What birds (are you/have you been) watching? What birds have been watching you?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Vox Humana
    Full Member
    • Dec 2012
    • 1248

    ^

    Comment

    • Dave2002
      Full Member
      • Dec 2010
      • 18009

      Originally posted by Vox Humana View Post
      ^
      Seconded

      Comment

      • Richard Tarleton

        Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post

        Comment

        • ardcarp
          Late member
          • Nov 2010
          • 11102

          Thanks Vox and Vinteuil. Your posts made my day.

          Comment

          • ardcarp
            Late member
            • Nov 2010
            • 11102

            Mrs A paid a visit to Rutland Water last week and saw two great white egrets. On the posted-up list of species seen there by others that week was a bufflehead.



            It had clearly taken a wrong turn somewhere.

            Comment

            • Vox Humana
              Full Member
              • Dec 2012
              • 1248

              Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
              Mrs A paid a visit to Rutland Water last week and saw two great white egrets. On the posted-up list of species seen there by others that week was a bufflehead.



              It had clearly taken a wrong turn somewhere.
              Suspicion always looms over rare quackers that turn up away from the coast (and even coastal ones, come to that). This particular Bufflehead has been knocking around that area since June and has a ring that marks it as an escape from someone's collection. It's sometimes quite amusing to follow the online debates of twitchers when birds like this turn up. As a rule of thumb their views on whether a suspect duck is wild or not depends on how badly people need to add it to their lists!

              At least no suspicion attends Great White Egrets. Lovely birds which are now turning up all over the place.

              Comment

              • ardcarp
                Late member
                • Nov 2010
                • 11102

                Thanks Vox. As Mrs A isn't of the twitching tendency (and hasn't 'got a little list') she was just glad to see this rather exotic bird.

                PS Just been rapped over knuckles! Mrs A didn't actually 'see' the bufflehead...except by looking online afterwards.
                Last edited by ardcarp; 01-10-19, 11:49. Reason: Correction

                Comment

                • Vox Humana
                  Full Member
                  • Dec 2012
                  • 1248

                  They are lovely little things, for sure.

                  Comment

                  • ardcarp
                    Late member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 11102

                    Channel 4 News (7pm today) devoted a large part of the programme to environmental matters, detailing (among other things) how many of our UK bird species had drastically declined, largely due to intensive farming. Worth watching once the Brexit bits were done and dusted. It even had Jon Snow sitting on a straw bale, Chris Packham style.

                    Much more tomorrow on the programme, apparently. https://www.channel4.com/news/

                    Comment

                    • gradus
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 5606

                      We seem to have more and more magpies around here and fewer songbirds in the garden eg blackbirds are relatively scarce although blue and great tits still appear in numbers. The magpies voice is not beautiful and can be quite irritating so I would not regret a lessening of their numbers. Others living nearby have trapped them on occasion but I believe this is illegal and I wondered if anyone could suggest ways of dispersing them legally.

                      Comment

                      • Richard Tarleton

                        Originally posted by gradus View Post
                        We seem to have more and more magpies around here and fewer songbirds in the garden eg blackbirds are relatively scarce although blue and great tits still appear in numbers. The magpies voice is not beautiful and can be quite irritating so I would not regret a lessening of their numbers. Others living nearby have trapped them on occasion but I believe this is illegal and I wondered if anyone could suggest ways of dispersing them legally.
                        RSPB info on magpies here.

                        Decline of songbirds and magpie nos. not related. (Obviously we don't know where "here" is )

                        Yes, trapping is illegal. Magpies are hard to deter, they will occupy suitable ecological niches anyway. And why would you want to? Magnificent, characterful birds.

                        Comment

                        • Bryn
                          Banned
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 24688

                          Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                          RSPB info on magpies here.

                          Decline of songbirds and magpie nos. not related. (Obviously we don't know where "here" is )

                          Yes, trapping is illegal. Magpies are hard to deter, they will occupy suitable ecological niches anyway. And why would you want to? Magnificent, characterful birds.
                          I must admit that I made a point of frequent use of a ladder to get up into the holly tree situated just a few metres from my bedroom window when I suspected the early stages of nest-building by magpies a few years ago. They gave up and transferred their attentions to another holly tree towards the back of a neighbour's garden. As I have mentioned previously, the collared doves round here give the magpies short shrift. Magpies are indeed magnificent birds but they are a bit too raucous to make good neighbours.

                          Comment

                          • Bryn
                            Banned
                            • Mar 2007
                            • 24688

                            I should add that magpies are very good at clearing moss from my rood tiles while rooting out invertebrates for their sustenance.

                            Comment

                            • oddoneout
                              Full Member
                              • Nov 2015
                              • 9150

                              In my neck of the woods magpie numbers fluctuate quite noticeably from year to year. The past couple of years there have been two quite large families in the gardens but this year only one pair, not much in evidence, and with only a couple of young. I know that last year one of the pairs was most put out at the felling of a large conifer, which I think they had previously used for nesting and certainly used a lot for general down time. When I still had my allotments up the road from my house some years there would be magpies nesting in the hollies in the field boundary, other years not, for no apparent reason. Many of the plotholders didn't like them. The numbers of small birds hasn't obviously suffered from their presence or otherwise. I think the absence of cats has had far more effect; even when active hunting doesn't occur the spook factor keeps the likes of the wrens, robins, tits away from previously favoured nesting sites. Within my block of 6 or so houses 6 cats are no longer around this year(due to house moves apart from one)and haven't so far been replaced.

                              Comment

                              • vinteuil
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 12797

                                Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                                Magpies are indeed magnificent birds but they are a bit too raucous to make good neighbours.
                                ... yes, I like magpies a lot - but the chattering can get a bit much. There were quite a few of them using the gardens behind us earlier this year, and the three o' clock in the morning hubbub proved quite testing.

                                Listen to Magpie on a high quality audio recording. At our website you will find recordings of all british bird species - completely free of cost.


                                The other bird noise that was almost unbearable this year - staying with friends in the middle of nowhere in Italy this summer, regularly woken up with an insistent repeated - wip wip WIP - wip wip WIP - wip wip WIP.

                                Quails.

                                Listen to Quail on a high quality audio recording. At our website you will find recordings of all british bird species - completely free of cost.


                                .






                                .
                                Last edited by vinteuil; 04-10-19, 12:25.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X