Encouraging wildlife.

[Nomad64]

You try to convert an attic with bats living there. My builder advised what to do.
He put protective cloathing and a dust mask on when he cleaned out the poo.

I guess you guys are holy and obey all laws and regulations?
Or you live in a place not even a bat deems habitable?
If anybody is a troll, look into the nearest mirror, O Holy One!

Janne, your moral compass may be calibrated differently but generally most people do tend to obey all laws and regulations, either because they think it is the right thing to do or because they fear the consequences if they are caught - in the case of disturbing bat roosts, up to six months of stressful visits to the shower room and/or and unlimited fine.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bats-protection-surveys-and-licences

Bats roosting in your attic does not mean you cannot do building work but it does mean that you have to apply for a licence and agree to mitigation measures likely to include building alternative roost sites nearby. Yes it is always possible to save money and time and get a cowboy builder to do the work and the chances of getting caught are low. However, hopefully even you can see that bragging about destroying a bat roost on a forum thread where others are enthusiastically discussing steps they are taking to encourage bats and getting qualifications to study and handle them, makes you look like a bit (as another forum member so eloquently put it!) of a b3ll 3nd!

I really can’t work out whether it is just attention seeking trolling or you really believe that laws are for little people but no one else on this forum feels the need to boast about cutting down TPO protected oak trees, clocking the mileage of cars before selling them;



or generally revelling in a reputation, real or imagined as a misogynistic psychopath,



This is not normal behaviour!

TBH, Janne, I feel sorry for you, despite your prolific posting on here about your love of the Scandinavian lifestyle and outdoors and bushcraft activities, you seem to have made a number of ill-judged life choices which may have worked out well financially but mean that you are condemned to spend your days posting about stuff which other people actually get out and do.

Just remember, it is not all about you and if you haven’t got anything useful or constructive to add to a thread, please try to resist the compulsion to metaphorically cr@p on the carpet just to get attention!

Rant and coffee break over - just off to dig through the pile of offcuts in the barn to find some suitable for making bat boxes - the one I built last year was occupied over the summer but the more the merrier!

https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/buildings-planning-and-development/bat-boxes/wooden-bat-boxes

 

[Wander]

His other favourite tactic is to start a thread on a highly political subject and preface it with 'I don't want it to be a political discussion' as a smoke screen to pepper it with right wing talk points.

 

[santaman2000]

His other favourite tactic is to start a thread on a highly political subject and preface it with 'I don't want it to be a political discussion' as a smoke screen to pepper it with right wing talk points.

Huh? I usually find Janne’s comments to be left wing.

 

[Wander]

For America they probably are.

 

[slowworm]

I think the only wings we should be talking about should belong to the bats, or possibly the moths.

Anyway, whilst watching over my hens today in one of our fields it was nice to see our resident hare looking well. I've watched it grow from a tiny leveret into a rather large hare. Seems to have a good winter coat on.

 

[GuestD]

I think the only wings we should be talking about should belong to the bats, or possibly the moths.

Anyway, whilst watching over my hens today in one of our fields it was nice to see our resident hare looking well. I've watched it grow from a tiny leveret into a rather large hare. Seems to have a good winter coat on.

I shall soon make my way to Loch Turret to spot some of these fellows,

 

[Woody girl]

I joked, I know how much ALL of us love mozzies and horseflies!

But I am quite sure bats eat mozzies too. Guess they eat what flies around them!

Bats are lovely, except when they nest in your attic /house. Took me some work to get rid of our 'little guests' in our last house in England.
A couple of evenings observing where they fly out, blocking off, checking again, and so on. Important to block off the holes when they are out.

They do eat them:
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geK.Tu_LldIbAA811XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEybDAzOWpzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQTA2MTVfMQRzZWMDc2M-/RV=2/RE=1572498798/RO=10/RU=https://www.mnn.com/health/healthy-spaces/blogs/bats-eat-mosquitoes/RK=2/RS=PsmqYkzGsEl1y90USwlh3t6IUI8-

You are so lucky not to have been found out and prosecuted. Our local church needed a new roof. In itself an expensive undertaking, but we had to raise thousands more to build a proper bat roost and had to wait months to do it as it could not be done while they were in residence which meant that more damage happened to the roof costing even more.
Janne no wander you can afford your lifestyle ... you cut corners and break the law to line your own pocket. Destroy a bat roost... then think it's fine to boast about it.
Realy???? Don't bother trying to justify yourself or claim you are joking. Its unexcusable. I'm pretty disgusted tbh.

 

[Broch]

I've been down into the wood today - supposedly to work but ended up spending more time just wandering

Didn't see the hares today but I did see a large dog fox not much smaller than a sheepdog - old too; it had part of its tail missing for some reason.

