What have you seen
Comments
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We have a daily visit (sometimes more than once a day) from a buzzard.It sits either on our kilmarnoch willow or the dry stone dyke.Today there were 3/4 coal tits in the willow playing "cat and mouse" with the buzzard....quite fascinating to watch!
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Made a good start on the 2019 year list!
All the usual suspects on the garden feeders, including great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and lots of Siskin.
A stroll locally after lunch and we had goldeneye on the resser at Barrowford, dipper on the stream at Roughlee then the usual barn owl on our local moors at dusk.
Happy New Year and enjoy the birding CT people!
🍾🍾🍾
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That's a reminder to go and look at the Starlings as they go into roost locally, have seen quite a few getting into groups late afternoon.
Out in the garden, snowdrops and camellia flowers out with a few visiting bumblebees on other winter flowers...is it going to get colder or milder?!
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Not seen, but heard a number of Tawny Owls calling around the CL we're on. They start at about 4:30 in the evening and it continues, on and off through the night, and they were still calling at 6:30 this morning. Great to hear!!
Lots of other birds around the site, GSW, Nuthatch, Kestral, Buzzards and various varieties of Tits.
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Just been watching 11 thrushes busy on our field and checked they were not Mistle or Redwings or Fieldfares we usually get about 5 or 6 so this is a good number to have and all busy searching for food plus 3 blackbirds with them. We had freezing fog overnight and it lifted a little by 11.30am and now back and still chilly 0.3C up our weather station hence birdwatching from the windows, plenty of small birds on the feeders and bird tray in the bird cage, we have local kestrels and buzzards and have heard the tawny owls about in the local woods.
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We've been watching large groups of great tits, long tailed tits etc in our garden which has reminded me it won't be long before they start perusing the nest boxes and ours are getting a bit dilapidated.
I brought some daffodils into the house today and picked up loads of tree debris outside, whilst doing this I noticed the badger has been around digging up bits under the trees. Will try the trail camera again soon and see who's around.
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There are six native species of owl in the UK: barn, tawny, little, short-eared, long-eared and teat.
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While walking out last night I hear the first lamb bleats of the year, and then today we saw our first Snowdrops in flower, in the graveyard at Brackenfield Church.
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First sighting this morning of the Teat Owl on my neighbours washing line this morning. Very tatty and showing signs of a hard 2 weeks labour.
Have had a smile on my face this morning for several hours watching a crow trying to land on the topmost branch of a neighbours very tall conifer. the twig could just about support a sparrow but this crow has been very determined, and has expended much energy trying to balance on the twig. I have just used my binoculars to see what has attracted so much interest and was surprised to see that the crow was in fact trying to break off the tips of the branch/twig presumably for nesting material.
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Unfortunately Bakers these things happen. That's wildlife. I had the same experience a few years ago when a Sparrowhawk took a Redwing that was eating some apples I had put out on the snow. Obviously the hawk was also hungry. The thrushes wouldn't go under the cover for the apples I left there and wanted to be in the open for quick flight but ...
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Yes Wherenext it's not pleasant to watch but tis nature in tooth and claw. Hopefully it will have had a decent feed and left other birds alone for a while at least. Just seems sad especially as I'm sure my dad appears as a blackbird in my garden.
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If you're down on the W Dorset coast Abbotsbury subtropical gardens are doing a £5 entry and hot drink voucher just now. We enjoyed a quiet walk around today. There are some nice colours on the Mimosa and other plants.
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Out walking along the High Peak trial today and spotted a Harebell in flower and a Peacock Butterfly flitting about.
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Well this morning it's very frosty here and I noticed the flash of Fieldfare wings across the field, they start to get nearer habitation in the cold weather. Then I noticed another visitor who I haven't seen for awhile, so I was pleased to "spot" the spotted woodpecker, he was digging in to all the nooks and crannies on one of our apple trees and giving an old bird table the once over.
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Lovely photos, brue, hope he keeps coming back. We had a woodpecker for some months in our new (to us) house until September. We went to Devon for 3 weeks and have never seen it since we came home. Still hoping he'll return one day.
However, we do get a pair of bullfinches every day on the feeders, which is something we've never had in any garden, so we're very pleased with that. As well as lots of gold- and green finches, think we'll have to put up more feeders as there isn't enough room for them all, as well as all the tits!
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The woodpecker loves peanuts so we see him on the feeder but just now I expect the trees have plenty of live food to peck out. We were worried we had lost our woodpecker(s) due to new neighbours moving in across the field from us, they immediately starting cutting down trees and undergrowth which had formed a good covert. But it looks like the woodpecker has survived all the disturbance and loss of habitat.
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Great photos brue, we also have woodpeckers here great spotted and green. Had a dog fox going across the field 3 days ago in great condition and today we have just come back from shopping and the piercing screams must be a vixen about what a noise could be 2 dog foxes about as a lot of movement in 2 fields away from us but could not see them.
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Don't just put up nuts for the Woodpeckers. Ours seems to prefer the Suet fat balls. The Blackbird loves it when they come as they make such a mess underneath the feeder. Actually saw one of the two we have drumming on a tree behind the house yesterday morning. One has a slightly faster rate than the other but both are GSW's.
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Hey Brue
Thought of you as we passed over the river on the way to Ham Wall yesterday. Great pics of the GSW, very envious as no birds have touched peanuts in our garden.
I carried the camera around Shapwick all morning and saw nothing close enough to photograph and the weather was a bit dull to say the least, so camera was dumped for the afternoon stroll around Ham Wall. OOPS, from the Tor View hide, a male Marsh Harrier circled the reed bed and came as close as I have seen one to date, fabulous markings.
Attached are a few pics from the day before at Slimbridge where the weather was much kinder.
1 Pair of Shellduck
2 Male Stonechat
3 2 male &1 female Pintail Ducks
4 Predator Panic amongst a flock of Widgeon
5 Male Shoveller duck
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Whilst at Slimbridge, the larger birds were very active for a change, The Cranes were closer than usual and the adults appeared to be trying to chase off last years juvenile.
Bewick Swan returning to the outskirts of the reserve after a day on the Severn estuary.
Greylag drying its wing feathers after a lengthy bath.
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Fed up with all this cloud until a break in the gloom and this Egret turned up and showed no fear of me. Lovely!
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Hi GL Good to see you are out of hibernation, Egret looks sharp, what gear are you using now?
OP
Barleywood must be a nice place, it looks nearly fully booked throughout the summer. Must start looking for sites for the spring tour.
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