spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs

[longboard]

1 hour ago, Bearman said:

No, it had its wings folded all the time. I was hoping it would spread them so that I could get an idea of its wing span.

OK.

Spawks tend to do it when they sense a threat to take their prey.

[Red Willow]

6 hours ago, Bearman said:

Im just watching a bird of prey devouring a pigeon on my lawn it is about  30 cm beak to tail. Has a grey breast and legs it has white flashes on the back of its head and a narrow one piece fan shaped tail.the tail has broad bands across it.

When it started eating the pigeon was alive for a good 5 minutes and continued to struggle even though it was having its breast ripped apart

I've spent an hour or more watching a similar thing this afternoon (checked it was a Sparrowhawk, )it consumed a large portion of the pigeon and once it had eaten enough it picked up the rest and flew off.

It had a dodgy eye it kept an eye on the 4 maggies and a squirrel interested in it's feast. It covered the body with its wings only when anything got too close. Got some good video of it I think

Edited February 9, 2018 by Red Willow
misidentification

[Ullman]

Feels like spring today, heard the first skylark of the year.

Also saw a male reed bunting looking very fine in his spring plumage. Might have seen his mate too but I can't tell the difference between a female reed bunting and a corn bunting.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Ullman

[Ullman]

Very pleased to see a barn owl at Balkholme this afternoon.

[BryanC]

Working in one of the less salubrious parts of Manchester, I'm regularly delighted to catch sight of the odd peregrine.

Sometimes one, sometimes a pair - usually perching, but now and again out terrorising the many local pigeons.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On ‎22‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:04 PM, Bedford Roughyed said:

Yup black tip on the tail, and was biting the back of the neck.  

We were debating whether it was a Stoat or a weasel, but it was pretty small, red/brown coat with white belly and black tip on the tail.

One is weasily recognisable, the other is stoatally different...

...I'll get my hat, coat, binoculars and leave!

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

33 minutes ago, BryanC said:

Working in one of the less salubrious parts of Manchester, I'm regularly delighted to catch sight of the odd peregrine.

Sometimes one, sometimes a pair - usually perching, but now and again out terrorising the many local pigeons.

It is one of the great features of urban wildlife in the last twenty or so years how peregrines have come in from rural areas.  I had a meeting this morning with officials from Wells Cathedral.  Their Clerk of Works said he wished, like their diocesan neighbours, Salisbury Cathedral, they had resident peregrines to keep the pigeon population in check!

Meanwhile, yesterday, walking in the New Forest, I heard a goshawk.  This is one of, I think, three species of bird that I know I have heard in the wild, but not seen.  The others are nightingale (both in this country and in France) and golden oriole (in France)  Does anybody else keep ridiculous lists like this in their head?

[Moose]

Paid a visit to Wakefield today and saw a couple of blokes, one with a camera the other with binoculars looking up at the cathedral tower, being nosey I asked them what they are looking at and they pointed out a pair of Peregrine Falcons perched on a specially placed nesting box. Evidently the same pair have nested there for at least the last five years.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, Moose said:

Paid a visit to Wakefield today and saw a couple of blokes, one with a camera the other with binoculars looking up at the cathedral tower, being nosey I asked them what they are looking at and they pointed out a pair of Peregrine Falcons perched on a specially placed nesting box. Evidently the same pair have nested there for at least the last five years.

When you think about it, a cathedral roof, tower or spire is a great place for peregrines - safe nesting site with minimal risk of disturbance (human or otherwise) and generous food supply (aka pigeons) on tap!

At Salisbury Cathedral, the Dean & Chapter (ie the cathedral authorities) have had an arrangement for a couple of years or so, whereby visitors to the cathedral can watch a webcam of the nest, when it is in use.  Of course, if you are lucky, you see them coming and going, as I did one summer's evening a few years ago as I left the cathedral where I had been with a visiting choir singing choral evensong.

[Bedford Roughyed]

 

[jayemm]

Saw the first swallow of the year this morning at Thirsk. 

