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

[Stanfordian]

Sounds right - grey wags have very long tails, proportionately longer than pied. Did you mention where it was? They're fond of wet places - ponds and streams, flitting along them, that's when they're not admiring themselves in the wing mirrors of your car.

It's in my flagged back yard.

[Richard Tarleton]

Call and behaviour also useful - a nice little video here

[Stanfordian]

Call and behaviour also useful - a nice little video here

Thanks very much for the video. The Grey Wagtail is definitely the bird I am seeing. It's hard to photograph as it flits around so quickly on the ground. It's surprising how quickly the greeny yellow breast has developed. I've never seen them around here on the coast as massive herring gulls tend to prolifate these days. In my youth it was mainly black headed gulls but not now.

[ardcarp]

Pied wagtails are a bit of a nuisnace on boats on a river which I habituate. As boats tend to swing to face the wind in a bit of a blow, wagtails take shelter under the lee of the sprayhood and poo a lot. I'm afraid I'm guilty of threading lengths of black cotton to prevent them landing. And me a bird-lover...........

[HighlandDougie]

I suppose the stork wasn't prospecting a nest site? Will it go to Benelux for that?

Alas, no prospecting, I fear. We might be on the right flight path but I don't think that we are quite in the right place for nesting storks, although, thinking about it, my chimney stacks might appeal. Not sure that I want to add storks to the list of issues for the chimney sweep (alongside fear of heights etc). Still, it was a good tick in terms of birds seen locally.

[ardcarp]

I mentioned this on the 'Spring' thread, but Mrs.A reported skylarks in West Dorset today: doing their usual thing of singing, flying higher and higher then stopping and dropping. Male aggressive behaviour probably, but to us as charming as ever. (I recall lolling in a field on Ile d'Yeu a few years ago with a couple of sailing mates, both GPs. They were astonished at the typical skylark behaviour which they had never heard, seen, or even heard of before. And they, men of science..)

[gradus]

Skylarks here too in South Suffolk, lovely to hear but near-impossible to see.

[Serial_Apologist]

Coots practise Tai-Chi!

This afternoon, circumambulating the lakes with the concrete dinosaurs at the bottom end of Crystal Palace Park, I observed maybe twenty coots in a group, each bird standing stock still on one leg. A lady passing by remarked that they were probably practising either Tai-Chi or Yoga!

[oddoneout]

Goldcrests and blue tits were staking out my neighbour's large pear tree yesterday and making an astonishing racket. They are both high pitched but were also ramping up the volume - it was verging on uncomfortable to be near, but the chance to see goldcrests made it worth staying.

[oddoneout]

And they, men of science..)

But not poetry or music perhaps?

[ardcarp]

But not poetry or music perhaps?

Total Philistines both.

[Lat-Literal]

An extraordinary chorus this morning for which I turned down the sound on the television cartoons.

One seemed to be saying "giddy-up, giddy up" while another did a high pitched "do-Do". Any ideas?

(luckily there was still some time afterwards to see a bit of Scaredy Squirrel)

(I had checked briefly on the entertainment designed for my age group but it was Muslims, pills and prescriptions, Legs-It, potholes and domestic abuse so that went off in favour of all the non human options, there is no doubt in my mind now it was a considerable step upwards)

[Richard Tarleton]

An extraordinary chorus this morning for which I turned down the sound on the television cartoons.

One seemed to be saying "giddy-up, giddy up" while another did a high pitched "do-Do". Any ideas?

(luckily there was still some time afterwards to see a bit of Scaredy Squirrel)

Not knowing what your surroundings are like, Lat - at least the first, and quite possibly both, could have been great tits. Always a bit risky guessing from someone else's mnemonics, as people hear things differently, but both fall within the range of calls made by great tits - varied, and piercing. And the great Bill Oddie has a pretty good rule of thumb - if you're not sure what it is, it's generally a great tit. Any ideas, Vox H??

[Lat-Literal]

Not knowing what your surroundings are like, Lat - at least the first, and quite possibly both, could have been great tits. Always a bit risky guessing from someone else's mnemonics, as people hear things differently, but both fall within the range of calls made by great tits - varied, and piercing. And the great Bill Oddie has a pretty good rule of thumb - if you're not sure what it is, it's generally a great tit. Any ideas, Vox H??

The details of the broad area - http://walkaroundlondon.com/london-l...woodmansterne/

This is in the small garden with lawn - http://www.dorshaktree.com/images/ashtree.gif

Plus boundary conifers (not mine).

View at the front of the home - http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/...4_a09fed46.jpg

The photos are selective - it is quite built up in the non-tree directions - I'm fighting developers' claims, though, that these roads are, quote, not especially verdant. One of the major battles from the perspective of living in a tiny two-bed semi is to change the perceptions that being semi-rural or suburban-rural equates to wealth. There are some wealthy people in large houses here but most of the big money is in the urban areas closer to London. Greenery is our only privilege, chosen, although I was also brought up in the area.

This is, of course, the London Borough of Croydon - http://www.shw.co.uk/office/CroydonFutureLarge2.gif - and we're approximately just six miles south of the centre.

[Lat-Literal]

Oh yes.....those are definitely among them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nDLF2fxoWQ

(I know we have blackbirds, wood pigeons (a sound I don't like) and also robins but those two sounds I mentioned this morning were unusual to my ears)