Where have all our garden birds gone?

[runs as required]

(Breathless from having run upstairs from the garden to log on.....)

....We've just spotted the first two swallows of the year swooping low over our back garden 'lawn' during a lovely late afternoon.

 

On the other hand that cuckoo (post #1683 above) has not been heard again. I reckon it sized up our local cuthroat hordes of (Toonarmy) Magpies and decided to fly on up to safer Borders latitudes.

dh

 

PS

Most interesting to click back 20 pages or so to compare sightings of returning swifts swallows etc.(and our conversations about them) with last year.

[melmerby]

The Goldfinches are very frequent visitors now.

Managed to get much clearer pictures in the sun today

See here:

 

 

 

Cute, aren't they?

 

Keith

 

 

[Mallard60022]

Swallows down Little Bytham way this lunchtime as was a Kite (being mobbed by Rooks/Crows) and a very, very loud Thrush.....lovely. I also lied in my previous post as there are two House Martins around here but they have the area to themselves at the  moment.

Great pic Keith and I've never heard them bits in the feeder called anything other than Niger Seeds and I's from Plymuff and I can read a bit, but only when I'm awake.

Gold Finches have flourished since the Green Finches have declined.

Phil.

[Downendian]

Swifts in Bristol this morning and Swallows in South Devon earlier in the week.

Dare I say summer is here?

Neil

[Tim Dubya]

Dare I say summer is here?

 

As long as you don't say "summer is here" that should be fine

[jonny777]

We calls 'em clocks.  

 

You blow at them and count the number of blows you get until all the white bits have gone and voilà, you have the time.

 

I are from Somerset...

 

 

No, wait a minute.

 

My brain has finally clunked into action. 

 

Clocks are dandelion seed heads -

 

 

 

 

 

You take several blows and they all 'fly' away.  But with those the seeds are suspended from the filament-like bits (notice my sustained use of techncal jargon).

 

 

With thistles, the seeds are in the middle of the flighty bit, thus -

 

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by jonny777

[MikeHemmings]

On the golf course yesterday we were presented with a airobatic display by 2 red kits fantastic.

 

Mike.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...Clocks are dandelion seed heads -

 

 

 and have been time out of mind, thus the clever reference from Bill Shakestick:

 

Golden lads and lasses must,

In their time, all come to dust.

 

(I expect that's not quite what he wrote, but it's close enough, considering he couldn't spell his own name consistently.)

[Mallard60022]

..............................4 Swift (or is it Swifts?) over 19 36E this morning. They are fast those little blighters.

Philth.

[chris p bacon]

  Heading pretty much due North from London by road on the A1 the signs read 'town name and the North', until one saw 'Biggleswade and the North'. Thereafter no more 'and the North' was in evidence on the signage, therefore one was in the North. QED.

 

Alternatively the North is pretty much the Danelaw. Plot a straight line on the map from Mersea Island to Chester to see the general trend of the division between Saxon and Danelaw (it runs just North of Biggleswade!) and there's 'the North', with respect to the Saxon Kingdom of Alfred.

 

Coming from Sandy we don't actually know which Kingdom we were in, at school we were taught that the line was a bit "fluid" in this area and that we could be either in Danelaw or Mercia, We do know that in Roman times Sandy (Sandae) was an important stopping point which subsequent digs have proven and that English Heritage cannot explain the many hillforts on the escarpment overlooking the common (where the ECML is now) Mind you, it could explain the rivalry between Biggleswade and Sandy......

 

 

I do know we are not "The North" .....we don't have the speech impediments...........

Edited May 5, 2016 by chris p bacon

[Mallard60022]

'The north' starts at Doncaster. South of that is the Midlands and East Midlands. I know we are not from the south (that starts at Peterborough) because we are friendly. 

Ar$e

[Anthony]

 I won't have pwerishing niger seed for love or money, bloody thistles everywhere.

 

There is a fail-safe answer to this - if you pop the Niger seed in the microwave for 4 minutes on full power, well 800 say, it makes it inert - and certainly here in London SW the Goldfinches still clamour for it.

 

Reflecting on a later post, we, too, have completely lost our Greenfinches  - sad.

