The Bird Thread

We get a peregrine flying overhead regularly in Peckham, it's often being mobbed

Being a peregrine in Peckham is rare; getting mugged there, less so.

I've lived here for 8 years, never been mugged

Therefore, by a process of elimination....

Binos advice sought...

Mini c00ps (10yo) is getting very interested in wildlife spotting when we're out and about. Plus we have some amazing mature trees almost outside her window. I normally take my Nikon Monarchs with me (bought ages ago as a grey import when they weren't ridiculous money they are now). But she wants her own also and I'm on board with that. Clearly I won't splurge on ED glass, etc. But has anyone bought or is aware of anything that has decent low-ish light performance bang for buck? We often go out for a walk when I finish/get back from work, so it can be on the verge of dusk (we have a owl perch nearby also) and are at RSPB Sandy at least once a month. I was looking at 8x42mm. RSPB bod was trying to flog me some of their own brand Puffins the other day - but suggested also Opticrons or Vikings for budget performance. Roof or Porro prisms both fine.

I have Bresser Hunter 8x40 porro prism and they're fine, £40ish on Ebay.

We shelled out between us for a pair of trinivod leica . £800 quid and not even a hard case. Can you tell a massive difference with our bushels for £120 quid . Not really to be honest .

Opticron are pretty good value for money - 8x40 ish is a good plan, no smaller for light gathering. Monarchs are really good.

I have some Opticron's and they are great value for money. The RSPB bins are decent value and rebadged Vikings. Has mini c00ps handled any binoculars? Can imagine smaller, lighter binoculars might be easier to handle and lug around

She uses my Nikon 8x42s no problem (can set the diopter, etc. on her own). Doesn’t get on with my dad’s huge Zeiss Jenas. So I didn’t want to go bigger than mine, just in case she can’t get on with them. Will probably take her into the shop at Sandy next time to try some or hire them for the day, if they do that.

Thanks all. Some great food for thought.

Not really in the spirit of this thread but I was educated at the zoo today in the pursuit of penguin facts with my 6 year old and compelled to share. Firstly, they have barbed tongues and throats so fish can't wriggle free and secondly, they are the bird with the most feathers.

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Doing some slo-mo capture on the bird feeder. Not sure why I hadn't thought of doing this before now.

Blue Tit: https://twitter.com/5into15/status/1627270765992108033

Great Tit: https://twitter.com/5into15/status/1627275234133827584

Goldfinch (with LTT flyby): https://twitter.com/5into15/status/1627277966630612992

(Ignore the blurbs about 15minutes & timelapse, I was recycling another bit of code, updated since)

Hopefully there was a sign indicating this Penguin's name is 'Limahl'.

Some of the birds at Bosham were showing off this morning: curlew, teal, wigeon and little egret

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Beautiful.

Also, zooming in on that penguin’s maw is nightmarish.

What lovely light, great shots.

^ ^^
Thank you both. It was great to get down to the coast and recharge our mental batteries a bit, we really needed that.

Tree creeper today, creeping up a tree.

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^ awesome.

First confirmed Ring Necked Parakeet feeder visit just now.

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Restorative couple of days, still get knackered almost three months on from Covid so still not really taking camera anywhere but yesterday at Budleigh Salterton had good numbers of teal, wigeon, curlew, redshanks, meadow pipit and rock pipit and a lone common scoter
Today at Bowling Green Marsh/ Topsham got a couple of spoonbills, lone great white egret, loads of avocet and curlews,snipe, black tailed godwit, a dozen pintail and some brent geese, most of the winter river exe big hitters, was keeping an eye out for marsh harrier but not to be

I know it is a long way from London but the lower otter restoration project at Budleigh Salterton looks like it is going to be superb, it's £15m restoring the natural floodplain, creating a breach in the the flood defences so it will get flooded at high tide and in storms, lots of scrapes and channels being built, reedbeds getting managed and new hides and screens along with improved access going in, upstream is already superb for otters and beavers, so is going to be a great place to visit for wildlife in the coming years

Lovely. Never realised they had such sharp pointy beaks.

great white egret

I'm pretty sure we saw one of these locally the other day but our big bird book indicates their range is South-Eastern Europe so had discounted it. It flew past close enough to get a good look. Heron-sized, completely white plumage - don't think I could have mistaken it for a little egret (which we see fairly often).

Foot colour is the easiest differentiator:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/herons-egrets-spoonbill-and-crane/great-white-egret
yellow = little egret
black = great white egret

They are regular (if scarce) visitors to the UK. Most likely seen in winter and spring so it is possible.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/great-white-egret/

I saw a few Ptarmigan and Snow buntings on Scottish mountains at the weekend, and a crossbill in some pine woods