[Surreybirder]

I've just moved to Lingfield, Surrey, (almost the SE corner) and, after a lot of chaos, I'm back on-line (but only on dial-up )
Our new garden already had a bird table and feeders up. So I've topped up the supplies and have already had a great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and coal tit feeding right by the back of the house. Funnily enough, nuthatch was one of the last birds I had on my garden list at Hurst Green.
My wife and I heard a tawny owl calling at about 5 a.m. on Friday. So the area certainly has potential!
I hope to get ADSL before too long, and be able to post more!
Ken

I'm planning to keep my 5 x 5km patch list for 2004 on this first post (or else it will be too hard to find!). This is correct at 24.4.04

1. Little grebe
2. Great crested grebe
3. Cormorant
4. Grey heron
5. Mute swan
6. Canada goose
7. Greylag goose
8. Mallard
9. Pochard
10. Tufted duck
11. Garganey
12. Shoveler
13. Goosander
14. Sparrowhawk
15. Common buzzard
16. Kestrel
17. Pheasant
18. Moorhen
19. Coot
20. Water rail
21. Lapwing
22. Snipe
23. Little gull
24. Kittiwake
25. Black-headed gull
26. Lesser black-backed gull
27. Common gull
28. Herring gull
29. Great black-backed Gull
30. Common tern
31. Feral Rock dove
32. Stock dove
33. Woodpigeon
34. Collared Dove
35. Swift
36. Kingfisher
37. Green woodpecker
38. Great spotted woodpecker
39. Lesser spotted woodpecker
40. Little owl
41. Sand Martin
42. Barn Swallow
43. House Martin
44. Skylark
45. Meadow pipit
46. Grey wagtail
47. Pied wagtail
48. Bohemian waxwing
49. Wren
50. Dunnock
51. Robin
52. Blackbird
53. Fieldfare
54. Song thrush
55. Redwing
56. Mistle thrush
57. Reed warbler
58. Blackcap
59. Chiffchaff
60. Willow warbler
61. Goldcrest
62. Long-tailed tit
63. Marsh tit
64. Coal tit
65. Blue tit
66. Great tit
67. Nuthatch
68. Treecreeper
69. Jay
70. Magpie
71. Jackdaw
72. Rook
73. Carrion crow
74. Starling
75. House sparrow
76. Chaffinch
77. Greenfinch
78. Goldfinch
79. Siskin
80. Linnet
81. Lesser redpoll
82. Bullfinch
83. Yellowhammer
84. Reed bunting

Heard only:
Tawny owl

[Karl J]

A fine start I'd say.

Look forward to the updates ......

[Ruby]

Nice countryside around there Ken - done a fair bit of walking & cycling around Lingfield/Dormansland/Marsh Green area.

Look forward to hearing some reports....


Rgds... Ruby

[Charles Harper]

Let's have a Housewarming!

[Andrew]

Hope the new patch is even more bird filled than the last and that is saying a lot!!! I look forward to seeing your patch list explode before the stabilization.

[Nina P]

Welcome back Ken, been missed already, and as I have only dialup option, I can understand the frustration, but even my PC is faster than the training centres, so bear with it, I can't wait until they no longer use telephone lines. There is an experiment going on at the moment where the connection is over the electricty system, then maybe we'll all be cooking! Hope the trauma of the move wasn't too bad, but looks like we may well be getting some brilliant sights from you soon, especially with nuthatch one of the first visitors.
If you have a high clear topped perch you may well see the Tawny owl looking over your garden, just like I have, wonderful to see in the late evening, just before it gets dark. I hope you get the same opportunity, as it is really most wonderful. Nina.

[Surreybirder]

We had a visitor in the garden last night!

[Charles Harper]

High tide? Sea Urchin?

[Geraldine]

Nice one, Charles!
Glad you're back, Ken. I've missed your threads. Hope you're settling in well.

[Andrew]

Those things move surprisingly fast don't they. When you are there they sit tight and you think 'Ah, I'll get my camera" and when you come back you can't find him anywhere!

[Surreybirder]

Originally posted by Andrew
Those things move surprisingly fast don't they. When you are there they sit tight and you think 'Ah, I'll get my camera" and when you come back you can't find him anywhere!

