What have you seen
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Just lucky to get this photo of a Jay while in the Forest of Dean.
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A few more photos taken at Cannop ponds, Mandarin Ducks and a pair of signets with their parents.
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There seem to be more and more Mandarin ducks through the country. We've seen them quite a few times in our travels.
I nearly got decapitated by a Sparrowhawk this evening when going for water. I did wonder what was causing distress calls from lots of the small birds around the yard.
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I nearly got decapitated by a Sparrowhawk this evening when going for water. I did wonder what was causing distress calls from lots of the small birds around the yard.
Probably thought you were a very large looking chicken, then decided that maybe you were too large.🤣
A morning spent overlooking the Dollard peninsula right up in the North east corner of Netherlands. Sunny but exceptionally windy. There is a seal colony right on the doorstep so to speak who did their thing by lying down and looking bored, with some lakes behind the polder that's separates the Wadden Sea from the land. It made for an interesting few hours as we could encompass a walks well. Quite a few Terns in an enclosed breeding area with some Arctic ones, a Yellow Legged Gull, some Bearded Tits and some very naughty Avocet chicks that decided to escape their parents and walk along the road. We had to chivvy them back towards safety. Good fodder for any passing Herring Gull or Marsh harrier. Hope they made it.
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A good day for us too today. Saw a GSW in the woods by Centre Parks, then at Acorn Bank a female Pheasant with 3 chicks in the orchard, a Blackcap and heard lots of other warblers down by the river, 3 Great Crested Newts in the pond in the formal garden, and 2 Red Squirrels crossing the road up beyond Cliburn Station.
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A few years ago I was walking through a dense part of Cropton Forest when a raptor expertly flew between the trees causing me to duck and feel the moving air on my bald head. Can only think it was a goshawk! What speed, what navigational skills, what a bird but only a glimpse given!
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mickysf
From your description ....you bet it was a Goshawk, a fabulous bird ! Top Gun has nothing on them. I had the pleasure of watching a pair raring chicks ( from a distance) in 2017. Strangely they never returned to their original habitat.
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+1, I was working in a forest a few years ago when one flashed past me doing the Top Gun 90dg quarter roll & back. . .Pure poetry quickly followed by slack jaw & goosebumps. I’ve only ever seen them since around the outer forest no doubt trying to spook a bird(bogie🙂) to flight.
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They are indeed majestic birds, full masters of flight. We have a breeding pair and a couple of estates a couple of miles apart that have regular pheasant shoots so the birds are never short of straying pheasants along with their normal fayre. We've been lucky to see them flying over from one site to the other. Wonderful seen from underneath.
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Had the privilege of seeing a Sea Eagle leave its' nest today and fly off to the lake. What a sight. It had 2 chicks on the nest to feed, both apparently doing well.
This capped off another lovely day where we walked miles around lakes, through forest glades and beside wet meadows. Had really close up views of both Black Terns and Whiskered Terns, Spoonbill, Purple Heron, Honey Buzzard, Marsh warbler, Black Necked Grebes and White Storks amongst many more.
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I'm here, where are you?😁
The Netherlands Micky. Travelling around it bit by bit. Yesterday we were just south of Groningen in the North East. If anyone reading this interested in actual places then I'd be happy to oblige with details in detail but probably only when we get home in three weeks. If just interested in general terms then no problem.
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Had a quiet day which involved travelling 1 junction of a motorway, about 5 miles, to get some pink toilet flush. On the way back I saw a male Hen Harrier quartering the wheat field and OH saw a female doing the same on the opposite side of the motorway, which was quiet and flat. We were hoping to cycle the local back roads to look for them but high winds have prevented that.
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Thanks WN. It’s just that I was fascinated with the variety of bird life and the species seen. Fantastic, and to think we are only separated by a relatively short distance across the North Sea. Oh, and we are in what is now being called ‘The Celtic Rainforest’, not quiet the wildlife sights that you have seen mind but the scenery is absolutely stunning.
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We did do quite a bit of research before we came over Micky.
I would have liked to have come across in April to get the wader migration as well as some late Geese movements but circumstances prevented that. So really the only thing that has been missing up to now for us on a non existent list would have been the waders. We're off shortly to a heathland type of environment so that should throw up some forest and heath species, be it reptiles or birds, and then we're finishing off at a heath and wetland type, where there is supposed to be another breeding White Tailed Eagle.
We are doing a bit of reconnaissance for potential future visits as well and would probably miss our current one out next time and move to the area where we saw the Sea Eagle the other day.
Nothing wrong with Scotland. It has its own unique wildlife. Enjoy your trip.
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Fantastic, Wherenext, we did a trip to Denmark a few years back and I was amazed by the variety there. Also the tolerance shown by the general public towards many species who live either precarious lives in the UK or given no room at all. Just goes to show that the likes of WTE and Ospreys on our south coast do have a place given the chance.
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I watched a mother Partridge in total panic trying to Chivvy around 12+ chicks(only a couple of days old) away from me & my 2 Dogs. I got the Dogs to sit & I knelt to help stop her panic. She mostly had control but for a runt at the back who kept falling over its own long legs. Eventually We reversed back around the hedgerow as a few of them had slowed down-it was bedlam. In truth out of the whole bunch only mama Partridge seemed in a hurry. One of the treats of Spring.
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Opened the kitchen shutter at 7.30am today and this is what I saw, glad camera was close by and also 2 more siblings on top of our wall a good start to the day.
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Had a ride through a heathland environment today so saw some different type of birds, animals, reptiles and plantlife.
Lovely to see and hear Tree Pipits, Yellowhammers, Red Backed Shrikes and see Common Brown Lizards. There was a village that had planted an area with wild flowers and was delightful with Corncockles and Ox Eyed Daisies with Red and Yellow Poppies.
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The ox eyed daisies and corncockle are out in force here too, WN, along with the yellow and orange poppies, but have see few red ones yet in the fields. We passed meadows full of buttercups on our journey home yesterday, too.
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I do love those Magpies David. So different to those at home that fly off at the lightest sound or sight of you. The Spanish ones are very inquisitive, plus beautiful to look at as well.
Our day was spent trying to avoid thunderstorms and rain, the latter of which we managed to do with a couple of one hours walking between rainfall and lightning on a heath nestled between the Netherlands border and Germany's.
Managed to get to see 4 different male Red Backed Shrikes, one of them very close in sunshine, some Tree Pipits and a summering Lesser White Fronted Goose in amongst the Egyptian Geese which helped with size comparisons.
Also saw a Male Hen Harrier and a Four Spotted Chaser Dragonfly close up.
We were hoping to do an extensive walk but the weather beat us today. Back on the campsite though there is a Pied Flycatcher in one of the nest boxes with chicks as there is a lot of insect gathering and returning.
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How silly of me, of course I meant ‘corvid’ family! Incidentally here’s another member of the magpie family, one I took a photo of a few years back in Mexico on another bird watching tour. Equally piratical as ours but also equally beautiful. Hopefully most will find this at least mildly interesting.
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Pred text Mickey boy everyone knew you were right even without the errant r👍🏻🙂
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I dont suppose this is any sort of magpie and I can't claim to have seen it but what a beauty!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-61649412
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It’s beautiful👍🏻, it looks like a Jay but a wee bit small for a magpie-I’m no birder at all mind🤷🏻♂️
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