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Jane, we have just come back from the Abbotsbury gardens, those Golden pheasants are so beautiful aren't they, wouldn't it be great to have them in your garden. \was there only one Kookaburra that is all I caould see, three years ago when we were here there were a lot more than that and they were really noisy. Did you walk to the view point to look out over the beach? I bet it will be a lovely walk when the magnolias are out. We are staying about 7 miles south of Abbotesbury.

More photo's on the blog:o)

jude:o) x

Morning.....another lovely day here:o)

Tec and Ann....ok l get it now, sorry me thought you was taking the micky, which l did'nt mind, l was laughing, but l also know l'm abit thick some times..:o((

Jane.....l will pm you. Wwe saw a Golden something Pheasant in Alton in Derbyshire, l think l put a pic on the blog, we visited a Butterfly farm. They did'nt have a Kookabura eating a dead chick, but they did have a camen or a small crock eating one.

Tec...the jackdaws are usually around but for some reason they had disapeared for a while, although we could hear them, but have now started to come back into the garden, not too much of a prob at the moment.

We have about 15 sparrows again too and a pr of blackbirds, aswell as the usual 2 robins, a couple of starling, a pr of dunnocks ad about 12 c/doves, plus 3 or 4 w/pigeons. No one has seen the woodpeckers now for ages:o(

Bellblair...hope you are well today (she's been poorly):o) x
Jude :o)

I know these aren't wild birds ,but I visited the sub tropical gardens in Abbotsbury Dorset last week and have photos of Kookabura's (don't know how to spell that)lol and chinese gold crested pheasants.Not sure if that is the right name,but they were lovely and so tame.One of the Kookaburas had a dead baby chick in it's beak and was bashing it around on it's perch trying to break it down so it could be swallowed!!!!!!!!!!.It wasn't pleasant to watch but was fascinating.
Jude what is the blog that you have the photos on please?

Jude Tec's dog is Ianto pronounced Yanto, it looks like Lanto because you are confusing a capital I with an L.

here on the Dorset cliifs we have loads of swifts, no doubt because of all the flies and midges. We also saw a Kestral from the lounge window this morning and running around down below the window on th back of the cliff here there are hundreds of rabbits of all sizes, as we walk up fron the coastal path they all run and pop into various holes!!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you and the birds have been enjoying this wonderful "Indian Summer" we are having.
Quite a lot of birds in my garden, nothing unusual as yet, but I am happy to see the sparrows, chaffinches etc, that visit every day. I have a pair of doves that sit on an arch ten feet in front of my kitchen window every morning, waiting for breakfast to appear.
Jude.......I would be very wary of those jackdaws if I were you. Maybe you will remember me ranting on about them on here before. I started with two visiting, now I can get about twenty. They sit up on the roof, waiting for me to fill the feeders, then down they come, causing chaos. Nothing else gets a lookin until I charge into the garden like a lunatic, waving my arms about. They fly away laughing........then come back.

Jude.....For the benefit of my English friends on here, I will in future spell my dogs name as YANTO. The Welsh spelling being Ianto, but it sounds like Yanto........( I knew I should have called him Spot) lol.
Pleased that Madoc has a friend, and the alsation puppy sounds great.

Enjoy the weather while it lasts,
Regards,
Tec.

Cooee....evening all :o))

Jill....it sounds very idylic where you are, are you South or North. The Hummingbirds must be amazing, my s i l lives in California and gets them,she watches them feed on the nectar feeders:o))

The past few days we have had a coupke of Jackdaws on the b/tables, we've heard them but not seen them until now, also the crow.

We visited our neighbours at the bottom of the garden on Wednesday, they have a while german shephard puppy (4 mths old), her name is Lisa and oh my gawd she is gorgeous, l took a photo so will get it on my blog asap!!

Nite nite

jude :o)

Evening all:o)

Bellblair....brilliant to see you back, look forward to those photo's, hope your well:o))

Tec......great to see though are'nt they. We had a jet wizz past quite low this afternoon, l did'nt even have a chance to get out of my chair!!
Poor Owl, praps he's old or really has a sore throat!! lol.... cats and dogs have them!
Now then, is your dogs name Lanto or Yanto....cause me thinks someone is taking the micky...lol....l thought l was being very good and remembered to call him Yanto:o)

Madoc friend Wolfie was out this afternoon on his own, owner shut the door and had'nt realised he was out, so he came to play with Madoc until they got back, l have some photo's of them pulling a toy apart!!! lol

Did some gardening today so the birds were abit annoyed to say the least, the collared doves came down onto the fence as soon as we sat down for a cuppa and once we had finished a nuthatch flew in.
The robin was straight onto the soil picking out the worms and a female blackbird sat on the fence telling me off:o)

Caz...what lovely memories, l would have loved to have seen that:o)
Take care.

jude:o)

Bellblair, so good to see you back.

