[Misc] The Official NSC Bird Spotting Thread.

[WATFORD zero]

Is it a stand-alone feeding station, away from decent cover? You should get more interest if the feeders are hanging from a tree, or close enough to trees or shrubs so there's a bit of cover. An exposed position leaves the birds wary of predation.

We have flocks of goldfinches around us (just outside of Lewes) and they're suckers for the nigella seeds we put out for them.

My personal favourites that we get in the garden are long-tailed tits. We've very occasionally had bullfinches too.

Chaffinch numbers have noticeably declined.

I have a couple of bird feeding stations out for the last 10-15 years and generally get a good mix of birds, but have also noticed a lack of chaffinches the last few years. Always had Goldfinches (Niger and Sunflower hearts) but numbers seem to be increasing and Greenfinches are coming back after a couple of years. All of the feeders have those outer cages or covers, so an athletic Starling can get in, but not much bigger (although Greater Spotted woodpeckers somehow wedge themselves in, upside down under the covers).

A few bird boxes around the garden ensures a regular number of Blue and Great Tits, together with Robins and blackcaps.

Never had many sparrows until the last year or so and now have loads. Maybe my regular Sparrow hawk will stop getting ideas above his station and stop taking doves and pigeons in my garden.

I agree that Long tailed tits are my favourites. Occasional, but welcome

 

[Weststander]

I have a couple of bird feeding stations out for the last 10-15 years and generally get a good mix of birds, but have also noticed a lack of chaffinches the last few years. Always had Goldfinches (Niger and Sunflower hearts) but numbers seem to be increasing and Greenfinches are coming back after a couple of years. All of the feeders have those outer cages or covers, so an athletic Starling can get in, but not much bigger (although Greater Spotted woodpeckers somehow wedge themselves in, upside down under the covers).

A few bird boxes around the garden ensures a regular number of Blue and Great Tits, together with Robins and blackcaps.

Never had many sparrows until the last year or so and now have loads. Maybe my regular Sparrow hawk will stop getting ideas above his station and stop taking doves and pigeons in my garden.

I agree that Long tailed tits are my favourites. Occasional, but welcome

Are your successful feeders in wide open ground or by hedges?

Nervous of cats, magpies and sparrow-hawks, I’ve haven’t yet worked out their preference. By hedges allows predators to lie in wait.

 

[MJsGhost]

I have a couple of bird feeding stations out for the last 10-15 years and generally get a good mix of birds, but have also noticed a lack of chaffinches the last few years. Always had Goldfinches (Niger and Sunflower hearts) but numbers seem to be increasing and Greenfinches are coming back after a couple of years. All of the feeders have those outer cages or covers, so an athletic Starling can get in, but not much bigger (although Greater Spotted woodpeckers somehow wedge themselves in, upside down under the covers).

A few bird boxes around the garden ensures a regular number of Blue and Great Tits, together with Robins and blackcaps.

Never had many sparrows until the last year or so and now have loads. Maybe my regular Sparrow hawk will stop getting ideas above his station and stop taking doves and pigeons in my garden.

I agree that Long tailed tits are my favourites. Occasional, but welcome

More sparrows than I can shake a stick at over here (house and hedge/dunnock) and the house sparrows are marauding little buggers that work their way through most of my veg patch. This gang seem to particularly like spinach!

I do like the chatter from a group of sparrows though and as much as sharing my veg with them can be annoying, I'd miss them if they were gone.

F**k me, I'm only 44 and have turned into my mum!

 

[WATFORD zero]

Are your successful feeders in wide open ground or by hedges?

Nervous of cats, magpies and sparrow-hawks, I’ve haven’t yet worked out their preference. By hedges allows predators to lie in wait.

They are about 15-20 feet from a line of cherry trees on one side and similar from a HUGE Philadelphus on the other. This was carefully calculated over a couple of years of watching squirrels flying across the kitchen windows in an attempt to get from aforementioned trees to feeders, a lot of swearing, and the feeders being moved a few inches at regular intervals.

And of course not forgetting that a squirrel baffle for a feeding station costs more than the bloody feeding station

......... and relax

 

[Weststander]

They are about 15-20 feet from a line of cherry trees on one side and similar from a HUGE Philadelphus on the other. This was carefully calculated over a couple of years of watching squirrels flying across the kitchen windows in an attempt to get from aforementioned trees to feeders, a lot of swearing, and the feeders being moved a few inches at regular intervals.

And of course not forgetting that a squirrel baffle for a feeding station costs more than the bloody feeding station

......... and relax

A few years ago squirrel/s worked out how to remove the top lid to one of these, to get to the sunflower hearts. Kept happening. Full marks for ingenuity.

In the end I used some hanger wire to create an additional clasp over the lid.

Our most varied time for birds were those incredibly snowy winters 2008 onwards. Our feeder drew in Redwings and Fieldfares.

