Where have all our garden birds gone?

[Gwiwer]

First post here though I have been an intermittent reader.

 

Happy to record sightings today of Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Blackcap and what we call the Jenny Wren.  Alongside the daily diet of Sparrows (House and Tree, the later a/k/a/ Dunnock), Robins and many larger birds the Strawberry Hill area seems to be doing well.  Add in our "Twickenham Parakeets" which are one of the green subspecies and are now fairly widespread in the area, plus the presence of a decent number of bees of varying species and there is yet hope.

[dhjgreen]

11 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

Haven't seen hedgehogs for donkeys years either....you should put a bit of cat food out for him each evening....

Rather than catfood (too many cats round here) there is a special hedgehog food that most other things dont like.  We get it from the garden centre.

[jonny777]

I am reluctant to put any food at ground level here, as we get all manner of undesirable creatures as it is. I think I will leave the hedgehog (if it comes back) to discover the slugs and be thankful for that. 

[jetmorgan]

Well for a second year we have had Goldfinch's in the gardens. I haven't seen any around here since I moved here over 10 years ago but last year we had a pair and this year I've seen at least 4 of them.

[Porkscratching]

That's a great set of pics you caught there, colourful little fellas those aren't they!

Edited May 19, 2019 by Porkscratching

[Mallard60022]

 Kitten Food actually recommended for Hedgehogs. Plenty of clean water available too. If a hog is out during the day, please contact a local rescue group if you can.

Phil

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Extreme turbulence in blue tit box. The five lusty survivors* are all most definitely in flight training.

 

*10 eggs, one broke during incubation, one didn't hatch.

8 hatchlings, two failed quite early in the first week.

6 began to fledge, but one was in respiratory distress and died at 14 days. 

[Downendian]

Good news and bad news stories.

Today the Swifts made a welcome return to this part of Bristol.

Last week on my fishing exploits I was delighted to see a mother great tit feeding caterpillars to her newly fledged offspring who was perched on my unhooking mat. This was later to turn to horror when me and my friend noticed a fledgling great tit had taken its first flight across the lake and didn't make it. It was fluttering and splashing little more than 30 feet away.  Despite our best efforts with our landing nets, the poor little fellow expired before we could reach him. 

Neil 

[Liam]

Unfortunately I’ve been away for a while so I haven’t seen them that much, but for the first time with our nest box we’ve had a nest of coal tits. We don’t have a camera in there so I don’t know what’s been happening but I am told that for fledglings they are very quiet. 

[Kingzance]

I have a very accurate version of the RSPB birdwatch. It involves seeing how quickly the local feathered population can strip the new fruits from my two youthful cherry trees! This year I expect them to succeed before the fruits have even turned yellow!

Swifts abound now, swallows were very prevalent up the road last night, Red Kite wheeling around on thermals this afternoon and buzzard's sharp cry in evidence too. Robins searching for grubs as we cleared a small length of border, blackbirds not wishing to miss out either.

[Budgie]

22 hours ago, Kingzance said:

I have a very accurate version of the RSPB birdwatch. It involves seeing how quickly the local feathered population can strip the new fruits from my two youthful cherry trees!

 

If you don't want them to do that, you could put a net over the trees.

[Kingzance]

4 minutes ago, Budgie said:

 

If you don't want them to do that, you could put a net over the trees.

Yes, I could but I fear they may become entangled as they still attempt to get at the fruit. The trees are young so they shouldn't really be allowed to develop a full crop yet anyway, bird food bonanza!

[Guest CLARENCE]

Bluetits nesting in fish - just spent 10 minutes watching a pair of, I think, bluetits feeding young inside a weather-cock in the form of a fish (hollow) outside our local village hall; they're getting in through the mouth. Sorry no pics, will take camera down later.

 

Edit; No signs for a couple of days, fledglings were flapping around when I saw them, must have now left. I'll keep watching

Edited May 23, 2019 by CLARENCE
More info.

