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Hopefull Of Birds Returning! (1 Viewer)

brianfm

Botanical Birder
Hi all

Needed a rest from the Red /Grey Squirrel debate so took a look at my garden. ;) Just in time to catch sight of a wonderful male Sparrowhawk on the lawn. Seemed to be finishing lunch but no remains exept for the usual circle of feathers. Second time this week he has visited. Just as I was hopefull that some birds were returning to the garden in time for the Big Garden Bird Watch. This weekend I got my first sighting of a Coal Tit visiting the feeder. Not been around for a while and that is most unusual. The garden has been really quite this winter. I usually have a steady stream of Blue and Great Tits but only occaisional visits recently. No Wrens and although I heard a Song Thrush singing nearby last week there has been no sign of one in the garden. As some one mentioned to me earlier, maybe it is a good sign. They must be feeding somewhere.

Cheers
 
Hi bri,
shame that you are not getting as many birds as usual. However, a sparrowhawk in your garden twice in one week is good, I'll probably have to wait months before one turns up for me.
ant
 
Hi Brian Sparrow Hawk in ones garden sounds real cool to me, we were at Delamere Forest on sunday, only real good sighting was a Nuthatch which kindly sat on a branch for a few minutes. As for the rest of the day it was misted out, we could hardly see the trees let alone the birds, heard plenty but could only see the big guys ie crows, magpies and gulls.
Good Birding PeterK
 
Hi Brian,
Little bit of a dilemma isn't it, great having a sparrowhawk visit but it does scare of the small stuff for a while. Not had a spr'awk in the garden for several years now.
 
Hi Keith.

I'm glad you've written " ....does scare the small stuff for a while." So many people labour under the misapprehension that a visiting Sparrowhawk is the reason for them having few or no birds in their garden. My experience is that within minutes of the Hawk passing through, the small stuff returns.
Off to Potteric in the morning; will keep you posted.

All the best.
Baz.
 
Hi guys

Actually Keith I don't think it has much effect at all exept in the very short term. I have had Sparrowhawks visit on a fairly regular basis for some years and it seems to have very little effect. Usual scenario is, it more often than not fails to catch anything, the smaller birds clear off for a short time but are soon back on the feeders.
I have to say though this is the quietest winter I have had with the garden birds. Not at all sure why, as there has been little to no change in the garden or surroundings. Just one of those things I suppose. I have got a large daily flock of House Sparrows which have a hay day when there is few other birds around. 30+ at times. They have never had any effect on other birds visiting in the past though.

Cheers
PS Just seen your post Baz. Snap :t:
 
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Hi Baz,
Hope the weather's ok for you tomorrow. Going to try and get to Potteric on Sunday (got to try out mi annual permit), but not sure if I will be able to make it.
 
Hello everyone.This morning,my garden was quite lively with spadgers ,chaffinches ,a robin, dunnocks, starlings and c/doves.This afternoon?Nothing.Not a single bird anywhere to be seen and the robin did not come for his supper when I called.This situation happens all too often.I am absolutely convinced that a s/pawk sits at some vantage point and the birds are well aware of it.Logic suggests that if the hawk makes a kill the birds know that he/she will be satisfied for a while and they return but this may take several hours.A small C.C.T.V.covers my feeding area so I don't miss much.It's very disappointing when ,like this afternoon,you want to show off to a neighbour.Especially when you're famous.3:)

maurice :- c
 
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Hi Maurice.

Think about head size and doorways; don't start getting carried away. LOL!!

All the best mate.
Baz.
 
Hi Brian

My gardens been quite quiet recently too. Like yourself the coal tits have disappeared and the wrens are keeping themselves hidden.

Loads of spuggies, blue tits and great tits though and still hordes of finches! 1 gold, one green and one female chaffinch. :'D

I even skipped an hour of work this morning to see what was visiting - what waste of time that was !!

My spawk seems to have been quiet recently - well no signs of feathers which were quite common in the summer and autumn, although he did stop and perch on an old apple tree right in the middle of the lawn for about 10 minutes at Christmas.

andy
 
Hi all,
There's usually some activity in the garden, the only exception is the garden birdwatch weekend. For some reason there's hardly anything about at all. Sod's law.
 
