earleybird
Well-known member
Siskins ...lovely .:t: We had 2x visit last week the first since last year! haven't seen them back since though .
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Very busy at the bird feeder today! (18 Viewers)
- Thread starter Moraybirdlover
- Start date
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Raven flew over yesterday - a garden first!!
CB
CB
earleybird
Well-known member
heard a cuckoo today in the wood at the bottom of my garden so I rushed down the garden with my camera only to see a small hawk fly out of the wood over my head and over the roof of the house.
try as I might i couldn't focus on the bird as it was just too quick. Interestingly it is the third time I have seen this bird in the past few weeks. I saw it circling the garden one afternoon and it then hit a thermal and went up and off out of sight.
The second time I saw it dart in between my house and my neighbours and turn 90 degrees and skim through the feeding station just like the Sparrow hawks do.
What can it be ? its a bit smaller than a kestrel with thin body and thin wings that taper to a point . it flies like a swallow or Peregrin and changes direction quicker than you can see. The upper body appears bluey/grey.
A friend saw it one day and thought it might be a Hobby hawk ? what do you think it could be .?
try as I might i couldn't focus on the bird as it was just too quick. Interestingly it is the third time I have seen this bird in the past few weeks. I saw it circling the garden one afternoon and it then hit a thermal and went up and off out of sight.
The second time I saw it dart in between my house and my neighbours and turn 90 degrees and skim through the feeding station just like the Sparrow hawks do.
What can it be ? its a bit smaller than a kestrel with thin body and thin wings that taper to a point . it flies like a swallow or Peregrin and changes direction quicker than you can see. The upper body appears bluey/grey.
A friend saw it one day and thought it might be a Hobby hawk ? what do you think it could be .?
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
Hobby, it may well have been perched - they usually hunt in the open, great find eb
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Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
2 Swifts over the garden and otherwise very quiet and still no juveniles
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Jabberwocky
Well-known member
Still no juveniles here either. I'm begining to think the first broods got swamped with all the rain.
The Great Tits in the camera box started to hatch on Saturday. 5 had hatched by 8am and another 2 by the evening. The final one some time today between 7am and 5pm. I think this is the same female as last year, she has been ringed. Last year the whole brood died. The parents just seemed to lose interest in feeding them and they died one by one. Fingers crossed for this years brood.
Had a flyover Cuckcoo yesterday, the first I've heard this year.
Lewis
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
at last - Greenfinch juvenile
good luck jabberwocky - lets hope for maybe a slightly smaller but stronger brood that doesnt tax her too much this year
good luck jabberwocky - lets hope for maybe a slightly smaller but stronger brood that doesnt tax her too much this year
Jabberwocky
Well-known member
Thanks Dave. Juvenile starlings here now, making themselves heard!
Pair of Common Whitethroat in the hedge too.
Attachments
wildlifelove
Hopefully Birding...
Been a busy few weeks to had limited time to garden watch. But in the short times I have! I have noticed since applying Sunflower hearts to the feeders the Goldfinchs have been visiting! Very good news!
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
juvenile housesparrows, juvenile Starlings and a male Bullfinch making a quick dash to the nyger and off again -
on my local patch a mile away spring in in full flow and yes, it felt like spring - even had a heat haze looking over the ploghed fields...hoorah.
juveniles, at last! Great to see that the whole population of Lapwing chicks havent been wiped out by the constant ploughing... a party of 3 and 2 individuals seen in the freshly ploughed runway fields - nowhere near the 30 or so of a few days ago, I hope to see more pop their heads up in the next day or so. Starlings begging for food, and yes thay do look kind of cute with the grey downy feathers and big white eyes.... that will soon change.
Robins, Blackbirds and Chaffinch juveniles being fed, while 2 dozen Swallows hawk for insects over the fields and pool, 4 Swifts in same area and the nesting Barn Swallows sitting preening on the stables fence.
4 Linnet, Grey Heron and pied Wagtails galore, 35+ LBB gulls and 40+ Stock Doves.
Best of all a male Whitethroat singing loudly 2 meters away from me on Quad lane......
not all garden related but at last it really does feel like spring
on my local patch a mile away spring in in full flow and yes, it felt like spring - even had a heat haze looking over the ploghed fields...hoorah.
juveniles, at last! Great to see that the whole population of Lapwing chicks havent been wiped out by the constant ploughing... a party of 3 and 2 individuals seen in the freshly ploughed runway fields - nowhere near the 30 or so of a few days ago, I hope to see more pop their heads up in the next day or so. Starlings begging for food, and yes thay do look kind of cute with the grey downy feathers and big white eyes.... that will soon change.
Robins, Blackbirds and Chaffinch juveniles being fed, while 2 dozen Swallows hawk for insects over the fields and pool, 4 Swifts in same area and the nesting Barn Swallows sitting preening on the stables fence.
4 Linnet, Grey Heron and pied Wagtails galore, 35+ LBB gulls and 40+ Stock Doves.
Best of all a male Whitethroat singing loudly 2 meters away from me on Quad lane......
not all garden related but at last it really does feel like spring
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Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
male and female Bullfinch in attendance now, also 4 Rook
bongofury
Well-known member
Sounds like a good outing, BFB. Glad to hear you've got some juveniles too.
There are repeated efforts to get Lapwings to next on my local patch but the heavy rain this spring looks to have lead to failures this year. Last year cattle trampled on the nests.
Back to the garden...a couple of House Sparrows keep 'pecking' at the walls on the house, not sure what that is all about.
There are repeated efforts to get Lapwings to next on my local patch but the heavy rain this spring looks to have lead to failures this year. Last year cattle trampled on the nests.
Back to the garden...a couple of House Sparrows keep 'pecking' at the walls on the house, not sure what that is all about.
Bananafishbones
Incoherently Rambling .....
just a thought and only my theory but it maybe for the small grit \ sand like particles to help digestion??
bongofury
Well-known member
Quite possible. Good thinking:t: Sparrows are quite unusual in the garden so at least they like the quality of house building even if the seed isn't to their liking.
Jabberwocky
Well-known member
Try feeding them millet, they love it. I feed it to both Tree and House Sparrows, either red or white millet, red is cheaper though. I always have black sunflower, sunflower hearts, niger and peanuts available but the sparrows don't touch them. If you can't get strait millet then try a mix that contains some.
Lewis
Jabberwocky
Well-known member
I found another Great Tit nest tonight, thats three pairs now feeding young. The last pair are using a Swift box on the wall of the house. Swifts have never used the boxes but still nest under the roof tiles.
Still got eight young in the camera box.
Lewis
Still got eight young in the camera box.
Lewis
bongofury
Well-known member
I put a mixed seed out which contains millet and very occasionally a House Sparrow turns up, but generally the tits and squirrels take it. Its cheap to buy so I don't really mind who takes it.
Next door's box is being visited by Great Tits a couple of times every 5 minutes and there's another box 2 gardens away that has Blue Tits in and out. Sadly nothing i my camera box:-C
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