[The Lurker]

the magpies have been busy on the lawn, begging from their parents; currently three fledglings are in evidence. And I have finally seen the swifts. The local online rag's nature correspondent reported their return on 4 May, but yesterday was my first sighting. Just three so far, but IIRC last year the number initially was three, joined by throngs later in the year.

 

The magpies are pretty defensive of their fledglings, driving off even remote threats such as pigeons and parakeets.

 

This morning on the way to work I saw a crow attack a squirrel as it crossed the road, the squirrel only just avoiding being caught. I assume it got too near chicks/fledglings. Would the crow have killed and eaten it if it had caught it? I say crow. It could have been a rook.

[Porkscratching]

I think crows are more scavenger really, they'd eat roadkill squirrel but I doubt would kill one from scratch!

They certainly 'mob' other birds to chase them off...

[Guest CLARENCE]

On 21/05/2019 at 11:08, CLARENCE said:

Bluetits nesting in fish - just spent 10 minutes watching a pair of, I think, bluetits feeding young inside a weather-cock in the form of a fish (hollow) outside our local village hall; they're getting in through the mouth. Sorry no pics, will take camera down later.

 

Edit; No signs for a couple of days, fledglings were flapping around when I saw them, must have now left. I'll keep watching

Got a couple of (bad quality) photos at last, though the little devils move fast! This seems to be one of a pair of goldfinches, definitely not bluetits. I'll keep trying!Best I can do on a very windy day, while holding  two dogs!

Edited May 26, 2019 by CLARENCE
AWFUL spelling

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, CLARENCE said:

Got a couple of (bad quality) photos at last, though the little devils move fast! This seems to be one of a pair of goldfinches, definitely not bluetits. I'll keep trying!Best I can do on a very windy day, while holding  two dogs!

In those circumstances you done very well.

[Porkscratching]

Particularly hanging on to a couple of pooches, if mine are anything to go by!

That's an incredible nest site though, you should send a couple of pics to your local rag ( if you still have one!)

[jbqfc]

the blue tits fledged yesterday don't know how many as we where out 

we now have a garden full of sparrow fledglings lot more than last year 

 

John

[EddieB]

1 hour ago, CLARENCE said:

Got a couple of (bad quality) photos at last, though the little devils move fast! This seems to be one of a pair of goldfinches, definitely not bluetits. I'll keep trying!

Looks like a blue tit to me, not a goldfinch.

[tigerburnie]

Cuckoo by tigerburnie, on Flickr

 

A Cuckoo taken in the local Glen the other day

[Guest CLARENCE]

5 hours ago, EddieB said:

Looks like a blue tit to me, not a goldfinch

Definitely a pair of goldfinches,seem to be feeding young inside. I got several good looks at them; no idea what happened to the bluetits!

 

[EddieB]

Sorry, David but goldfinches generally have red and black on their faces and generally are brownish overall - the gold confined to wing bars.

 

 

Occasionally there are variants that lack the facial markings/colouring - but otherwise conform to the general pattern.

 

I think you can see they are quite different to the blue tit in your pictures.  It might be missing something of the blue cap, but it still retains the black bib/shoulders/eye stripe and overall yellow colour.

 

 

(Apologies for the poor quality of goldfinch photos taken through double glazing!).

[dhjgreen]

On 17/05/2019 at 22:46, Gwiwer said:

....Alongside the daily diet of Sparrows (House and Tree, the later a/k/a/ Dunnock), 

/pedant mode on

Gwiwer, a dunnock is sometimes known as a hedge sparrow (or song sparrow), a tree sparrow is the one with the brown crown.

/pedant mode off

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, EddieB said:

I think you can see they are quite different to the blue tit in your pictures.  It might be missing something of the blue cap, but it still retains the black bib/shoulders/eye stripe and overall yellow colour.

 

Juvenile blue tits don't have the blue cap, or much blue at all, and have yellow faces that go white later (old age strikes quickly on them! )