twenty Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 First Wheatear of the year spotted on Cleeve Hill, (backdrop to Cheltenham racecourse), yesterday. They overwinter in Tropical Africa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 I haven’t seen one yet this year but I bet I will over the next few days. Most pass on through this area to higher ground to nest. One of my best discoveries in recent years was a small breeding colony not four miles from my home on top of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted March 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, JDog said: I haven’t seen one yet this year but I bet I will over the next few days. Most pass on through this area to higher ground to nest. One of my best discoveries in recent years was a small breeding colony not four miles from my home on top of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Wheatear are regular breeders on the Cotswold escarpment, I personally have not seen a nest, but have plenty of evidence from other sources. Ring ouzels are also migratory breeders along the Cleeve Hill highpoints,( 300m/1100ft). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted March 18, 2020 Report Share Posted March 18, 2020 Handsome little bird, good to hear they are about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatureBoy Posted March 19, 2020 Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 No Wheatear yet. But lot of chiffchaffs turned up yesterday. Saw and heard them in several places. Bittern up local farm briefly other week. Mallard that hatched off Monday down fron 12 to 2 ducklings. Woodpigeon, blackbird, robin, wren and dunnocks nesting in garden. Great and blue tits claiming boxes and wagtails are back. Long tailed tits looking round window in ivy gathering cobwebs for nesting earlier. Pigeon feathers i put out for them disappearing. Got some tree sparrows locally to. Spring has sprung! Still in hunger gap tho. Keep feeding the birds folks! Yellow hammers coming to feeders in garden. Loads of them and linnets coming to feed rides on farms and pairing up. Nice to see more bull and green finches about. Barn owls and kestrels still about and doing well. To many jackdaws and buzzards about. English partridges on 3 farms still doing ok tho. Rooks in rookery over road start getting noisy about 4.15 am as soon as sun on horizon. Only 8 nests in that one this year and they had to rebuild all as they were blown out in storms. Seen brimstone, peacock butterfly's and plenty of bumble and micro bees on sunny days. NB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted March 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 1 hour ago, NatureBoy said: No Wheatear yet. But lot of chiffchaffs turned up yesterday. Saw and heard them in several places. Bittern up local farm briefly other week. Mallard that hatched off Monday down fron 12 to 2 ducklings. Woodpigeon, blackbird, robin, wren and dunnocks nesting in garden. Great and blue tits claiming boxes and wagtails are back. Long tailed tits looking round window in ivy gathering cobwebs for nesting earlier. Pigeon feathers i put out for them disappearing. Got some tree sparrows locally to. Spring has sprung! Still in hunger gap tho. Keep feeding the birds folks! Yellow hammers coming to feeders in garden. Loads of them and linnets coming to feed rides on farms and pairing up. Nice to see more bull and green finches about. Barn owls and kestrels still about and doing well. To many jackdaws and buzzards about. English partridges on 3 farms still doing ok tho. Rooks in rookery over road start getting noisy about 4.15 am as soon as sun on horizon. Only 8 nests in that one this year and they had to rebuild all as they were blown out in storms. Seen brimstone, peacock butterfly's and plenty of bumble and micro bees on sunny days. NB My son is based in Shropshire and reports that the herons on his land have hatched chicks recently, and a Raven is sitting tight. Rooks are active, Tawny owl sitting tight. All the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted March 19, 2020 Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 hello, we put up a proper Owl box on the farm 5 years ago but still no residents !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted March 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 15 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said: hello, we put up a proper Owl box on the farm 5 years ago but still no residents !!!! I know how you feel, its disappointing when they don't take up residency in your owl box. To be fair, it probably means they have found natural holes to nest in, but if you persevere your luck might change. I had the exact opposite experience to you, I put up two owl boxes, one in the woods, and the other in a ramshackle farm building, and the following season they were both in use, Tawnies in the wood, and Barn owl in the other. Tawny owls are early breeders ( February- March), so you may have missed out again, Barn owl breed April onwards, good luck. All the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatureBoy Posted March 19, 2020 Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 10 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said: hello, we put up a proper Owl box on the farm 5 years ago but still no residents !!!! Did you have and owls about? Barn owls? Has anything used it? Squirrels, stock doves,kestrels and jackdaws will use them. Have you looked in it? Cleared it out? Move it. Might just be on wrong side of tree. In prevailing wind/sun. I got about 20 up on various sites. Some new, others 20yr old. All bit different made with off cuts. Some from barrels. Some left over and repaired from when they used to do do Suffolk barn owl project. Funding stopped so they stopped. Still happy to take and want the data/ringing etc tho. Most successful ones on shoots. They admit that but will not publish it. you get a feel for where to put them. Same pairs (owls and kestrels) will sometimes use several different boxes and be in and around them all year. Some times all they need is a platform in a quiet building or hollow in a tree. Tawny's like ivy. NB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted March 19, 2020 Report Share Posted March 19, 2020 2 hours ago, twenty said: I know how you feel, its disappointing when they don't take up residency in your owl box. To be fair, it probably means they have found natural holes to nest in, but if you persevere your luck might change. I had the exact opposite experience to you, I put up two owl boxes, one in the woods, and the other in a ramshackle farm building, and the following season they were both in use, Tawnies in the wood, and Barn owl in the other. Tawny owls are early breeders ( February- March), so you may have missed out again, Barn owl breed April onwards, good luck. All the best. hello, i think your right the Barn owl we see must have a home some where on the farm, quite a few old trees about with holes in the trunks 1 hour ago, NatureBoy said: Did you have and owls about? Barn owls? Has anything used it? Squirrels, stock doves,kestrels and jackdaws will use them. Have you looked in it? Cleared it out? Move it. Might just be on wrong side of tree. In prevailing wind/sun. I got about 20 up on various sites. Some new, others 20yr old. All bit different made with off cuts. Some from barrels. Some left over and repaired from when they used to do do Suffolk barn owl project. Funding stopped so they stopped. Still happy to take and want the data/ringing etc tho. Most successful ones on shoots. They admit that but will not publish it. you get a feel for where to put them. Same pairs (owls and kestrels) will sometimes use several different boxes and be in and around them all year. Some times all they need is a platform in a quiet building or hollow in a tree. Tawny's like ivy. NB hello, yes/no/no/we do not have a long ladder as got nicked, never been any muck on the straw barn floor, just have to keep hoping, cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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