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[Misc] The Official NSC Bird Spotting Thread.



Zeberdi

Zeberdi

“Vorsprung durch Technik”
NSC Patron
Oct 20, 2022
6,034
Diablo said:
Many Egrets now seen on Brooks and have seen different similar Bird which I believe is "Cattle Egret". anyone else seen Cattle Egret in Ouse Valley below Lewes or anywhere else ???
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Cattle Egrets turn up from time to time but this summer there is quite an influx. There’s reports today of multiple sightings in Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Essex and Nottinghamshire - just to name a few. I always check sheep/cow fields and heronies for Cattle Egrets. I find them quite easy to separate from Little Egrets when they are in breeding plumage - with juvenile/non-breeding birds it certainly gets a bit trickier.

macaulaylibrary.org

ML621175573 - Western Cattle Egret - Macaulay Library

Macaulay Library ML621175573; © Rachel Lennard; Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom
macaulaylibrary.org macaulaylibrary.org

I used to see one regularly near Ivy Lakes in Chichester and occasionally one would turn up in the cow fields in the Arun Valley.

Last time I saw a Cattle Egret (non-breeding) was on the work Reserve back in March flying overhead then landing in a tree for an hour before disappearing.

Try and get a photo 🙂
 
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D

Diablo

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 22, 2014
4,310
lewes
Diablo said:
Couple of Barn Owl boxes near me. One has been taken over by Kestrels that have now flown the other has a couple of Stock Dove chicks in it.

Picture shows two of the four young Kestrels venturing out. One on top of box and one on Beam above.




View attachment 185451
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Update on fledglings. Yesterday afternoon after torrential rain one kestrel youngster was struggling to fly and very bedraggled(a Fox probably would have had it ). We are lucky here to have "East Sussex Wildlife rescue". They were out within the hour thought it was just wet and hungry and needed a couple of days in their centre and will then bring it back.
 


Questions

Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,292
Worthing
Saw a buzzard on a low fence whilst having my lunch in Slinfold the other day. It sat there happy for ages. First time I’ve seen one just sitting around
 


pasty

pasty

A different kind of pasty
Jul 5, 2003
30,807
West, West, West Sussex
pasty said:
Not a very exciting bird, but we have a pair of pigeons apparently nesting in our garden. Don’t believe there’s any eggs in there right now, but one of the pair rarely leaves the nest. View attachment 184611
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Just heard some very quiet cheep cheeps and it appears she has a hatchling

Not a great photo as didn’t want to get too close.

IMG_8466.jpeg
 
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dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
54,682
Burgess Hill
Diablo said:
Many Egrets now seen on Brooks and have seen different similar Bird which I believe is "Cattle Egret". anyone else seen Cattle Egret in Ouse Valley below Lewes or anywhere else ???
Click to expand...
I posted a picture of one earlier in the thread - admittedly it was in the Algarve, but I was hand-feeding chips !
 
















WATFORD zero

WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 10, 2003
27,334
Dun Lurkin said:
On a smaller scale, some long tailed tits have moved into my area (Southwick) and have seen them in my garden for the first time after over 40 years in residence. Had seen them in the past at my daughter's house in Shoreham though.
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They must be on tour. I had them in my garden (just up from the theatre of trees) yesterday :wink:
 




Coldeanseagull

Coldeanseagull

Opinionated
Mar 13, 2013
8,210
Coldean
Saw one circling in Coldean this morning. By the time I'd got my camera up on my phone, a herd of herring gulls had screeched their way to intercept it and drive it high into the sky....which it was doing on the thermals anyway!
edit
For some reason, my post didn't include the quote from Seagull on the hill :shrug:
To be clear, it's a buzzard I was talking about
 
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MJsGhost

MJsGhost

Oooh Matron, I'm an
NSC Patron
Jun 26, 2009
4,974
East
Seagull on the Hill said:
We get buzzards circling over our house, it's quite a sight when the rooks gang up to chase them away.
I love the high pitched eerie call of the buzzards.
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We seem surrounded by them around me (out in the sticks). I often see them quite close up in the mornings when I'm walking the dog. They sit high up in a line of trees bordering the fields and swoop down and across to the other side. They also sit on telegraph poles alongside the lane to my village.

I saw this the other day. At first, I assumed this was a buzzard as it usually would be, but then (too late to get a decent photo) realised it was a kite!

IMG_6436.jpeg

By no means the first time I'd seen one here (one has circled over my garden), but had I been more awake, I'd have seen this pretty close up on the ground!
 






fly high

fly high

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
1,574
in a house
MJsGhost said:
We seem surrounded by them around me (out in the sticks). I often see them quite close up in the mornings when I'm walking the dog. They sit high up in a line of trees bordering the fields and swoop down and across to the other side. They also sit on telegraph poles alongside the lane to my village.

I saw this the other day. At first, I assumed this was a buzzard as it usually would be, but then (too late to get a decent photo) realised it was a kite!

View attachment 187027
By no means the first time I'd seen one here (one has circled over my garden), but had I been more awake, I'd have seen this pretty close up on the ground!
Click to expand...
This spring we had a red kite regularly flying over us, seen one on Ashdown Forest but first time I'd seen one at home. In June I was at Maresfield Recycling Centre & there was a pair fly around the adjacent fields, the ones our council want to triple the size of the 'business' park & build on, think I was the only person to notice them.

Have had Buzzards for a number of years now, love to watch them teaching their fledglings the art of flying & avoiding crows etc.
 


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