You're right there, Andrew. I found him/her 'cos the dog was going berserk! I took a photo, took the dog in and then came out a bit later, by which time it had scarpered. But I'll try putting some food out tonight and see if I can get more than just prickles.

Not too much else to report yet. I'm about 20 mins walk away from a sizable pond (Wiremill), where there were lots of dragonflies at the weekend (common darters and migrant hawkers as far as I could tell). But the water-skiers were not good news from the wildlife p.o.v.

(BTW, on a boring note, I've now got an adsl modem but I haven't managed to get it working yet)

[Nina P]

Lovely little Prickles, I had one once that used to curl up under the fridge/freeze and come out when cat food was put out, it then came out and snuggled up with the cat and dog in front of the fire, but a neighbours dog killed it the following summer. Hope you manage to keep it as they're grgeat for keeping slugs and snails away, and have you seen how they attack and kill adders? amazing speed when on the scent of one of them !! Shame the badgers kill them out here. I have only seen one once in 8 years, and that was at 3.30am, when hubby called me to see, but I built a den for the hedgehogs to use if they should ever decide to take up residence.
Great to see you settling in, but sorry you have to use dial up, but I have to do the same, as broadband too far away and cable not reached here yet same as gas, no pipeline here. We all have our crosses to bear, so never mind, it isn't the end of the world, just seems that way. Nina.

[Surreybirder]

Thanks for your message, Nina.
We put out a bowl of milk for the hedgehog. It's only attracted slugs so far. But perhaps the slugs will attract the hedgehog!
I'm amazed that they can kill adders, obviously nippier than I thought!
I'll get BB working in the end!!!
Ken

[Surreybirder]

What with moving house and a late 'summer' holiday in Cornwall, I've not spent as long 'in the field' as I might have. There seem to be masses of pheasants around (Nina!) and I am sure they are reared for shooting (or should I say, to be shot) as there are loads of gunshots in the woodland at the moment.
The bird feeders are being emptied rapidly--sunflower seeds disappear within 24 hours. I can see a queues of tits and the odd nuthatch and several greenfinches most of the time.
This pm, in daylight, I saw a brown rat gobbling up the seeds that had fallen to the ground. I have slightly mixed feelings about it! I guess rats are unlikely to be a nuisance? Our dog, a miniature schnautzer, is supposed to have been bred as a 'ratter', but when I sent her into the garden she didn't even pick up the scent!
So I guess the rat is pretty safe as I'm certainly not in favour of poisons.
During the week we had temps approaching 18 deg C. I saw a butterfly (possibly a small tortoiseshell but am not sure) and some common darters--not bad for November.
I still haven't got my broadband connection working :-(
Ken

[Nina P]

I was surprised that Graham, my husband spotted a darter yesterday when he went outside for his smoke, and got buzzed by the large dragonfly, but I am used to them appearing late in the year, last year we had one laying its eggs in the plants around the pond after all the leaves had fallen, and I had a real struggle to stop the daughters cat from splatting it.
There are still a lot of roses flowering in all the gardens in spite of the fact we are in a frost pocket! The cyclamen are still flowering well under the ash tree, but now I have put the Christmas Lights out around the garden, it seems to have triggered the birds feeding, as they come in and swing on the wires, more like a birdy playpark! I put them up for the grand kids, especially the youngest as he has been nagging for a few weeks, after spotting the boxes of lights in my bedroom.. Aren't they cute, some days he wants nanny not mummy, and if I'm in bed he comes in to find me and he's even happier if grampy's there too!
I hope you can get your broadband connection, I doubt we will ever get it here, so I'm hoping that the experiment with the power lines works then I may get somewhere, unless it increases the power cut problems!
that may make it worse I suppose....
Nice to have your return, best regards, Nina

[Angie]

We put out nuts for the nightlife - deer, badgers, foxes and hedgehogs.
A hedgehog will feed with a badger and fox only about 6 feet away!

One night a hedgehog was in the middle of the lawn munching away when a badger appeared. It went all the way around the hedgehog about a foot away and the hedgehog didn't curl up in a ball but just froze with the occasional head turn to see where the badger was.

What amazes me is that the hedgehog happily dines with its mortal enemies, but runs away when I get within about 12 feet to try and take a photo.

[Nina P]

Isn't it typical, I have the same problem with the birds, I feed them but appear with a camera, and they all vanish!! Frustrating too!

