Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Start
Prev
1
Next
End

18 Jul 2010 17:17 #1 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits. was created by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

I have not posted a video for a while so yesterday I stuck the underwater camera in the pond to film the Koi feeding, why I never thought of that before I don't know, but as it happened my pond was not as clear from that perspective as I thought it was so the footage is very ropey; I might post it later. While I was pond side a big sparrow family arrived in the garden, so I filmed them instead.

The only link to fish is the sound of the pond waterfall :unsure:

Daragh

Please Log in to join the conversation.

stretnik (stretnik)
Visitor

18 Jul 2010 17:46 #2 by stretnik (stretnik)

Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Hi Daragh,

You are very lucky, Sparrow numbers have been declining considerably over the last number of years, I haven't seen them in this area for quite a long time and quite honestly, I really miss them, I remember doing Water changes during the Summer and seeing them rush down to sip from the pools left on the Grass, a Thumbs up for my Water quality lol, To watch a dozen or so use the dust in the Garden to " bathe " and preen was really a treat.

I've attached a link to a British website, not for any other reason than it was the first to convey my thoughts, I know there is an Irish Website out there if you look.

www.bto.org/appeals/house_sparrow.htm

Kev

Please Log in to join the conversation.

18 Jul 2010 18:12 #3 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Replied by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Hi Kev

They are declining in Ireland too, www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=447

We never used to get that many sparrows in the garden although we got plenty of others, but a road nearby, Chelmsford Road, that is very busy with traffic and people all the time used to be full of them, the houses have very small front gardens and the sparrows would move along from garden to garden in huge flocks of 40 or 50. I have not seem them there this year or last year, but over the last couple of weeks there have been a few in the garden, this bunch though was by far the largest that I have noticed.

They were here most of the morning too, while I was editing the video a youngster flew in, must have been attracted or confused by the bird calls on the video, it was crashing into the glass trying to get back out, eventually got it out will a towel, but I am sure it will have a bit of a headache tonight. That's three types of bird I have had come into the "sun" room (That's a laugh in this country!) over the last couple of years, I have had blue tits a few times, a goldcrest and now a sparrow.

They are hungry buggers and finished the whole of the seed dispenser that I only filled Friday evening!

Daragh

Please Log in to join the conversation.

stretnik (stretnik)
Visitor

18 Jul 2010 18:35 #4 by stretnik (stretnik)

Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

So interesting, here's a tip for next year or this Autumn for that matter, if you want to get them or any other birds for that matter, through the winter with a little bit of fat on them.

In the Evening, before Twilight, lay down a sheet of black Plastic on the Lawn, as large a piece as you can, anchor the edges down to prevent it blowing off, then, at about 10 am or so, remove the plastic and you will find lots of goodies who still think it's night time, will be on the surface of the Grass, earwigs, larvae, grubs, Earthworm ,, the list goes on.

The birds will appear out of nowhere to consume these critters helping to rid your Lawns of pests and guarantee them an easier time over the Winter especially if we have the same type of Winter this time.

Kev.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

18 Jul 2010 19:43 #5 by Acara (Dave Walters)

Replied by Acara (Dave Walters) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Great quality footage.When I was a kid in Gisborne and Tauranga,NZ,there were millions of sparrows,an introduced species.One neighbour had an almighty hedge of bamboo,poss 60ft or more tall.every evening,thousands upon thousands of sparrows would come in to roost,there was quite a smell off the ground below!So,when I came to Europe,I expected them to be quite common,I was surprised to see they're not as plentiful as I woulda thought.I have noticed this year,that here in Dublin 15,there are a few around,and seem to be happily breeding away.Theres not many other small birds,tits,etc,and surprisingly,not that many magpies.I am considering having a go at trapping the latter,if theres a few round next spring.

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

stretnik (stretnik)
Visitor

18 Jul 2010 20:52 #6 by stretnik (stretnik)

Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Imagine, there used to be a price on the Magpie's Head, a fact that few people realise is that Magpies are exotics, Imported from India as Caged Birds, Pets for the wealthy, didn't take long before their horrible screeching led to them being released into the wild to cause irreparable damage to native Fauna. See, there's sense to the warnings not to release exotics into the wild, I've seen these corner a Rat and attack it one by one.

