 KiB) Viewed 1030 times
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Poor things, but that's nature for you....and there'll be a few small animals very grateful for the removal of a small number of voracious shrews from their locality!
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Amazing photos but quite sad too. Caught a bit of a program last night (BBC 4 I think) about amazing miniture things. It included a jumping Peacock Spider the size of a grain of rice that dances to attract a mate who then eats him or feeds him to her young and frogs that wave !
-
zigzag_wanderer
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:15 am
- Location: Mid Sussex
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Thanks both.
You're quite correct David, I'm sure a few larval/chrysalis/adult stage butterflies and moths would be very glad to have a break from their very local patch shrews ! As a kid my sympathies were always swayed toward the main subject species on The World About Us or similar. If the programme was about shrews, I'd get sad if they showed them getting predated (especially all in one go like that), but if it was about the Marsh Harriers I'd be happy to see their chicks getting a good meal. Fickle I was.
I missed that programme, Pauline but it sounds very interesting,definitely worth me checking iplayer. Don't think I've come across waving frogs before and certainly not the jumping peacock spider. I knew about the praying mantis, but I wonder just how many species there are where males regularly end up getting eaten by the females ?!
We do have a lot of jumping spiders at work (Zebra and Fence-post). They seem to be incredibly successful at catching prey, often much larger than themselves. I saw a very small Zebra spider reversing with a Single-dotted Wave moth in its jaws last week. I say very small....it was a lot bigger than a single grain of rice !
You're quite correct David, I'm sure a few larval/chrysalis/adult stage butterflies and moths would be very glad to have a break from their very local patch shrews ! As a kid my sympathies were always swayed toward the main subject species on The World About Us or similar. If the programme was about shrews, I'd get sad if they showed them getting predated (especially all in one go like that), but if it was about the Marsh Harriers I'd be happy to see their chicks getting a good meal. Fickle I was.
I missed that programme, Pauline but it sounds very interesting,definitely worth me checking iplayer. Don't think I've come across waving frogs before and certainly not the jumping peacock spider. I knew about the praying mantis, but I wonder just how many species there are where males regularly end up getting eaten by the females ?!
We do have a lot of jumping spiders at work (Zebra and Fence-post). They seem to be incredibly successful at catching prey, often much larger than themselves. I saw a very small Zebra spider reversing with a Single-dotted Wave moth in its jaws last week. I say very small....it was a lot bigger than a single grain of rice !
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Seeing is believing , amazing to see these photos .
On our four principal Somerset reserves Marsh Harriers can often be seen but nevertheless to see the birds making a food pass is quite uncommon.
In springtime the birds give a remarkable demonstration of coordination and aerial skill, pictures show the male bird arriving with a catch to present to the female.other times the food is passed from talon to talon.
In flight service !!!
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/
On our four principal Somerset reserves Marsh Harriers can often be seen but nevertheless to see the birds making a food pass is quite uncommon.
In springtime the birds give a remarkable demonstration of coordination and aerial skill, pictures show the male bird arriving with a catch to present to the female.other times the food is passed from talon to talon.
In flight service !!!
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/
- Attachments
-
- Don't look now Martha we have company.
-
- Female Marsh Harrier
-
- Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)_
-
zigzag_wanderer
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:15 am
- Location: Mid Sussex
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Love those photos, Medard !
The first set look almost like they've been painted, amazing. The last shot with talons out is superb, but you must have been seriously pinching yourself after being in just the right spot to capture a harrier between the greylag, and the fact that one of the geese is being very vocal in flight is a bonus too (I would be too with a harrier chasing me, mind !).
My brother lives in west Hull and works in Brough. Like me, he doesn't drive but he walks a lot and we both tend to take snaps of our very local areas (albeit his are better quality). Brough, being situated on the Humber, but inland enough to offer good shelter from the North Sea, does seem to be a very good spot for attracting birds. He is lucky enough to see Marsh Harriers and Hobbies hunting over a reed bed directly outside his office building, which can't be bad !
These Spoonbill were in a flooded field near his work earlier this year. Bit like your geese, there looks to be some sort of conversation going on, albeit in this case rather than being vocal, the one on the left is limiting it (for now) to just giving the other one a very significant look.
Based on the photos/film he's sent me recently (Peregrine, Grasshopper Warblers, Barn Owls, a Savi's Warbler, Bitterns, Kingfisher, Bearded Tit, Yellow Wagtail, Great White Egret, Cuckoos) then I'd say it must be worth a visit from any local birders at least. It's also quite close to the most southerly Large Heath outposts on the Eastern side of the UK.
The first set look almost like they've been painted, amazing. The last shot with talons out is superb, but you must have been seriously pinching yourself after being in just the right spot to capture a harrier between the greylag, and the fact that one of the geese is being very vocal in flight is a bonus too (I would be too with a harrier chasing me, mind !).
