ColinD
Well-known member
I'm off work at the moment, so decided to go out birding. Unfortunately my wife had other ideas, and I ended up cleaning our windows.
I live in the middle of a large, heavily industrialised town (St. Helens), but I have a small park opposite.
Even though it's just a terraced house, we have a lot of windows (16 at the last count) because we are an end house with large bay windows. Each window is a good 5 - 6 feet tall, so they take some cleaning!
I hadn't been at it more than 10 minutes, when a familiar honking noise drew my attention to a skein of about 100 Pink-footed Geese going over. We're on the edge of the Lancashire mosslands so it's not that unusual, and throughout the day, several more flocks passed over.
A few minutes later, I heard a croak, and looked up to see a Raven circling over head. I rushed inside for my bins and had excellent views of the bird. They have been in the area for several years, and even bred once, but they're still a good sight, and a first for my garden.
A stream enters the park about 50 yards away from my house, about halfway through the job, I heard a whistle and looked over the wall, just in time to see the blue flash of a Kingfisher as it flew along the line of the stream.
Other birds seen during the day included Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, 2 Swallows and a few gulls, and I heard a Goldcrest in a neighbours pine tree.
Amazing what you can see if you keep yours eyes and ears open, even in the most unlikely places and during the most unlikely tasks.
Oh, and I've also recorded over 240 species of macro moths in my yard as well.
Colin
I live in the middle of a large, heavily industrialised town (St. Helens), but I have a small park opposite.
Even though it's just a terraced house, we have a lot of windows (16 at the last count) because we are an end house with large bay windows. Each window is a good 5 - 6 feet tall, so they take some cleaning!
I hadn't been at it more than 10 minutes, when a familiar honking noise drew my attention to a skein of about 100 Pink-footed Geese going over. We're on the edge of the Lancashire mosslands so it's not that unusual, and throughout the day, several more flocks passed over.
A few minutes later, I heard a croak, and looked up to see a Raven circling over head. I rushed inside for my bins and had excellent views of the bird. They have been in the area for several years, and even bred once, but they're still a good sight, and a first for my garden.
A stream enters the park about 50 yards away from my house, about halfway through the job, I heard a whistle and looked over the wall, just in time to see the blue flash of a Kingfisher as it flew along the line of the stream.
Other birds seen during the day included Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, 2 Swallows and a few gulls, and I heard a Goldcrest in a neighbours pine tree.
Amazing what you can see if you keep yours eyes and ears open, even in the most unlikely places and during the most unlikely tasks.
Oh, and I've also recorded over 240 species of macro moths in my yard as well.
Colin
