On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:32:21 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

>Saturday morning, I was awoken
>around 6am by a pigeon doing it's stuff. I ran out, almost naked, and
>shooed it away. My partner thought I'd gone nuts...

Well.....

its called the dawn chorus most places. There was a book "the silent
dawn" which was an environmental walke up call IIRC. I think you need
a different attitude to the wildlife around you, there are various
birds making a noise in the morning here, including the raucous ring
necked parakeets, they dont bother me.
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:28:59 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
wrote:

>You mean you don't like grey squirrels.
>Red ones are ok.

why are grey bad, red good (conservation issues aside) ?
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:48:38 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

>Red ones are confined to a few
>nature reserves now.

its not *quite* that bad. You will find them raiding bird feeders in
the Lake district, for instance.
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 08:15:02 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

> I don't think there were any grey
>squirrels in the UK until they were introduced, from the US I believe.

they were introduced to look cute in the gardens of the gentry in the
19C IIRC from eastern N America. Present in all english counties but
not all of Scotland or Ireland
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:44:44 +0200, B Vaughan<[email protected]> wrote:

>You could lose a finger if one of them ever gets nippy.

same with badgers or lots of wild life, treat them sensibly.
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:32:55 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

>> When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
>
>No- thank _you_!

Eh, I thought you hated them?
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Following up to The Reid <[email protected]> :

>On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:28:59 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>>You mean you don't like grey squirrels.
>>Red ones are ok.
>
>why are grey bad, red good (conservation issues aside) ?

Invasive foreign species are nearly always bad for the local ecology.
They can become pests in gardens. Especially if you like to feed the birds.

The decline of the red squirrel isn't - however much many people like to
blame them - solely due to the greys forcing them out. They /do/ compete
vigorously, but the main reasons are lack of environment forcing reds into
unviable smaller populations where pressure form the greys just wipes them
out.
It's Man's doing as usual.
--
Tim C.

Following up to The Reid <[email protected]> :

>>I also don't much care for squirrels.
>
>why?

Its a matter of taste. I find them a bit stringy.
--
Tim C.

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:11:01 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
wrote:

>They can become pests in gardens. Especially if you like to feed the birds.

in mine they run about looking cute, steal the nuts from the bird
feeder and that's it.

>The decline of the red squirrel isn't - however much many people like to
>blame them - solely due to the greys forcing them out. They /do/ compete
>vigorously, but the main reasons are lack of environment forcing reds into
>unviable smaller populations where pressure form the greys just wipes them
>out.
>It's Man's doing as usual.

that's my understanding, habitat loss being possibly at least as
important as greys.
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:11:01 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]> wrote:

>Following up to The Reid <[email protected]> :
>
>>On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:28:59 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>You mean you don't like grey squirrels.
>>>Red ones are ok.
>>
>>why are grey bad, red good (conservation issues aside) ?
>
>Invasive foreign species are nearly always bad for the local ecology.

Speak for yourself! NL needs people like Jeremy and I.

--

Martin

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:11:43 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]> wrote:

>Following up to The Reid <[email protected]> :
>
>>>I also don't much care for squirrels.
>>
>>why?
>
>Its a matter of taste. I find them a bit stringy.

Have you tried cooking them with nuts?
--

Martin

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:11:43 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
wrote:

>>>I also don't much care for squirrels.
>>
>>why?
>
>Its a matter of taste. I find them a bit stringy.

not as good as hedgehog, which is also disappearing without a US
Bushhog in competition.

Grey squirrels
Over drayed, over sexed, over here?
--
Mike Reid
UK walking, food, photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Spain walking, food, tourism "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:43:37 +0200, Tim C. <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Earthworms, for example, are destroying the soil in large areas of the
>north American continent.

How do earthworms destroy the soil? I thought they aerated it and
enriched it with their shit.

Starlings were deliberately introduced to the US from Europe and have
driven out large numbers of native songbirds.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On 23 Apr 2007 11:50:27 -0700, Vic's sun <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Apr 23, 7:11 pm, B Vaughan<[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:38:18 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne,
>>
>> _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:
>> >This has come up recently. I loathe pigeons.
>>
>> So do I.
>>
>> I also don't much care for squirrels.
>>
>> --
>> Barbara Vaughan
>> My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
>> I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup
>
>red or grey ????

I haven't had much exposure to red squirrels, so I suppose I mean grey
(or black).

Where my daughter lives, in Indiana, there is a squirrel that has a
reddish coat and is somewhat longer and leaner than a grey squirrel.
It has noticeably longer hind legs, which gives it a body shape that
slopes from the tail towards the head. I never saw this type of
squirrel on the east coast. At first I thought maybe it was a red
squirrel, but it doesn't seem at all shy (which I have heard is a
characteristic of the red squirrel): Also it seems to cohabit quite
peaceably with the many grey squirrels in the neighborhood. Maybe it's
a cross? A sub species of the normal grey squirrel?

Squirrels are considered rare animals in Italy, so whenever Italians
came to visit in Princeton, they were very taken with them. In
Princeton there are lot of black squirrels. They seem to interbreed
with the grey squirrels though, so the two breeds may end up becoming
one dark grey breed. The only other place I've seen black squirrels is
in Philadelphia.

--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:08:28 -0400, "bob fusillo"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>NEWS. Feeding pigeons is forbidden all over Venice, not just in the St.
>Mark's area. To accommodate the nineteen vendors who sold corn as bird feed,
>the municipality will now allow them to sell souvenirs, instead, but not in
>St. Mark's Square. Next Thursday, all the involved parties (vendors, Comune,
>Art Superintendance) will hold what should be the final meeting to finalise
>the details. It will create a completely new look for St. Mark's, free of
>birds which damage the monuments, bring disease, and are loved only by
>tourists and corn sellers.

It will take more than that. I've never seen anyone feed pigeons in
Corinaldo, except those who are raising them for the table. And yet
there are pigeons everywhere, and pigeon shit destroying also our
buildings. A few years ago, the town hired three falcons (and their
keeper) to scare the pigeons away, but one falcon went AWOL
immediately and the other two were scared by the pigeons.


--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup