The Bird Thread

It wasn't far outside Sheffield actually, haven't you moved up recently?

I have yeah, whereabouts was it?

Tree business

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Machine guns yet to be installed?

I think if your a barn owl your not bothered. Holes a hole.

Sadly just brought in by the cat from the garden 🤬🤬

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I can counter that with ‘while up a tree last week on business I saw a hawfinch at 20 ft away’. To preempt speculation I’m a tree inspector and they are very elusive in the uk so was quite a big deal. Huge in fact .

Is that like a senior desk sergeant? Actually, I am jealous, I have seen most British birds and plenty of unusual migrants but never a Hawfinch.

@pacef8: with a middle toe designed to grip it isn't beyond possibility that a Barn Owl could operate a machine gun, it would have to be a small calibre to avoid obliterating their prey.

To the north of High Bradfield, in the area between Penistone Road and Bolsterstone Road. We were a few hundred metres north up Penistone Rd where the two fork off.

Give me a shout if you're ever interested in a ride round these parts.

This reminds me of last year's Loch Arkaig camera, only this time with slightly larger raptors:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/01/bald-eagles-nesting-california-pandemic

👍🤣🤔

Ha - yes it’s one step before the knackers yard / too old/incompetent to be on the tools Re Hawfinch - They are about but generally very scare although there were hundreds in Surrey over the winter of 2018.

My son came with me on a dawn walk today so no otters, but he spotted various interesting things including a green sandpiper and a goosander. We enjoyed the larks as well.

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And the sounds (some of them)
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/kgb5hATZwucSJi6P8

Cool, might ride up there on day and see if I can spot the bugger. Cheers.

Give me a shout if you're ever interested in a ride round these parts

I’d be well up for that. Maybe after I’ve got a bit of time back on the bike and am not so embarrassingly unfit.

And then this afternoon Mrs Ludd flushed out a snipe. Not a euphemism.

I see you even managed to capture the moment in a photograph. :)

Impressive!

Goose

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Two years ago I made and put up three owl boxes and up until now they had never been used. A few evenings there was a dreadful commotion at the bottom of our garden, crows were not happy but we thought it was them arguing with the buzzards we have here.

While eating lunch we noticed two buzzards having sex in the trees at the bottom of our garden. They stopped and one of them stared at the owl box in an adjacent tree. Standing on the shelf of the owl box was a large barn owl. We are chuffed to bits.

You would have your own personal barn owl, wouldn't you? The rest of us just get occasional borrowed wild ones floating across the fields.

Actually, well done!

Time to nurture some uncut undergrowth and wood piles to help them have enough food!

Nice one, good luck finding it.

The hills will help you find some fitness before long.

We have left a few acres of what was field and ride to grow into long grass with lots of anthills and rodent nests. I think it has been the two years for this to develop which has now attracted the owls.