Category: FAUNA

Fury, The Hawk

FAUNA UK

Bird of Prey

Fury, The Hawk

 

Fury and his handler, photo by JMorton

In Profile

  • Name: Fury
  • Age: 9 Years old
  • Aves: Hawk
  • Occupation: Pest Controller
  • Place of Work: Old Royal Navy College – Greenwich, South London, UK

 

We met Fury and his handler recently whilst on a visit at the Old Royal Navy College to attend a tour of a once in a lifetime opportunity to be up close with the hall and ceiling murals, which is the most extensive work in the UK and can rival Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.

Anyway, Fury and his handler were promenading outside the building, alert to any uninvited guests.

Hawk is 9 years old and he regularly patrols the building and its surrounding areas for any marauding pigeons, rats, and other pests, who can create so much deposit of poos and upheavals to wherever they congregate.

Hawks are often used as guardians and mascots of large public building and areas as they are known for their keen eyesight and intelligence.

Fury at just 9, is still a ‘spring chicken’  Hawks in captivity usually live until 20 years of age.

 

Upside Down Ducks

FAUNA YouTube Channel

The video below is of upside down ducks.

And please it is not a delicious duck recipe. 🙂

I took the video while we were perambulating at Golders Hill Park in North West London on a sunny day early this spring 2018.

To be honest for a girl, who grew up in a farm, I have never seen ducks feeding in the water in an upside down position. It was rather amazing to see and watch them doing their business.

Upside Down Ducks

@GlobalGranaryVideo

You Are What You Eat

Blogs Did you know? FAUNA Global Dictionary

The proof is in the eating of the cupcake, lol, Photo by PH Morton

You Are What You Eat

It is true I am afraid, well in my case anyway.  I love chocolates and it shows: in the tummy area, along the hips, in the face and everywhere. 🙂

Belonging to the class mammalia (species with the mammary glands, lol) we are rather versatile in what we include in what we eat.

There are at least four classifications of diets or intake of nourishment.  Which do you belong?

  • Herbivores, these are those who eat greens, the verdant leaves and sprouts of plants.  Are you as vegetarian as the brontosaurus?  Or cows and horses perhaps?
  • Carnivores, these are those who like to eat meat.  I must admit, I have to have meat in my diet.  I am very partial to pork and chicken.  Now and again, you here news of people who are practising cannibals, meaning they eat people. There are even news that during the Russian famine of the 1920s, food was extremely scarce the peasant started eating human limbs, which were up for sale.  Anything for survival.
  • Omnivores, these are those who eat greens and meat (also chocolates), which are us humans.  We do like a variety in our diet.  Apparently some bears are also known to be omnivores.  We don’t just like to eat grass like cows and carabaos on pasture.  We want a bit of both in our meals.  Roast meat with three vegs.  🙂
  • Insectivores, these are those who eat insects.  Some humans have a penchant for eating insects like locust, crickets, grasshoppers and juicy spiders.  Humans are now giving aardvarks a run for their money.

 

 

Goldfish/Pond Fish

Blogs Did you know? Pets

Goldfish, photo by PH Morton

Goldfish, Photo by PH Morton

Goldfish/Pond Fish

We have kept goldfish in our garden pond since 2006.  I remember digging a hole for the pond during a rather fraught England game during the World Cup 2006.  I must say because of that game we were able to build a pond in just a few hours.  🙂

It was so exciting filling up the pond, watching the flow of water into a thick  black plastic liner.  We were novice about keeping a pond so without much thought, we released a lone red goldfish my son had in an aquarium.

My son then said ‘you might just had killed that goldfish.  You are to wait at least three days for the water to settle and then introduce the fish slowly to acclimatise to the temperature.”

Thank goodness, the fish survived.  He is resilient!

Goldfish is a freshwater fish, they are easy to keep, as we have discovered, therefore, the most popular fish for ponds and aquariums.

There is a myth that goldfish has only a 3-second memory but this is not true.   Our goldfish in our pond know about feeding time.  They have also been a victim of a starving heron, which ate more than half of their numbers.  This so traumatised those who were left behind (including us) that they would not willingly come up the water surface anymore.  We had to put netting near the surface of the pond and this seemed to have reassured the remaining goldfish.

Apparently a study was done by the School of Psychology in the  University of Plymouth.  It was found that goldfish have at least 3 months worth of memory.  They can recognise sound, colours and shapes.

 

Rise of Parakeets

FAUNA Food Source Pets

Parakeet in Childshill, London, photo by PH Morton

Rise of Parakeets

More and more wild parakeets are seen freely flying and nesting all around London.  I first saw parakeets on top of a tree at Hyde Park four years ago.  I thought they were not really a natural bird for cold UK.

As much as they are so lovely to look at, there are some negative implications to our local birds.