General Chat

Hi Harry, I live on the coast in Eastbourne Sussex so naturally the majority of birds are seagulls, take over everything, even worse than the magpies! However yesterday, apart from a pair of robins I saw a Dishwasher which is normally a bit more at home up country on the Sussex Weald!

Hilary, Many thanks for your input - very nice. Lyn, Mancunian girl has a thread to me on birds. Probably different to where you are, but who knows. happy days best wishes

Hi Harry & everyone, just thought I would let you know what bird I have seen this week. I am in France & we have a lot of the usual birds you have in England. Also lots of Eagrets, Herons & lots of Buzzards. This week though I looked out of my window & saw a pair of birds I did'nt recognise. Got my binnoculars out & my bird book, imagine my delight when I realised it was a pair of Hoopoes. What a spectacular bird. Also heard them last year & did'nt know what it was. Look for them everyday now as they must be nesting nearby. Hilary.

All so nice, friendly and peaceful. Know its not really for this thread but the suggestion that people show where they are from when posting has merit, but I could see drawbacks. thanks to you lovely people. Happy days

Hi everyone I like to sit and have breakfast looking out on my garden and watching the different birds feeding inthe apple tree where I hang evrything my robin sit on the edge of the bird bath loking through the window at me nature is wonderful xx

Hi Im in shropshire I love the birds and animals Ive got all sorts of birds Ive a wren, blue tit and sparrow nesting in boxes pigeons thinking about it had a black cap here for the last three weeks just got my friend hooked on it too now We have blue tits great tits long tailed tits coal tits robins blackbirds nuthatch woodpecker sparrows starlings crows goldcrest excellent thread just be nice if people put on every thread where they from happy birdwatching a good place for bird feeders seed etc c j wildbird foods they mail order too just look up name on internet

The starlings returned to our roof last week and are busy building a nest. The starlings have buildt nests in our roof for the last twenty years. Often wonder if it is the same family members. Today I saw seven geese or swans high in the air, returning. Love to watch them return, they leave around 8 October flying over the house, and always watch out for their return. Although one or two flocks returned about two weeks ago - rather late this year but perhaps due to the bad winter we have had. The whole winter we have had numerous crows in the garden. Approximately three weeks ago three trees in the neighbours garden were taken over by at least hundred crows, they must have been gathering to fly away, not seen them since. Looked like something out of Hitchcocks film. Yesterday a tiny bird with a red head bathed in my pond. It looks like a sparrow, only a bit smaller,has a very pretty red head. I have searched the bird books but can not find it anwhere. It is not a bullfinch. Had a similar bird in the Autumn but with a yellow head, looks like they are wearing caps, does anyone know what it could be ? I had a robin in the garden all the winter, but not seen it for a few weeks. Also had a heron fly into the garden a few times this winter trying to get at my fish, luckily the pond was frozen over at the time. Forgot to say I live abroad. Elizabeth

Yes Harry ,I agree, Magpies are very naughty birds. I have seen them take lots of little birds, they raid the nests and destroy the eggs. I have even seen them take baby ducks. If they were hunting for food it would be understandable but they kill the babies and leave them. I have witnessed thrushes and blackbirds valiantly trying to protect their nests to no avail. I know it is natures way but it is very upsetting. Beryl x

We have a resident robin, some kind of finch that visits, and an owl living in a dead oak in the woods at the end of the garden. We've never seen it, but it hoots every morning at about 4am. I wish it was a night owl, that I could cope with, but this early morning business is a bit too much as once awake I am stuck awake till the alarm goes at 5.30. Angela

Looks like not many fellas watch birds (sic). Nice that you,re satisfied with it being an eagle Annie (my thought was condor). Someone nicely told me off the other day cos I said while magpies were God,s creatures and looked nice, they are pretty horrible birds. Joy has two of them. Was always led to believe they did more killing and stealing in a garden, than anything else. Right or wrong? Happy days

Ive just been watching a very pale fieldfare, it was almost white,along with a pair of mallards,there is a field at the back of my garden with a natural pond , and i have all kinds of birds visit ,yesterday there were fieldfares and redwings.In my front garden there are woodpecker, ringneck doves 2 robins great tit and blue , greenfinch andchaffinch,am waiting to see if the goldfinch come back this year,dozens of sparrows they are emptying the long seed containers daily. also 2 magnificent male pheasants.and lastly 2 moorhens at the back. wendy. ps the cobwebs are getting bigger by the day,so what theres more to life than housework.lol

Harry I've done a little more research and the only 2 birds i can come up with is the 'Spanish Imperial Eagle' or the 'Golden Eagle' I'm kicking myself that i wasn't able to get a picture Annie

Thanks for the latest replies folks. Some of you are luckier than us in the (no longer smokey)north. Annie, I couldn,t give anything other that a wild guess. hopefully someone will come on and enlighten us. Lovely incident though. Happy days

remember woody wood pecker well my boy finch jack does tha noise. thought i would share that with you.

Harry I don't know if you will be able to help. I live in Southern Spain in the mountains and two weeks ago i saw a huge bird with a massive wing span. The bird was brown in colour and it looked as if it had some sort of markings on it. Anyway, this bird was gliding in the air over a small area of land and it had a snake in its beak. The snake had to be atleast 3-4ft, the bird dropped the snake and when it landed a huge puff of dust rose into the air! The bird then swooped down for its prize. I have no idea what sort of bird this could have been, so i'm hoping you may have the answer. I've googled birds of prey in Spain but most of the sites don't have pictures for my to reconise the bird in question. I have never seen this bird before and sadly haven't seen it since. Annie

Harry, a colony of parakeets has been established at Foots Cray Meadows & they are spreading across NW Kent. You can hear them squawking as they fly overhead. I've seen a dozen at a time on occasions. A grey heron flew across the A2 as I drove to work this morning. I see them quite often & it always puts me in a good mood. :-) Carole

Harry - there are two big magpies in the front garden.

Parakeets? New to me as a garden bird. My son,s manager has just paid £500 for one - must have been mostly for the cage - if they are the same type of thing. Some lovely happenings posted - I envy you. Happy days

Wow Gwynneth, that is great! I have a hedge full to brimming with sparrows. sometimes it looks like one of those games where the heads pop up. They all feed on my feeder, and I have a starling feeder on top, where I put bird-cakes (I mould them into old lemonade bottles to fit in) & a tray full of raisins that they all tuck into. I will have to wash out the nyjer feeder & put that out soon, as I have had a breeding pair of goldfinches for the last 2 years, who depend on it for their chicks. There are a lot of ring-necked parakeets around, but so far they haven't ventured down to feed. I hear they are quite vicious, so I'm not sure I want them to! Carole

A wild white Mother Duck is now sitting on her eggs in our old greenhouse. ..... there are at least 13. This is her 3rd year visiting us, just for nesting. She may have to share the area with the robins. There was a flurry of activity at the weekend and they were inspecting the possible free areas of the greenhouse and taking nesting materials in and out, even tweaking a few pieces from M.D's nest