Good News for Boobys

Hi

You may remember that (shortly before disappearing off the face of the internet) I posted a link about making the Chagos Archipelago a Marine Reserve. Well if you don't know, the Chagos Marine Reserve was declared the world's biggest no-take marine reserve, and a year later it's nice to read some good environment-related news for a change.

I might start posting again, I haven't decided yet. Everything birdy that I see is posted by Parus in a much more sweary and grumpy fashion (who steals my photos half the time too).

He doesn't get to post stuff like this though.

By the way, if you want to see something very cute, come along to London Zoo and meet our new(ish) baby gorilla, he's a bit good.

Out in the big wide tank...

You may remember I had some baby fish a while ago. You probably don't and if you do, you probably didn't really care that much when I told you, but I found it quite exciting. The four babies quickly turned into two, but they've both survived for nearly a month now. They're still pretty small, but figured they were slightly bigger than the mouth of a Gourami, so it was time to let them spread their fins and see how they got on with the rest of my fish.

They've lasted about 15 minutes so far, and now they seemed to have worked out the current in the tank, they seem to be doing okay at the moment. Well, one is hiding behind the thermometer looking shit scared, but the other one is doing some good investigation... I'll keep you posted of course, whether you're interested or not. I tried to take some nice photos just in case I underestimated the size of a Gourami's mouth, but it turns out a tank in a tank is hard to focus on. I've posted them anyway for your viewing pleasure :)

the baby fish when they were stupidly small (I particularly enjoy the one at the top eyeballing the lens here)

baby fish before being released to the big tank (with helpful minnow for scale)

I has had a holiday :)

I've had a nice week in the sun with my family, trying to catch up on a ridiculous amount of sleep, and generally try to relax after the crappyness of last year. Yes that is a word.

Specifically, I spent the last week in Taba Heights, Egypt. It's very nice, as long as you are happy not doing too much, which seemed to fit our needs. Would have liked to have seen the pyramids etc and the nile but it's a long way from Taba, so will have to add that to the long list of hypothetical holidays I'd like to have...


All very nice, but I'm sure you're wondering WHAT BIRDS DID I SEE? Well, there is a severe lack of vegetation of any kind, so the place was hardly abundant with a variety of birds, but the palm trees etc around where we stayed ensured an impressive population of sparrows, some house crows, white spectacled bulbuls, one very pretty dark blue sunbird, and some really cute laughing doves.


I want some of these, they do laugh (sounds like a chuckle), they like to eat chips and they're pocket sized. What's not to like?




Of course, the birds weren't really the main attraction, as it turns out the Red Sea is pretty much full of fish, and our hotel was right on top of a coral reef. We went out on a boat trip one day to go snorkeling (with an underwater camera- try to contain your excitement for a later post), but did a fair bit from the beach, and saw quite a lot just by walking along the jetty on calm days. Here are a few attempts at capturing the scene...

octopus

butterfly fish of some kind, I'm not sure which as there are loads.

cornetfish, and a marbled parrotfish I think. These are both pretty big, hard to tell though from this...

The dreaded lion fish, one of which caught me by surprise. As one of the most venomous fish, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with one...

All in all I had a nice holiday, and will try to be a bit more descriptive once I've got the underwater pics. Some more local trips are pending...

Rainham Can Be Good Sometimes (and Other Stories)

As the boy has probably already told you, we finally got round to a proper Rainham trip this weekend, and very nice it was too. Despite the cold, it was clear and fairly pleasant, and I managed to see some stuff that I would have seen earlier had it not been for the snow, like snipe, pintail and cetti's warbler. More exciting things included water rail squeeling from the reeds, picking out one golden plover amongst a sea of lapwings, and finally getting those bean geese just before we were about to leave the site. I always complain about going to the serin mound, because contrary to it's name, I don't think it has any serins. Or dartford warblers. Or whatever it is we ever go there to find. However today was an exception, offering up a big old flock of linnets, then revealing a previously-concealed slavonian grebe and a finale of a barn owl quartering over the fields in front. They're always my favourites, a site can always win me over with a bit of strigiformes... short eared owls would be nice too.

I would add some photos but the boy still has the camera, and although I copied some photos, they're not really too impressive...

This all puts the year list at a rather respectable 92 for the year so far, with Norfolk and Mull trips both looking more likely over the next few months. I think I'm getting better at this birding thing too, it's good to find your own stuff rather than wait for things to be pointed out (although my bird call knowledge is woefully inadequate).

In other news, I have some new additions to my tank... Topped up my corys with three very cute julii, and got some grassy type plants for the guppys to hang around in and look mysterious.


Some even more exciting additions didn't cost any money though...


AWESOME.

My garden and other exciting habitats...

Today I upgraded my feeders in my garden, with tree hooks and peanuts and everything. The birds are emptying the feeders about twice a week at the moment, so thought it was worth increasing my tree's food-holding capacity (yes due to tree-related we only have one tree).

(here is where I would have put a photo of my new feeders, but the boy still has my camera, so you'll have to wait until my next post.)

...Since writing this I think next doors cat got one of our collared doves. They're stupid birds, but I quite like them. They try and fail to nest on the skydish next door every year, with great amusement for me. I went and threw a load of water on the cat and chased it away, but I can't find the bird, just loads of feathers. Bastard stupid hybrid cat thing...

