Skylarks were heard yesterday by two of our family members in two different parts of the country (SW and Midlands). Isn't this unusually early; especially compared with rather late snowdrops and hardly a single primrose yet in the SW.
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Red Kites are now common as muck around here but this more than 12 years old information about them was new to me:
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Lucky you! Still very rare in the NW; I only ever saw one, two years ago, well out into the wooded countryside, which I can't get to anymore. I live in hope that they will appear above the garden one day, as a change from Buzzards and Sparrowhawks....Originally posted by Bryn View Post
Still, consolations and more offered by a female Blackcap and the Goldfinches, in very close on Sunflower and Nyger feeders (the latest RSPB design is an improvement (larger apertures, better perches) and they took to it straight away.....Comment
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We have a mistletoe tree in our garden. Yes, it was an apple tree once, but since Mrs A's determination to get mistletoe growing on it, it's been our conversation piece. However, when the berries get nicked by birds, we've noticed that blackcaps seem to be the chief culprits. Not that we mind......Comment
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Serendipity: just received from the postie some new pocket-size Swarovski bins and, as I was about to test them, the neighbourhood golden eagle posse (mum, dad, and one offspring from, I think, last year or the year before) lazily launched themselves into the air from the craggy area opposite the house and started spiralling upwards, with one of the eagles disdainfully swatting away the local buzzard which had attempted to mob them. Wonderful sight - and almost as cheering as seeing yesterday the first house martins of the year. The binoculars - pretty good, it has to be said - are for a trip to the Scillies at the end of April where the amount/weight of luggage allowed on the plane is strictly controlled, hence pocket-sized.Comment
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A pair of redleg partridges have been pottering around my back garden. I know they are interlopers but they are attractive to look at and amusing to watch, and I'd certainly rather have them grazing my lawn than the wood pigeons - they make much less mess apart from anything else.
The buzzard family at the site where I do my Wednesday volunteer gardening were very much in evidence today, much to the pleasure of several visitors, some of whom recognised the mewing, and others who had noticed 6 large birds drifting around the sky and asked what they were.Comment
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Disappointment here chez JK. This year we seem to be getting far fewer birds in the garden - just the odd blackbird, none of the once common sparrows nor even pigeons!
Wonder what might have caused this - I suggested some of the new homes being built (and consequent loss of green & trees) nearby but my mum isn't so sure.Last edited by Joseph K; 16-03-23, 12:49.Comment
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That could be a possibility for a similar scarcity of species here as well, apart from wood pigeons, carrion crows, and the ever increasing numbers of parakeets, which seem not to have been affected by whatever is the cause!Originally posted by oddoneout View PostComment
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Thing is, I am not certain that it's a scarcity, I can hear birds about, but they appear to have developed an apparent aversion to our little garden, for whatever reason.
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We had the impression that there were fewer birds in our garden in the early winter, apart from resident dunnocks, blackbirds & wood pigeons, & similarly thought avian 'flu may have been responsible, but gradually over the last couple of months the usual suspects have reappeared on the feeders in similar numbers to previous years -- robins, starlings, sparrows, bluetits, chaffinches & greenfinches, & yesterday 4 longtailed tits & 8 goldfinches. I now wonder whether the prolonged warm spell through late Nov into Dec & an unseasonal glut of wild insect food meant that they had no need to visit garden feeders until recently. I'm aware this might just be a local phenomenon, however, as by your accounts it doesn't seem to be happening everywhere..Originally posted by Joseph K View PostThing is, I am not certain that it's a scarcity, I can hear birds about, but they appear to have developed an apparent aversion to our little garden, for whatever reason.Comment
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Cats?Originally posted by Joseph K View PostThing is, I am not certain that it's a scarcity, I can hear birds about, but they appear to have developed an apparent aversion to our little garden, for whatever reason.Comment
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... far fewer birds in this part of London than in previous years. The several bird-feeders in the yard hardly visited, whereas previously many tits, robin, and the occasional goldfinch. Only regular sightings here : magpies, other corvids incl occasional jay, london pigeon and wood pigeon, blackbird, parakeets. Friends in the Cotswolds report similar decline, which they attribute to farming practices...Comment
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No obvious decline in numbers here in the NW, edge of the countryside 2 miles in from the coast, well-wooded, big old shrubberies....
Wood Pigeons and Magpies doing very well, Jackdaw flocks, Blackbirds plentiful, finches OK either ground feeding or on dispensers.....
Several Felines locally, including my companion and strays I care for, seem well tolerated by the avians. The Pheasants scold them as they pass; they wouldn't be quite so nonchalant with Foxes.
I keep the feeding stations well replenished with suet and sunflower and nyger, and put out the groundseed late on for the next dawn. The recent late winter clearout of overgrowth and underbrush has increased the larger groundfeeders, encouraged by loose seedheads and vegetation. The Hedgehogs are awake to scrounge for Catfood at the back door, but despite milder weather, I've not observed any obvious increase in unseasonal insects. No butterflies so far.
(Incidentally, if the food gets wet it's best replaced; seed may get mopped up if it dries out, but soggy suet in any form tends to be left.)
Robins, Tits (Coal, Great, Blue, Longtailed), Dunnocks at least as numerous as I've seen this at time of year. The Blackcap pair, very bold near the house now, appear to be staying on to breed. Songs and twitterings fill the air. All very encouraging.Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 16-03-23, 21:38.Comment
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