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

[Richard Tarleton]

Of interest to rare sea-bird spotters? I might even visit this place myself - not only have I ever been, but I have never heard of it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36174122

Worth a visit definitely Padraig, but I've never heard it mentioned as a seawatch location (and I would have done ) - the outstanding seawatch hotspots in the 6 Counties are Ramore Head at Portrush (much nearer you I think ) and St John's Point in Co Down (near where the SS Great Britain went ashore - the captain thought St John's Point lighthouse was the Calf of Man, and kept left, running ashore on Tyrella Beach )

[David-G]

In my cousin's garden in Cambridge this afternoon: mallard, coot, great spotted woodpecker, blackbird, robin, dunnock, moorhen, pigeons, crows, and a couple of peacocks (not to mention five squirrels and a baby rabbit).

[Richard Tarleton]

Very curious. At several points during the first episode of her new series, Mary Beard's pieces to camera had the song of a willow warbler dubbed onto the soundtrack - during that bit of Greek theatre, while she was reading the Aeneid, and at several other points. It was the most prominent, and almost the only, birdsong. It's one birdsong you do not hear anywhere round the Mediterranean - it's a central and northern European breeding bird. Why on earth would they do that? The characteristic soundtrack of Mediterranean scrub would probably be the ubiquitous Sardinian warbler, the characteristic bird of Roman ruins probably a black-eared wheatear.

[ardcarp]

Very curious. At several points during the first episode of her new series, Mary Beard's pieces to camera had the song of a willow warbler dubbed onto the soundtrack - during that bit of Greek theatre, while she was reading the Aeneid, and at several other points. It was the most prominent, and almost the only, birdsong. It's one birdsong you do not hear anywhere round the Mediterranean - it's a central and northern European breeding bird. Why on earth would they do that? The characteristic soundtrack of Mediterranean scrub would probably be the ubiquitous Sardinian warbler, the characteristic bird of Roman ruins probably a black-eared wheatear.

Maybe it was her shoes squeaking......

[Padraig]

Maybe it was her shoes squeaking......

... that would probably be the Grasshopper warbler.

[cloughie]

Yesterday in my greenhouse, which has a broken pane which I must remedy, I went to water my tomatoes and to my surprise a male blackcap was fluttering around having made its way in and could not find its way out. Fortunately by leaving the door open it escaped unharmed.

[ardcarp]

.. that would probably be the Grasshopper warbler.

[greenilex]

Something odd about "black-eared wheatear"...

Must look it up to see where its colour changes (presumably on its head?)

[Richard Tarleton]

Something odd about "black-eared wheatear"...

Erm...why?

Must look it up to see where its colour changes (presumably on its head?)

Two forms - the western with black "highwayman's mask", the eastern with black covering the throat as well. A quintesssentially Mediterranean bird, with a distribution not dissimilar to that of the olive.

As this is primarily a music forum, see also Messiaen's Catalogue des oiseaux.

[vinteuil]

Something odd about "black-eared wheatear"...

... but I think the 'ear' in wheatear is a euphemism for 'arse' = 'white-arse", cos of the colour of its rump.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... but I think the 'ear' in wheatear is a euphemism for 'arse' = 'white-arse", cos of the colour of its rump.

Oh! So "wheatear" = "white rear"?!

(I did wonder what resemblance to ears of wheat I was meant to be detecting.)

[vinteuil]

Oh! So "wheatear" = "white rear"?!

(I did wonder what resemblance to ears of wheat I was meant to be detecting.)

... as 'twere.

Wiki tells us :

"The wheatears /ˈhwiːtɪər/ are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska.


The name "wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.

Oenanthe is also the name of a plant genus, the water dropworts, and is derived from the Greek oenos (οίνος) "wine" and anthos (ανθός) "flower". In the case of the plant genus, it refers to the wine-like scent of the flowers. In the case of the wheatear, it refers to the northern wheatear's return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom."

[Richard Tarleton]

Vinteuil is of course correct on all counts - greenilex entitled to be puzzled - "black-eared whitearse" it is. I saw my very first in the first week of May 1982, at Casas Veyas on the road to Cabo de Formentor on Mallorca, a migrant hotspot well-known to birders

[gradus]

Last Saturday on the Butley River (near Orford) a marsh harrier, buzzard making lazy circles......., egrets but not sure which and skylarks as well as a couple of seals bobbing around.

[ardcarp]

egrets but not sure which

Usually little egrets in he UK? I gather cattle egrets have been spotted a few times.