Ophelia wrote:

(..... snipped ....)
I am so sorry you were disappointed. Perhaps, as someone pointed out, it
might have been better in a different group? If you do get the answer you
seek, I hope you share it with us.

I did wonder whether a UK twitcher grp might yield a better set of
observations but rejected that option because the query is essentially
about garden ecology - the dynamic relationship between my patch of
human-managed nature and its surrounding world. It seemed to me that
others in the grp may have observed similar, or contrasting, behaviours
in their own gardens. After all, our garden is, to each of us, the piece
of nature which we know most intimately and observe most closely.

In respect to these three mallard (known to us as The Nice Family,
because they are so nice mannered to each other - as distinct from The
ASBO Ducks - another group of 6 mallard who appear at roughly the same
time and are, er ...., a bit uncouth) I guess that they are dispersing
outwards for the spring from a protected migrants' destination in which
they have over-wintered (Slimbridge, perhaps, its only about seven miles
away across the Severn from here). Very plainly, whilst not being tame,
they are unusually well acquainted with human company and are not
intimated by us at all. The persistence of their memory for place seems
remarkable and, if my guess that they are long range migrants is right,
they may have flown all the way from Iceland just to holiday in my
garden. My view is that more happens in yer average garden than 'mere'
horticulture - I tend to be more Kewish than Wisleyean.

rjbl

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from Sacha contains these words:

This sort of thing has been tried by Janet on 4 newsgroups I post to.

How regrettable, that it's so often necessary to refute Ophelia's
lies. Her posts are archived in google.
Pointless to blame me for her deceptions or your mutual history of
fighting like fishwives.

Of course they are archived. I am not afraid to have them archived. Now I
wonder whose posts are not?

rjbl wrote:
Ophelia wrote:

(..... snipped ....)
I am so sorry you were disappointed. Perhaps, as someone pointed
out, it might have been better in a different group? If you do get
the answer you seek, I hope you share it with us.

I did wonder whether a UK twitcher grp might yield a better set of
observations but rejected that option because the query is essentially
about garden ecology - the dynamic relationship between my patch of
human-managed nature and its surrounding world. It seemed to me that
others in the grp may have observed similar, or contrasting,
behaviours in their own gardens. After all, our garden is, to each of
us, the piece of nature which we know most intimately and observe
most closely.
In respect to these three mallard (known to us as The Nice Family,
because they are so nice mannered to each other - as distinct from The
ASBO Ducks - another group of 6 mallard who appear at roughly the same
time and are, er ...., a bit uncouth) I guess that they are dispersing
outwards for the spring from a protected migrants' destination in
which they have over-wintered (Slimbridge, perhaps, its only about
seven miles away across the Severn from here). Very plainly, whilst
not being tame, they are unusually well acquainted with human company
and are not intimated by us at all. The persistence of their memory
for place seems remarkable and, if my guess that they are long range
migrants is right, they may have flown all the way from Iceland just
to holiday in my garden. My view is that more happens in yer average
garden than 'mere' horticulture - I tend to be more Kewish than
Wisleyean.

rjbl wrote:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
Ducks from the estate where I 'do a bit' are amongst these, and are
processed by the head gamekeeper and his staff. (TAAAW, pheasants,
partridges, rabbits, the occasional hare, and venison. The best are
cleaned and packed for sale as-is, and sausages and burgers made from
the rest - or parts thereof.)

Hmmm..... Vairy interestink! Mallard are actually a species protected by
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it an offence
"..intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or to take,
damage or destroy its nest, eggs or young.."
Killing them and eating may well be fun, but 'tis a crime - just where
is this Estate of which you speak?

Utter rubbish.
Mallard can quite legally be shot during the 'Season', which , for
Mallard, is Sept. 1st to Jan. 31st.

There are many birds and mammals which can be legally culled year round,
including Canada Geese.
Others can only be culled during a specific season, usually when their
young are fully grown.

Alan.

--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

A.Lee wrote:
rjbl wrote:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
Ducks from the estate where I 'do a bit' are amongst these, and are
processed by the head gamekeeper and his staff. (TAAAW, pheasants,
partridges, rabbits, the occasional hare, and venison. The best are
cleaned and packed for sale as-is, and sausages and burgers made from
the rest - or parts thereof.)

Hmmm..... Vairy interestink! Mallard are actually a species protected by
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it an offence
"..intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or to take,
damage or destroy its nest, eggs or young.."
Killing them and eating may well be fun, but 'tis a crime - just where
is this Estate of which you speak?