All the time I was walking around I couldn't keep my mind off this thread (the constructive bits!) - and was contemplating the quandary of species preference by putting bird boxes up. I realised that my wood, as well as a lot of woodland, doesn't have many really old trees with nesting opportunity. It does have lots of undergrowth, scrub and mid-layers for other nest forms. So, maybe, not putting up nesting sites for 'hole nesters' is actually being unfair. I don't particularly like to see lots of nest boxes in wild woods so, if I decide to (the jury is still out), I will drill holes in the standing deadwood etc. - just a thought.

 

[Robson Valley]

Little (5/8") holes in standing dead wood are very attractive to the solitary leaf-cutter bees. Even 1/4" and 1/2" are inhabited here.
It's rare to expect great colonies of domesticated honey bees to do everything. Sort of displacing the local wild species.
It's easy to make up bee blocks from any old junk wood. Pop them into inconspicuous spots.
Sit and watch. The early spring bees will find them. Arm yourself with a battery-powered B&D drill for an outing.

There are three parts to every ecosystem: energy flow, nutrient cycles and populations.
I find that every enhancement of the energy flow (starting with plant photosynthesis) gives a boost to everything else.
Animals have no opportunities if and when they are starving for energy. They move away, if they can.
More plants of known local varieties. Everywhere.

 

[slowworm]

I've been 'forced' to make some bee blocks after I left some garden canes laying around and the leafcutter bees took them over. I often see them flying around with some of my pot plants folded underneath them. They also use the side of a pot and its soil to nest in, along with the clips holding the greenhouse glass in and other various cavities about the place.

Speaking of bees, I had wondered if our honey bees would push out the local solitary and bumbles. As far as I can tell they seem to coexist, often visiting completely different plants. I expect that's at least in part down to the different length tongues they have.

 

[demographic]

Little (5/8") holes in standing dead wood are very attractive to the solitary leaf-cutter bees. Even 1/4" and 1/2" are inhabited here.
It's rare to expect great colonies of domesticated honey bees to do everything. Sort of displacing the local wild species.
It's easy to make up bee blocks from any old junk wood. Pop them into inconspicuous spots.
Sit and watch. The early spring bees will find them. Arm yourself with a battery-powered B&D drill for an outing.

There are three parts to every ecosystem: energy flow, nutrient cycles and populations.
I find that every enhancement of the energy flow (starting with plant photosynthesis) gives a boost to everything else.
Animals have no opportunities if and when they are starving for energy. They move away, if they can.
More plants of known local varieties. Everywhere.

My wife spotted a leafcutter bee this year, it was the first Ive ever seen.
It was cutting a chunk out of a rose leaf, taking it away and coming back about five mins later.
I've seen leafcutter ants on the TV but never even knew leafcutter bees existed til one turned up in the back yard.

 

[Robson Valley]

Leaf cutter bees: When you learn to recognize the semi-circular "bites" out of the leaflets on rose bushes.
That's when you know it's worthwhile making bee houses for them.
I bolted pieces of 2x6 spruce together and drilled the holes 3" into the dry joints.
That way, I can dismantle the blocks in the winter for cleaning.

See? That's another point = if you want wild bees, plant rose bushes for nesting material.

Honey bees can be quite fussy so they appear to co-exist with the bumble bees where I live.
I have not been growing grapes for quite 20 years now.
I have never seen a single honey bee go near the vines. Always the local bumble bees.
They scramble around and around with such great urgency, almost funny to watch.

 

[Woody girl]

Yes they love rose leaves. I have had a few in my garden. They love the wild rose so I've put my bee box nearby.

 

[demographic]

On the bee house thing? Well I made a insect house thing twelve or so years ago.
Just a few bits of wood to make the frame and roof and then a load of cut bamboo for the bees to live in the ends.

The main occupants have been mason bees so far.

 

[GuestD]

At my old place, there was a long dry stone dyke, the bees lived in the foundation, it had a big garden with mature conifers and hardwood, and the rest of the garden was laid out to be wildlife friendly. A developer bought it, and flattened everything in less than 4 days. Sad, over 30 years of work gone in less than a week. Profit always takes precedence over everything.

 

[Woody girl]

I had mason bees under the kitchen windowsill. My housing association decided to replace the wooden windows with pvc ones... no more Mason bees

 

[Woody girl]

Has anyone seen any ladybirds this year. ?Just realised I havnt seen a single one this summer.

 

[GuestD]

Has anyone seen any ladybirds this year. ?Just realised I havnt seen a single one this summer.

yes, I have, and butterflies, plus the resident garden rabbits which are huuuuuge.

 

[Woody girl]

I have had a bad year for the iconic insects here.. butterflies bees ladybirds and moths. The swallows and swifts did not seem as numerous either.

 

[santaman2000]

For America they probably are.

For most of the real world his comments are to the left; For North America specifically, they’re far, far, far left.