The Birds In The Garden And Everywhere Else Thread

[K23]

Stunning.

Right time, right place, a couple of minutes later, the moment would probably have gone.

 

[Pacemaker]

Saw a pair of Red Kites this afternoon flying really low around a field in Aberbaiden near Kenfig Hill, a farmer was working on the land cutting grass and leaving it to dry in the sun, this pair were obviously after prey of some sort. They were just gliding around 15-20 feet above me as I cycled passed.

I didn’t realise they had come this far south, they are a common site in Mid Wales but don’t recall seeing them around here.

Beautiful and graceful sight.

 

[Darran]

Saw a pair of Red Kites this afternoon flying really low around a field in Aberbaiden near Kenfig Hill, a farmer was working on the land cutting grass and leaving it to dry in the sun, this pair were obviously after prey of some sort. They were just gliding around 15-20 feet above me as I cycled passed.

I didn’t realise they had come this far south, they are a common site in Mid Wales but don’t recall seeing them around here.

Beautiful and graceful sight.

There’s loads in the area these days Lee. I saw one down by the old Ferry Bridge recently.

 

[BLAZE]

There's one who regularly circles above my house - hopefully he's after the bastard rats who love my bird feed so much. Stunning sight.

 

[Darran]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-54161621

 

[Pacemaker]

Saw a pair of Red Kites this afternoon flying really low around a field in Aberbaiden near Kenfig Hill, a farmer was working on the land cutting grass and leaving it to dry in the sun, this pair were obviously after prey of some sort. They were just gliding around 15-20 feet above me as I cycled passed.

I didn’t realise they had come this far south, they are a common site in Mid Wales but don’t recall seeing them around here.

Beautiful and graceful sight.

There’s loads in the area these days Lee. I saw one down by the old Ferry Bridge recently.

I have seen loads of Common Buzzards around here but never a kite before. I have been doing a walk around Baglan Woods round to the Ferry and back up to the forestry regularly I will have to keep an eye out. I think what surprised me yesterday was how low from the ground they were.

 

[K23]

Saw a pair of Red Kites this afternoon flying really low around a field in Aberbaiden near Kenfig Hill, a farmer was working on the land cutting grass and leaving it to dry in the sun, this pair were obviously after prey of some sort. They were just gliding around 15-20 feet above me as I cycled passed.

I didn’t realise they had come this far south, they are a common site in Mid Wales but don’t recall seeing them around here.

Beautiful and graceful sight.

They've spread out incredibly well since the reintroduction program in the late 80s. The M4 corridor from Swindon through to Slough has been great the last few weeks now this year's offspring have swelled the numbers. Counted around 10 on one trip last week. Beautiful & graceful indeed. Glad they're established in S Wales now, just need a few footy matches to get me driving that way again!

 

[Longlostjack]

Great news on the Red Kites. Loved to watch them circle over Abergavenny before all this Covid shit. Another bird I haven’t seen this year is a blue tit. Virus. Weirdly great tits were not affected at all.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/mystery-bird-illness-investigated-after-german-blue-tit-deaths

 

[Pacemaker]

Great news on the Red Kites. Loved to watch them circle over Abergavenny before all this Covid shit. Another bird I haven’t seen this year is a blue tit. Virus. Weirdly great tits were not affected at all.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/mystery-bird-illness-investigated-after-german-blue-tit-deaths

My holly tree is full of blue tits, had a pair nesting there all summer making a hell of a racket, lovely little bird to see in the garden.

I use the bird net app to identify any songs I can here but when I can’t see the bird which is great, especially if you are walking in the woods.

 

[Lifelong]

Great news on the Red Kites. Loved to watch them circle over Abergavenny before all this Covid shit. Another bird I haven’t seen this year is a blue tit. Virus. Weirdly great tits were not affected at all.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/mystery-bird-illness-investigated-after-german-blue-tit-deaths

My holly tree is full of blue tits, had a pair nesting there all summer making a hell of a racket, lovely little bird to see in the garden.

I use the bird net app to identify any songs I can here but when I can’t see the bird which is great, especially if you are walking in the woods.

Blue tits nested this year in one of my nest boxes but, unfortunately, abandoned the nest sometime in May. When I cleaned out the nest box in July there was a solitary abandoned Blue Tit egg in amongst the completed nest.
It’s only in the last few weeks that I have noticed adult Blue Tits returning to my bird feeders.
Recognising bird song is not easy, especially if your hearing is as knackered as mine.

 

[K23]

Great news on the Red Kites. Loved to watch them circle over Abergavenny before all this Covid shit. Another bird I haven’t seen this year is a blue tit. Virus. Weirdly great tits were not affected at all.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/mystery-bird-illness-investigated-after-german-blue-tit-deaths

My holly tree is full of blue tits, had a pair nesting there all summer making a hell of a racket, lovely little bird to see in the garden.

I use the bird net app to identify any songs I can here but when I can’t see the bird which is great, especially if you are walking in the woods.

Are you in Swansea, Pacemaker? On our feeders here in Somerset, I'd say up to 3 out of every 5 birds is usually a blue tit and most of the time there's also a great tit or 2 or a house Sparrow. There's the occasional gang of 6-8 long-tailed tits which is always nice when they pass through. Most others like goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches are less frequent but 1 or 2 of our lovely Great Spotted Woodpecker family have been daily visitors until recently when visits started to drop off a bit as the newbies have probably moved away now. But yeah, blue tits, plenty of them all the time.

 

[Pacemaker]

No I am in Baglan, I live right alongside Baglan woods with loads of trees around me, so I get the same type of birds in the garden, plenty of woodpeckers around here, quite often see the younger birds down on the lawn. You can certainly hear their call/cry when they are bickering.

People are amazed by the colours of many of our native birds up close. I don’t have any pets so a fairly safe environment although plenty of neighbours have cats.

I think the plants you have in your garden can attract a lot of birds and wildlife generally.

 

[Darran]

https://twitter.com/jbarnesphotos/status/1306486070360633344?s=21

 

[Darran]

I can’t remember what game it was now but here’s a photo I took of a Peregrine Falcon watching a match at the Liberty Stadium a couple of years ago.

 

[K23]

Photograph taken this morning from my bedroom window of about 60 Cattle Egrets about 750-800 metres away. A real rarity in this country up until 2-3 years ago when groups of them started wintering here but still a very unusual sight.