What have you seen
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Saw a female mallard with 6 very tiny ducklings on the stream down at Roughlee this morning.
Also a male mandarin duck in the same area. They turn up quite regularly now.
Blue tits taking a look at one of our garden nest boxes, hope they decide to take up residence!🙂
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A bird not seen here normally a Northern Wheatear on our plot very handsome in breeding plumage used to see them a lot in Somerset but a first for here so marked on the calendar.
A pair of Woodlarks outside the kitchen window and the jays and magpies a busy around the plot looking for field crickets as they are about now, we have lost one white magpie only to find we now have another one with dark markings around its eyes very odd looking.
Great Spotted Woodpecker nesting about 60 metres down the road in a big oak tree already got a lot of holes from previous years.
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A mighty kerfuffle this morning. Every bird in the air from the local rookery and all the jackdaws due to a sparrowhawk taking a magpie baby from a tree near us. We think it might have fallen out of the nest but the drama spread far and wide. Sadly the magpie often does the same with other nestlings. All quiet now.
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1st week in May is usually the best time to see dotterel on Pendle Hill, the stony area near the trig point is where they tend to hang about, and they are very approachable. Numbers have been declining in recent years though, and we get very few on the return autumn passage.
ELOC website is a good source of info for recent sightings in our area.
1st swallows of the year seen on our morning stroll today, plenty of butterflies about too, some things are looking good!
🙂
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Wherenext can I ask why you're not well disposed to bats at the moment?
Another beautiful day here.
Frogspawn wiggling well. Saw the crested Newt too.
I'm not keen on thrushes, whenever I hear or see one I usually get bad news, of the worse kind 😥, I've heard one around the garden for more than a week - i spotted it in the garden. Then the day before yesterday I saw it bathing in the bird bath, didnt quite know what to make of that! But I was fascinated, they are beautiful birds, then it was joined by another. They never actually shared the bath but took it in turns. I'm hoping that 2 thrushes are a better omen. Fingers crossed.
Lovely to hear all the birds whilst I enjoy the sun 😀.
We've had a glimpse of a brimstone, mating red admirals and peacock butterflies.
This morning I had a green legged spider on me, had a double take.
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Thrushes are indeed beautiful B2 and one of my favourite birds.
Bats are supposed to be the main source of this virus, infecting Pangolins, who have the misfortune of finding themselves being killed for food in the Chinese "Wet Markets", a disgusting piece of terminology. Hence the not predisposed position. Generally though I quite like them.
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Some photos as promised. Marsh frogs and Sparrowhawk.
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Two Swifts have just flown over here which is very early even for this part of France must be the warm winds from Africa bringing them up here. Thanks brue we have lost birds to the male Sparrowhawk but he seems to have gone away now and we have our resident Kestrels flying about and the field has now got a lot of field crickets chirping so food for the larger birds.
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We were due to be at Aiguamolls nature reserve mid March. Each time we have been there we have witnessed the first Swifts coming through around the 18-20th.March. There ars usually hundreds of these birds with a few Alpine Swifts and the occasional rarity such as a Pallid or Little Swift along with the Swallows and Martins and again the odd Red Rumped Swallow. It's now 5 years since our last visit and we were wondering whether the same timescale is being followed.
I did start reading my diary of our last visit around that time this year but found it too depressing. I was hoping it would lift my spirits but the death toll coming out of Spain in late March was too sobering a thought.
Hopefully I'll find out in future visits whether things have changed.
Just goes to show RK how long they then took to get to your area which isn't really that far away.
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We saw Blackcap yesterday at the edge of our local new wood, which was quite a surprise, but still no birds in our garden. I do often hear Oyster Catchers flying over when I'm out with Flyte for his 10:15 pm walk.
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Have been watching a Bluetit collecting nest material and taking into into our nest box, she must be exhausted, back and forth all morning.
Her mate just sits on the washing line watching, and checking on progress, typical Male
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Actually Helen nest building is usually the equivalent of a "Mens Shed". It allows the male show how good he is at it thus justifying the females choice. Some species of tits like the Penduline Tit build their nest first then look for a mate to show it off to.
Let's face it, if the male insists on doing an arduous task isn't the female more intelligent for letting him?
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We have the normal feeders and bird table in the garden which get good use. However, a couple of years ago our son bought us a clear Perspex gismo that attaches to the outside of a window with suckers. It basically consists of a feed tray with a sloping roof which protects the contents to some extent. The first year it didn't get any use, except when we went away in the van. It was empty when we returned. This year however it has been in frequent use. It's probably about 80cms from your face when stood at the kitchen sink and blackbirds, the occasional thrush and of course the brave robin, are often seen tucking in. Yesterday I was very amused by the antics of a wood pigeon. I looked up, as there was a loud thud, to see a pigeon sat on the devices roof, trying to figure out how they could get to the food below. I was very surprised the suckers held.😂
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You do, of course, get the real DIY fanatics like bower birds.
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Heard a cuckoo yesterday, but as in recent years, probably just passing through. Out for an evening walk today and saw two swallows perched on telegraph wires outside our neighbours barn. When the big barn doors are shut there is a little open hatch for them near the top of one door. Great to see them after their long journey, lots of insects hatching in the evening sun so plenty of food around for the new arrivals.
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Doing my riverside dog walk this morning saw a false of blue out of the corner of my eye and watched a kingfisher disappearing very quickly into the trees. Never yet managed to see one stay still for long enough to get a photo. Great sight though to cheer up what was a rather grey morning!
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What a lovely morning. Plenty of new flowers out, including our first Bluebells and 2 beautiful Welsh Poppies sitting in a splendid batch of Comfry.
Best of all though was a first for us. We pass a small wood set on a hillock, more or less every day during this crisis, but generally about once a week when we're not touring. Today was the first time I've ever heard a Male Pied Flycatcher singing from it, this in 36 years of walking past it. To complete our joy we then saw 2 Ravens, the male doing aerobatics to impress her as he "cronked" away. Sheer bliss this morning. I think it was sponsored by Heineken.
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More firsts today. Our first Willow Warbler and Redstart and the male Pied Flycatcher has a rival, across the narrow valley.
Also our first Cuckoo Flower and Wild Strawberry.
Had to chase 2 Magpies out of the garden as they were ganging up on the female Blackbird.
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