[westlondonfan]

I have seen a lot of toads in the ponds near us this year.

[Ullman]

On 07/04/2018 at 2:11 PM, jayemm said:

Saw the first swallow of the year this morning at Thirsk. 

Saw loads of them at Tophill Low near Driffield today. First ones I've seen this year too.

[Farmduck]

I saw a question on another forum that might have been more useful here: Where's a good place to bird watch falcons in England?

[John Rhino]

8 hours ago, Farmduck said:

I saw a question on another forum that might have been more useful here: Where's a good place to bird watch falcons in England?

Derby cathedral has had peregrins nesting there for years.

A good place to watch them is here

http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.fr/p/our-webcams.html?m=1

[Shadow]

8 hours ago, Farmduck said:

I saw a question on another forum that might have been more useful here: Where's a good place to bird watch falcons in England?

Just to show some good news from Salisbury for a change

https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/visit-what-see/peregrine-falcons-0

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

Just heard my first cuckoo, in the New Forest about an hour ago.  Time to dust down the Frederick Delius CD, me thinks!

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 9:23 AM, Farmduck said:

I saw a question on another forum that might have been more useful here: Where's a good place to bird watch falcons in England?

If by falcons you mean birds of prey more generally, it's hard to beat the New Forest.  I was dog walking at Acre Down (in the forest) a few years ago and met a man who had been birdwatching since dawn.  In the six or so hours that had past, he had seen buzzard, honey buzzard, sparrowhawk, goshawk, peregrine, kestrel, hobby and red kite!  All these, apart from the red kite, are quite longstanding species found in the New Forest.  Goshawks nest regularly in small numbers, buzzards and sparrowhawks are resident all year round and honey buzzards are summer visitors to breed in small numbers.  Hobbies - also summer migrants coming here to breed - are a heathland speciality, so the new forest is a good place to see them (and have a chance of doing so); seeing one hawking at speed for flying insects or small birds is a fantastic sight, which I have managed tow or three times in the forest or nearby.  At first glance they can look like an overlarge swift.

Red kites were very rare hereabouts twenty years ago, but seeing them everywhere is an increasingly common phenomenon, including drifting over larger urban centres like Salisbury and Winchester.  Peregrines seen in the New Forest could be visiting to hunt, from nest sights in urban areas, or be nesting locally.

Finally, at this time of year, if one remembers the most easily overlooked piece of advice for bird-watching - "birds fly, so look upwards!" - it is just possible that you might see an osprey on the closing stages of its spring migration from Africa to the English north and midlands, Wales or Scotland, as it crosses the New Forest or other parts of Hampshire and Wiltshire.  Indeed, one was reported about three days ago passing over Mike McMeeken's home town.

 

 

[Shadow]

22 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

it's hard to beat the New Forest. 

That's all you needed to put 

[Ullman]

Red Kite catching the thermals at High Hunsley. What a fine sight it was too.

[BryanC]

Two skylarks seen on the moors near home yesterday, they have been absent for many years. Solitary lapwing also seen, another species that seems to have disappeared recently.

Going back to Bedford's earlier post regarding mayflies - did you know that the mayfly only lives for 24 hours? (Most of which is spent attending funerals and memorial services for other mayflies).

[Bearman]

Whoops!

Wrong thread 

Edited May 14, 2018 by Bearman

[Ullman]

5 hours ago, BryanC said:

Two skylarks seen on the moors near home yesterday, they have been absent for many years. Solitary lapwing also seen, another species that seems to have disappeared recently.

Interesting. Both species are a common sight here in East Yorkshire.

[BryanC]

Peculiar, isn't it?

Twenty or so years ago, I remember flocks of 20-40 lapwings being commonplace. On our local moors, we used to have many skylarks singing on the wing during the summer months. Seemed like every few hundred yards or so. Good to see 'em coming back though.

We do still have more curlews than many areas, though.

[ivans82]

Live in West Cumbria and Lapwings have all but vanished from this area although the fields and marshy areas where they used to nest are still the same don`t know why .