Utter rubbish.
Mallard can quite legally be shot during the 'Season', which , for
Mallard, is Sept. 1st to Jan. 31st.

There are many birds and mammals which can be legally culled year round,
including Canada Geese.
Others can only be culled during a specific season, usually when their
young are fully grown.

Alan.

Hmmm .... difference of opinion; so you disagree with the RSPB's
interpretation of the WCA, 1981?

rjbl

rjbl wrote:
A.Lee wrote:
rjbl wrote:
Hmmm..... Vairy interestink! Mallard are actually a species protected by
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it an offence
"..intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or to take,
damage or destroy its nest, eggs or young.."
Killing them and eating may well be fun, but 'tis a crime - just where
is this Estate of which you speak?

Utter rubbish.
Mallard can quite legally be shot during the 'Season', which , for
Mallard, is Sept. 1st to Jan. 31st.

There are many birds and mammals which can be legally culled year round,
including Canada Geese.
Others can only be culled during a specific season, usually when their
young are fully grown.

Hmmm .... difference of opinion; so you disagree with the RSPB's
interpretation of the WCA, 1981?

I have not seen the RSPBs intepretation.Please provide a link. If they
say it is illegal to kill Mallards in season, they are wrong.
It is quite legal to kill them in season, but they wont want to give
that any prominence will they?

If, however, you go to the Natural England site (used to be DEFRA), then
there are various pages there detailing what species can be culled, and
when it is legal to do so.
A quick search shows how badly designed the site is, but the general
Licences for culling of many animals year round are he
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/our...ife/licences/g
enerallicences.aspx

From the BASC site (a body to represent shooting and conservation), here
are the wildfowl rules:
http://www.basc.org.uk//en/departmen...ng/game-shooti
ng/shooting-seasons.cfm

Alan.

--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.

The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:
Sacha wrote:
On 20/3/09 18:09, in article ,
"Ophelia" wrote:
Janet Baraclough wrote:

Is this supposed to show me up!! Consult with Sacha on this.

Changed days Janet. Both Sacha and myself have seen through you!

She believed your lies. We both know better now.


This sort of thing has been tried by Janet on 4 newsgroups I post
to. I'm not involving myself in it - waste of my time and everyone's
enjoyment of their newsgroups.

Quite!

Nuff!

Or the Flames of Hell may lick - er - no, we won't go there...

Probably best m'dear!

Have some Madeira...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from "Ophelia" contains these words:

Thanks Nick I suppose because I am new here, I am taking in
everything I read

Take in all you read on Usenet by all means, but spit most of it out
again innit.

I am interested in most things here, but I am mainly interested in making a
garden for veggies, using raised beds. I am saving many more things as they
come up though

Incidentally, I can't set up my submarine yet, because I am between houses
and don't have a temperature stable environment to do so. I will have to
wait until the weather is warmer I will report on it once I am able. I
have seeds for tomatoes, basil and salad. I can't wait)

Tomatoes really should have been started already, but later plantings
aren't out of the quesion.

I read somewhere, or heard, probably on GQT, that the ripening process
of tomatoes is triggered by shortening daylight hours. I must say that
I've not noticed this effect though...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from rjbl contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from rjbl contains these words:

Bit risky with native waterfowl - Cl. botulinum is endemic in most of
them - tastes nice but kills 80% of the infected consumers. Best to
stick to hygienic, farmed ducks.

I've never heard such nonsesnse!

A lot of mallard are shot locally, and there's never been a whisper of
any such thing.

Ducks from the estate where I 'do a bit' are amongst these, and are
processed by the head gamekeeper and his staff. (TAAAW, pheasants,
partridges, rabbits, the occasional hare, and venison. The best are
cleaned and packed for sale as-is, and sausages and burgers made from
the rest - or parts thereof.)

Hmmm..... Vairy interestink! Mallard are actually a species protected by
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; it an offence
"..intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, or to take,
damage or destroy its nest, eggs or young.."

No they aren't.

They are wildfowl, and covered by the game laws. As with all wildfowl,
it is an offence to shoot them out of season, though.

Not all wild birds which are not game or wildfowl are covered by the
legislationyou mention - various corvines and other pest species have
specific exemptions, and you can shoot/trap/poison them at any time
(providing you do it humanely and with legal methods) and destroy their
nests.

Killing them and eating may well be fun, but 'tis a crime - just where
is this Estate of which you speak?

