Mol_PMB Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 I'd need to replace my pond with a river to get Goosanders, but they are regulars on the Mersey and the Ship Canal within a mile or so of my house in west Manchester. When I'm in Wales I see them daily as I walk across the cob from Porthmadog to Boston Lodge. Here are some of my photos of a Goosander Kindergarten on the Mersey: 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted December 23, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 23, 2021 4 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said: I'd need to replace my pond with a river to get Goosanders, but they are regulars on the Mersey and the Ship Canal within a mile or so of my house in west Manchester. When I'm in Wales I see them daily as I walk across the cob from Porthmadog to Boston Lodge. Here are some of my photos of a Goosander Kindergarten on the Mersey: A cracking photo …. Numbers have proliferated significantly in recent years which may be due to increase in numbers of otters reducing the number of highly destructive mink on waterways . 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted December 23, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 23, 2021 the grey wagtail has come back for its winter visits i have bought a better wildlife camera and a set of lens that allows the camera to get closer to the action this is my first video with it my feeders with goldfinch sparrow robin blue and great tits 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88D Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 11 hours ago, Phil Bullock said: What part of the world are you to get goosanders? Well spotted, Phil. I meant Mergansers! Mea culpa. Near Hebden Bridge, upper Calderdale by the way. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Holliday Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 A trio of Long Tailed Tits paid a visit to our garden yesterday. One of my favourite birds - always bring a smile to my face just by being there. One did something I've never seen before - it transferred the sunflower seed heart to its foot, and managed to hold it whilst it carefully ate the whole kernel, unlike the gold finches in the video above, who consign most of the seed to the ground, for the pigeons to feed upon at their leisure. Sadly there wasn't time to get my camera to record the event. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted December 24, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 24, 2021 Merry Christmas all. The long tails are a firm favourite here too …. They are so social and cute. Henry Williamson of Tarka the Otter fame described them as Air Gypsies in one of his anthropomorphic country tales. Have seen blue tits do the same seed holding trick with peanuts. They are running a shuttle service to the feeder at the moment. Always great to see! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Also agree the long-tailed tits are wonderful as they pass through in family groups. Just been out in a park in Cambridge and seen 7 pass through, however this is my favourite photo of them from our York garden last year. Paul PS those Merganser photos are very special, lovely. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted December 25, 2021 Share Posted December 25, 2021 See these quote frequently. steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR traction instructor Posted December 25, 2021 Share Posted December 25, 2021 Merry Christmas all, We have a limited species list of around 20 in our Cheshire garden but an impending house move to the Solway firth has had me checking the Caerlaverock species list and reaching for the binoculars in anticipation. BeRTIe 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted December 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 25, 2021 1 hour ago, BR traction instructor said: Merry Christmas all, We have a limited species list of around 20 in our Cheshire garden but an impending house move to the Solway firth has had me checking the Caerlaverock species list and reaching for the binoculars in anticipation. BeRTIe Clicked like because I couldn't find green with envy Happy Christmas to all. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted December 25, 2021 Share Posted December 25, 2021 Back when Lockdown 1 started, I decided to keep in touch with friends and family by sending a photo of a different bird species every day. At the time, the lockdown was only going to last a couple of weeks (or so we all thought!) and I could easily get a dozen or so in my garden. As lockdown went on longer this became a bit of an obsession, but increasingly difficult. We were allowed out of the house once a day for exercise and my walks with the camera became longer and longer in the search for new bird species. 15 miles in a day became quite common, some days I did more than 20 miles. I had to buy myself time with a weekly wildcard (e.g. a pub named the Pelican, or a carved wooden owl) and invited contributions from friends and family on the distribution list. In the end, I decided to stop when I photographed my 100th species of real bird, all within walking distance of home in 4 months of lockdown. I was quite pleased with that tally, I definitely couldn't have done it without the canals, rivers and mosses nearby. The 2020 lockdown birds are all here in my Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50559291@N03/albums/72157713590855331 There are a few surprises in there, a couple of rare species and a few that don't really belong near Manchester! 