oday it was time to clean the filter in my tank and belatedly refresh things. I found some dead shells, I think it might be related to parasites/germs rather than temperature (the temperature of the water isn’t low, it’s about 20 degrees) and the fish seem happy.

3 days ago it was 5 months since I set up a tank near me, splitting off or separating the shells from Rianne’s tank, which is for the tropical species.

Rianne’s tank has since then (again) begun to become a ‘breeding ground’ for more shells.

MOAR SHELLS, OMG!

That’s fine, as I can pass them all over to mine when winter is over.

Last week I brought the tank closer to my keyboard and installed better lighting/bulb for it (the ultraviolet one had died after years of persistent use).

I’m taking it “easy” this month as we transition into “proper” autumn and weather has worsened. I still managed to sunbathe almost 10 times so far this month. Sunlight in moderation is healthy.

Colder, darker days ahead until 2 months from now (December 20/21).

HIS weekend I published the seventh part of a series, a long series (lots more to come) which concerns swatting in the UK. Here are all the parts published thus far:

The more ‘beefy’ details will come later this week. I’m glad that the time has come to share this information. We have strong momentum because the public can nowadays see what really happened and who the culprits are (they’re connected).

he number of birds we look after more closely (and give names to) has grown from 4 to about 7. One of them was sick and is recovering and two of them are babies/children. Durian has grown a lot though and yesterday he only came (for the first time) at around 5PM. The green-eyed bird decided it was confident enough to stand on my palm while it eats (same as Bot and Durian). Thankfully we have a lot of sanitiser left (litres of it) and hand-washing is routine.

Growing up in homes with dogs, getting accustomed to fish tanks and birds (and a storage room full of seeds) is an adjustment. Having a dog at this time would be challenging because sometimes we both leave for several hours; we do plan to have dogs when we get older. When at least one human is at home the dog (or dogs) won’t feel lonely or sabotage furniture out of boredom/protest.

There are many birds out there (even as far as Mayfield) that recognise us from a distance based on the face or gait. They are good at spotting cycles of behaviour.

he “tropical mode” in the fish tank is now activated. Overnight, there was a lingering concern about the safety of the heater, so we turned it off and decided to wait a while. Just to be on the safe side.

Basically, it seemed like something may have been cracked and the thermostat, moreover, kicked in to deactivate the heater a lot sooner than anticipated.

After 3 test runs it’s finally off to a warm start. It seems visible or visibly obvious that the fish all seem happy (all species), they are accustomed to warm water and given the weather changes this is no longer possible without some electricity.

Last night, at 10PM, moving all the tropical fish to the same tank was feasible and could be done with minimal stress to the fish, maybe a maximum of 5-7 seconds inside the net.

Fingers crossed.

If all goes well, we’ll just look forward to springtime, then remove the heater and store it away, safely.

oday it’s time to heat up the fish tanks, as it has been getting cold lately, especially overnight, and it’ll be getting colder in weeks to come. Some fish cannot tolerate room temperature in October. Since we’re one heater short we’ll need to separate tropical ones from cold water ones.

The task isn’t hard, as no water change is needed, but catching the fish (to transfer) can traumatise them somewhat. We have no other choice.

Other than that, I’ve managed to finish Daily Links by 9AM. I think that’s the first time ever. This will free up time for other tasks.

oday Peanut entered the room. Edwin did the same some weeks ago. They seem to have found the confidence needed to walk around me and search for food, maybe also warmth and companionship.

This afternoon Peanut found the courage to sit on the doorknob. By the evening Peanut also stayed there to bottle-feed. Before it became dark I managed to feed Peanut and Durian from the same jar at the same time. They began to argue and howl.

The progress with Peanut and Durian is fast. They grew up with us. If they live for 20 years to come, we’ll be in our 60s.

Peanut has just begun making bird noises like Durian.

Birds raised (and fed) by humans do not act like wild birds.

I wished we had began birding decades earlier.

HE soaking rain is causing the birds to lose their dryness, even in spite of their body emitting some protective oil. Some of them park here, some begs for seeds (birds that don’t typically nest here), and I find myself feeding some birds I don’t know.

This coming Sunday when ManCity goes to Liverpool for a match (away game, kickoff at 4:30) we plan to revisit the park (went there yesterday afternoon), but it’ll be cold (no more t-shirt).

Winter feels like it came early. Some European countries are already in subzero temperatures.

recently noticed that Peanut returned, though he’s older now and no longer looks like a kid. Peanut was introduced as “adopted” when Durian (Durduron) showed up and last night Durian stayed here until about 6:40PM when it gets rather dark.

Durian is no longer a youngster; the food we gave him and the training I gave him (e.g. how to stand stable on the door knob) make him increasingly indistinguishable from the adults.

Unlike him, Peanut developed little or not much in terms of size.

Birds that trust humans are bound to benefit. Just don’t trust evil humans.

oday the “sick bird” did not look so sick and the babies seem to have almost matured fully, which means they’re “winter-ready”. I’ve managed to find nigo for Rianne today. It’ll come in handy. The kitchen is gradually adding all sorts of items typically found only in the far east. That makes the food better.

This afternoon we’ll visit the birds at the park again. Tomorrow we go to town to sort out some things, then take it easy and focus on news.

It’s still surprisingly warm (for this season) this afternoon. Tomorrow it’s expected to be above 20 degrees.

IVE months ago we set up the shells’ tank to split them apart from all the fish. All the shells seem healthy (to date I only saw one or two dead shells, that’s less than 1% of the whole) and they seem increasingly active too. If their population keeps growing, however, oxygen capacity will decrease. Then a bigger tank might become necessary.

The shells or snails seem to be of Malaysia origin (no predators in the tank though). They came with our loaches. They reproduce very fast.