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Birding Year List


chrisjpainter
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Very lucky last Friday morning to see my first ever nightjar. It flew up from the road and as each side was hedged flew in front at about 2 feet high with me gradually losing speed to try and give it room to feel it could turn, which it eventually did after 200 yards or so. I was praying that one of Norfolks death wish drivers was not coming the other way on this twisty country road.

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4 hours ago, 243deer said:

Very lucky last Friday morning to see my first ever nightjar. It flew up from the road and as each side was hedged flew in front at about 2 feet high with me gradually losing speed to try and give it room to feel it could turn, which it eventually did after 200 yards or so. I was praying that one of Norfolks death wish drivers was not coming the other way on this twisty country road.

Well done. Amazing bird, very eerie call. Think they gona struggle this year. Several nest on Dunwich and Westleton heath in Suffolk. It was absolutley heaving with walkers, dog walkers and camper vans sneaking on in evening. Folk don't care! And what's with these birder folk playing bird calls on a phone app just so they can see/photo/tick a red lister. Seen lot more of it lately. Grim to see footage on news of quad bikers ripping up the beach where birds trying to nest near Wild  Ken Hill.      NB

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1 hour ago, JDog said:

There have been several sightings of Rose coloured Starlings along the coast recently plus a group of four Bee eaters.

Indeed. We have a couple down here. Possibly one of those was around for much of the winter on Portland. I missed out on it due to lockdown, so if they're still being reported next week I might have a gander

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Nowhere near as exotic as your sightings but probably more fulfilling.  As most of you know I considermy small 10 acre wood a tree rat free zone and certainly over the past four or five years the small bird numbers have inceased as a result.

This morning I sat in one of my cabins and there was a flurry of activity on one of the live catch cages which also has a peanut feeder built into it. I was delighted to see a whole family of coal tits enjoying the food. I counted six but they where bouncing about and coming and going there may have been one or two more.  A few minutes later and a family of new out of the nest blue tits joined them.  Brilliant.

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2 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Nowhere near as exotic as your sightings but probably more fulfilling.  As most of you know I considermy small 10 acre wood a tree rat free zone and certainly over the past four or five years the small bird numbers have inceased as a result.

This morning I sat in one of my cabins and there was a flurry of activity on one of the live catch cages which also has a peanut feeder built into it. I was delighted to see a whole family of coal tits enjoying the food. I counted six but they where bouncing about and coming and going there may have been one or two more.  A few minutes later and a family of new out of the nest blue tits joined them.  Brilliant.

Even more rewarding that you provided the habitat for them to breed in.

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34 minutes ago, twenty said:

A River Warbler at RSPB Ham Wall, Somerset, yesterday...........video @YouTube.

I have just watched that video.

Whilst one of the rarest birds ever to visit the UK was singing its heart out ignorant and unappreciative people in the background were chatting away. They should have been making the most of it by keeping quiet.

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7 hours ago, JDog said:

I have just watched that video.

Whilst one of the rarest birds ever to visit the UK was singing its heart out ignorant and unappreciative people in the background were chatting away. They should have been making the most of it by keeping quiet.

It's a cracking little bit of video isn't it, what a song..........lovely little rarity........the background chatterers are ignorant of what they were experiencing in my opinion.

All the best.

p.s........Ross's Goose on Frampton estate lake, possible escapee from Slimbridge WWT wildfowl collection.

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11 hours ago, JDog said:

I have just watched that video.

Whilst one of the rarest birds ever to visit the UK was singing its heart out ignorant and unappreciative people in the background were chatting away. They should have been making the most of it by keeping quiet.

To be fair to them they probably didn't know what they were seeing, you've got to remember not everyones an expert and I'll admit other than recognising it's not a bird I'd have seen before I wouldn't have know what I was looking at. 

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Saw a hoopoe and green woodpecker having a brief scrap Friday. It been around for about a week. Turtle doves have settled in on few sites. Purring away. Better late than never. Some had to find new nest sites as lost fare bit of good habitat due to change of ownership/ management/contractors and ignorance. Greenfinches doing well this year. Just the one pair of nightingales about. No sign of english partridge broods yet. Most early pheasant broods a wash out and lot of nest/egg predation. Same with blue tits. little food about, lack of caterpillars. Great tits just started sitting on eggs in one of my boxes. Very late for them. Robin has just started building a third nest in ivy by back door. Three weeks after second attempt fledged 5. Still seeing lot more grass snakes about, slow worms to. Counted 21 hare in one field that had been pushed around by grass cutting. Few more swifts turned up and sum in boxes. Few martins about. Swallow numbers down. Less whitethroats, i wonder if it down to less rape being grown in the area?                 NB

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Look like a good year for wild fowl broods , at Wroxham on Sunday their were loads of broods of Greylag that were all shapes and sizes from a week or so old to well grown ones , Swans also had decent broods of cygnets , a few Mallard that had broods in nearly double figures and a lone Barnacle goose eating the treats the holiday makers were chucking in the water .

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Shot eight tree rats this morning and then I saw a Great Tit pulling at something rather than pecking. Wound up the mag on the scope and could not believe my eyes. This litle bird was atop one of the dead tree rats and was pulling tufts of fur out and had a latge mouthful of fur. The body must have still been warm. 

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4 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Shot eight tree rats this morning and then I saw a Great Tit pulling at something rather than pecking. Wound up the mag on the scope and could not believe my eyes. This litle bird was atop one of the dead tree rats and was pulling tufts of fur out and had a latge mouthful of fur. The body must have still been warm. 

Wow that is fresh! superb opportunism there.

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Sat back in the same cabin I sighted the bullfince and within minutes it returned to feed on the maize and peanuts on the floor.  About the best I could get with my limited camera. My wife was with me and said she had not seen one since she was a child.  It hung around for about twenty minutes so hoping it has a mate sitting nearby.  Also saw a mass of great tits come diving in, obviously new out of the nest.  Killed another magpie and another two tree rats today which I am sure is giving us this amazing amount of bird life. 

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1 hour ago, JDog said:

Good picture Walker. To show your wife a Bullfinch after such a long time would have pleased her.

She was tickled pink and then we had a woodpecker come and shred a peanut and feed it to a youngster no more than 10yrds away.  Lots and lots of small birds fledging and they are cleaning up about 25kg of peanuts in two weeks.

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