XCore Exchange

A breeding pair of herring gulls has taken up residence on the balcony outside my bedroom window. They have built a rather untidy nest and a lot of mating has been taking place over the last few days, usually starting at about 05:00, accompanied by a lot of noise which wakes me up. They drive off any other gulls that try to land. I've seen what is presumably the female sitting on the nest a couple of times; if she actually lays some eggs I'll set up an on-line web cam. I've been feeding them with the odd piece of stale bread and cat food that my rather fussy cat refuses to eat, I'll see if the local fishmonger has any fish heads and other unwanted bits and pieces that I can give them.

Out side of my 4th floor apartment balcony I regularly see:

Red Squirrels
Pheasants
Hedgehogs
Rabbits
Hares

Last summer we had a brief visit from a very large, colourful and aristocratic looking Wood Pecker.

All this in the suburbs of Helsinki.

I've often thought a web cam on my balcony would be a great idea but it would have to be able to zoom up close quite well.

How we get an XMOS device into this kind of project I have no idea so I guess we will remain well off topic:)

I had 2 of those mating outside my door during late evening.


The bastards made a terrible sound - I almost thought that aliens where coming to get me before I saw who it was :shock:

Although I'm near the town centre, I occasionally see badgers and foxes. A neighbour of mine goes out late at night with tins of dog food to a small piece of waste land round the corner to feed them.

Upon seeing the title of this thread I was poised on the mod button... :lol:

jonathan: It's shocking what animals get up to nowadays:)

Here in Finland every now and then a bear decides to go hiking into town. Hasn't happened in Helsinki for a while but in smaller towns nearby.

Sadly the bear normally ends up getting shot.

Heater wrote:Out side of my 4th floor apartment balcony I regularly see:

Red Squirrels
Pheasants
Hedgehogs
Rabbits
Hares

Last summer we had a brief visit from a very large, colourful and aristocratic looking Wood Pecker.

All this in the suburbs of Helsinki.

I've often thought a web cam on my balcony would be a great idea but it would have to be able to zoom up close quite well.

How we get an XMOS device into this kind of project I have no idea so I guess we will remain well off topic:)

Automatic mating sound detection for various animals which then links via Ethernet to your media centre to automatically play music really loud to drown them out. XD

Im sure it would take project of the month if nothing else. :D

I've been trying to find out how long it will be before my female gull lays an egg, without much success. It's about 10 days for pigeons, so my guess is something like two weeks.

They added some more material to the nest this morning, and I gave them some cat food and stale bread during the day. As soon as I open the window and put down some food they get very excited and start squawking loudly.

They spend the night somewhere else, usually leaving as soon as it gets dark, and turn up each morning at dawn. During the day they fly off at intervals and return an hour or so later. I suppose they spend about six to eight hours a day here, preening themselves and dozing. Several other gulls tried to land, but were driven off.

hummingbirds are waking me up in the morning by their loud chirps! in the middle of Mexico City! gee! I put a nectar feeder for them, they get calm, but as soon as it gets empty they chirp to advice me to fill it again!