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted December 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 25, 2021 got a brief video of the grey wagtail today and some of a robin on Tuesday 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Just a humble blackbird, but this one has a family to feed and has become very tame to the point of taking food off of my plate when I'm sitting at the table outside. This red wattlebird (so named due to the red skin sacs that hang down each side of its neck ) arrives every afternoon and sits on this same branch of the tree for an hour or so just checking out the surroundings. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 4, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2022 Santa brought a new wildlife camera …. This is rather cute! Robin teaches blue tit to bathe 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 My RSPB Birdwatch Id/ticksheet arrived this morning. I expect the results will be comparable with last years effort, ie not many birds, let alone exciting/unusual ones! Nevermind..... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR traction instructor Posted January 7, 2022 Share Posted January 7, 2022 Attempting to capture a hedgehog using the new house that I’d built for it led to pictures of a mouse, a blackbird and a magpie eating peanut butter and cat food. BeRTIe 5 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted January 7, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2022 1 hour ago, BR traction instructor said: Attempting to capture a hedgehog using the new house that I’d built for it led to pictures of a mouse, a blackbird and a magpie eating peanut butter and cat food. BeRTIe Great that you have one though. Plenty of activity here in Gloucestershire certainly not hibernating…. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted January 14, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 14, 2022 some robins and blue tits and a very brief view of a starling on the suet feeder taken with a browning recon force HP 4 camera with a 2x close up lens fitted 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 14, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 14, 2022 First Goldfinch of the year today…no picture I was making a cup of tea……for me, not the Goldfinch 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mol_PMB Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I'm lucky enough to have resident Goldfinches, they are beautiful birds. The sighting that I got exctied about while out walking today was a group of 8 Redwings. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 If we are including birds seen on walks then three Goosander seen on the lake in the local Rowntrees park in York was rather nice. Never seen them here before, although a note on the Cornell Uni site suggests they have been here since before Xmas. Paul 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted January 15, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 15, 2022 It is a cold, misty midday here in la Sarthe, still not above freezing according to my weather-station's sensor. I've only been home a couple of days, and am therefore in quarantine as mandated by the Government - the gendarmes arrived in my first 12 hours to remind me! My cleaner, who looks after the place while I'm in UK, and feeds the cats, has been keeping the bird feeder going, and there is a great deal of activity today. I am no twitcher, lack much knowledge of species, but today we have various sparrows, tits great and blue, a pair of blackbirds, a robin (two were fighting yesterday), a chaffinch and a goldfinch. In the background, and unable to feed from the feeders, we have our resident magpies. Well worth keeping them all victualled! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 Unusual visitors to the garden this weekend; on Saturday a juvenile or female pheasant landed on one of the garden tables, hopped on to a chair and then tried to get into the conifers at the bottom of the garden. No idea where it came from as none of the larger open spaces near us have any such birds that I have ever seen; far too many dogs. This morning a woodpecker flew over and landed in next door's tree where it was for a few minutes before swooping down into the garden of next door but one. That's the first time I have seen one in the garden 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted January 17, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2022 1 hour ago, The Lurker said: Unusual visitors to the garden this weekend; on Saturday a juvenile or female pheasant landed on one of the garden tables, hopped on to a chair and then tried to get into the conifers at the bottom of the garden. No idea where it came from as none of the larger open spaces near us have any such birds that I have ever seen; far too many dogs. We’ve got them nesting in the shrubbery (actually just a load of undergrowth but shrubbery sounds posher) I really never appreciated how beautiful the iridescent feathers on these birds were until they are a few feet away, but their beaks hurt if you let them feed from your hand, I’ve not made that mistake again 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 A visitor to the fields out the back of the house. Not unusual to see a heron, as there are a stream and a river out there. This is the closest I could get! steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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