Dear Readers, it seems that you are all pretty reliable on the foraging front – even where people didn’t get the species right, you had a pretty good eye for what was edible and what wasn’t, which is a relief. So, to the scores, which are out of 28 because I forgot to include Number 5: Christine got 22 out of 28, Rachael got 22 1/2 out of 28, and Claire and Mal at FEARN both got a perfect 28 out of 28, so well done everybody! I am going to open up the comments with your answers, and there are some great suggestions for how to use the edible berries – Mal mentions using sea buckthorn as a topping for cheesecake and Claire tells me that they are used for hand cream. Plus, Claire says, holly berries, though inedible, are macerated in alcohol to make brandy in Alsace. Who knew?
1) Edible – Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
2) Edible – Dog Rose (Rosa canina)
3) Not Edible – Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara)
4) Not edible – Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
6) Not edible – Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
Dear Readers, apologies, I forgot to give out the awards! Great results this week – Leo got 13 out of 15 ( a tiny mix-up with the large and small whites), and Mike from Alittlebitoutoffocus and Fran and Bobby Freelove both got 15 out of 15. Well done, everybody, and stay tuned for the next quiz…
Hi Everyone, here’s a revised version of the quiz – hopefully you shouldn’t be able to see the bird names this time, which rather defeated the object :-). Same ten birds (plus one), but in a different order. Many thanks to Claire, Rosalind and Mike for letting me know. Unfortunately while I can preview the post, for some reason it appears that the mail that you get is not the same, which is most unhelpful. I shall asking WordPress if there’s any way of previewing the email before it goes out.
Dear Readers, International Dawn Chorus Day was on the first Sunday in May, but in many places the birds are still going strong. How are your identification skills, though? Below are the songs of 10 British birds that you can often hear first thing in the morning, so let’s see how good you are at telling one from another. I’ve made this multiple choice because it ain’t as easy as it sounds. I’ve also tried not to include too many birds that sound the same, but until you get your ‘ear in’ that can be a tough call. I will do a quick post on what I’ve learned about bird songs next week.
Simply match the sounds to the birds. So, if you think song (1) is a blue tit, your answer is 1) a).
As usual, answers in the comments by Thursday 3rd June (5 p.m. UK time) and I will post the results on Friday 4th June. I will ‘disappear’ any answers that I spot, but if you are easily influenced by what came before, write them down first.
Onwards!
Species:
A) Blue Tit
B) Blackbird
C) Song Thrush
D) Chiffchaff
E) Woodpigeon
F) Great Tit
G) Goldfinch
H) Robin
I) Wren
J) Chaffinch
The Songs….
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
And finally, this is about as un-British a bird as you could hope to find. An extra point for anyone who can guess what on earth this is…..
Hi all, it’s come to my attention that the mail you received this morning might have included the answers to all the questions below 🙁 – let me know in the comments if this has happened to you! What I intend to do is to mix the sound files up later this afternoon and see if I can remove any ID so you can still have a go. Blooming WordPress…..
Dear Readers, International Dawn Chorus Day was on the first Sunday in May, but in many places the birds are still going strong. How are your identification skills, though? Below are the songs of 10 British birds that you can often hear first thing in the morning, so let’s see how good you are at telling one from another. I’ve made this multiple choice because it ain’t as easy as it sounds. I’ve also tried not to include too many birds that sound the same, but until you get your ‘ear in’ that can be a tough call. I will do a quick post on what I’ve learned about bird songs next week.
Simply match the sounds to the birds. So, if you think song (1) is a blue tit, your answer is 1) a).
As usual, answers in the comments by Thursday 3rd June (5 p.m. UK time) and I will post the results on Friday 4th June. I will ‘disappear’ any answers that I spot, but if you are easily influenced by what came before, write them down first.
Onwards!
Species:
A) Blue Tit
B) Blackbird
C) Song Thrush
D) Chiffchaff
E) Woodpigeon
F) Great Tit
G) Goldfinch
H) Robin
I) Wren
J) Chaffinch
The Songs….
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
And finally, this is about as un-British a bird as you could hope to find. An extra point for anyone who can guess what on earth this is…..
