What birds do you get in your garden

[Norfolk Nomad]

One of the good things of doing the beet is the different birds you see in the fields.

So you're partly responsible for the smell I get wafting over from the beet factory

 

[Ivory55]

I must admit it does stink doesn’t it. Plus the roads are filthy from the trucks running there.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Just had a pied wagtail in the garden, used to be pretty common but this is the first one I've seen in a while.View attachment 205606

A Pied Wagtail has taken up residence here for the winter. Likes mealworms for breakfast.

After the storm we had a Red Legged Partridge in the garden for a few days but we haven't seen it today.

 

[Ivory55]

Had our first visitors to the feed station this morning, 2 pidgin and one starling. Now the 2 pidgins are fighting over who gets on the food. Have I caused unrest in the garden, haha

 

[davanne]

Our collared doves were back yesterday ....not seen them for a few weeks and we now have a little gold crest that comes everyday he seems to be on his own though

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[davanne]

I always thought that starlings were in flocks but we have just one that comes on his own and he is always very hungry

 

[SpeedyDux]

The Partridge is back today so I gave it some seeds:

 

[Ivory55]

The partridge has not got many days to go before it’s safe, season ends soon.

 

[Ivory55]

Numbers have increased, now 4 starlings and 1 pidgin think morning. Pidgin keeps the starlings off of the feeder though.

 

[Ivory55]

How long before others had birds feeding on the tube feeders in their garden. Only had the pidgins eating everything off the tray , starlings did not get much of a look in. No other birds have come into the garden yet.

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[SpeedyDux]

How long before others had birds feeding on the tube feeders in their garden. Only had the pidgins eating everything off the tray , starlings did not get much of a look in. No other birds have come into the garden yet.

It does take a while for the garden birds to use a new feeder. Small birds like sparrows and tits prefer a seed feeder to be close to some cover preferably an evergreen tree branch or hedge.

Starlings will come to the fat ball feeder. They also love mealworms on the ground as do the Robin and the Blackbird, and the pastry crust from a cornish pasty too.

 

[Ivory55]

Seems strange that the starlings only appear when the pidgin comes, yet the starlings eat the fat balls which are there all the time and the pidgin has no interest in.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Starlings are very intelligent. They wait for the pigeon to land first to see if the coast is clear. If there is a Sparrowhawk hanging around near the bird feeders, which is quite common, the Sparrowhawk will attack the pigeon. I agree that pigeons normally won't try to eat fatballs. Sometimes they will eat suet sprinkles on the ground but they much prefer seeds.

The Partridge turned up again for breakfast. He pecks at leafy plants so I tried offering him a bit of lettuce as well as seeds. Not interested.

 

[Ivory55]

Well if you’re a pheasant and alive tonight you’re ok till next autumn. I saw the guns being driven around today for their last shoot. All the pheasant has to do now is stay off the road, haha.

 

[jumartoo]

Heard and saw our first Great Spotted Cuckoo of this year yesterday. Earlier than last year! The Magpies will have even more weeks of hustling!

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[DavidG58]

Heard and saw our first Great Spotted Cuckoo of this year yesterday. Earlier than last year! The Magpies will have even more weeks of hustling!

I read your post before I realised who had posted, thought cuckoo, early, you are not kidding the twigged from your avatar

I meant to post last weekend, we had a result on Sunday morning we had a tree creeper in the garden, a first for us and quite rare in gardens in towns at least

 

[DavidG58]

we have a song thrush back today, sits on top of the tallest tree and runs through a whole repeat repertoire of car alarms imitations, or tit sounds like it anyway, just wish it was more like bird song than alarms

 

[Ivory55]

Still only getting pidgin and starlings at our feeder. Had a black bird come in the garden so looked up if they wanted anything different in food. Said they do not like hard seeds so I put some peanuts etc in food processor to smash them up. Then mixed it in some melted lard to make a fat ball. Only one who ate it was the pidgin.

 

[Ivory55]

Yes we have had a couple of different visitors. We think it was 2 dunnocks, they was very hoppy about, looked similar to a sparrow, and they looked like they climbed up the garden wall. Only here for 2 mins max but I am counting it as successes, haha. Ps only stayed on the ground.

 

[davanne]

Yesterday we had a new visitor....a bullfinch eating insects on our plum tree.
I did take a photo but it was a bit too far away to be very clear.
Max said he was here a few days ago as well so I’ll maybe be able to get a better picture if he returns again

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[DavidG58]

technically not our garden, but it is for tonight, out of our windscreen at an aire in France (La Mure) south of Grenoble

I was watching a heron in field, he suddenly went into stalk mode then struck at


a mole hill!! better than that for him, not the mole, he caught one, but necked it before I could get my camera out

nature at its best and worst, e had no idea that a Heron would even consider a mole, let alone be able detect one underground, a very special sight in a gruesome kind of way

photo through windscreen so not the best

 

[Ivory55]

Have brought some fat balls from b&m , they do not seem to like them as much. The dried meal worms are going. We have a nervous black bird visiting , only stays for short visits and only around the edge of garden.

 

[davanne]

Slightly off topic but one of our bird baths had this icicle in it this morning strange as it isn’t under anything

 

[Bill_OR]

This is 'Buz' - he (or is it she?) spends most of the day scanning the garden for worms and does a good job of keeping the rabbits at bay - although he's far too lazy to actually chase them!

 

[Ivory55]

This is 'Buz' - he (or is it she?) spends most of the day scanning the garden for worms and does a good job of keeping the rabbits at bay - although he's far too lazy to actually chase them!

Probably waiting for you to catch the rabbits and quarter them up for him.
Lovely having that sort of bird life around your garden.

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[tonyidle]

Probably waiting for you to catch the rabbits and quarter them up for him.
Lovely having that sort of bird life around your garden.

No it isn't: if you have one (or even worse a sparrowhawk) you don't see anything else.

 

[davanne]

No it isn't: if you have one (or even worse a sparrowhawk) you don't see anything else

We have a sparrowhawk that we see quite often and yet we have an abundance of birds of all types all through from dawn till dusk...but we always know when the sparrowhawk is about as they all disappear

 

[magicsurfbus]

I was watching a heron in field, he suddenly went into stalk mode then struck at a mole hill!! better than that for him, not the mole, he caught one, but necked it before I could get my camera out..

Interesting - my workplace has a decent-sized pond and I once found a dead mole on the bank well and truly out of its tunnel - made me wonder if something had pounced on it as it broke the surface, but I'd never considered a heron. You live and learn.

 

[magicsurfbus]

A couple of weeks ago we had a few Common Redpolls lurking in the vicinity - never seen them before, and they've not been back. Plainish winter plumage apart from a vivid red splodge on the head.

We've also had the mouse back on the bird feeder, so I'm trying to remove his bridge of hawthorn branches. I draw the line at keeping rodents alive through the winter.

.

 

[tonyidle]

We have a sparrowhawk that we see quite often and yet we have an abundance of birds of all types all through from dawn till dusk...but we always know when the sparrowhawk is about as they all disappear

You have very brave or very trusting birds . I know what you mean though ours did the same until the hawk chicks fledged then we saw nothing for weeks.

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