Where have all our garden birds gone?

[melmerby]

Just had Mr& Mrs Bullfinch feeding on the black sunflower seeds together.

Haven't seen a Bullfinch in the garden for ages!

 

Had a Green Woodpecker eyeing up the mixed seed, but it is too big to get through the squirrel proof cage, so gave up

 

Keith

Edited July 11, 2014 by melmerby

[Killybegs]

Just had Mr& Mrs Bullfinch feeding on the black sunflower seeds together.

Haven't seen a Bullfinch in the garden for ages!

 

Had a Green Woodpecker eyeing up the mixed seed, but it is too big to get through the squirrel proof cage, so gave up

 

Keith

 

We have a reasonable number of Bullfinches in the hedges along our lane but they never come into the garden!

 

John

[Bernard Lamb]

Had a thrush in the big yew tree for the last few days. Not seen one about for several years.

Not technically in the garden but within a couple of hundred yards I saw a cormorant yesterday.

Wrens have left the nest and you can hear the parents constantly calling them, but they do not often emerge into view.

Bernard

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

...good bird day today with both male and female bullfinch on the sunflower heart feeder, also a rich mix of other finches and tits.

 

Dave

[Mallard60022]

Close encounter with Goldfinches this p.m. with adult feeding young one (well fledged) just below our bay window. There are far more Goldfinches locally this year and hardly any other finches, sadly.

We also have a 'nursery' of Starling juveniles locally with two or three adults keeping an eye on around ten of them. The young ones really are rather ugly at this age; really scary eyes. They are learning to 'probe' in our newly installed raised beds!

P

[The Lurker]

First thing, my youngest and I were counting the starlings perched on the chimney of the house at the back (10) and had just moved on to the ones that had just landed on the roof next to it when they were driven away by one of the resident magpies.

[Horsetan]

Now that I have eliminated a number of the grey squirrels in the area (eight have bought it so far), the birds are coming back to feed with a vengeance - tits (God I love tits), greenfinches, even the woodpecker has come back. And obviously the woodpigeons and (feral) pigeons.

[melmerby]

Now that I have eliminated a number of the grey squirrels in the area (eight have bought it so far), the birds are coming back to feed with a vengeance - tits (God I love tits), greenfinches, even the woodpecker has come back. And obviously the woodpigeons and (feral) pigeons.

Don't know why you have so much trouble with squirrels. Yours must be particularly unfriendly to birds.

We get plenty of the grey varmints and plenty of birds as well, even to the point of both feeding on the ground together.

The squirrels and some of the birds even reside in the same large Ash Tree in next door's garden

 

I could have taken a photo with two squirrels on the ground, along with wood pigeons and blackbirds and 3 or 4 tits/dunnocks/finches/sparrows on each feeder at the same time!

 

On a different subject, today the swifts have been even more active than usual, sweeping past me at close quarters in the garden several times (2 ft /60cm away at times).

As well as their constant shrieking whilst flying the 'whoosh' as they race through the air was very noticeable.

 

Keith

Edited July 15, 2014 by melmerby

[hayfield]

At the beginning of the week the sparrows have disappeared from the garden. Is it too hot for them and they have moved north now the chicks have fledged ?

[John M Upton]

Grey Wagtails, one a youngster being fed by mum or dad - in Carshalton this morning:

 

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

...not quite in the category but winged none the less, I was saddened to have to remove an expired bat from the radiator grill of the car this afternoon. Probably, collected during the return drive from a recent evening concert at Gawsworth.

 

Dave

[John M Upton]

As I can't find the Getting Close to Wildlife thread I'll post this here, it has wings after all!!  This afternoon at Sheffield Park, a walk along the river saw quite big blue creatures flitting about, my first through was dragonflys but now I am not so certain.  Fortunately one obligingly stood still for long enough for me to zoom in on it:

[petethemole]

It's a Damselfly. I saw two the other day on our local "river".

[teaky]

It's a Damselfly. I saw two the other day on our local "river".

Petthemole is correct.  Apart from dragon flies often being a little larger, the easiest way to tell damsel flies from dragon flies is that damsel flies fold their wings back when they land and dragon flies keep them extended.

[DDolfelin]

Lots of different colours available with these pretty bugs.

[Flying Pig]

It's a Banded Demoiselle.

[Mallard60022]

This lot (the Demoiselle) have just 'emerged' the last week or so. Absolutely beautiful creatures.

My gang of 'devil eye' Starlings were back in the garden this afternoon

Forgot to mention the Buzzard doing some spotting at Barnetby last week! They are so good at soaring.

Has anyone else noticed that now that the mating/fledging has almost finished, that the birdsong has reduced considerably? 

Also, who else has the amazing super speedy screamer Swifts at the moment? We have about ten near us and that is up on last years brood.

P

[coachmann]

It's interesting watching the young seagulls growing up so fast on the roof opposite ours. They are still covered in mid grey down and are now doing short lift-offs along the spine of the roof. 

[PhilJ W]

Slightly off topic, but these are PAPER!

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/stunningly-lifelike-birds-made-entirely-from-paper/#slide-id-1309051

[Mallard60022]

Wow.

How clever is that?

P

[Andy Y]

We now have a comparatively rare regular.

 

 

 

Apologies for the glass reflections.

[Rumblestripe]

I was called through to our Sales Office this afternoon to attend an incident. This little fellow had flown into the windows at work and was spark out on the pavement outside,

 

 

None of the ladies in Sales would touch him, fearing him an ex-Kingfisher, happily he flew off a few minutes later hopefully none the worse for his experience! I did notice some possible damage to the tip of his beak but hopefully not enough to impair his ability to feed. Good luck out there little chap!

[chaz]

A definite WOW moment.

 

Sitting on the wall outside our terraced house in Eastleigh, waiting for a mate who was going to give me a lift. A sparrow shot passed right in front of me just above the pavement closely followed by a pursuing sparrowhawk. The sparrow dived under a parked car and the unlucky hawk flew up and over the rooftops opposite, last seen heading back the way she had come.

 

I have read that sparrowhawks are pretty single-minded and largely oblivious to us when they have prey in their sights and sometimes come to grief as a result. (There are stories of them flying into greenhouses in pursuit of prey.) But to see this little drama unfold a few feet from me was quite something.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

We now have a comparatively rare regular.

 

Lesser_Spotted.jpg

 

Lesser_Spotted_2.jpg

 

Apologies for the glass reflections.

 

Sorry Andy, but I'm pretty sure that this is a juvenile great spotted. Lesser spotteds don't have the white shoulder patches. (They are also much smaller, being only the size of a sparrow - though this is hard to judge in a photo). You may have been fooled by the red crown which this bird will lose when he "grows up".

Still a nice bird to have in your garden - we have an adult female who is a fairly regular visitor to our peanut feeder.

 

Chaz

Edited August 5, 2014 by chaz

[Andy Y]

Sorry Andy, but I'm pretty sure that this is a juvenile great spotted. Lesser spotteds don't have the white shoulder patches. (They are also much smaller, being only the size of a sparrow - though this is hard to judge in a photo). You may have been fooled by the red crown which this bird will lose when he "grows up".

Still a nice bird to have in your garden - we have an adult female who is a fairly regular visitor to our peanut feeder.

 

Chaz

 

I was fooled by the crown as you say and I did read up a bit earlier this evening and realised the black stripe from the cheek downwards is different too - as you say, one of this year's young which is a good thing in itself.