Where have all our garden birds gone?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

19 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

... three magpies having a fight.

'Three for a girl'. Do we suppose that's three 'teenage boys' having a row over the hot chick?

[Bernard Lamb]

The Swifts are very much down in numbers this year.

However this little fellow has settled in and finds the new home very comfortable.

Bernard

[tigerburnie]

Just chased one of these out of the greenhouse, they get in through the top vents and then can't remember how to get out again.

 

[Tanllan]

pictures of a blue tit. First it landed on the fence and then made the short flight onto the feeder loaded with suet pellets.

[rodshaw]

A female blackbird likes to find bits of stuff for her nest in our back garden, dip them in our bird bath then take them to the nest in a large climber next door.

There's also a new brood of house sparrows that absolutely devour the seeds in our feeder. An adult today was taking seeds and feeding them to one of her young on the next branch.

There's also a young robin that keeps coming onto the back lawn. (I thought it was a small thrush at first, der).

We have very few blue tits around this spring though. And our bird box hasn't been occupied for the second year running. Must try and find a better place for it.

[DaveF]

 

I now have my camera with a longish zoom lens on the kitchen table, so I can photograph birds at the bird bath through the window while I am eating my breakfast.

 

Blackbird 

 

 

[jamie92208]

 

This year, here in Western France (inland from La Rochelle) we have been fortunate to have two nesting pairs of Black redstarts.   One is in the woodshed and we're not too sure where but we see them going in and out.  The other is in the roof structure of our verandah just outside the bedroom window.  I actually managed to get some time trying to photograph them today. Here one of them has just brought a tasty morsel back.

There are 4 chicks in the nest.

 

The left hand pair seem to be more advanced and may well have been from the first two eggs. However as soon as Mum or dad leave their beaks follow them in unison.

However the next fast food delivery is on it's way.

Then off the parent goes for another.

We don't think that the first couple are far from leaving the nest. To get the photos we open the French windows and the fly screen then sit on the bedroom floor well into the room. If we get too close to the doorway the parents don't come.

 

Jamie

[rockershovel]

we have seen robins, a pair of wrens, various bluetits, a pair of goldfinches, numerous magpies and starlings this year. The doves and pigeons are out in force, and there is a woodpecker in the trees at the end of the garden. 

 

I went to Ferry Meadows yesterday and saw a swan's nest; the swans are apparently increasing in numbers at present.

[boxbrownie]

Bloomin' Crows the past week or so have been harassing everything in the sky including Buzzards and Gulls........

[jamie92208]

I was only just in time with my photos. The  black redstart chicks are now out of the nest and being looked after by their parents in various hidey holes in the front garden. We're just hoping that a neighbours cats don't get them before they can fly properly.

 

Jamie

[jbqfc]

today is fledgling day in the garden 

the Buddleia is full of blue tits getting fed by mum 

the veg patch is full of sparrows dust bathing (not doing the seedling coming up much good but that's the price you have to pay)

the starling are fighting over the mealworms and suet block 

 

John 

[Waverley West]

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Bloomin' Crows the past week or so have been harassing everything in the sky including Buzzards and Gulls........

 

Mrs WW saw off a couple of crows last night which were attacking a red squirrel on a tree in our garden. It was lucky she was saw it happen. It ran off with its nut though and later came back for more, so I think it was OK.

[runs as required]

Our serious Quaker friends are very protective of their crow family: father, mother and baby.

They all live on a sought after 1920s "homes for heroes" smallholding bungalow lot division in Northumberland (the NER steam autucar extension to Darras Hall Estate, Ponteland was to one that subsequently became Newcastle most expensive housing) 

Just before Lockdown we were across there for coffee and were shown how the Crow parents were busy chasing off poor last year's bewildered bairn in favour of this year's yet unhatched. We have since heard that there is a new favourite child having care lavished upon it, while last years cast-off and other Corvids are ruthlessly sent packing.

For such intelligent birds, they are remarkable cruel (I suppose like humans).

2

Did you read earlier in the week of the "common" cuckoo that was one of 5 captured in Northern Mongolia last year and fitted with a tracking device, noted in Zambia in December/ Feb, then found back in Northern Mongolia this year, 5000 miles away having crossed the Indian Ocean - with an overall average speed of 46 mph? It appears to be the only survivor.

 

On the whole being Human does seem an easier life.

