[Misc] The Official NSC Bird Spotting Thread.

[Zeberdi]

Where are you based ? White tailed Eagle seen hanging out at Pulborough Brooks recently, West Sussex.

Hi Eeyore

I’m in Norfolk

We have quite a few sightings up here. Some of birds this year have been immature wild dutch ringed birds and we’ve had a few IoW immature birds wandering up here. The two this month were one from Europe and an IoW bird. The Norfolk reintroduction project was shelved but these European WTE sightings give hope WTE will colonise Norfolk naturally.

I saw a WTE at Pulborough in 2010 (long before the reintroduction project upon the IoW!) - it was a wandering immature bird from Europe so they have turned up from time to time from European populations as well as in more recent years from the IoW reintroductions.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Hi Eeyore

I’m in Norfolk

We have quite a few sightings up here. Some of birds this year have been immature wild dutch ringed birds and we’ve had a few IoW immature birds wandering up here. The two this month were one from Europe and an IoW bird. The Norfolk reintroduction project was shelved but these European WTE sightings give hope WTE will colonise Norfolk naturally.

I saw a WTE at Pulborough in 2010 (long before the reintroduction project upon the IoW!) - it was a wandering immature bird from Europe so they have turned up from time to time from European populations as well as in more recent years from the IoW reintroductions.

I've been scanning the skies around Brighton and Sussex in the hope of seeing one for the last couple of years but no luck yet. I did see a report that one of IOW ones had flown down the south downs as far as Dover and back if I remember rightly. Is there any sort of tracking available for the IOW ones ?

I'll be straight on here when I do

 

[dazzer6666]

I've been scanning the skies around Brighton and Sussex in the hope of seeing one for the last couple of years but no luck yet. I did see a report that one of IOW ones had flown down the south downs as far as Dover and back if I remember rightly. Is there any sort of tracking available for the IOW ones ?

I'll be straight on here when I do

Regularly seen at Pulborough Brooks as mentioned above…..worth a visit

 

[Zeberdi]

I've been scanning the skies around Brighton and Sussex in the hope of seeing one for the last couple of years but no luck yet. I did see a report that one of IOW ones had flown down the south downs as far as Dover and back if I remember rightly. Is there any sort of tracking available for the IOW ones ?

I'll be straight on here when I do

The IoW birds are all satellite tracked but that data isn’t publicly available for security reasons (birds of prey, especially eagles are subject to persecution/shooting, egg theft in this Country and are very susceptible to disturbance around nesting sites so the the tracking data will be used only for professional purposes). When I was working on breeding bird surveys on the Isle of Mull some years ago, there was a 2 mile cordon of local observers keeping members of the public away from the White-tailed nesting areas so the security really is very tight - unless they turn up randomly.

You can follow the exploits of IoW birds on Roy Dennis’s blog (Roy has been at the cutting edge of raptor reintroduction projects for decades and overseas the IoW one in partnership with the Forestry Commission)

Isle of Wight Sea Eagles Archives - Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

www.roydennis.org

If you really want to twitch a WTE at Pulborough or anywhere else in Sussex, then the rare Bird news apps are very helpful (but you need to subscribe to get the exact details of any sightings) - WTEs often hang around in an area hunting it for a few days, even weeks)

Sightings - BirdGuides

The latest bird sightings and reports

www.birdguides.com

Keep your eyes on the skies for flying barn doors

If I remember- I’ll post on here if any turn up at Pulborough/Brighton.

 

[WATFORD zero]

The IoW birds are all satellite tracked but that data isn’t publicly available for security reasons (birds of prey, especially eagles are subject to persecution/shooting, egg theft in this Country and are very susceptible to disturbance around nesting sites so the the tracking data will be used only for professional purposes). When I was working on breeding bird surveys on the Isle of Mull some years ago, there was a 2 mile cordon of local observers keeping members of the public away from the White-tailed nesting areas so the security really is very tight - unless they turn up randomly.

You can follow the exploits of IoW birds on Roy Dennis’s blog (Roy has been at the cutting edge of raptor reintroduction projects for decades and overseas the IoW one in partnership with the Forestry Commission)

Isle of Wight Sea Eagles Archives - Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

www.roydennis.org

If you really want to twitch a WTE at Pulborough or anywhere else in Sussex, then the rare Bird news apps are very helpful (but you need to subscribe to get the exact details of any sightings) - WTEs often hang around in an area hunting it for a few days, even weeks)

Sightings - BirdGuides

The latest bird sightings and reports

www.birdguides.com

Keep your eyes on the skies for flying barn doors

If I remember- I’ll post on here if any turn up at Pulborough/Brighton.

