The RSPB on Club Together
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Birds must know its the count weekend, our small town garden has been inundated. More Long Tail Tits than we have had before, at least 8 plus a dozen Gold Finches, 4 Greenfinches etc. Looking forward to an excellent day and keeping the feeders topped up
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Goldfinchs followed by Blue tits for me. Not as many birds came to visit as usual however I suspect this was due to the weather being poor.
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So glad I found this thread Ash. My new passion is feeding the local bird population. I have a variety of bird feeders which allows me to feed all sorts. Wild bird seed, Niger seeds, sunflower hearts, fat balls, nuggets, peanuts etc my large feeders are 1.2mts long and 4 ins in dia. They hold about 6.5 lbs of food. I started hoping that I could entice goldfinches to the garden- I needn't have worried- the numbers have built up over the months and we had a flock of about 30 the other day. As the weeks pass, I am always on the look out for new species visiting the garden. Up to last week we had had the usual one would expect with Sparrow, Dunnocks, Robin, Bluetit , Coal Tit, Great Tit, Green finch Chaffinch, Wren, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, the yobbo Starlings and the Blackbird I have been most fastidious making sure that there is always food available and that has led to this weeks new findings- long tailed tits and the one I am particularly pleased about - the Great Spotted Woodpecker arrived yesterday! We now seem to have a profusion of Blackbirds ground feeding on the seeds that the other have dropped. As many as 8 at a time. Just listening to these little creatures singing and twittering in the gardens is payment enough. It is SO worth feeding them as they give such pleasure.
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Saw my first ever Goldcrest this morning in the garden, a lovely little bird!
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Hi Oneputt,
The lead post was actually updated yesterday afternoon. I am delighted to introduce Tania from RSPB.
Tania looks forward to engaging with you all and will be posting on this discussion in due course.
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Hi Everyone,
With spring in the air and the birds beginning to chatter, I thought I’d share a story written by Adrian Thomas our Conservation Manager. He talks about his delight at hearing the song of Nightingales and their influence on some well known music both past and modern!
Nightingales - Thank You for the Music!
If you hear any Nightingales this spring be sure to share it with us here.
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Welcome Tania, looking forward to reading your posts.
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Hi Tania,
Just heard from one of the CC members that some Rowan Trees are going to be removed from a shopping centre to provide more/better parking. They are using the excuse that the trees are suffering from water deprivation even though there were berries feeding the Waxwings. I have pasted a link below, perhaps you can investigate and ascertain is the RSPB are aware of this act of wanton destruction.
http://www.willowbrookcentre.co.uk/outdoor-space-revitalised.php
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Hi Tania, welcome.
Question for you and the RSPB.
We normally leave our feeders out and continue to feed seed to the others until the end of April and then stop for the summer, as I seem to recall somewhere that the RSPB prefer it if fledglings are fed on a natural diet of caterpillars etc. I know some people like to continue to feed their birds all year. What's the official RSPB position?
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Hello,
We are sorry to hear about the removal of the Rowan Berry trees. Legally they are not allowed to remove the trees if there are birds nesting in them between March and September.
We would recommend that they replace the trees, if you are thinking of contacting them, do suggest they re-plant Rowan Berry trees even if in a new area.
I am sorry not to be able to help further but do let me know how you get on.
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Hi,
Regarding feeding the birds in the summer. Although winter feeding benefits birds most, food shortages can occur at any time of the year. By feeding the birds year round, you'll give them a better chance to survive the periods of food shortage whenever they may occur.
We do advise that you stop putting out whole peanuts in spring, or put them out crushed or in a feeder where whole nuts cannot be taken.
Here is a link to our website which tells you about feeding at different times of the year:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/read-and-learn/helping-birds/feeding/whentofeed.aspx
Best wishes,
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Seeing the size of Raisins ( altho a 'softer' form of food ) they are often the size of peanuts so I even cut them down with a small pair of scissors !
Just found the way to get back onto the Loch Garten Camera Tania
-- I have, now, to go via "Carnyx Flash" to get a full screen view of the osprey nest -- and I will keep going there to see the 20 - year old female EJ back for her 15th year at Loch G.Just might make a flying visit there myself before too long
Some Happy Bunnies on here today { A3 size
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So glad you are enjoying Loch Gartens' long serving female osprey - EJ - she has returned!
You can watch her on the Osprey nest camera here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/find-a-reserve/reserves-a-z/reserves-by-name/l/lochgarten/abernethyvideo.aspx
EJ is 20 years old this summer and this will be her 15th season at Loch Garten. Despite flying up to 3500 miles over the past few weeks she looks amazingly healthy and relaxed. She's a really amazing bird and I'm sure you'll all agree it's brilliant to have her back safe and sound. Let's hope that this year she adds to her tally of 25 successfully fledged chicks.
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Sorry Tania, that is the usual route into Loch Garten, but it's dependant on the kit you use it seems, so they say.
Anybody not getting the camera there can go, as I have to, Via CARNYX and on accessing their site click on FLASH and lo and behold There's a beautiful great Osprey Nest !. ( Thats the route I have to use ! )
Incidentally I am a tad jealous 'cos Loch of the Lowes has two Ospreys happily 'bonding away' !!
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Well, Welcome Home Odin !!
Popped onto Carnyx for a quick look at what's happening But I
really should not have done that !!
Think it must be something in the water { Sorry Merve
}but they are very very busy bonding and chirping fit to burst !!
I'm hoping there will be an egg or three, or a chick perhaps, for me to see when I get up that-a-way in four weeks time
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Hi Tania, just wondered if you knew how common the practice of using neck rings is as we saw this recently which was a first for us.
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I posted this on another section. I wondered if what I had seen was unusual. It was seen on 2nd April near Denhall Lane whilst sat on a black metal bench overlooking the estuary marsh land
I saw something whilst walking with friends today that I do not ever recall seeing before. We were alongside the marshes near Ness on Wirral. We saw a number of lapwings, egrets, herons and other birds. What surprised me was a heron. I am used to their long gliding and flapping flight but this one was riding the thermals and circling higher and higher. At first glance I though that it could not be a heron as it was so high and lazily climbing on the thermals. I have never observed that behaviour before. I did a double check at first because its progress was more like that of a buzzard.
Indeed. I wondered whether this particular bird had learned a new behaviour. When watching them over the marshes they did some flapping and a lot of gliding. The Dee estuary is very wide at that point. It did occur to me that when flying low over the water more flapping than gliding might be the norm and by lazily and effortlessly gaining so much height first it might male it more feasible to glide much of the way across the estuary. Certainly not something that I recall ever witnessing before. They have a large wingspan and its climb seemed as effortless as a buzzards might be. Wonder if it has been watching and learning?
When I saw it I immediately recognised it as heron; then I thought no, far too high and now it is climbing and circling; then I realised that it was clearly a heron.
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Hello,
I've been away in Suffolk for Easter, we saw 2 pairs of Avocets by the River Alde which was great to see.
Regarding the neck ring, I've asked one of our conservation managers and this is his response:
This is a recognised and increasingly common method of marking geese, especially in America. The only scheme that I know of in this country that uses these rings is on The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Nunnery Reserve Lakes (http://btoringing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/getting-collared-by-goose.html) but there may be others. I would certainly encourage the finder to report the ring to the BTO.
It is a simple ID ring rather than a satellite tag or anything like that (these are commonly attached to the back between the wings). They are a safe method on large long-necked birds like these.
These rings are used on geese because they can be seen and read even when the bird is on the water, which leg rings, typically, can’t.
I hope that answers your question.
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