RMweb Premium melmerby Posted April 2 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 2 I've recently changed my feeding station. I originally had caged feeders on poles and the small birds readily entered the cages to get at the various things on offer. Having had to evict a rat on several occasions and with the original feeders starting to decay due to rust I decided to go for a brand new set up. I've now got A multi hooked pole with 5 hooks for hanging feeders on, a couple of water trays and mesh dish for things like mealworms, there is a baffle to stop rodents pole climbing activities. 3 of the feeders are brand new and came with the pole and they are bright copper finish. One feeder is an old one which is plain cast metal and plastic tube. The birds hesitated at first but after about 4 days the old feeder with mixed seed in had up to 5 birds at a time and was completely emptied in 2 days. The copper ones with sunflower seeds and peanuts in haven't had a single customer! Is it possible the bright copper puts them off? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stray Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 Try putting mixed seed into a copper feeder, if it stays full it's the feeder. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stray Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 I saw the Heron yesterday, it took off from a neighbours garden and was mobbed by a flock of seagulls, actual seagulls, not the popular combo. Seagulls have gone up in my estimation. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted April 3 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3 11 hours ago, Stray said: Try putting mixed seed into a copper feeder, if it stays full it's the feeder. Yes I'll swap some feeders over, although there was a little activity around the fat balls, also in copper. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 This chap and his missus (just visible over the fence) spent most of this morning in our back garden for some unknown reason. The nearest water, now the floods have gone down is at least half a mile away. steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted April 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 6 Here’s our latest visitor…. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted April 6 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 6 On 03/04/2024 at 09:31, Stray said: Try putting mixed seed into a copper feeder, if it stays full it's the feeder. On 03/04/2024 at 20:42, melmerby said: Yes I'll swap some feeders over, although there was a little activity around the fat balls, also in copper. Didn't make any difference at first but now the birds are using copper & non copper feeders. One of the reasons I changed feeders was that, although they were starting to corrode away, I caught a rat feeding from seed in the middle of the day. It was climbing the pole. Having replaced the 4 pole-mounted feeders with just one pole with all feeders and water on it I could have a squirrel Baffle: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61pCDvxnwtL._AC_SL1500_.jpg This would also thwart the rat(s) I decided to review the trail cam footage for the previous month and my suspicions were well founded, a rat had visited a feeder virtually every day during March, at night.☹️ Hopefully no more. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Not quite our garden but one of the local parks - the Glades, Lamorbey. I think this is an Egyptian Goose and chicks this morning 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerburnie Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 On 04/04/2024 at 13:32, steve1 said: This chap and his missus (just visible over the fence) spent most of this morning in our back garden for some unknown reason. The nearest water, now the floods have gone down is at least half a mile away. steve She will be sat on eggs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Downendian Posted April 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 7 Just returned from a 10 day trip to Scotland and the Lake District. Just the most magnificent bird I’ve ever seen, a white tailed sea eagle. At the limits of my telephoto lens (so slightly blurred) the eagle was being mobbed by a pair of buzzards, one visible in the first image. Tiny in comparison. my daughter took some video where the eagle turned upside down flashing its talons at one of the buzzards- amazing! The North of the Isle of Skye. one spotted the day before, although it may have been a golden eagle as the zoomed in shots don’t show the hallmark white tail as this one does. Neil 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted April 7 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 7 1 hour ago, Downendian said: Just returned from a 10 day trip to Scotland and the Lake District. Just the most magnificent bird I’ve ever seen, a white tailed sea eagle. At the limits of my telephoto lens (so slightly blurred) the eagle was being mobbed by a pair of buzzards, one visible in the first image. Tiny in comparison. my daughter took some video where the eagle turned upside down flashing its talons at one of the buzzards- amazing! The North of the Isle of Skye. one spotted the day before, although it may have been a golden eagle as the zoomed in shots don’t show the hallmark white tail as this one does. Neil Brilliant! Sounds like you had a great trip … 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Martino Posted April 8 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8 This was our back garden in North Georgia (USA) today, just after the eclipse. A ruby throated hummingbird (they arrived this weekend), a pine Siskin and an American Goldfinch. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Martino Posted April 18 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18 Male and female Rose Breasted Grossbeaks in our garden in Jasper, Georgia, USA today. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR traction instructor Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 ...plenty of yellowhammers to be seen on my cycling circuits around the Solway plain just now. Oystercatchers & turnstones on the seafront section through Silloth too. BeRTIe 6 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted April 19 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 19 Sandpipers on the River Usk yesterday…., 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 mainly prosaic sightings of robins and starlings, crows and magpies on my walk back through College Farm and Foots Cray Meadows, along with mallards, coots, moorhens in the river and lake. I did see a couple of Tufted Ducks, a first for me, and a swan earlier in the week, and a woodpecker staying low, its head just poking out of the long grass. Lots of song from other birds that stayed hidden. and parakeets! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerburnie Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 It looks like we have Greenfinches nesting in the back garden. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR traction instructor Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 (edited) First swallow that I've seen in Silloth this year just arrived...still plenty of yellowhammers on the Solway plain cycling circuits...blackbirds picking off the hundreds of spiders that live under the slate top dressing in the garden...flock of house martins circling over our lodge too... BeRTIe Edited April 26 by BR traction instructor 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerburnie Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 No Swallows up here in Polar Bear country, have seen Sand Martins and a couple of House Martins, no Cuckoos yet though. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 Swifts are back here in North Yorkshire. steve 5 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 12 minutes ago, steve1 said: Swifts are back here in North Yorkshire. steve I heard and then saw my first swift of the year this morning in Sidcup. Didn’t see any yesterday so it may well have arrived overnight. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 03060 Posted May 12 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 12 (edited) I also saw my first Swifts and Swallows of the season overhead yesterday in the outskirts of Leeds. We've got our first 'home grown' Blackbird fledglings keeping us busy on security duties at the moment, we've lost one already but the other 3 have now dispersed from my garden. One has unfortunately got itself locked inside my neighbours garage but he has given me the key late last night. It's managed to get itself up into the rafters at the back and the parents are feeding it through the waves in the roof. I decided that it was probably in a 'safe' place for last night and am about to go and let it out, hopefully it will come out on it's own and I won't have to handle it. Regards, Ian. Edited May 12 by 03060 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Downendian Posted May 13 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 13 I managed to photo this great white Egret whilst fishing this morning. Glastonbury Somerset. Neil 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted May 13 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 13 4 hours ago, Downendian said: I managed to photo this great white Egret whilst fishing this morning. Glastonbury Somerset. Neil Great capture Neil. We see them more and more up the Wye. Out on Usk last week … yellow hammer tree creeper and nuthatch for company. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted May 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 13 the garden has been a hive of activity to with sparrows goldfinches and starlings all feeding fledglings John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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