Kev.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

umm (karen baker)
Offline
Junior Member

18 Jul 2010 21:32 #7 by umm (karen baker)

Replied by umm (karen baker) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

I must start feeding them again. I had stopped because of all the food they dropped on the ground was attracting rats.. At one time I had an unbelievable number of birds in the garden, even a Jay at one time, which is such a beautiful bird. Must also remember to properly store the food as we had mice living in the sack of seeds at one stage!!!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Offline
Platinum Member

18 Jul 2010 22:00 #8 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)

Replied by Viperbot (Jason Hughes) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

So I clicked on this thread thinking it was party time on the ITFS boards :woohoo:

. Dammit lads!! Back to the bookmarks I guess :angry:

. Seriously though, savage footage Darragh, your camera is awesome. So Magpies were an imported "exotic" bird from India?? Wow, didnt know that, though Im not at all suprised they were released not long after the chatter started. That said, its not all that suprising after all they are very similar to the Pied Crows that I had to put up with during my stint in Africa. Nasty gits, with a bad attitude and hardly any fear ot us, would pluck the crisps right out from your hand, along with any fingers that happened to be in the way :ohmy:

.

Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

stretnik (stretnik)
Visitor

18 Jul 2010 22:04 - 18 Jul 2010 22:08 #9 by stretnik (stretnik)

Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

Thanks for telling me about the Jay,

I had no idea that we had them here, apparently 10,000 of them in the south east. Beautiful bird,threatened because of their Plumage being used to tie Fly Fisherman's Flies.

www.birding.in/images/Birds/european_jay.jpg

Kev.

Last edit: 18 Jul 2010 22:08 by stretnik (stretnik).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

dar (darren curry)
Offline
Platinum Member

18 Jul 2010 22:13 #10 by dar (darren curry)

Replied by dar (darren curry) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

cobble block, dam it to hell since this came into fashion hedges are disappearing at an alarming rate. i'm starting a major hedge out my back for them, i remember being a wee lad and you'd always have them nesting in the roof and finding little baby ones after falling/jumping out.

Check out the angling section, it is fantastic

Please Log in to join the conversation.

18 Jul 2010 22:59 #11 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)

Replied by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

It is a pity that the magpies are so beautiful because I hate the beggars. We were plagued with them earlier in teh year, but a hooded crow started hanging around and he saw them off, he's gone now too, so it's just the little fellas.

Here is the underwater footage that I mention in the first post, it's crap though!

www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/catid,61/id,76705/

Daragh

Please Log in to join the conversation.

derek (Derek Doyle)
Offline
Platinum Member

19 Jul 2010 20:38 #12 by derek (Derek Doyle)

Replied by derek (Derek Doyle) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

very good daragh.
although the house sparrow is in sharp decline they are still locally common where they have good food and habitat. i have large numbers of sparrows in the garden for most of the year due to regular feeding and plenty of plant cover.
dar makes a good point on the cobblelock and concrete replacing lawns and hedges on a huge scale which reduces available habitat and feeding area.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

Please Log in to join the conversation.

stretnik (stretnik)
Visitor

19 Jul 2010 21:11 - 19 Jul 2010 21:19 #13 by stretnik (stretnik)

Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.

A point I try to make to Kids attending the center for talented youth of Ireland in DCU over the Summer is that we are only tenants here, caretakers.

We have a huge responsibility to the world and it's inhabitants if not ourselves.

The production of Oxygen in the Northern Hemisphere during the Winter period is very much reduced, the Sea is the the main contributor, we receive most of our O2 from the Tropics, this is where the problem begins, at the current rate of deforestation, we are Imperceivably finding it harder to breathe, and each time a Tree is felled it becomes harder.

We see small changes but who knows what these affect cumulatively.

One main contributor to the possible end of Mankind is the current chaos within the Bee family, a mite is currently affecting huge numbers of Bees, the one insect we owe most to. This Mite carries a virus which is killing Bees on a huge scale, we rely on them for pollination of all sorts. Scientists cannot identify what exactly is the pathogen but they are working around the Clock to find a remedy. Einstein forecast a short period of existence for Mankind after Bees disappear.

Small signs like disappearing Sparrows,Swallows, Swifts etc are warning signs that things aren't right. The sudden changes don't allow for adaptation and subsequently these suffer greatly and you have a knock on effect.

Anyway, sorry for the Hijack.

Here's a Bee link. globalclimatechange.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/einstein-on-bees/

www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka.7.bees.htm

Kev.

Last edit: 19 Jul 2010 21:19 by stretnik (stretnik).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Start
Prev
1
Next
End

Time to create page: 0.059 seconds

Main Menu

Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

The Sparrow Family and a couple of Tits.