What have you seen
Comments
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It's a stunner but I've not been able to find out much.
"Coraciidae is a family of Old World birds, which is known as rollers because of the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights. Wikipedia
Family: Coraciidae; Rafinesque, 1815
Class: Aves"
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Certainly, what a stunner! The coraclidea although corvid like as indicated by the name are more closely related to kingfishers apparently. These things fascinate me, only recently did I discover and surprised at was that our humble (but diminishing in number) Starlings are our only representatives of the Mynah family in the UK. They too, like their ‘cousins’ are excellent mimics.
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That is so true re mimics, I heard a Cuckoo last month from the copse over the meadow-nice I thought(bear with me) then a few days later another from behind me-no cuckoo it was a Starling on the roof, I could see it’s beak moving at every ‘cuckoo’😂. I got a 2 for 1 deal👍🏻
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Walled across heathland and through Scots Pines today. Not much activity from birds but we did come across a party of Crested Tots feeding young, saw a Honey Buzzard circling on high and saw a couple of flying peckers, one of which was a Black and the other Lesser Spotted. The walk was pleasant enough.
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We haven't heard a cuckoo locally but I'm told there is one so feel slightly more hopeful. We have had swallows etc arriving at different times so I think they are OK, somedays the air is full of them, new hatchlings taking wing, plenty of insects. However on our recent travels north we didn't hear a cuckoo anywhere which was unusual.
I hope you hear or spot something soon ADP.
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Thank you Brue, Swallows are abundant here thankfully ,but the Swifts are not. Initially I put it down to the lack of winged insects but that isn't the case because of the Swallows. I am a Dinosaur and so remember what Summer migratory birds we used to get, the loss of those Summer visitors is heart breaking.
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We've been extremely fortunate with Cuckoos this year over here so I think there are still plenty making the journey. Heard another couple today.
As we are now in more forested area we are hearing more tree birds than before but most are quite busy now with feeding. Nevertheless it was good to hear Skylarks, Yellowhammers, Tree Pipits on the heath and Wood Warblers in the woods today.
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There was a report not so long ago saying that the natural nesting sites of the Swifts are being lost. Maybe this is why you are seeing so few.
Must admit we haven't seen them in great number, although they do tend to favour areas where there are high buildings so the countryside isn't really their territory.
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We haven't seen a Swift this year, but we have heard cuckoos, both in the Western Lakes and in D&G.
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Unusually for us this year we have had a lot of Swifts flying about so not sure where they are nesting might be the village church but great too see so many anything upto 20 to 30 flying.
Outside early this morning and just stood and watched a male Golden Oriole flying around one of our Oak trees great to see them as well as singing.
Had an empty Goldfinch nest come down from the conifer tree almost same place as last year such a amazing construction and small.
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Decided to have a late morning escape near the Dorset coast for a coffee. Due to miles of new tarmac and delays we returned by a back route and to our surprise what we first thought was a kite high over one of our local hill forts we realised had much too big a wingspan and was possibly a Sea Eagle. We checked the flying routes later(on the IOW Web site) and it could well be possible.
More ordinary but just as interesting back at home. We have grown a wild area of grass which we haven't added to, except for a single mallow and it's attracting our own local birds. Our pets like it too.It just shows that letting an area do it's own thing, even if quite small, helps wildlife.
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Well wasn't that a fortuitous diversion Brue?
You never guess what we saw today? Oh you did guess. yes, a White Tailed (Sea ) Eagle. We had travelled to our next campsite today so haven't done much else. had a stroll along a river bank listening to Nightingale, then had our dinner and sat out in the sun canopy in the warm evening sunshine with a glass of beer when Mrs WN points to the sky. I grab 2 pairs of binoculars and for the next 10 minutes we were able to watch a Sea Eagle flying around on the thermals, not close but close enough with bins to see all the impressive size and markings. There is a breeding pair locally that owe were hoping to see so to see it whilst sitting down having a drink was extra special.
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There are apparently 3 breeding Sea Eagle sites in the Netherlands and we've been extremely lucky to see an Eagle at each site. Always glad to see one and you may well be right about the survival chances. Hope they prove us wrong.
We once had one fly over us in Germany, about 50 feet above us but the shadow it created was like a Jumbo Jet. Never forget it.
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Nice shot of the pair Micky. Flamborough?
Had a day out in the Biesbosch Reserve today, a famous nature reserve in the Southern part of the Netherlands. Cycled from our campsite via a ferry to it. Super place, which would be great earlier in Spring. It was still pretty good today. 30 Spoonbills flying around, breeding Mediterranean Gulls, Arctic Terns, Stock Doves, White Tailed Eagles and they have breeding Barnacle Geese and their goslings are super cuddly!!
The Ringed Necked Parakeets have made it over to the Netherlands as there are 2 pairs of them on site.
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Duncansby Wherenext. Some cracking birds to be seen- shags, fulmars, razorbills, guillemots (both common and black), eider, Bonxies and the usual lot just to mention a few. Lots of harbour and grey seals too. A few different terns, sea ducks and divers also, must now check which ones mind using photos from the days out and about!
Unfortunately avian flu is a real worry in the colonies up here I’m told and could be catastrophic in coming months.1 -
Out walking yesterday on one of our local slag banks, and although the ground is deplete in minerals and has very thin soil we saw quite a lot of Orchids mainly Purple ones, where Pyramid or Common Early Orchids I'm not sure, and also a number of Bee Orchids.
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Spotted today- Pomeranian Skua, Arctic Terns, Black Guillemot and an otter in the rock pools. New sightings everyday up here on the far north coast. Sadly quite a few dead gannets, terns and gulls on beaches most probably succumbed to Avian Flu. Despite the many warning signs along the coast some folk are letting their dogs off the leash, one dog actually was rolling in the corpse of a gannet. Sad and worrying!
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Sad to hear of those deaths Micky.
We had a wonderful day today mostly spent at RSPB Lakenheath reserve. Saw 3 different Bitterns, one of which we rather surprised it and ourselves when walking past a bank on the river where it was keeping a watchful eye for tidbits and it flew up and away right in front of us. Also saw one of the resident Cranes fetching food, a Hobby, 4 Spotted Chasers by the dozen but missed seeing the Scarce Chaser, aptly so. Also 2 cuckoos flying together so they were up to no good.
Later on we visited Meeting Heath, a well known spot for Stone Curlews and saw a family of 4.
All in all a day well spent.
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Pleased to say we spotted lots of Swifts over the river Parrett down here in sunny Somerset the other day. The water conditions looked good too, plenty of fish visible and healthy river plants. Took a photo of the local cycle trail along the Parrett in Langport.
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Lovely photo brue and we have a lot more Swifts flying around here this year which is good news.
Done my duty today with two rescues first one was a male Black Redstart inside our new gazebo so managed to get him out safely not sure how long he was in there as it was empty last night and the second rescue was a Pipistrelle Bat that was behind the shutter to our outside building and it dropped to the floor and not move but managed to move with with gloves on and put into a very shady area on a roof beam next to OH's shed and again ok bet it does not like this heat.
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Down at Wicken Fen yesterday we saw an Emperor Dragonfly amongst others. They'll have to watch out for the Hobby that was surveying the area. There were quite a few Orchids around including a Broad Leaf Marsh Orchid and an Early Marsh Orchid.
Saw a Barn Owl last night as well.
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We savour first Swifts two days ago when up on Burkrigg Common as well as lots of Skylarks. Today travelling down to Preston we spotted numerous Buzzards, a couple of Kestrals and I think an Osprey over the estuary at Greenodd. There are also hares on the fields around the site we are on.
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