Hobbies and Crafts

Ohhhh l see:)

Do you think it a good if we could tell them of birds we often see, but just not on that day??

Shaun...love the Radnor Link:)

jude x

Jude

I think there should be a remarks section where you could say that yes.

What a busy time in the garden .It's like 'Animal Farm' lol .I pulled back my bedroom curtains and spent 20 minutes just watching all the comings and goings in the back garden.I just wish I had had my Iphone to video.There was one Squirrel hanging upside down on the Peanut Ball,another Squirrel busy running around the lawn digging little holes,2 Moorhens pottering about on the Patio,Wood Pidgeons playing Rudies and Chase Me ;-) and lots of Robins doing the territorial bit.Plus a hoard of Tits,Blackbirds and Sparrows at the Coconut.Not forgetting the Spotted Woodpecker on the lawn clearing the snow with it's beak to get to the grass.It was a great sight :-D :-D

Lucky you Jane, sounds very entertaining. As long s the squirrels are not doing any damage to the lawn of course. Sounds as though they were having fun though.

Bearing in mind that I live in suburban London, I had quite a shock this morning to see a Red Kite homing in on the crows right outside the bedroom window. :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

There are lots of Kites in Bucks and on the M4 corridor but they seem to be moving nearer and nearer to civilisation.
I have seen one in the distance but never this close to the house.
Take care
Von

Wow! How exciting Von! We were pleased to see a red kite as close to London as Watford while travelling up the M1 a couple of weeks ago.
We seem to being seeing one more often than not these last few months while travelling up to the Midlands. Bring 'em on!
Have you been to the red kite feeding centre in mid Wales? Amazing!

Gosh Von that was a lovely surprise. We often see them when travelling down to Hampshire, usually just this side of Winchester as far as Newbury.

Island
No I haven't been to the Kite centre. Certainly it's lovely to see them soaring about in the sky but I just didn't want to witness the kill- wooss that I am.

It will be interesting to see if it comes back.

I understand that in Bucks they are becoming a bit of a problem but that's only hearsay so I don't know any details.
Ann we usually see them on the motorway as well.
Von

Hi
Red Kites are now common in Berkshire too our daughter has lots over Reading and we have had them over Crowthorne too
This morning whilst walking our son's spaniel round the local lake I saw a kingfisher, he landed in a bush and stayed whilst I was talking to other dog walkers. Quite thrilling though I had read there were some locally I had never seen them before. We have lived here for almost 22 years too.

Linda xxx <3 <3 <3

Please can anyone tell me if they've found a solution to bird feed falling to the floor.

I started feeding the birds in my garden in October. (Decided the cat was too old and fat to climb the shrubs anymore). It started off very well, and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the birds and squirrels feed.

I don't put food on the ground (because of the cat) but the blackbirds and pidgeons still hang around under the feeders. Plus a rat. (I don't mind one rat, but don't want to see anymore than that at one time).

Well, last week a sparrowhawk swooped down and killed a blackbird. (It's nature I know, but not nice to see). Then, yesterday I heard a loud squeak and a scuffle, and the cat had caught a rat.

So now a lot of the pleasure had gone and I'm feeling that me feeding the birds is more of a hazard to the wildlife than a help.

Has anyone else had similar problems, and is there a solution, other than just stopping?

Linda, how lovely to see a Kingfisher, do you know I have never seen one although oh has on the golf course near hear where a small stream runs down the side.

Christina. Have you got saucers under your feeders, that should stop most of the seed falling. Usually the birds can escape cats, even if feeding they are usually alert except at nesting time. We used to have a cat and still fed the birds, she did catch birds but not when feeding.

Sparrow hawks, beautiful birds but not nice to watch them kill and eat other birds is it?

Rats are another problem. Could you try setting a trap to get rid of the rat?

I have noticed while the snow has been around all the Birds of Prey seem to be flying much nearer to the ground.There were 2 Buzzards and a Kite this morning ,and I think a Sparrowhawk.I need to look up a pic of one of those as I'm not totally sure it was one.The Kite today was very low ,probably only 30ft or so.

No Ann, I don't have saucers under my feeders. I'll take a look around the shops now to see if I can find any feeders with saucers. Thanks for the tip.

As for the rat, is there was only the one, then the cat saw to that yesterday. :-(

Christina, you need to have a feeder that has a screw hole underneath then you buy the saucers in garden centre shops, make sure it is the same make as the feeder so you can be sure it fits. Or buy from RSPB on line.

Hello Gang.
We have a pair of Jays raiding the bird table every ten or 15 minutes so that only means one thing `` they have young`` . Going on past years ,that's the only time the parent Jays visit our bird table and that's to feed there young.

Also we have a Fire-crest feeding on the floor from what's been dropped from the feeders above which I have never seen before as the Fire-crest just feeds on insects. I have taken a photo and will send to Jude to put on her blog.

For the time of the year the birds are behaving oddly .

Shaun

To my knowledge Shaun I have never seen a Firecrest so will have to look it up. I look forward to the photo.

Jays are lovely looking birds but we never see them in our garden. Do seem to have one single magpie visiting the bird table recently. I am convinced it is the same one although they do all look alike. we just get the one.

ANN, It's a ``Goldcrest`` NOT a Firecrest as first stated.
I have sent 3 photos to Jude for her Blog.
Goldcrest , Bobby Rob and one which I would like identifying because I cannot think what it is and it's not in any of my bird books.
Shaun

Ah Shaun, Goldcrest I understand. I shall look out for it on Jude's blog.

Has anyone else noticed how low the Rooks are nesting this year ?

Every year my Mum used to watch them building their nests and would, pretty usually it seemed in those days, be happy because the nests were high up in the branches as folk law says that means a good summer.

Occasionally she wouldn't be so pleased and we would get a bit of rain.

It seems to me that over the last few years they have been nesting lower and lower but still with some optimistic pairs higher up.

We have four rookeries near to us, this year some of the nests are almost on the bottom branches !!!!

Are things the same where you are ?

Time to buy yet another rain coat some some new Wellies I fear. M

Ooh haven't noticed Maryanna but I will make a point of looking now. If true it could mean another bad summer. However maybe they are nesting lower down because the weather is colder and windier at the moment (I hope so).