[Surreybirder]

That's amazing, Angie!
I have a parallel situation with the RSPB garden bird survey, Nina. (Are you taking part?) I seem to manage to look at my feeders when the birds are away. So although the feeders are normally very well used, I'm only seeing blue tits about 30% of the time, great tits 10% of the time, and no other relevant sightings. Of course, it might change if the weather turned colder.
So far we've done fairly well on mammals in the garden... vole, brown rat, hedgehog and (next door) weasle, but no badgers!
Ken

[Nina P]

I haven't heard of one yet but I have been flying in and out of BF and trying to tie up all my pictures, and contacts all over the world, follow the Rugby and get more courses under my belt and job applications in, and I've sent off my design for disability aids asking for them to be built, so my design has now winged its way to Germany for technical viability studies. I have been very busy, and making Christmas cakes and Puds, I'm in the thick of things at the moment, so when is it?

[Elizabeth Bigg]

Nina - I'm wondering if Ken is referring to the new survey starting today - I posted it at:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=10227

It doesn't seem to have had much publicity, and I only received my mailing today, which is rather unfortunate. Of course the nuthatch that we usually see nearly every time we look out of the window has gone AWOL, but it has been very wet today - 31mm since midnight, and still raining. The survey continues until Nov 30th, but our local weather forecast looks pretty grim during that period.

[Surreybirder]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth Bigg

Nina - I'm wondering if Ken is referring to the new survey starting today - I posted it at:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=10227

It doesn't seem to have had much publicity, and I only received my mailing today, which is rather unfortunate. Of course the nuthatch that we usually see nearly every time we look out of the window has gone AWOL, but it has been very wet today - 31mm since midnight, and still raining. The survey continues until Nov 30th, but our local weather forecast looks pretty grim during that period.

That's the one, Elizabeth. I got my bumph a few days ago.... I think they sent it to people who took part in the last garden bird survey, judging by what is said in the covering letter. It's one of the easiest ones to do, as you just have to record which of six species are feeding on your feeders at a given instant.
It seems to me that it would have had more value if they had asked us to record weather and time of day as well, but then I guess it would have put a lot of people off taking part.
Nina, sounds like you are cooking on gas, as the Americans say! Good luck with the job hunting. Fantastic rugby!!
BTW we seem to have lots of fieldfares round here but very few redwings. Has anyone else noticed a similar bias?
Ken

[Nina P]

Thanks for that Elizabeth, I'll certainly have a go Ken and Elizabeth, but I went on the RSPB site and never saw a thing about it, must have been skimming too fast or something, as I have been having at least two Nuthatches on the front table several times a day, and the GSW is always on the nut feeder at the bottom of the back garden. I am now off to print off the sheets required for the survey, as today looks to be a good dry day if a bit cold!

[Surreybirder]

Happy viewing, Nina!
The odd thing is that, although coal tits are frequent on my seed feeder, I haven't yet 'scored' by seeing one at the moment of 'surveying' the feeders. (The coal tits usually make lightening fast raids, whilst the other tits often sit and peck at the seed whilst still on the feeder)
Ken

[Nina P]

Would you believe it today of all days, I have had three hits from one either marsh or willow tit, just as I started the survey, but now I'm having a job to distinguish all the tit family as the sun is so low and catching across the window, I know there are birds coming in as the stupid cat keeps getting in the way.
I have these nets that are shorter in the middle and the cat keeps blocking the way, I have to peer between her and the plants, really makes IDing awkward!! but the birds have been coming in fast and furiously, but having to mark only some is in some respects tricky as there have been bullfinches and greenfinches not to mention the starlings and chaffinches..
Good luck with your watching Ken and Elizabeth, and thank you for letting me know about this survey, I'll be bobbing up and down to the front and back feeders now for a few days.

[Surreybirder]

Yes, I often have greenfinches and starlings monopolising the feeders. Plus the odd goldfinch. The house sparrows seem rather reluctant to come to the feeders for some reason. (They weren't so shy at my previous house.) So often the tits are making quick dashes in between the other, more dominant, species.
Great to get a marsh/willow tit. Can you hear it call. The 'pitch--oo' call of marsh is one of the calls that even I can recognise! Willow tits sound as if they've got a nasty cold!
Ken