What have you seen
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Just had the male Hawfinch on our window feeder much earlier than last year and I have put some more feeders out and it does not take long for the message to get around, have stocked up well in advance this year as once supplies sell out most places do not get another supply in but usually sunflowers seeds are in stock most of the year.
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A group of Palid Swifts repeatedly cutting across the sky in front of us. Like our Swifts but brown, smaller and silent. I love those screaming ‘natives’ we have above our heads in summer but these will do, much warmer here in Macaronesia.
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Had to look up Macaronesia Micky, never mind the Pallid Swifts!
Have been keeping an eye on a de-feathered Bluetit that seems to have survived over the last few months and comes to our bird feeder right by our kitchen window. I can see it's undercarriage is totally de-feathered but hoping it will survive. We don't know whether it has a bad lice infestation or is just re-growing it's plumage.
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Sounds grand, eh, thinking of changing my username to Macaronesia Micky. 😉Over many years we have visited several islands along the length of this archipelago. Mostly those in the Canaries mind of which La Graciosa is the only one remaining for us to visit. One of the best islands here in our view is El Hierro it was stunning.
Never been to Cape Verde either which is part of this volcanic chain, may be one day.1 -
Nothing as exotic as micky's Pallid Swift, but spotted a few interesting birds as far as I am concerned today. A Red Kite flew over the site when we were out first thing and then during our walk by Lindley Reservoir saw a Great Crested Grebe, a flock of Widgeon calling, a Grey Heron, a Treecreeper, and flying up the River Washburn a Kingfisher.
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Does one Fieldfare make a winter?! Our usual single Fieldfare has just put in an appearance, we haven't seen a flock yet although they are around. They are always late arriving in our area. They are attracted to berries and most of all the remaining apples on our trees. Unfortunately this year we didn't have a big apple crop but have saved some to scatter around. Suspect the icy conditions will bring more arrivals.
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Brue, we saw lots of Fieldfares today on a walk along above Marske Burn. We have seen surprised to find around here, both at Marske and Redmire orchards with lots of apples left to rot in the trees and the ground. What a waste when there are lots of folks who would welcome having them, bet the birds are loving them though. Also saw our second Kingfisher on our current trip, this time flying up the R.Swarfe.
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Oops that should have read R.Swale!
Reminder to self...read wot one's writ!!
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There was a small flock of fieldfare in our local park this afternoon.
Travelling into Oxford this week we've seen so many Red Kites I've lost count, and a couple of Kestrels too.
OH says he sees a Buzzard in the park when taking the dog for his first walk. He's early enough to have the park to himself so it's quiet. 😉
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I know the title of this thread is ‘What have you seen’ but is anyone like me concerned about what they have not seen?
We feed the birds in our garden from autumn through to late spring. This year the sparrows and starlings are there as usual but there seem to be few blue tits, great tits and chaffinches. Is it a consequence of bird flu I wonder?1 -
Good post, I think most of us are on the lookout for changes. In our garden all the birds are OK except we lost all our greenfinches following the pox outbreak a few years back. We have lots of Bluetits etc but the cold won't help weak individuals like our one Bluetit with few feathers remaining.
Hope things improve!
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We lost nearly all species for almost 2 weeks & thought the same OG&S but they’re all back & then some. I’ve just ID’d a Twite(thanks RSPB) only once mind, it was sat in a Maritime pine watching a Great tit & Blue tit bickering over the Sunflower hearts🤷🏻♂️😊
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Our birds vanished in August when the weather was hot. The blackbirds vanished and only one female remained. The magpies, jackdaws and crows are greatly diminished but I did spit a Jay the other day.
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Luckily, we are still seeing most of our regulars, including Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed Tits. Lots of Blackbirds and Sparrows, Robins, we have resident Jackdaws, Magpies. Heavy frost here for last few days, with no sign of temps dropping below zero, so we are feeling and watering like mad at the moment. So lovely to see garden birds, they need such help in this kind of weather😁
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We have a large bramble apple tree in the garden we has produced a bumper crop of apples we have given up on clearing away the fallen apples and being idle has paid off as we have now attracted loads of Blackbirds, Redwings, Fieldfares, Thrushes to our garden
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We've seen Redwings passing through at the bottom of the garden and there were a few Fieldfares in the centre of the village where there are some Rowan trees with berries on.
Still have all of our usual freeloaders in and around the garden. Tough at the moment as temp below freezing and snow gently falling.
Can't believe the number of buds on the Camelia when we covered it over the other day to save it from the frost.
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I’m breaking 3/4” pieces of ice from the cast iron water fountain & taking a boiled kettle for the smaller pieces👍🏻
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Saw some more Fieldfares on the Hawthorn berries by Middleham gallops this afternoon, and forgot to mention that we passed a field containing a large flock of Lapwings yesterday.
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Beautiful, we used to see Golden Plover amongst the flocks of Lapwings at Alkborough Flats or pyewipe as we call these birds. Unfortunately not so often these days as the goldies are subject to being blasted out of the skies by the shooting fraternity. I just don’t get this. Certainly not sporting is it! Nor is that list of other birds still shot for pleasure!
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We went in search of the cranes, if like us you will hear them before spotting them, totally awesome when we finally spotted them. Next year we are in search of the UK Storks and WTE amongst other species. A few years it was spoonbills which were our delight and before that avocets! What next?
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Gosh difficult to keep up with filling bird feeders and keep their water unfrozen in these conditions. It's still -2c and foggy, not changed since 9am when it reached such dizzy heights 🥶🥶🥶
Feathered visitors are so swift visiting hard to tell if we have any newbies! But I did notice a bullfinch this morning. Still at least the same amount of sparrows and starlings and 4 blackbirds at once plus 3 Robins at the same time. They are staying inside the hedge unless they're feeding or bathing. Bet when it's time to do the garden bird count they'll be less!
Saw my first fox since we arrived yesterday as we walked the fields. Not heard any red kites in the freezing fog.....
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I had a brief glimpse of a Barn Owl, flying along the hedgeline near our new site, around 16:00 when returning from my late afternoon walk. More Fieldfares here and a skien of Pink-footed Geese passed overhead too.
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More skeins of geese passing over the site, both esrly morning and when it was dark, heading in a South easterly direction. There has been a large flock of both Redwings and Fieldfare, along with another separate one of Starlings, feeding on the trees and the ground around the CL today. Spotted a Treecreeper and a Kestral on our walks with Flyte too.
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Have been watching the birds on the feeder and had a surprise to see a Middle Spotted Woodpecker and looks we might have a pair as I have seen the male and female much smaller than the Greater and a different pattern on the head and front, also noticed that the Marsh Tits take more than 1 seed at a time up to 3 sometimes as they are much smaller than the other tits.
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