 

Anthony

[Donw]

Our |Goldfinches came as soon as we put the sunflower hearts out.

 

Up on the Quantocks the Cuckoo has been calling regularly for the last 10 days or so. Plenty of Skylarks about and yesterday we saw a Wheatear. There are some House Martins about on the farm fields. 

Don

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 Swifts arrived here yesterday evening, about half a doz. I do enjoy a good airshow, and hammocked with a beer until the bat shift took over, what with it being so pleasant and all.

..., we, too, have completely lost our Greenfinches  - sad...

 Perhaps it's natural justice? Our gang were real thugs, and only the Nuthatches were uncowed amongst the regular seed and nut feeder visitors. They are far better behaved now there are just a pair...

[Mallard60022]

This morning I have seen 4 HMs. They have disappeared again now.

 I also watched as a Crow sized up an opportunity in our garden from the roof of the next door house. It then moved down to our wall. After much checking it swooped onto half a suet ball and nabbed it, then took it back to the neighbour's roof for a feast!

Phil

[dhjgreen]

No rumpy-pumpy until I know I can trust you to provide for me and the kids   

[The Blue Streak]

Two Kookaburras out the back today. There's a pair that visits from time to time.

For those who don't know it's a type of Kingfisher that doesn't necessarily Fish or live near the water. In fact they like to eat snakes and insects etc.

No pics I'm afraid but here's a link if you are interested - http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Dacelo-novaeguineae

 

Will try and get a picture.

Edited May 6, 2016 by The Blue Streak

[dhjgreen]

I was going to say "famous for its' laugh, but as the web link beat me to it, I shall not bother!

Edited May 6, 2016 by dhjgreen

[Mallard60022]

Now there are around a dozen HMs locally. I have checked and they are actually earlier than in 2014, later than last year and a month later than they used to be a few years ago. Between 2004 and  2013 they used  to arrive almost the same day every year.

 

Phil

[darren01]

My HM are back and nesting under my porch, saw them for the first time on 02/05/16 nice to see them back.

[jonny777]

We seem to have acquired a semi-resident sparrowhawk over the last few days. I have seen it swooping low over the bushes near the bird feeders and all the small birds scattering for cover in all directions.

 

This morning it sat on the fence by the holly bush for about 5 minutes, no doubt eyeing up a potential lunch; but some of the starlings seemed oblivious to its proximity, or maybe thought that it needed to take off to be a threat and so they were safe for the moment.

 

It is amazing how silent everything becomes in the garden when a bird of prey is just a few metres away.

[melmerby]

We seem to have acquired a semi-resident sparrowhawk over the last few days. I have seen it swooping low over the bushes near the bird feeders and all the small birds scattering for cover in all directions.

 

This morning it sat on the fence by the holly bush for about 5 minutes, no doubt eyeing up a potential lunch; but some of the starlings seemed oblivious to its proximity, or maybe thought that it needed to take off to be a threat and so they were safe for the moment.

 

It is amazing how silent everything becomes in the garden when a bird of prey is just a few metres away.

We get a Sparrowhawk around here. Most of the time you dont see it, just the pile of feathers where it has "plucked" it's catch (usually pigeons).

However on a couple of occasions I have seen it vainly trying to trap something smaller in the rather luxuriant (i.e. overgrown!) mixed hedge we have on one side of the garden where the small birds can usually keep well out of reach.

It did catch a male blackbird on one occasion however.

 

Keith

Edited May 7, 2016 by melmerby

[jonny777]

Yes, I think that is what this one tries to do as well; frighten birds into the holly and then grab them before they can get out of the tangle of leaves and branches.

 

It has a strategy of flying in a steep descent just over the roof of the house, so the birds in the garden don't see it coming until the last minute.

 

It is sad to see a favourite songbird reduced to a pile of feathers, but that is life I'm afraid.

[lightengine]

I sighted the first swallows yesterday

[geoffers]

Heard and saw a cuckoo at the Sculthorpe Moor reserve yesterday (yippee) and heard a grasshopper warbler too. Lovely day out in the warmth and a super reserve too.