Thanks for the link. I see that one flew east along the South Coast, passing over Brighton at 10:00, Eastbourne half an hour later, and Hastings just before 11:00 on 23rd March, just a few weeks back. Most NSCers can't make it that quick on a Saturday

 

[Zeberdi]

Thanks for the link. I see that one flew east along the South Coast, passing over Brighton at 10:00, Eastbourne half an hour later, and Hastings just before 11:00 on 23rd March, just a few weeks back. Most NSCers can't make it that quick on a Saturday

Keep one eye on the sky above the Amex when you watch our attempts on goal fly into orbit - it’s always good to multi-task

 

[One Love]

Moved into the Sussex countryside over 6 months ago and came across a nightingale on one of my regular walks yesterday.

I'm sure not particularly rare but it was the first one I've seen/heard.

 

[Poyningsgull]

On holiday in Tenerife and just spotted this beauty by the pool. A Eurasian Hoopoe according to the Lens App.
Oh well back to my beer

 

[MTSeagulls]

Had this visit our Pequi tree earlier this week.

 

[knocky1]

Sad story in our patio this week. We have been feeding a couple of in love sparrows and leaving nest building materials out for them. They took it up to build a nest in a neighbouring roof that is used yearly. Could see the Mrs was pregnant.
Yesterday a broken egg was found next to where we put the food. A thug sparrow has seen them off, taken out the eggs, claimed it for himself and yesterday gave his woman a good seeing to on our patio table.
The bully can go and look for his own food.

 

[Cordwainer]

More summer visitors are here...

View attachment 180904

Are you in Sussex? Am in Brighton and haven’t seen these or Swifts yet.

 

[mikeyjh]

We've built some ponds and fenced off some future meadow/woodland around them and down to Afon Dyfi - We've good some nice visitors this year, daily Heron, Pied Flycatchers nesting, Dippers, various warblers. It's nice to watch. Got this nice pic of a Gray Wagtail by a pond on Sunday:-

 

[Si Gull]

We've built some ponds and fenced off some future meadow/woodland around them and down to Afon Dyfi - We've good some nice visitors this year, daily Heron, Pied Flycatchers nesting, Dippers, various warblers.

Jealous!

 

[mikeyjh]

Jealous!

Ahh, don't be, there's loads we don't see up here! PFs are a target species at our local reserve and we have about 30 nesting this season but, for instance, Green woodpeckers are largely absent and you have them regularly, probably.

 

[MJsGhost]

Are you in Sussex? Am in Brighton and haven’t seen these or Swifts yet.

Yep. Loads up here, just east of Lewes

 

[Cordwainer]

Yep. Loads up here, just east of Lewes

Good news..hopefully they fancy some sea air soon.

 

[Boroseagull]

Talking of Spotted Flies, 1 from yesterday's birding

 

[Wardy's twin]

I am doing a bit of bird photography and at the moment and am trying to record all the species that visit that woods near wooding cemetery and the surrounding area for this year. Currently up to 34 species , 23 of them are visual sightings (most with photos) the other 11 are from Merlin. As the trees become more leafy its becoming harder to see them so relying more on Merlin. Does anyone else use this, Is there a better alternative?

I took this (poor quality) picture hoping just to clarify it was a buzzard but its body shape seems wrong to me, any thoughts. It was buzzard size and at times was also hovering.

 

[mikeyjh]

I am doing a bit of bird photography and at the moment and am trying to record all the species that visit that woods near wooding cemetery and the surrounding area for this year. Currently up to 34 species , 23 of them are visual sightings (most with photos) the other 11 are from Merlin. As the trees become more leafy its becoming harder to see them so relying more on Merlin. Does anyone else use this, Is there a better alternative?

I took this (poor quality) picture hoping just to clarify it was a buzzard but its body shape seems wrong to me, any thoughts. It was buzzard size and at times was also hovering.

View attachment 182033

I've been doing a lot of work on Bioacoustics with the RSPB, BTO etc over the last year or so and while I'm not an expert, I've processed in excess of 10,000,000 sound files so have picked up a lot along the way. The analysis we do uses the same models (Birdnet/E-Bird) that Merlin does but we're able to tweak many more settings than you to try and get rid of a lot of guff. Merlin is great in many ways but it's far from infallable - Even the developers would not claim that any ID made with the app is abosultely accurate - We've had loads of IDs then when reviewed by a human have turned out be things like distant sheep or a cat.

In short it's a great tool but if you want to be certain then have the audio reviewd by an expert.

 

[Diablo]

Rare sight these days. Lapwing Chick. There were four two days ago..sadly only two now. However can`t believe how much they have grown in two days. Anyone any idea what may take them. Theres a lot of Herons, Crows about .