Bird Watching a Relaxing Hobby

[JR]

No photos, but had a nice selection around the pond on Thursday afternoon, blue tits , a robin , a couple of gold finches, sparrows, house and hedge and a few starlings. The pigeons were down feeding along with two collard doves. All of a sudden , nothing ! At that point the sparrow hawk landed on the fence, stayed for a few seconds and away. Took at least 30 mins for normal operations to regain .

[Tim Marlow]

We had about a thousand (no kidding!) starlings fly over the house this afternoon. Very impressive. The sky was momentarily black with birds. Probably the mega murmeration on the levels starting to split up for breeding. Same thing happened about the same time last year.

[skinflint]

No photos, but had a nice selection around the pond on Thursday afternoon, blue tits , a robin , a couple of gold finches, sparrows, house and hedge and a few starlings. The pigeons were down feeding along with two collard doves. All of a sudden , nothing ! At that point the sparrow hawk landed on the fence, stayed for a few seconds and away. Took at least 30 mins for normal operations to regain .

Used to get a couple of Sparrowhawks in the area a few years ago. Never managed to photograph them closely, I did manage this distance shot of the male back in 2017. Reading about them, the female is a much larger bird than the male and much more deadly.

[Geoffers]

For the first time in many years I’ve been getting several pairs of Chaffinch in the garden.

Not rare but unusual after such a long absence.

Geoff.

[papa 695]

Not quite bird watching, but the frogs are busy in my pond.

[JR]

Not quite bird watching, but the frogs are busy in my pond.
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Looks a fine mass there Ian .
We have spawn as well, but the fish are on standby !
Some must have matured over the years as the garden is completely enclosed and this year we have 3 pairs.

[yak face]

Wow thats a lot of frogs Ian ! good to see though , like a lot of native species theyre having a tough time so nice to see them so productive !

[CarolsHusband]

Well, seeing as this thread has gone to the frogs, have this little gem from the beach this morning. Cable drum thrown from the depths by the past few days swell.

There is a bird in the first pic, my Mrs in the distance having her morning dip.





Some sort of Mussels at a guess ?

edit Goose Barnacles apparently. And there is a connection to birds.... "It was once thought that barnacle geese hatched from goose barnacles. When 2 barnacle geese turned up in Scotland, people wondered where they had come from. No one had ever seen a barnacle goose nest or egg before. Then, when someone realised that the goose barnacle shell resembled the barnacle goose's head, they decided that the geese must grow attached to ships and then emerge as feathered birds "

[Andy the Sheep]

Going back to birds, this morning while trimming an ivy wall I was distracted by some loud screech from above. Having checked it was nor the Trumpets of Judgment neither a wandering Kinzhal from the East, I noticed those UFOs

I'm not a birdwatcher but I feel confident enough to affirm that those are birds of prey. As I have no idea about what kind of BoP they are, any suggestions or hints? I think that the colour pattern of the lower wing should be a rather good clue for a birdwatcher.
Sorry for the low quality of the pics but that's all I could obtain from my pocket camera. On the other hand the subjects were not cooperative at all!:smiling4:

Andrea

[Tim Marlow]

I think they are buzzards…..probably on a mating flight. The female is bigger and stronger so she spirals upwards until only the strongest male is left in her wake….I once saw eight of them in a spiral over my place of work…
They used to be very rare in the UK because their main prey is rabbits and mixamatosis virtually destroyed the rabbit population. As the rabbit population has recovered so has the buzzard population…..

[Andy the Sheep]

Thank you Tim. They should have been Buzzards; in fact, they were at least 4 when I spotted them but just 2 disappeared behind the mountain 15 minutes later... probably looking for some privacy.:flushed:
Nice to know that probably there will be some new young buzzards very soon.

[Ian M]

We get those over our garden as well. They circle round for ages sometimes. Only flying off if I go to get the camera!
We get Sea Eagle fly over once in a while. BIG bird!!
Sunday morning we had ten or twelve Crane just outside the garden, warming themselves in the morning sun after a frosty night.
Surprised how big they are too.

[Tim Marlow]

We get those over our garden as well. They circle round for ages sometimes. Only flying off if I go to get the camera!
We get Sea Eagle fly over once in a while. BIG bird!!
Sunday morning we had ten or twelve Crane just outside the garden, warming themselves in the morning sun after a frosty night.
Surprised how big they are too.

You are a very lucky man….never even seen a sea eagle…..

[Lee W]

There's some awesome pics of our feathered friends.
I work at a local recycling centre, we have buzzards, the odd red kite and then we have this little fella...



Amazing to watch the silent assassin!

[Lee Drennen]

Wow some great stuff you guys are posting. I have a few Cooper hawks around here they are very good at keeping the Rats and mice population to non existent. Here’s on perched on my fence post right behind the house I took a couple years ago. I love having them around to help with the Rodents.