The Bird Thread

i hope we've not done the same. we have a feeder in the go all year round but recently it got a bit manky with some sprouting seeds in the tray.

we cleaned it (sprayed with a hose) and refilled and the birds have nailed half of it since Sunday. mainly tits (blue, great, coal, maybe willow) plus robins and nuthatches.

No photos, but just had two firecrests in the garden. Never seen them before!

My parents have frequent sparrowhawk attacks in their garden, a consequence of their eleven billion bird feeders leading to thriving bird populations (their resident bullfinches and male & female black caps are a favourite). The way they see it, they are just feeding the sparrowhawks at a degree of separation - they feed the birds to feed the birds as it were. It's mostly the big stupid pigeons that buy it anyway, the idiots.

Wow. That’s pretty special.
I often get goldcrests but I’ve never had a firecrest in the garden. Whenever one shows up round in this part of the country the birders get very excited.

Yeah. That’s how I see it. Sparrowhawks were almost wiped out so they deserve their place. They only survive where there’s a lot of food for them so they never really deplete the larder! Always very special to see too.

Oh yeah I'm all for propping the food chain from the bottom.

Yeah I thought they were gold crests at first, but got the book out, striped eye, white underneath, orange stripe when flat.

I'm down on the south coast, and apparently we get them in this area over winter, and they're increasing.

Wish I'd got my camera out, but I was on a call for work, and webcam off / binos was all I could muster.

@Eejit wish we got more sparrow hawks. I've only ever seen one in the garden.

Yeah my parents are always giving it large with the “we had another sparrowhawk in the garden yesterday” and I’ve never even seen one once. Bastards.

Tried a wander around the harbour today, but it was so mucky and unworkable. Still, managed to see some Redshanks, a Robin in a gutter and a Kestral deciding whether it could eat a donkey...

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Yeah my parents are always giving it large with the “we had another sparrowhawk in the garden yesterday” and I’ve never even seen one once. Bastards.

Your parents or the sparrowhawks? :)

Sweet.

Def an eye for natural photography.

Oh my parents, obviously. I have nothing against the poor sparrowhawks.

Horrific low light photo from my potato of a phone but a couple of Egrets from the stream at the end of the road

Is that a great egret on the right with that yellow bill?

No, was a Great Egret and a Little Egret, the appearance of the Little Egret has had the neighbours very excited. I'll try and take my camera with me next time I go for a walk and see if they are still about to get a better photo

Mrs Oat mentioned she had seen a kingfisher around the Olympic Park Wetlands recently, so I took my camera out today and found it! Made my day.

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Wonderful!

Nice!

Round robin.

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Spot!

Should be in Epic Win thread.

found it

Lovely shots, though there's bound to be more than one. :)

bound to be more than one

Well yes, that is very likely the case :) All I know is that it took a good two hours to find that one. I'm determined now to see another one and get a closer shot. Quite addictive this!

Why, I'd never have suspected you of having an addictive personality. :)

I guess it took a while to find an equivalent hobby, bye-bye BToB.