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[Misc] The Official NSC Bird Spotting Thread.
- Thread starter 1066familyman
- Start date
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
I’m really fortunate to live and work in a rural area which means if I have time to take an hour’s lunch break at work, I get to do some birding. I also get to do it all on private land so no dogs or runners/cyclists, just the whole area to myself and very quiet and peaceful. Fish are spawning so no fisherman on the lakes today either.
My lunchtime walk today included:
Kestrel
Common Buzzard
Reed Bunting
Cuckoo
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Marsh Tit
Lesser Whitethroat
Common WhiteThroat
Black-tailed Godwit
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Mute swan
Mallard
Sedge warbler
Wood pigeon
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Chiffchaff
Teal
Tufted Duck
Great crested Grebe
Cettis warbler
Moorhen
Wren
Reed Warbler
Stock Dove
Shelduck
Blackbird
Robin
Starling
Coot
Greylag goose
Canada Goose
Egyptian Goose
Oyster Catcher
Jay
Long-tailed Tit
Skylark
Pheasant
Swift
Robin
Magpie
Song Thrush
Dunnock
Nuthatch
Pied Wagtail
Collared Dove
My lunchtime walk today included:
Kestrel
Common Buzzard
Reed Bunting
Cuckoo
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Marsh Tit
Lesser Whitethroat
Common WhiteThroat
Black-tailed Godwit
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Mute swan
Mallard
Sedge warbler
Wood pigeon
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Chiffchaff
Teal
Tufted Duck
Great crested Grebe
Cettis warbler
Moorhen
Wren
Reed Warbler
Stock Dove
Shelduck
Blackbird
Robin
Starling
Coot
Greylag goose
Canada Goose
Egyptian Goose
Oyster Catcher
Jay
Long-tailed Tit
Skylark
Pheasant
Swift
Robin
Magpie
Song Thrush
Dunnock
Nuthatch
Pied Wagtail
Collared Dove
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
Nice selection but I’m very surprised that you saw a Siskin which would be a very interesting record - they are Winter Visitors to most of UK and back on their breeding grounds by now - there is a breeding population in UK but in the far north of Scotland.
Edit - should clarify there are predominantly Scotland/Wales and parts of Northern England in breeding season - sparser distribution and patchy records throughout UK in breeding season but largely confined to conifer plantations.
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I can't claim to have seen/verified the siskin, which was picked up by Merlin. Not quite as whacky as the nightjar it suggested the other day, which was actually a lawnmower in the distance
Boroseagull
Well-known member
You do need to treat Merlin with a little caution even though it's a good app. Why not add BirdNET app too? Here you actually record the bird song. Then you send it to the BirdNET servers in Germany who will analyze your recordings. Generally it is more accurate.I can't claim to have seen/verified the siskin, which was picked up by Merlin. Not quite as whacky as the nightjar it suggested the other day, which was actually a lawnmower in the distance
BrightonCottager
Well-known member
Nice. Did you play any in Lagos or west of there? I'm not a golfer (my main reason for going is for the surf), but the courses I've seen look very hilly. I saw a purple heron when we were there in April
That's an outrageous list for a lunchtime. I heard (but didn't see) some Blackcaps up at Hollingbury Hill Fort on Wednesday- one of my favourite birdsong. I use Birdnet to id them.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
That’s a really good birding spot - I found a male Red-Backed Shrike up there one summer. Also good for Nightingale and both species of Whitethroat
I love Blackcaps singing too - woke up to one in the garden a few weeks ago.
There's a lot of GSW near me. In fact, one widened the opening on our bird box and cleaned out a brood of blue tit chicks a few years ago. I have since put a metal ring over the aperture, but somehow the tits know and haven't been back.
There's a telegraph pole about 5m from our bedroom window and we are often woken by the sound of a woodpecker tapping away at metal. I used to think it was just a really stupid woodpecker, but apparently they are males showing off with the sound it makes rather than looking for food.
They are too smart to go into the nest when they can see me, but I could hear the chicks, so waited by this tree with the obvious nest holes to get a shot of sorts (and now I'll be late for work):
View attachment 182416
Swallow, swift and house martin populations have nearly halved, finds UK bird survey
Reduction in insect numbers contributes to drop, and there are declines across more than a third of bird species surveyed
www.theguardian.com
Cordwainer
Well-known member
- Jul 30, 2023
- 593
Very sad..I love these birds and to date this year have still only seen the one swiftSwallow, swift and house martin populations have nearly halved, finds UK bird survey
Reduction in insect numbers contributes to drop, and there are declines across more than a third of bird species surveyed
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
Sometimes people forget to consider how wars effect the environment- Ukraine is a particularly important country for biodiversity holding some of the best habitat in Europe providing home to some of our rarest species; especially around the Pripyat delta system (and around Chernobyl), Danube Delta and the Dnipro River which runs from Kyiv all the way to the Black Sea and the mountainous and wetland nature reserves bordering Belarus (which holds 70% of the world’s population of Aquatic warbler).