 

[WATFORD zero]

A few years ago squirrel/s worked out how to remove the top lid to one of these, to get to the sunflower hearts. Kept happening. Full marks for ingenuity.

In the end I used some hanger wire to create an additional clasp over the lid.

View attachment 157095

Our most varied time for birds were those incredibly snowy winters 2008 onwards. Our feeder drew in Redwings and Fieldfares.

Yep, went through wiring the lids closed, water pistols, moving the feeders, greasing the poles, putting hanging baskets over the feeders. My kids still tell stories of how it took me the best part of 3 years to intellectually outwit a squirrel.

Apparently these

Plus careful placement can stop a whole load of bad language

And I just found

My resident Sparrow Hawk having a chat with a dove

 

[dazzer6666]

Spent ten minutes last week during a quiet fishing session watching a Barn Owl first catch something not more than 25 yards away, then get chased by a Kestrel for quite a while before ducking down between some vehicles until the Kestrel went away, then slowly emerging from the hiding place only for the Kestrel to rapidly reappear and chase it right up to the barn where the owl obviously resides (have seen it there a few times) before it went through a hole in the roof. Absolutely fascinating to watch.

 

[Weststander]

Yep, went through wiring the lids closed, water pistols, moving the feeders, greasing the poles, putting hanging baskets over the feeders. My kids still tell stories of how it took me the best part of 3 years to intellectually outwit a squirrel.

Apparently these

View attachment 157098

Plus careful placement can stop a whole load of bad language

And I just found

View attachment 157099View attachment 157100

My resident Sparrow Hawk having a chat with a dove

The only brutal thing I’ve seen was a magpie torturing a chaffinch. Reminded me of televised autobio drama 20 years ago, The Alan Clark Diaries, the charismatic MP who lived in a castle near Hythe. He spoke about the mental anguish after despatching magpies, something he did legally because they were wiping out the small birds on his grounds.

Problems, problems. I found that snails were taking over feeders inside! Solved by gardener's ribbed copper tape stuck round any part of the circumference of the pole.

 

[Sirnormangall]

My wife’s a bit of a twitcher and she dragged me out to Pulborough brooks today. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. Very peaceful and saw lots of different bird life including a Snipe - which hitherto I’d only ever seen on the sign outside the (ex) pub in Patcham.
I bravely made, on one occasion, what I thought was a humorous comment about the great tits on show, but was scolded about making such an inappropriate comment, particularly on Valentine’s Day.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's a same about grey squirrels, they really don't belong here. In my garden squirrels and birds happily feed together:
View attachment 157107

 

[Hugo Rune]

I used to see a peregrine falcon in the steelwork in the roof of the west stand. Has anyone else ever seen it?

Yes. I see it every now and again, it’s normally directly in front of me.

I saw on Winterwatch that there are more than 50 Peregrine Falcon pairs living in London. They have actually evolved to feed a lot more at night because of the huge light pollution. I wonder if the Amex Peregrine is doing the same thing with those orange lights they have shone at the grass all night? I suspect the staff at the Amex love having that raptor there. There can’t be many rodents or pigeons hanging around!

 

[Flagship]

My wife’s a bit of a twitcher and she dragged me out to Pulborough brooks today. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. Very peaceful and saw lots of different bird life including a Snipe - which hitherto I’d only ever seen on the sign outside the (ex) pub in Patcham.
I bravely made, on one occasion, what I thought was a humorous comment about the great tits on show, but was scolded about making such an inappropriate comment, particularly on Valentine’s Day.

She didn't mention the cock that she'd seen recently?

 

[BrightonCottager]

I'm in Malaga at the moment and it's funny seeing a lot of tourists getting excited about the ring-necked parakeets flying about the parks. These are the same species that have taken over Greater London parks including Bishops Park next to Fulham. No-one raises an eyebrow in London about them. One of the urban myths about them is that Jimi Hendrix released a pair he brought back from Morocco.

 

[mikeyjh]

One app I've downloaded that is really helpful is Merlin. It records bird song and identifies them. Just walking around Coldean with the dog the other day, it identified 14 birds - the usual robins, wrens, starlings, tits, pigeons etc but also picked up a reed bunting, a goldcrest, greenfinch, redwing, goldfinch - the trick is then to find them,

You need to be a little sceptical of taking these identifications as gospel - We're using the underlying AI on a little project in Mid/North Wales where, so far (over the last few months), we're analysed about 300,000 recordings using this software and the results can be a little off. The software itself has 'probability' measures expressed as a percentage, I'm not sure what the app uses but, as an example - Over the last couple of weeks, we've been specifically trying to locate any Lesser Spotted Woodpecker territories in a couple of areas, the AI has identified about 200 records with probability between 10 and 90%, none of them were correct. The mis identifications ranging from a distant Goshawk to, inevitably, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and many more! We follow up any unusual or unexpected IDs by having a human ID and reviewing a spectrogram of the recording.

