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Eastern Europe ...Lithuania, a birder's tale. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Jos Stratford
- Start date
Helenelizabeth2
What?!?
You'll be a pensioner way before she'll get her act together with regards planes, I think the honey might be finished
Nonsense. Every year there will be more honey. More than you can possibly sell or consume. By the time I arrive you will have entire rooms of your house devoted to the storage of jars of honey.
turkish van
Number 1 celebrity badger
Thanks for the loyalty Helen
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
The scars sure beat a faded postcard as a momento, so with the passing time, they don't seem so bad. Actually, I could never understand why, but it never really bothered me so much at the time - they exposed the bone and paralized one arm for a very long time, but I had long expected something would happen on that trip, so there was not a shock factor to deal with. The trip continued.
I live a rather frugal existance and have become proficient at begging at bank managers' doors
Vectis Birder
Itchy feet
Jos, I'm curious. It says 'flying soon' just under your name, so where are you flying to?
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
I'd like to suggest it says 'flying soon' above the butterfly, rather than under my name
...no airborne plans for me in the next month, though I might well get bored in early August and then who knows. Do have little idea about sneaking off to Uganda some time this year and maybe even the UK too
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
If anybody is wondering the absence of a certain MOD from the ranks of those who watch over us, I can reveal their whereabouts ...last seen wandering my garden ticking like a clock! Think they lost count on day one, new birds came too thick and fast, but all slowed down somewhat yesterday - just three, Wryneck (from the garden bench), Roller (one from the kitchen window) and Golden Oriole (front of house). Otherwise, our MOD seems mesmorised by the many Black Terns that flit out back ...and I'll let someone else ask what the White-winged Black Tern turned out to be! Meanwhile, I have given up on the birds - my new hobby is dragonflies, right tricky blighters are they, but slowly getting the hang of them now, tally on the land over 30 now!
Mary Evelyn
New member
Go Girl Go.Have a wonderful time Delia.I am sooooooooooooo Jealous :t: :clap: :clap: o o
o
alan_rymer
Well-known member
Fascinating primeval creatures.
I'm very impressed. Only identified five species this year so far, and three are new to me. I've probably seen more but didn't recognise then.
I ID Dragonflies like I ID birds. Total rubbish!.
What are the species on your land so far ( or are they in your blog )?
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
My website Sir, not blog
They would be, but I am spending so long trying to identify them all I have not had time to update it!! Will be on there very soon, but still have three last that I am struggling with ...all damselflies! (currently about 12 or so damselflies)
alan_rymer
Well-known member
My website Sir, not blog
Ooops. And I have had a look at the website too!:-C
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
No, not that beauty as yet ...dragonfllies have gone from 30 species to 29 after realising I had misindentified one!!!
Popped up to the land yesterday to check Delia was still alive ...indeed she was, found her having coffee on the garden bench, scope pointed towards a Wryneck adjacent! Better for me was a Hoopoe, a kilometre short of my land, the first I have seen in this area.
Well, there were a still a couple of gaps in D's list, so we drove across to my raptor point to see what was on the thermals ...one distant Lesser Spotted Eagle, one Black Kite cruising by (another later), an Osprey directly overhead, plus a few Marsh Harriers and Buzzards for good measure. Being a non-birder these days, but dragonfly-er, I left the raptor point for a while for a nosey about the marsh - plenty of Emperor Dragonflies on the wing now, plus a couple of Lesser Emperors, the first Yellow-winged Darters and a dozen other species too.
Back in the garden, the feeders are creeping back into life - Middle Spotted Woodpecker back, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nearby and, short you bore of the numerous Tree Sparrows or recently fledged Black Redstarts, my White Storks remain loyal to their nest despite the tragic events earlier in the month.
Then it was time to leave D to herself again, back to the city for me - a short while later, I got a text 'White-tailed Eagle over the garden' ...a good place is that bench!
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
Our MOD has survived another day ...I just received a text message 'What sounds like whip-por-whit ...now assuming she has not just discovered Europe's first colony of Caprimulgus vociferus, I think I can assume she has bumped into the Quail that reside upon my land, very good numbers this year. Meanwhile I am stuck in the city - Great Spotted Woodpecker youngsters on the feeders being the best I could do today!
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
Update on the MOD ..later today I get my place back to myself, she is returning to you all but I think she'll have a little bit to write to you all about!
A little to get you going - as the days ticked by, all the ingredients were there for a typical patch of summer's birding - in realiy, there was little reason to actually leave the garden! All recorded overhead, one White-tailed Eagle, several Lesser Spotted Eagles, a Black Kite a few times, two Ospreys, a Honey Buzzard, Hobbies hurtling past twice and the usual Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzard!!! On top of that, the Rollers hatched their young on the 23rd, Golden Orioles kept calling from just about everywhere, yet rarely showing and a Redwing popped in. However it would be a lazy person not to wander over to the land itself, so fortunately the offerings were not so bad there too - Corncrakes and Quails continued to call, three Cranes appeared later in the week and, top bird for me, a Hoopoe flew across the road just nearby, the first I have seen in this area.
