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

[vinteuil]

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... walking along the Thames estuary from Rainham down to Purfleet yesterday. thrilled to see - avocets

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[DracoM]

Rival Blackbirds slugging it out battling to boss my garden!!

[cloughie]

Rival Blackbirds slugging it out battling to boss my garden!!

Yes, I think we’ve got territorial spats here too.

[Maclintick]

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... walking along the Thames estuary from Rainham down to Purfleet yesterday. thrilled to see - avocets

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Great spot, Vints. A heartening sight -- RSPB emblem and all. Grey wagtail on my walk yesterday, plus the extraordinary sight of a red kite mobbed & driven off the reservoir by two determined black-headed gulls...

[oddoneout]

I've just been out to put some things in my car and heard a soft thud behind me. When I turned round there was a sparrow on the ground beside the neighbour's car,looking rather confused and with some pigeon feathers drifting down around it. The number and size of the feathers suggests that the nest-building payload had severely compromised its sight and I would imagine flying capability, such that it had misjudged/not seen the car as it turned up towards the roof nest site. A quick shake of the feathers and it flew off with the two feathers it staill had in its beak.

[vinteuil]

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... hooray!

The first swift of the year

Such a good thing to experience on this pretty dismal bank holiday monday...



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[Padraig]

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... hooray!

The first swift of the year

Such a good thing to experience on this pretty dismal bank holiday monday...



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Congratulations v.

Not a cuckoo then?

"More than one cuckoo?"
And the little boy
Seemed to lose something
Of his spring joy.

When he'd grown up
He told his son
He'd used to think
There was only one,

Who came each year
With the trees' new trim
On purpose to please
England and him:

And his son - old already
In life and its ways -
Said yawning: "How foolish
Boys were in those days!"

T.Hardy

[johncorrigan]

Congratulations v.

Not a cuckoo then?

"More than one cuckoo?"
And the little boy
Seemed to lose something
Of his spring joy.

When he'd grown up
He told his son
He'd used to think
There was only one,

Who came each year
With the trees' new trim
On purpose to please
England and him:

And his son - old already
In life and its ways -
Said yawning: "How foolish
Boys were in those days!"

T.Hardy

Thank you, Padraig. Last cuckoo I heard was two years ago, calling across the Sound of Iona from the Ross of Mull on a beautiful still morning - tingling at the thought of it even now.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

The last couple of days I have managed to get one of our friendly robins to sit on my hand while it takes some mealworm from a dish, and this morning we had two or three feeding from the table while we had tea and toast there.

[Bryn]

The last couple of days I have managed to get one of our friendly robins to sit on my hand while it takes some mealworm from a dish, and this morning we had two or three feeding from the table while we had tea and toast there.

The mealworms, live or dried?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

The mealworms, live or dried?

Dried, actually in a robin-friendly mixture that came from Asda. I saw a video of them taking live ones as well, so your choice :) .

[Bryn]

Dried, actually in a robin-friendly mixture that came from Asda. I saw a video of them taking live ones as well, so your choice :) .

It's many decades since I bred mealworms to feed my then herpets.

[Serial_Apologist]

A very large magpie came and stood on my living room window sill for a good five minutes, earlier this morning, staring in at me watching the telly. I almost felt guilty!

[vinteuil]

A very large magpie came and stood on my living room window sill for a good five minutes, earlier this morning, staring in at me watching the telly. I almost felt guilty!

... and so you should feel - guilty. Watching the telewele in the daytime! Nay, in the morning !!


.

[cloughie]

A very large magpie came and stood on my living room window sill for a good five minutes, earlier this morning, staring in at me watching the telly. I almost felt guilty!

What? That you didn’t have any there for it to steal to take back to its trophy nest?