Hi Brian & All,
My garden has been pretty busy this winter,with just the occasional quiet patch. The only birds I've not seen in a while are the Greenfinches, I did have about 9 but they've dwindled to a lone one that visits only occasionally.Anyone else missing these? I also have a Sparrowhawk that visits and as has been said it quietens the garden for a while and then it's all back to normal. All the best, Judo.
 
Hi All

My garden has been quite too over the past 3 month. I've had a very busy spring/summer/early autum period where the garden was full of birds and they were literally eating me out of house and home. Then beginning of November bird numbers were falling. I would have thought it would be the other way round and I would get more birds in winter but obviously not. I have noticed that slowly bird number are building up again especially the goldfinches. Greenfinches are still down and I only get the occasional two blue tits who also seem interested in one of the nest boxes. Now and then Great Tits and dunnock visit, but the coal tits have vanished. I had two visiting regularly in October. I still have House sparrows visiting but again numbers have been down but are increasing slowly. Even the 'hordes' have been fewer this year than last and now I get around 12- 15 Starlings at once several time during the day instead of average of 20 per visit. Mr and Mrs Blackbird are frequent visitors now for the sultanas and mealworms. The mealworms barely hit the tray when Mr Blackbird is already there rushing over as soon as I move away.

Plenty of collared doves but even their numbers are slightly down. The wood pigeons have vanished exept one.

I don't get any chaffinches at all never have done and I only had two short visits this autum. The wren appears occasionally and the robin is still around visiting most days.

I have had redwings but now the holly is stripped bare they have gone too.

I have now two squirrels visiting and one is brave enough to come to the patio door to pick up peanuts.

I'm hoping things will pick up this weekend for the birdwatch!! It'll be interesting to see how it compares to last year.

Hopefully more birdies for everyone soon, Liebchen :bounce:
 
Hi Brian & all,
My garden has been quiet all winter, with the odd blackbird, robin or blue tit visiting the garden, i wonder why this is, its very unusual.
My best bird in the garden all winter was a coal tit and they are rare round my area.

Did you catch Bill Oddie on TV last night at 8:00pm? It was brill, and when he got a sighting of the uncommon Stone - Curlew, that was brilliant.

Adam
 
Hi Add

Afraid I missed Bill Oddie last night.

Stone Curlews are odd looking birds aren't they. I have never seen them in Britain but I did see a couple in Romania. They looked very odd with there big eyes seeming to stare back at me. They were very well comauflaged (SP) against the dry stoney ground but the time was well spent searching for them.

Take care
 
brianfm said:
Hi Add

Afraid I missed Bill Oddie last night.

Stone Curlews are odd looking birds aren't they. I have never seen them in Britain but I did see a couple in Romania. They looked very odd with there big eyes seeming to stare back at me. They were very well comauflaged (SP) against the dry stoney ground but the time was well spent searching for them.

Take care

Yes well Mr. Oddie found them in Britain, i think it was somwhere down south.
Yes they are very strange but they are a great find if you do happen to see them because they are uncommon.
 
Hi Brian,

Apologies, didn't catch this thread until now, been a bit busy over the last couple of days.

Can't say that I've noticed any decrease in activity this Winter as opposed to last etc, although as I've said elsewhere, the day to day numbers can vary a lot according (mainly) to the weather; so that last week's milder weather saw the numbers down but way back up again now with frosty mornings.

As you know I get Spawks on pretty much a daily basis (though even that didn't happen for a few days) and my small birds seem to have a DEW (Distant Early Warning) system and everything scoots off usually about 5-10 secs before the Spawk appears. Sometimes it stands around looking vague, sometimes it just scoots through, but either way it clears the garden for anything up to an hour often. I don't really want one early on in my Weekend watch or I can just pack it in a try again later.

It's like with all birding really, some days you do, some you don't. They'll be around as soon as the natural food supplies run low.

Bill.
 
adam_wildluva6 said:
Yes well Mr. Oddie found them in Britain, i think it was somwhere down south.
Yes they are very strange but they are a great find if you do happen to see them because they are uncommon.

It was in Norfolk but he knew where to find them. It wasn't a chance sighting, some farmers encourage the birds to nest and they'll leave them to get on with it. The Stoat would have been a different matter however.
 
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