In Norfolk. And pretty nearly any estate in the country where shooting
is engaged in.

You really do need to get out a bit more.

Pity, since you obviously have deep knowledge of the natural history
that you seem so unwilling to offer any useful knowledge in answer of
the exam question.

And that was?

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from rjbl contains these words:

Not intended to be ad hominem in any sense. I looked to this grp to be
able to offer some collective observations to help my understanding of
an intriguing issue of garden ecology. Why should a wild species chose
to make my garden space its territory for about the same months every
year? I can account for the resident bird population; the sparrows, the
tits; the nuthatch; the woodpeckers; etc. By providing them with a
managed environment and a reliable food supply in my garden the local
birds have now come regard it as their home territory, they were born
and bred here. But why do the mallard return here every year; where are
they for the other 9 months in the year? That is the exam question and,
yes, I am disappointed that the question has not uncovered a rich seam
of collective wisdom.

You're asking in the wrong group - you need a birdwatching group which
will turn-up the sort of answers which you don't find in books.

Mallard in particular are widely-distributed over the country, and in
some areas (Google on Ducks and Hethersett) may attain pestilential
proportions if the conditions are right. A while ago the roads of
Hethersett were punctuated by sort-of pavement pizzas with added
feathers.

Mallard tend to nest withing 'walking-distance' of water, but not too
close. That's probably a behavioural adaptation as a defence against
rats.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from Martin contains these words:
On Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:07:49 -0000, "Ophelia" wrote:
rjbl wrote:

I have a complaint
I am so sorry you were disappointed. Perhaps, as someone pointed out, it
might have been better in a different group? If you do get the answer you
seek, I hope you share it with us.


Meaning of life discovered in a garden shed - coming up next.

HUSH!

There'll be a charabanc full of Sheddi appearing if you're not *VERY* careful.

Beware of the Deck-chair!

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

The message
from rjbl contains these words:

In respect to these three mallard (known to us as The Nice Family,
because they are so nice mannered to each other - as distinct from The
ASBO Ducks - another group of 6 mallard who appear at roughly the same
time and are, er ...., a bit uncouth) I guess that they are dispersing
outwards for the spring from a protected migrants' destination in which
they have over-wintered (Slimbridge, perhaps, its only about seven miles
away across the Severn from here).

That's near enough, but generally, mallard tend to remain in a fairly
small area.

Very plainly, whilst not being tame,
they are unusually well acquainted with human company and are not
intimated by us at all.

They learn quickly, especially if food is involved. (Never give them
white bread, BTW)

The persistence of their memory for place seems
remarkable and, if my guess that they are long range migrants is right,
they may have flown all the way from Iceland just to holiday in my
garden.

Nope. They are unlikely to have come more than a mile, though some do go
further - and some migrate here during the winter - but they won't be
yours: yours will have local accents.

My view is that more happens in yer average garden than 'mere'
horticulture - I tend to be more Kewish than Wisleyean.

Oh indeed - see http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/garden.htm

And, regarding 'more happens'

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/gnu.htm

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge wrote:
Have some Madeira...

Too kind)

Rusty_Hinge wrote:
Incidentally, I can't set up my submarine yet, because I am between
houses and don't have a temperature stable environment to do so. I
will have to wait until the weather is warmer I will report on it
once I am able. I have seeds for tomatoes, basil and salad. I
can't wait)

Tomatoes really should have been started already, but later plantings
aren't out of the quesion.

I read somewhere, or heard, probably on GQT, that the ripening process
of tomatoes is triggered by shortening daylight hours. I must say that
I've not noticed this effect though...

This 'submarine' thingy has lamps which simulate daylight. It turns itself
off for 8 hours a day. Doen't say anything about shortening the time for
tomatoes

I have seeds for basil and salad, so perhaps I will have to grow them
instead

June is growing tomatoes in hers and I think she has her flowers showing.
Btw these are tiny tomatoes, do you think that might make a difference?

Rusty_Hinge wrote:
The message
from Martin contains these words:
On Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:07:49 -0000, "Ophelia"
wrote:
rjbl wrote: I have a complaint
I am so sorry you were disappointed. Perhaps, as someone pointed
out, it might have been better in a different group? If you do get
the answer you seek, I hope you share it with us.


Meaning of life discovered in a garden shed - coming up next.

HUSH!

There'll be a charabanc full of Sheddi appearing if you're not *VERY*
careful.

Beware of the Deck-chair!

Is it loaded???