The toll on European wildlife in a what is a massive and largely rural Country is incalculable - the Danube and Dnipro are also internationally important migration routes that many bird species rely on for staging (food and water stops en route). Tracking has now shown Greater Spotted Eagles have been pushed away from their migration routes by the war - that will also likely be the case for other species too with negative effects. The impact from artillery and troop movement through wetland and woodland habitats goes without saying but the Birdlife article below sheds some light on just how extensive the impacts are likely to be:
Birdlife International has pulled together some assessments of the impacts based on what we already know about wildlife in the area and its use of habitat.
www.birdlife.org
Sorry to go off piste but I hope this will be if interest to some of you.
The toll on European wildlife in a what is a massive and largely rural Country is incalculable - the Danube and Dnipro are also internationally important migration routes that many bird species rely on for staging (food and water stops en route). Tracking has now shown Greater Spotted Eagles have been pushed away from their migration routes by the war - that will also likely be the case for other species too with negative effects. The impact from artillery and troop movement through wetland and woodland habitats goes without saying but the Birdlife article below sheds some light on just how extensive the impacts are likely to be:
Ukraine war forced eagles to change migration route
Scientists believe they avoided perils including artillery fire on their way to their traditional breeding ground.
www.bbc.co.uk
Birdlife International has pulled together some assessments of the impacts based on what we already know about wildlife in the area and its use of habitat.
The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on wild birds and their habitats
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine. This threatened not only Ukraine’s population but also biodiversity.
www.birdlife.org
Sorry to go off piste but I hope this will be if interest to some of you.
maresfield seagull
Well-known member
- May 23, 2006
- 2,320
You saw all of these in a lunchtime stroll ?
or perhaps identified by song ?
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
Norfolk.
- Apr 5, 2014
- 26,328
An Indigo Bunting was spotted in the North-East recently. A friend of mine has a picture.
I feel sorry for the poor thing. Condemned to a life in a colder climate and never having nookie. No wonder it looks looked so miserable.
Most likely carried across the pond in poor weather conditions and lost its co-ordination. Off to Florida for a sex tour and ends up wandering aimlessly around Sunderland.
I feel sorry for the poor thing. Condemned to a life in a colder climate and never having nookie. No wonder it looks looked so miserable.
Most likely carried across the pond in poor weather conditions and lost its co-ordination. Off to Florida for a sex tour and ends up wandering aimlessly around Sunderland.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
Beautiful colour bird - It is possibly an escape (from captivity ) so would have been condemned to a life in a cage - there was one in Holland too this week.
Unfortunately hundreds of wild birds overshoot migration or get blown off course by weather or even piggy bag legitimate migrating species by ‘accident’ - a few might get absorbed by the local gene pool, most succumb to predators (because they look ‘different’ ) or as you say, eventually die from hunger or exhaustion. It’s the one aspect of birding I always felt quite sad about and never enjoyed that aspect of twitching despite the excitement of seeing a rare bird.
- Apr 5, 2014
- 26,328
The plumage of the bird suggests that it is very young. So it may well be wild. What I didn't know was that it navigates by the stars. Poor thing. Feel really sorry for it.
mikeyjh
Well-known member
Not sure if I'm being whooshed here but their breeding range covers much of the UK, not much of SE England but widely elsewhere.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 7,208
I agree it is sad. Birds, also use the Earth’s magnetic fields to navigate too and I did wonder a few weeks ago (and mentioned it as much) whether the particularly strong solar storm would impact migration in an unusual way.
That might explain why there is a Killer Whale off the Northern Irish coast and an Indigo Bunting in Durham
mikeyjh
Well-known member
I am astounded by people's ability to recognise, by sight and sound, birds, bravo! I spend at least a day a week surrounded by 'experts', (RSPB wardens etc) and am routinely mocked for my complete lack or recognition. Give me a Chiffchaff, a Grasshopper Warbler or a Pied Fly though and I'm your manYou make it sound like a casual wander around the local park
I don’t use birding identification apps - they are often unreliable. I’m not great on birdsong now as I have lost the top range of my hearing but always did prefer to try and get onto any birds I hear anyway (which is good way of learning their calls btw)
I have been birding for over 40 years including doing bird surveys for various organisations which helps and used to lead public guided birding walks. I have good optics too. My current place of work sits on it’s own quite extensive nature reserve of mixed habitat (some public but most private access for scientific study), so to get that number of birds in an hour isn’t unusual - the only birds identified by song were Cuckoo and Chiffchaff.
I go around our reserve 2 or 3 times a week in a scooter - mostly lunch breaks but early mornings too - went in my lunch break yesterday but gave up half way through as a thunderstorm hit
Funnily enough, I've had to teach 2 people over the last month or so how we undertake nest box surveys, one of which was a new warden - Took about the blind leading the blind