Edited May 28, 2020 by runs as required

[Killybegs]

I actually saw a cuckoo today. There are lot around here so we hear them all the time. I was out working in the garden when I heard a loud 'cuckoo'. Turned around and there it was sitting on the neighbour's roof.

[jonny777]

3 hours ago, jbqfc said:

today is fledgling day in the garden 

the Buddleia is full of blue tits getting fed by mum 

the veg patch is full of sparrows dust bathing (not doing the seedling coming up much good but that's the price you have to pay)

the starling are fighting over the mealworms and suet block 

 

John 

 

Our starlings are fighting over suet blocks, which were really meant for the tits. 

 

However, regular sparrowhawk attacks scatter them (starlings) far and wide, so smaller birds tend to get an occasional look in.

 

I heard the telltale very high pitched starling scream earlier, and the magpies were making a hell of a racket, therefore I presume a sparrowhawk success. It is amazing how quiet the garden becomes in the few minutes after a high speed visitation from above. 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by jonny777

[Phil Bullock]

Collared doves enjoyed bird bath today .. we were sat in plain sight 4 metres away

 

[runs as required]

4 minutes ago, Phil Bullock said:

Collared doves enjoyed bird bath today .. we were sat in plain sight 4 metres away

 

 

Since a certain flying visit up to Durham (and to Barnard Castle Specsavers) all the Collared Doves in the North East are driving us mad with " We blame YOU for no p.p.e" repeated endlessly from dawn to dusk. 

... I can hear one now as I type.

[tigerburnie]

Got a new toy, just testing

 

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, tigerburnie said:

Got a new toy, just testing

 

A bird bath? 

[Liam]

The blue tits fledged on Monday, and I saw one of them make their first flight out of the nestbox. They have now moved out of our garden, but the excitement remains with Chris the wren (his surname could alternatively be Packham or Whitty ) and his good lady, who have a nest in the large tree to the right of our garden.

Last night, while we were preoccupied with a virtual pub quiz, Chris made his way into our conservatory to have a look round and probably scour for insects. Trouble is that he left us a little present...

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Blackcap brood have fledged - they were nesting somewhere nearby in the woodland - and today fleetingly saw an adult feeding a juvenile. More blackcap sightings this spring than the sum of all previous over near 25 years, Probably have to wait as long again to see them as frequently.

 

Expecting the greater spotted woodpecker fledglings soon. No secret to their location at all, an oak with a splendid choice of suitable nest holes and quite an array of standing dead timber, well drilled.

 

Not seen this spring, bats. Two nearby hollow oaks fell about six months ago, and a lightning damaged oak behind one of our neighbours' home was lopped of all its branches just over a year past: among these we suspect the loss of a bat roost. A neighbourhood discussion after last weeks NHS applause,  and I now have an application filed with 'Ecology and Conservation' to put up some suitable boxes (the woodland is an SSSI, so we felt we ought to ask).

[jbqfc]

saw my goldfinch fledgling today and the starling fledglings have all joined up into one big gang of about 15 

 

John 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

A goodly number of fledglings in the fruit cage flying against the netting and awaiting release this morning, blackbird, blue tit, great tit, dunnock; first time this year for birds in the cage, on which the side netting was renewed in March. There's a hole to be found somewhere, probably at ground level. (Of course what I really want is a permanent entry and exit portal which the small insectivores can easily find, but too small for a blackbird and the like. Only the wrens manage this trick all by themselves, regularly see them in the cage, but never yet had to release one in over twenty years since it went up.

[dhjgreen]

55 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

A goodly number of fledglings in the fruit cage flying against the netting and awaiting release this morning, blackbird, blue tit, great tit, dunnock; first time this year for birds in the cage, on which the side netting was renewed in March. There's a hole to be found somewhere, probably at ground level. (Of course what I really want is a permanent entry and exit portal which the small insectivores can easily find, but too small for a blackbird and the like. Only the wrens manage this trick all by themselves, regularly see them in the cage, but never yet had to release one in over twenty years since it went up.

I have tried in vain to find something which robins can get through but not starlings.  It seems their streamlined bodies get them though very small openings.  Good luck with your search, do tell if you are successful.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, dhjgreen said:

I have tried in vain to find something which robins can get through but not starlings.  It seems their streamlined bodies get them though very small openings.  Good luck with your search, do tell if you are successful.

We have a lovely cherry tree, and we both really love cherries, but have given up and decided the tree fruit is for the birds.......