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spuggies and jackdaws and hedgehogs and frogs


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Lucky enough to see a barn owl out in the middle of the day at Lockington a couple of days ago. Got a great close up view of it as it flew alongside my bike for a few yards before veering back into the woods. 

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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Back at the weekend from a week's holiday in Whitby.

We went to Bempton Cliffs, the RSPB reserve, for a brilliant afternoon out.  Still time to see plenty of gannets, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars - many with young - before they start leaving their nest sites and head out to sea.

And as a 'land' bird bonus, the spuggies around the feeders near the car park and visitor centre are not house sparrows, but the much rarer tree sparrow.

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We have had two young tawny owls in our back garden.  

They seem to live in different trees and like to talk to each other long into the night.  

They are very loud - we have had to keep the kids windows closed because they kept getting woken up. 

English, Irish, Brit, Yorkshire, European.  Citizen of the People's Republic of Yorkshire, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the European Union.  Critical of all it.  Proud of all it.    

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1 hour ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Back at the weekend from a week's holiday in Whitby.

We went to Bempton Cliffs, the RSPB reserve, for a brilliant afternoon out.  Still time to see plenty of gannets, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars - many with young - before they start leaving their nest sites and head out to sea.

And as a 'land' bird bonus, the spuggies around the feeders near the car park and visitor centre are not house sparrows, but the much rarer tree sparrow.

Bempton is an amazing place. Glad you enjoyed it.

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"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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1 hour ago, Steve May said:

We have had two young tawny owls in our back garden.  

They seem to live in different trees and like to talk to each other long into the night.  

They are very loud - we have had to keep the kids windows closed because they kept getting woken up. 

Are they making the characteristic adult male and/or female calls Steve, or are the calls a bit different?

They maybe hunger calling to their parents. They are dependent on their parents for up to three months after fledging. 

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1 hour ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

Back at the weekend from a week's holiday in Whitby.

We went to Bempton Cliffs, the RSPB reserve, for a brilliant afternoon out.  Still time to see plenty of gannets, puffins, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars - many with young - before they start leaving their nest sites and head out to sea.

And as a 'land' bird bonus, the spuggies around the feeders near the car park and visitor centre are not house sparrows, but the much rarer tree sparrow.

 

27 minutes ago, Ullman said:

Bempton is an amazing place. Glad you enjoyed it.

Tis a wonderful spot. It's well worth checking the hedgerows and fields for passerines etc during migration periods, particularly when there have been easterly winds. The cliffs and fields around Flamborough & Filey are good also.

It beats working!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Just watching the Arctic Tour of Norway bike race on Eurosport and the helicopter got a great close up shot of a white tailed eagle.

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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5 hours ago, Ullman said:

Just watching the Arctic Tour of Norway bike race on Eurosport and the helicopter got a great close up shot of a white tailed eagle.

Apparently, there is a plan to reintroduce this species to the Isle of Wight, which was, apparently, the last place along the English south coast where they nested; that was in 1780.

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Heard the magpies going mental on my roof this morning so had a look out and was rather thrilled to see a sparrowhawk devouring some unfortunate bird in my front garden. 

And this in very urban North Hull.

Apologies for the quality but I didn't want to scare it off...

 

20190821_070806.jpg

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With Halloween coming up I decided to go to my local fancy dress shop to see if I could get a Dracula costume. After a few minutes the assistant handed me a Hull KR shirt asking "Is this suitable?", I replied "I think you may have misheard me, I said I wanted to look like a count."
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Its just finished its meal and flown off. Apologies to the squeamish but here's what's left of its meal...looks like it was a blackbird.

20190821_072316.jpg

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With Halloween coming up I decided to go to my local fancy dress shop to see if I could get a Dracula costume. After a few minutes the assistant handed me a Hull KR shirt asking "Is this suitable?", I replied "I think you may have misheard me, I said I wanted to look like a count."
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  • 2 weeks later...

Earlier today, my wife was reminded of the beauty and brutality of nature and how they can be juxtaposed.

She looked out into the garden and was delighted to see a humming bird hawkmoth (about the third spotted here this summer)  A split second later, a bird - possibly a nuthatch, but moving too quickly to be sure - dashed out of a nearby bush and snaffled the moth!

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3 hours ago, hindle xiii said:

I have noticed a lot more squashed squirrels this last couple of weeks.

If they're the grey variety then the more the merrier.

Bloody tree rats.

With Halloween coming up I decided to go to my local fancy dress shop to see if I could get a Dracula costume. After a few minutes the assistant handed me a Hull KR shirt asking "Is this suitable?", I replied "I think you may have misheard me, I said I wanted to look like a count."
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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting moment at about 6.30 this morning, when I let our puppy out in the garden.  Our oak tree was playing host simultaneously to three species of bird that move up tree trunks (and in one case down them too!) to get at bugs in the bark - namely nuthatch, tree-creeper and great spotted woodpecker.

I saw the first two and heard the third.

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Talking of hogs (which Gubrats was..sort of!) we have reached the time of year when pigs are set loose in the New Forest (in the local jargon, depastured on the forest, or something like that), in the hope that they hoover up the acorns before the ponies eat too many.  Apparently the ponies like them, but they can make them very ill or, in extreme cases, cause their death.

My wife, daughter and I came on a delightful pig group yesterday at Eyeworth, including (I think, but I'm no porcine expert!) Tamworths, Gloucester Old Spots and Wessex Saddlebacks.  Great to see!

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  • 1 month later...

Walking round ' the clay hole ' , essentially a large pond/small lake in Hindley Green just between Wigan and Leigh this afternoon with the dog , spotted the usual Ducks ,Swans,Coots,Geese and the odd seagull , then stood on a rock about ten feet out from the bank a Cormorant spreading its wings in the wind , we must be about 20 miles from the sea 

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3 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Walking round ' the clay hole ' , essentially a large pond/small lake in Hindley Green just between Wigan and Leigh this afternoon with the dog , spotted the usual Ducks ,Swans,Coots,Geese and the odd seagull , then stood on a rock about ten feet out from the bank a Cormorant spreading its wings in the wind , we must be about 20 miles from the sea 

Cormorants are found well away from the sea where there is a food supply. Their feathers look great in sunlight, with a range of colours showing.

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Saw a flock of redpolls in Iceland last week as well as a redwing that looked as if it had been left behind when all its mates headed south for the winter.

Heading back into the Humber a brambling landed on the ship looking for crumbs. Looked as if it had just hopped across from Spurn.

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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