All that said, it's fun isn't it! Goldcrests, for instance, are quite common but we just don't see them, only hear them.... I only see them when they struck a window...

 

[Zeberdi]

Birds are wary of feeding in wide open spaces because they are sitting ducks for hawks and birds of prey. If your feeders are near to trees and bushes, they are close to areas where they can hide .

This.

Sparrowhawks do dive into bushes to take birds but this is where birds are usually roosting or feeding in groups already in a bush and the Sparrowhawk is trying to flush them out into the open - They are stealth predators but this invariably means swooping and diving into open spaces from concealed positions (where they will wait for long periods) and attacking birds where they are most vulnerable such as on a feeder that’s placed in a very open area. (Sparrowhawks have great aerial agility but the more obstacles in their flight path the harder it is for them to catch prey.)

As far as cats are concerned, low nest boxes and ground feeding birds (often underneath feeders) are most at risk ( and new fledglings unable to fly properly).

Feeding stations should ideally be kept away from wooded fences (where there is no protection from cats pouncing onto feeders or onto birds feeding on the ground) but they should also be situated near the cover of bushes or trees not in wide open spaces where Sparrowhawks can take an easy meal.

Bird Flu

It should be noted that Bird Flu is decimating wild bird populations and good hygiene of feeders is particularly important (as is the idea of using several feeding areas not congregating them all in one area)

https://www.bto.org/how-you-can-help/providing-birds/feeding-garden-birds/hygiene

 

[jakarta]

As an aside, I was working up in Orkneys almost 35 years ago on Flotta Oil Terminal. Had the afternoon off one day so took the Ferry with a workmate (a twitcher) to Hoy to see the Naval Museum, as we docked I looked up and there were these two HUGE birds circling a few hundred feet above. Geoff looked up and said 'you have just seen your first two Golden Eagles'. Hoy is utterly bleak so who knows what they eat, I suppose they could go over Scapa Flow and nick lambs etc. from Orkney Mainland?

 

[Boroseagull]

I'm in Malaga at the moment and it's funny seeing a lot of tourists getting excited about the ring-necked parakeets flying about the parks. These are the same species that have taken over Greater London parks including Bishops Park next to Fulham. No-one raises an eyebrow in London about them. One of the urban myths about them is that Jimi Hendrix released a pair he brought back from Morocco.

Being pedantic - sorry - but the parakeets around in Malaga (and my garden!) are Monk Parakeets. These birds originate from Argentina and are now classed as pests here in the Malaga area. There are a few Rose-ringed around too, but very much in the minority.

 

[FamilyGuy]

Saw a Red Kite between Ditchling Beacon and Coldean Lane on Monday

View attachment 137590

Seen about half a dozen round sussex in the last year or so. I remember 10-15 years ago when Buzzards started arriving in Sussex, and they now seem to outnumber the Kestrels. Just keeping my eyes peeled for a White tailed Eagle from the IOW

I was talking to a guy from the rspb a couple of days ago and he says that Pulborough Brooks uis the place to be right now. Three eagles sighted recently plus the return of several migratory birds.

 

[SK1NT]

A few weekends back i sat down with my 6 year old to do the RSPB bird watching weekend. You have to sit and log all the birds that you've seen in your garden for an hour.

In that hour the most incredible thing happened, bearing in mind I live near Kingston SW London and not in the country side. A bird of prey (we think a buzzard) took down this wood pigeon. Whilst this bird of prey was dealing with a flapping pigeon a massive fox comes from behind and attacks this fairly large bird of prey. There was a stand off and the bird made itself big (and it was big) a few times to deter the fox. The bird stayed there for about 3 hrs eating this pigeon but unfortunately i think the foxes initial attack from behind damaged the bird as it limped off after eating the pigeon. Unfortunately i saw the bird the next day dead. Very sad. I did manage to film it a lot of it.

That fox is a regular to the garden and it is massive btw. It's like a Labrador.

 

[mikeyjh]

A few weekends back i sat down with my 6 year old to do the RSPB bird watching weekend. You have to sit and log all the birds that you've seen in your garden for an hour.

In that hour the most incredible thing happened, bearing in mind I live near Kingston SW London and not in the country side. A bird of prey (we think a buzzard) took down this wood pigeon. Whilst this bird of prey was dealing with a flapping pigeon a massive fox comes from behind and attacks this fairly large bird of prey. There was a stand off and the bird made itself big (and it was big) a few times to deter the fox. The bird stayed there for about 3 hrs eating this pigeon but unfortunately i think the foxes initial attack from behind damaged the bird as it limped off after eating the pigeon. Unfortunately i saw the bird the next day dead. Very sad. I did manage to film it a lot of it.


View attachment 157145

That fox is a regular to the garden and it is massive btw. It's like a Labrador.

Quite the spectacle! Very likely to have been a Buzzard - Just part of the circle of life, Buzzards are very common these days....