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

[Vox Humana]

What is the logic of finely grinding smaller seeds?

You don't have to, but it saves the birds energy. Also, in my seed feeders, I always offer sunflower hearts kibbled in a blender (rather than buy commercially kibbled hearts at extra cost) as it leads to significantly less waste on the ground, while still providing enough for the ground feeders.

[Padraig]

After a long absence Goldfinches have returned to the garden in numbers.

Feeders remaining empty today due to heavy snowfall. Yes, I'm a chicken, but they're too far away.

Finally - if it works for you- a short video showing four Black Swans at a site at Inch known well to RT.

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/rare-black-swans-at-inch-island-1-6515507

[hedgehog]

Late this afternoon amazed at a little pied bird I spied under a car. It then flew up to my small front garden and I saw it was a very young magpie! This bird must have hatched early December, quite extraordinary. Very healthy looking.

[Richard Tarleton]

Thanks for that Padraig - it looks as if you're getting the weather! The Glenshane Pass made the national news. My last black swans were on the Fleet, near Abbotsbury in Dorset - escapees of course but they liven up a dull day.

This is a typical scene on our nut feeder these days - there are 23 birds in this picture, including cut-off or partly obscured birds, and blurs - 14 blue tits, 8 long-tailed tits and a chaffinch. The long-tailed tits are likely to be a family group, not just a flock - they are a different family from the rest of the tits. There are 10 altogether in this group, I just haven't been able to capture them all at once.

[Padraig]

Thanks for that Padraig - it looks as if you're getting the weather! The Glenshane Pass made the national news. My last black swans were on the Fleet, near Abbotsbury in Dorset - escapees of course but they liven up a dull day.

This is a typical scene on our nut feeder these days - there are 23 birds in this picture, including cut-off or partly obscured birds, and blurs - 14 blue tits, 8 long-tailed tits and a chaffinch. The long-tailed tits are likely to be a family group, not just a flock - they are a different family from the rest of the tits. There are 10 altogether in this group, I just haven't been able to capture them all at once.

There's something almost surreal about that picture, and what a collection! I have not seen any long-tailed tits here, but chaffinches are plentiful, and they seem to be in full colourful plumage right now, especially the males.

My grey squirrel has reappeared after - I can't remember how long ago, last Spring? and in spite of what you said, I enjoyed watching his antics this morning. One is fun.

Since I've already strayed from the bird table, here's another little leap from a furry friend.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-30889250

[Maclintick]

Here in central London nightingales are vocal in January dusks & through the wee small hours - problematical for insomniacs fortunate enough to have one warbling away outside the bedroom window. These, plus the blood-curdling screams of mating foxes, enliven our winter nights. Daytime in Regent's Park we spotted goldcrests in the yew trees at the Rose Wheel, tipped off by the local birder-posts, & a solitary Little Grebe plying his trade among the Tufties, herons and Greater Cresteds infesting the boating-lake...On Christmas Day a Greater-Spotted Woodpecker on Hampstead Heath...

[Richard Tarleton]

Here in central London nightingales are vocal in January dusks & through the wee small hours - ..

Hi Maclintick....erm....I think it's blackbirds that are keeping you awake! Any self-respecting nightingale is wintering in sub-Saharan Africa as we speak. Bill Oddie wrote about this problem - see here, The Phantom Nightingale, in his Introduction to Birdwatching. I blame Vera Lynn

[Anna]

I thought, from his post, that Maclintick must live in Berkeley square!

Not much to report here but I see a report on the dearth of sparrows in some places is linked to loft insulation, thereby denying them nesting places under the eaves (they are still the most numerous birds around here though) and a decline in greenfinches is thought to be connected with bird feeders not being properly cleaned. Think it was by British Ornithology Assoc (cannot find link now)

A date for your diary. The annual RSPB birdwatch is this coming weekend: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

[Richard Tarleton]

A date for your diary. The annual RSPB birdwatch is this coming weekend: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

Yes, garden warming up nicely. 13 long-tailed tits on the nut feeder - is this a record?

[ardcarp]

Saw a pair of Purple Sandpipers yesterday. They were perching then flying on a rocky coast on the Devon/Dorset border. We didn't know what they were at first because they looked a bit like knot or dunlin but the habitat and behaviour was all wrong. Luckily a local bird expert came to our aid. They are quite round little chaps, white below and dark on top, with orange-ish legs and a long bill that curves down very slightly. Very much at home dodging the waves.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/p/purplesandpiper/

[Richard Tarleton]

Cracking birds, often hanging out with turnstones

[Vox Humana]

Hi Maclintick....erm....I think it's blackbirds that are keeping you awake! Any self-respecting nightingale is wintering in sub-Saharan Africa as we speak. Bill Oddie wrote about this problem - see here, The Phantom Nightingale, in his Introduction to Birdwatching. I blame Vera Lynn

Yes, Nightingale is exclusively a summer visitor. For a winter night-time singer, Robin is even more likely than Blackbird, at least in my more southerly neck of the woods.

I haven't seen a Purple Sandpiper for ages. I agree that they're cracking birds.

I have taken to throwing whole peanuts onto the lawn within easy reach of our hawthorn hedge. They tend to get gobbled up by the Magpies, but nevertheless they have attracted a flock of Chaffinches. Better than that, though, we have had several quick raids from a Jay. Being notoriously shy, it tends to be straight in and out within two or three seconds, but once it stayed long enough for me to get a photo through the window.

Away from the garden, I had a super half-hour session on Saturday with a Snow Bunting on the Exe Estuary. It's one of my favourite birds.

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes, Nightingale is exclusively a summer visitor. For a winter night-time singer, Robin is even more likely than Blackbird, at least in my more southerly neck of the woods.

Yes tho' in London (as I know from my trips to the smoke) the effect of streetlights on blackbirds is to fool them into singing at night.

Away from the garden, I had a super half-hour session on Saturday with a Snow Bunting on the Exe Estuary. It's one of my favourite birds.

[Vox Humana]

Yes tho' in London (as I know from my trips to the smoke) the effect of streetlights on blackbirds is to fool them into singing at night.

Indeed they do - as immortalised by Paul McCartney: "Blackbird singing in the dead of night"

[ardcarp]

Away from the garden, I had a super half-hour session on Saturday with a Snow Bunting on the Exe Estuary. It's one of my favourite birds.

Yes lovely. We saw one last year at Axmouth...not a million miles away