My brother lives in west Hull and works in Brough. Like me, he doesn't drive but he walks a lot and we both tend to take snaps of our very local areas (albeit his are better quality). Brough, being situated on the Humber, but inland enough to offer good shelter from the North Sea, does seem to be a very good spot for attracting birds. He is lucky enough to see Marsh Harriers and Hobbies hunting over a reed bed directly outside his office building, which can't be bad !
These Spoonbill were in a flooded field near his work earlier this year. Bit like your geese, there looks to be some sort of conversation going on, albeit in this case rather than being vocal, the one on the left is limiting it (for now) to just giving the other one a very significant look.
Based on the photos/film he's sent me recently (Peregrine, Grasshopper Warblers, Barn Owls, a Savi's Warbler, Bitterns, Kingfisher, Bearded Tit, Yellow Wagtail, Great White Egret, Cuckoos) then I'd say it must be worth a visit from any local birders at least. It's also quite close to the most southerly Large Heath outposts on the Eastern side of the UK.
- Attachments
-
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Me too. Fantastic sequence, Jim.
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Hi zig zag , thank you for your comments, your brother does seem to have an interesting patch, a little too far north for me. I have included a short video of Spoonbills taken at Catcott Lows, Somerset, your brother might find it interesting, Spoonbills travel in from the continent and can often be seen at Steart nature reserve ,Bridgwater bay, one of the birds shown in the video was ringed in Holland if my memory still functions!!I I have also seen them at the Parc Régional de Moaze, Charent-Maritime and also the Parc Ornithologique d'Arcachon, where they seem to be numerous they feed on the neighboring extensive mud flats when the tide is out, its a very amusing bird to watch, it has a very odd trumpeting call rather like a Christmas cracker trumpet.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p99 ... #h72900456
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p99 ... #h72900456
-
zigzag_wanderer
- Posts: 383
- Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2020 9:15 am
- Location: Mid Sussex
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
Saw my brother recently and he mentioned an interesting photo used for the weather forecast on the BBC local evening news earlier this year (East Yorkshire/Lincolnshire area) sent in by one of their "weather watchers".
It was taken at Bempton Cliffs, close to where my mum lives. It's new to me but I'm sure a lot of birders on this site will have already seen it.
It's a fantastic shot, a once in a lifetime job for the photographer, but a peregrine nabbing a puffin certainly isn't the typical type of weather watcher shot they use as a prelude to the forecast....so much so that when they went back to the host, Peter Levy, he said something along the lines of "And if there's any children watching, we think it got away".
Never mind all the other grander stuff, the great thing for me about Bempton Cliffs are all the tree sparrows just outside the entrance. I haven't seen one in Sussex since moving here 25 years ago. I've also witnessed a 30-second scrap at dusk in February between a barn owl and a buzzard on the small road that bends round past the entrance. The buzzard was definitely the aggressor, appearing to knock the owl out of the air, but the owl defended itself fantastically by staying prone on its back with talons out, pushing back ferociously until they both flew off in separate directions possibly spooked by us as we were standing very close by. I took the attached snap just too late to capture the birds, but their loud ding-dong ground battle was on the tarmac just before the turn of the bend.
It was taken at Bempton Cliffs, close to where my mum lives. It's new to me but I'm sure a lot of birders on this site will have already seen it.
It's a fantastic shot, a once in a lifetime job for the photographer, but a peregrine nabbing a puffin certainly isn't the typical type of weather watcher shot they use as a prelude to the forecast....so much so that when they went back to the host, Peter Levy, he said something along the lines of "And if there's any children watching, we think it got away".
Never mind all the other grander stuff, the great thing for me about Bempton Cliffs are all the tree sparrows just outside the entrance. I haven't seen one in Sussex since moving here 25 years ago. I've also witnessed a 30-second scrap at dusk in February between a barn owl and a buzzard on the small road that bends round past the entrance. The buzzard was definitely the aggressor, appearing to knock the owl out of the air, but the owl defended itself fantastically by staying prone on its back with talons out, pushing back ferociously until they both flew off in separate directions possibly spooked by us as we were standing very close by. I took the attached snap just too late to capture the birds, but their loud ding-dong ground battle was on the tarmac just before the turn of the bend.
- Attachments
-
-
Re: Nature Raw In Tooth And Claw
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com
Bempton Cliffs and Tree Sparrows.
Bempton Cliffs is an absolute must visit for all bird lovers, an unforgettable experience, Bempton Cliffs car park area has been a reliable location for Tree Sparrows, I do hope that bird flu has not damaged the population.The Gannet colony is a sight to behold, wonderfull views of this beautiful bird, take care not to pass the barriers !!!
Mother Gannet tidys her garden
Bempton Cliffs and Tree Sparrows.
- Passer montanus
Mother Gannet tidys her garden
- Morus Bassanus
- Attachments
-
- Morus Bassanus
-
- Morus Bassanus