Dear Readers, we all did very well this week! Claire got 10/11, Fran and Bobby got 10 1/2 out of 11 ( Number 8 was an ashy mining bee), and the joint winners this week are Mike from Alittlebitoutoffocus and Mal from FEARN with 11 out of 11. Well done everybody!
1)
This is Mr Bumble the Beadle from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, so I’m looking for ‘Bumblebee’.
2)
The lovely Carpenters, so this is Carpenter Bee. And here’s a link to probably my favourite Carpenters song, though it’s a close run thing between this and ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’….
Dear Readers, we’ve had a lot of tricky quizzes just lately, so I wanted to make this one fun, in honour of World Bee Day (which was on 20th May). So, all you need to do is guess the type of bee from the clues. So, if you think Photo One shows a Mayor, your answer would be ‘Mayor bee’. Some of the clues have more than one photo, so you will have to combine them to make the name of the bee. Some are species and some are just types of bee, so hopefully it won’t be too UK-specific. But let’s see how we all get on!
The song for Question Three is very sad but I think you could guess the name of the bee just from the title, so you don’t have to listen if you’re feeling down-hearted already.
As usual, answers in the comments by 5 p.m. UK time on Thursday 27th May please. Answers will be posted on Friday 28th May. I will hide any answers as soon as I see them, but just in case you might want to write your answers down first if you are easily influenced (like me 🙂 ).
And finally, what’s the bee-related link to these lyrics?
11)
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk Music loud and women warm, I’ve been kicked around Since I was born And now it’s alright, it’s okay And you may look the other way We can try to understand The New York Times’ effect on man
Dear Readers, just a few people had a bash at the quiz this week, and very well they did too – Claire got 19 out of 30, but the winners this week are Fran and Bobby Freelove with 26 out of 30! I should point out in all fairness that the lovely Mangrove Hummingbird in the third photo is actually endemic to Costa Rica, not Colombia, but I’ve given you full marks because Costa Rica wasn’t listed as an option, and Colombia makes perfect sense under the circumstances.
Did you know that 20th May was National Bumblebee Day? That might be a clue to tomorrow’s quiz….
1) K) Australia Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
2) G) China Golden snub–nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)
3)B) Colombia Mangrove hummingbird (Amazilia boucardi) (should actually have been Costa Rica!)
Dear Readers, an endemic species is one that is found in only one country or geographic region, and nowhere else in the world. So, for this quiz, can you match the photo of the animal to the country? I will give an extra point if you can name the species, so there’s a total of 30 points to be won. I think this is mega-difficult though, so if anyone gets all the countries right that will be deserve a huge round of applause. So, if you think photo 1 is from Sri Lanka and that the animal is a flugel hound your answer is 1) A) flugel hound. You might want to check the species though :-).
All answers in the comments by 5 p.m. UK time next Thursday (20th May) please. I’ll post the answers on Friday 21st May. As soon as I see your reply in the comments I shall hide it away so it can’t influence the easily-swayed (like me) but write your answers down first if you don’t want to be affected by the brilliance of others.
Dear Readers, we have a three-way split for First Prize this week, with Mal from FEARN, Anne and Fran and Bobby Freelove all identifying all 15 of the plants correctly. Well done all of you! I shall have to think of something fiendish for tomorrow 🙂 you’re all too good at this stuff…..
Dear Readers, the cabbage family (Brassicaceae) has some of the commonest ‘weeds’ in the UK, and yet it is very tricky as far as identification goes. So, this week, I am going to make the quiz a multiple choice, and I’m going to try to avoid including too many easily-confused tiny plants with white or yellow flowers. There are some real beauties to be found among the little chaps – some ‘Kings’ if you’ll forgive me :-).
So, here we go. All you need to do is to match the photo to the species name – so, if you think the plant in Photo 1 is Oilseed Rape, your answer is 1) A).
All answers in the comments by 5 p.m. UK time next Thursday (13th May) please. I’ll post the answers on Friday 14th May. As soon as I see your reply in the comments I shall hide it away so it can’t influence the easily-swayed (like me) but write your answers down first if you don’t want to be affected by the brilliance of others 🙂
