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 :)

To the coast for easter

Seeing as how I have to stay up late in the hope that TFL will update their system so I can sort out my lost oyster card before going into work tommorrow, thought I might as well update my blog :)


I managed to get away for a couple of days to Swanage with the parents this weekend, and was very lucky with the weather. Not great in terms of bird rarities, but some nice photo oppurtunities everywhere so thought I'd take advantage of the sunshine.

My parents don't really understand this whole nature and birding thing that I seem to like, so I thought going on a guided walk at Durlston Country Park (just down the road from our flat) might help to explain it, seeing as this is the perfect time of year for birds singing, trees in blossom etc etc etc... It was a shame then that said guided walk was run by a local with a penchant for folksong and different species of sedge and grass (there are many in case you were wondering) rather than pointing out the more "sexy" species they have on their site. I was hoping to get some tips particularly on bird song, but no such luck. Even so, we saw some pretty interesting stuff...

Green veined orchid. Not pictured: the green veins. You will have to trust me on this :)

Spider orchid

There weren't really any birds pointed out that I hadn't already noticed and told my parents about already (skylark, blue tit, chiff chaff...) but there were heaploads of stonechats perched on fences/gorse bushes looking particularly stunning, and hopping around with nest material.

Stonechat with a goldfinch (please note actual real life lighthouse and everything)

We spent sunday on the beach for a bit being annoyed by some posho's on jetskis, before going on our climb up to the top of old harry, you know just because.

old harry rocks from ballard down.

It's nice once you're there, but can't say I've never been much of a fan of hills. I blame growing up in Essex :)

Umm, can't think of a link but here is some gorse, it's very pretty no?


PS Anybody know what this is?!



This bird was calling repeatedly for hours on end, always staying just out of your line of view and hiding as soon as you got out your camera or binoculars. Bastard.

Anyway, TFL are still being annoying so I am giving up and going to bed. Hope this post wasn't too plant-heavy for you bird lovers :)

Callichthyids everywhere

Phase four of project fish tank went underway today, with the addition of some bottom dwellers... I'm sure there is a hilarious joke here. Anyway, these have come in the shape of two Corydoras panda and one Corydoras schwartzii...

This one is awesome, and so pretty :) Doesn't take any shit from the platys either, who seem to think they are allowed the catfish pellets, how rude.

Much like their mammalian counterparts, this panda likes to hide amongst vegetation and has no thumbs.

I DON'T THINK THIS IS A PANDA. I feel cheated... As long as it doesn't grow to 3 feet long and eat me in my sleep I might let him stay. Still though, I'm a bit annoyed with that one because I was looking forwards to a gaggle of pandas, or whatever the plural of pandas is (if there isn't one I'd like to propose "a failure of pandas"). Quite photogenic though.

Can you tell I have nothing to do with my Saturday evening? Rubbish...

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).

Paris isn't great for birding

I really enjoyed going to france last weekend, and was very lucky with the weather. Orleans is a really nice town too, and Paris was a bit awesome in the sunshine, and with all of the patisseries... Still, it's a good job I went there to visit friends and see the city rather than birdwatch. France has no birds.

Well that's not entirely true, there are plenty of these...


And a smattering of these guys...


I was excited to see that Hannah's house is opposite a really nice big pond in the middle of loads of farmland, with a huge forest at the end of the road, so I was hopeful of getting a count of at least 20 without having to try too hard, I mean it's not that ambitious.


Nice pond. Only has mallards on it though, with not even a mallard as supporting cast. Intruigingly though, shitloads of mistletoe EVERYWHERE. The hedges were full of sparrows, but no other passerines anywhere. I saw a pheasant and a GREY PARTRIDGE driving around on the way to Orleans one day, so that puts my count up to 6 so far, but then I'm starting to struggle. Magpie, common gull, heard a peacock bizarrely... 9 species.


Didn't matter though, because there was plenty of other stuff to look at, and the sparrows everywhere more than made up for the lack of variety.


Bonjour je suis un sparrow. J'habite dans notre dame, c'est tres chic, non?
Then WAIT. What is that one in the top row, second from the left?


No grey on the head and instead rich brown, with dark cheeks..... TREE SPARROW???
Awesome if it is... see what you think

Anyway, in other news I saw my first ever hare, which ran out infront of our car on the way from the Eurostar to Hannah's house on Thursday. There are also loads of wild boar and deer living in the forest outside of the village, but I didn't have much finding them. Pretty exciting though :) Must go back and investigate further one day...