Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[honeybun]

Def a blackbird. We have two resident ones that seem to be there all the time. A starling is a rare sight this year although last year we had lots.

Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

Our blackbirds will eat pieces of nut and are keen on apples currently.

[Taz2]

How unusual! I think that should be passed on to BTO. There is youtube footage of a blackbird eating nuts here and you will see from the comments that it has caused some surprise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feLTAz86DbA  I will keep an eye out for mine doing this now!

My favourite female blackbird arrived last week. She is a month later than usual. She winters here but spends her summers somewhere else. She has a distinctive white smudge marking on her wing. They can travel over a hundred miles apparently.

Taz  x

[Taz2]

Have just found this news on Great Tits.    http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/blog/2012/11/27/new-strain-of-bird-virus-sweeps-across-britain/

Taz x

[honeybun]

Around Halloween I buy monkey nuts as the squirrels love them. They nibble a little hole in the top to stop them going moldy and then bury them. My blackbird will also dig them up and eat them too. The poor squirrel must come back later looking for his stash and wonder where on earth it has gone. 


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

We had lots of greenfinches for many years then found several dying as well as chaffinches about 3 Winters ago.  Sometimes I do wonder if we do more harm than good by topping up the feeders 

 I have several 'butchers' hooks' which slip onto branches on which I hang the feeders and swap them round the garden.

[Taz2]

The finches were dying from this http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/sickbirds/greenfinches.aspx  CLKD. Our population is slowly recovering but the RSPB and the BTO both still like to be told of any cases you spot.  It is important to clean the feeders weekly to try to stop the spread of such diseases but it is not always easy to find the time.

Taz x

[honeybun]

We had a very fat pheasant in the garden this morning. They have been shooting on the country estate next to us over the weekend. This one was an escapee.

He enjoyed the seed I put out for him and stayed around for ages. Nice to see.

Honeyb
x

[lady57]

How lovely, it has been tit city here this morning, they have been like the battle of britain swooping and crossing in the air over the end of the garden but my beautiful lone goldfinch of last week has not been back 

[Taz2]

Maybe he has found a flock and is spreading the word Jane. It is unusual to see them on their own unless they are sick and have been driven out.

My bullfinch was back today. I could hear it calling from one of the trees yesterday but didn't see it. She is without her partner so I am not sure what's happened to him. Either that or my pair have gone off and this is a different female. Beautiful to watch though.

Taz x

[Pennyfarthing]

Despite having plenty of food in the garden I said to my DH that I have never seen so few birds in our garden.  It was very windy last week and I put it down to that but still no better this week.

[Taz2]

I  must have them all Penny! The starlings have really  made a comeback this year thank goodness although they are still on the red list. I fed them three times today as I was not at work and each time there were over 30. Goldfinch flock is growing too and they spend so much time squabbling over the perches that I would like to use a larger feeder but, then again, that would cost even more money to keep filling! Do you normally have a lot of birds this time of year?

You've got lots of birds around the county though - makes me feel homesick for East Anglia http://norfolkornithologistsassociation.pbworks.com/w/page/10031663/FrontPage

Taz x

[CLKD]

We have travelled across the Midlands and there are lots of redwings/field fares in the hedge rows (couldn't see well enough to decide which  ).  Mum had over 8 blackbirds on her lawn after nuts, dried fruits, freshly cut apples .........

[lady57]

our lone goldfinch has returned and brought all his friends to the niger feeder, they were fighting over the 2 ports, might need another one 

[CLKD]

How lovely!

We have a heron on the Estate