For all the birds though, the best was yet to come! A week before I had reestablished the forest feeders after a short summer break. Though I had expected a few birds back, perhaps a Middle Spotted Woodpecker or two, I was not prepared for what did arrive! So, we settled into the cabin and gazed out - a Spotted Flycatcher flitted across to its nestbox, an Icterine Warbler sang nearby, but the feeders showed little action. Then it all started! In came a Middle Spotted Woodpecker ...plus two youngsters disturbing the peace. Moments later a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was on the feeders too, then another! Two males, both adults. So now five woodpeckers together, then another one came swooping in through the trees, a mother of all woodpeckers and a real stunner ...it was the White-backed Woodpecker! Haven't seen him since the days of minus 20 and, though I suspected he might be breeding somewhere in the quiet floodforest, I absolutely did not expect him on the feeders in mid-summer! Fantastic, and then in came a family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and then a young male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker!!! And the female. Oo, er, it was getting a bit like winter with all the activity and then, just to blow me away, the female Grey-headed Woodpecker also appeared on the scene ... another one I have never seen on the feeders in summer before!
What with Wrynecks breeding just adjacent, that made it a 'six-woodpecker species' day, plus a Black Woodpecker almost made it seven by calling nearby! A Redwing also hopped about in the forest nearby and, a few hundred metres away, I discovered my Tawny Owl family, the three fledglings now well grown and right scruffy to boot!
And all of that was before I even started to look at the butterflies and dragonflies ...more to come!
but I think she'll have a little bit to write to you all about! A little to get you going - as the days ticked by, all the ingredients were there for a typical patch of summer's birding - in realiy, there was little reason to actually leave the garden! All recorded overhead, one White-tailed Eagle, several Lesser Spotted Eagles, a Black Kite a few times, two Ospreys, a Honey Buzzard, Hobbies hurtling past twice and the usual Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzard!!! On top of that, the Rollers hatched their young on the 23rd, Golden Orioles kept calling from just about everywhere, yet rarely showing and a Redwing popped in. However it would be a lazy person not to wander over to the land itself, so fortunately the offerings were not so bad there too - Corncrakes and Quails continued to call, three Cranes appeared later in the week and, top bird for me, a Hoopoe flew across the road just nearby, the first I have seen in this area.
For all the birds though, the best was yet to come! A week before I had reestablished the forest feeders after a short summer break. Though I had expected a few birds back, perhaps a Middle Spotted Woodpecker or two, I was not prepared for what did arrive! So, we settled into the cabin and gazed out - a Spotted Flycatcher flitted across to its nestbox, an Icterine Warbler sang nearby, but the feeders showed little action. Then it all started! In came a Middle Spotted Woodpecker ...plus two youngsters disturbing the peace. Moments later a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was on the feeders too, then another! Two males, both adults. So now five woodpeckers together, then another one came swooping in through the trees, a mother of all woodpeckers and a real stunner ...it was the White-backed Woodpecker! Haven't seen him since the days of minus 20 and, though I suspected he might be breeding somewhere in the quiet floodforest, I absolutely did not expect him on the feeders in mid-summer! Fantastic, and then in came a family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and then a young male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker!!! And the female. Oo, er, it was getting a bit like winter with all the activity and then, just to blow me away, the female Grey-headed Woodpecker also appeared on the scene ... another one I have never seen on the feeders in summer before!
What with Wrynecks breeding just adjacent, that made it a 'six-woodpecker species' day, plus a Black Woodpecker almost made it seven by calling nearby! A Redwing also hopped about in the forest nearby and, a few hundred metres away, I discovered my Tawny Owl family, the three fledglings now well grown and right scruffy to boot!
And all of that was before I even started to look at the butterflies and dragonflies ...more to come!
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StrikingSlug
As in "Speed of a Striking Slug"
Thanks for the update. I am stuck in a classroom, playing at conducting a military campaign on a fictional island, trying to take it as seriously as most of my colleagues but failing dismally. Only my occasional forays into BF, and reading posts like yours, are enough to keep me sane.
Keep up the good work. :t:
Keep up the good work. :t:
Jos Stratford
Beast from the East
Nuthatches common on the feeders, perhaps numbering in at about 18-20 individuals between the three sites in winter. Treecreepers, not Short-toed, are about, though not usual on the feeders ...but that said, they have adapted to feeders and very occasionally actually feed on them.
Now butterfly season though ...
First Lesser Emperors in the last days
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