On an unrelated but still important note, you should go and sign this. It's a campaign to protect the Chagos Archipelago (one of the world's largest coral atolls) by making it a marine protected area. It's a group of 55 tropical islands owned by the UK, and is all very interesting stuff. Theres some really interesting videos to watch too, so go have a look.

New Things

This weekend I didn't manage to do anything exciting like go to Norfolk, so instead I cheered myself up by restocking my fish tank following a bit of neglect of late.

First up were a pair of corydoras to keep my panda company. Marvel at my amazing photography skills..


With the gradual decline of my minnows (finally) and my platys (theyre rubbish fish), I decided on trying out some guppies, for the main reason that they're supposed to be really easy to breed and that might be quite fun.


Will keep you posted as to the extent of their success, but so far I've kept the full compliment alive for 2 whole days. Hoorah!


Ram is still my favourite though, he's like the fish equivalent of a portugese friend of mine- small, cocky but entertaining.

Oh and while I was out I picked up one of these...

Should be much more reliable for all those far-flung birding trips than the blue beast :) It's much bigger than I thought, but I suppose most cars are big compared to a Ka. It's pleasingly grown-up and doesn't make any doom-filled noises as you drive along, which as far as I'm concerned is a big plus.

And so it begins...

Yes, the slow decline into failue. It was bound to happen really. Just as I managed to outsmart the snails and the plants had settled in, something was bound to go wrong.

RIP Minnow I. A victim of what I suspect to be foul play, on the part of my Ram. I am keeping a close eye on this one... Still, these minnows have already easily outlived their life expectancy, so it could be the result of a combination of reasons. However, concerns over the welfare of my fish population have taken a slightly more sinister turn...


Currently my Corydoras schwartzii isn't looking this good. Really not very good at all, bearing in mind the two massive lesions on his head and lack of barbels. Bumcakes. Methinks I'll be heading down to the fish shop first thing in the morning for some sort of miracle fixitude, after a water change. I'll keep you posted, but my hopes aren't high for this little guy :(

Note to readers: Don't search for "Hole in the Head Corydoras" unless you want to throw up some gay porn...

lazy bloggans

I haven't got round to writing a post about my trip to Abberton on the weekend yet, so you will have to contain your excitement on that one for now.

I managed to find a bit of time this weekend to get a few more plants for my aquarium, and a couple of new fish. First off was another panda corydora, to keep my other one company when zipping up and down the side of the tank. Secondly I wanted something a bit more interesting.

This is my dutch ram, and he's very pretty. He was a bit shy to start with, and is very good at swimming through the plants unlike my rubbish minnows which tend to just see them as obstacles to go round. He's very colourful and is getting more confident, after working out the catfish aren't a threat. I contemplated getting angelfish, but my tank isn't quite hot enough for them (and i can't turn it up any higher without boiling the minnows). I think this guy is a bit different though, and seems to get on with all my other fish.

In other fish tanky news, there are still no platy babies, so maybe the white platy just has eating issues and I shouldn't draw attention to her sudden weight gain. Oh, and what started out as two tiny stowaway snails on a plant about a month ago has turned into snail city inside my filter, and half the pebbles are now snails. Shit. Any suggestions other than a bucket of salt?

i do work in a zoo, honestly

First, a little update on my personal living collection: We are still awaiting the arrival of my free fish...

The Cat is fully supportie of my foray into the world of aquariums by the way :)

In other news, Regent's Park has been looking so awesome lately that I thought I should probably share it with you (and because I know at least one person quite likes botany).

Hoorah, tulips everywhere :)

Meanwhile, in the zoo there have been loads of animals looking quite pleased with all the sunshine and leaves on trees etc that we've been getting. Coming into baby season, so it's really quite cute :)


After reading about some Choughs in Cornwall, I thought it might be an idea to point out that we have some nesting in Regent's Park too. Sort of.


The enclosure that these guys are in is REALLY difficult to take photos of, because the mesh is angled perfectly to catch your focus every time (not included in this blog post: about 56 similar photos of chough completely hidden by dirty great big grey lines).
For this reason you do not have any photos of baikal teal, night herons, wood ducks, radjah shelduck... But I did get a nice photo of a sparrow pretending to be a reed warbler.

update

One of my platys is very ROUUUUNNND... keeping my eye out for teeny fishes.

All other fish present and correct, with the addition of some awesome rocks to make some hideaways for the catfish. Getting there slowly :)

Moar fishes

My 4 minnows managed to pass the challenge and have not died as a result of my tank keeping skillz, so I decided to add some new fish to the clan.

Meet my platys...


I hear that they are pretty good at not dying, and are also livebearers that are very easy to breed (and judging by the goings on today i would probably agree with that).

Anyway, animal count so far is 7 fish, one shrimp called Alan and two stowaway snails.... Not bad.


Alan the shrimp may not look too impressive by the way, but that's just because you don't know him. He's really awesome (oh and if you were wondering, his reflection is on the left).

ecosystemical awesomeness

Today I built an ecosystem. On my desk.


Took ages, but it's AWESOME. Very excited about getting fish to fill it with, but will be a few weeks down the line until it's fully up and running. Compared to my previous tank (only 14 litres) this is a considerable upgrade, and a worthy use of my birthday money in my opinion.



The minnow clan are excited that they will have a new home very soon. I will keep you updated on this one as it progresses...