YCaz, but you do have those memories which is good. Hope you are feeling less pain these days

Ann x

Hi Everyone,
LOng time on chat we have had a lot of birds all summer long and they have been feeding all the time. I am now going to go back and read all this thread from where I left it. Its good to be back again.

Now Ann you might just have hit the nail on the head there. Before we moved here our garden bordered a field, we never seemed to 'lose' our birds and they loved sitting on long grasses eating the seeds, we left the bottom of the garden wild for them. I wonder now if all the birds were in fields taking advantage of the grass seeds before the farmer cut it for hay?
A favourite late summer evening was spent watching the farmer cut his field, large flocks of swifts and swallows (I think) followed the tractor for the insects thrown up by the blades. Later in the evening it was time to stand and watch the bats flying round the garden. Oh memories. Nothing like that here.

Caz x

Tec, big birds they are!!

Our birds seem to have done a disappearing act again, wonder where they go, wonder if it is when somebody is harvesting nearby or something?

Just thought I would say that since moving to France, I have seen a cuckcoo and not just heard one :))
While I am sat here a peacock on a neighbours farm is making a racket in the distance, glad they dont live nearer !!
Reading back about the butterflies, we had the most ever this year and was lovely walking through a cloud of them when brushing past the shrubs. We have lots of the little humming bird like moths and they are lovely to watch as they hover over the lavendar bushes.
Our Little owl is a daytime bird and it tends to swoop low when it flies and the pair will sit in the trees calling to each other. John wants to finish pointing the back of the house but we will have to leave some of the holes for the birds :)

x Jill

Hi Everyone........

The robin and the wren are going about together again, as they did last winter. They must be the same birds. This curious partnership fascinates me, but I've seen it before, when I lived elsewhere. I would be interested to know if anyone else has ever seen this.

Your owls sound like fun Jill, and how wonderful to have Hoopoo's, I've never seen one, except pictures. I've noticed the Rowan trees (Mountain Ash) are loaded with berries this year, as is the New Zealand palm I have in my garden. I too wonder if we are in for a harsh winter - hope not.

I also find owl pellets in my front garden Jude. We hear owls around regularly, one definately has laryngitis, sounds very painful. We had a pair of doves mating today - in September? - very odd. A few chaffinches, lots of sparrows, the robin and the wren I mentioned, and a pair of greenfinches.
Ianto is curled up on the sofa beside me, he is not playing today as it's cold and grey. He is ok now, but has definately aged suddenly. Never mind, we will grow old and hapless together.

I was interested DizzieLizzie to know that you see Hercules in your area. I love to see "proper" aircraft, as against the dreadfully noisy things the RAF play war games over our heads on a daily basis. They fly Hawk trainers out of RAF Valley, and recently the Eurofighter, the Typhoon. My BiL was a technician on the Vulcans, and was in Cyprus for years.
This of course has nothing to do with birds - except that they do fly don't they? Maybe you would like to come and do some hacking at shrubs in my garden when you've finished yours - not likely she says.

Regards to all,
Tec.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2685930350098409183NXgWDS

Go to the above website to see a Hoopoo, l had heard the name but could'nt think what they looked like, l recognise it now, gorgeaous looking bird, long beak and a crest :o)

l keep looking for another Owls pellet, that was fascinating to open it up, it was'nt messy infact very dry:o)

jude

Jill, I envy you your owls.

Hello Jill, how nice to hear from other countries:o)) The baby owl must have been chilly, hope he does'nt get hurt. Just going to look up a Hoopoo!!

Some more pics on blog now:o)

jude

Sorry,my post was repeated

x Jill

Thought I would add to this as we are lucky enough to have lots of different birds, including a Little Owl that lives in our gable end and dive bombs our cats when she has young in the nest.The baby owl is so cute and sits on the lower back roof watching us in the kitchen.
We do have a wren living along the back wall as the house wall is made up of dirt and huge stones so lots of nooks for nests. We have lots of buzzards, woodpeckers, hoopoo , barn owls , plus the usual about and we seem to havea bumper crop of sloes and other hedgerow berries so hoping its not a sign of a harsh winter.
This summer , our baby owl decided to explore our loft space and wandered into the air con tube, we ended up blocking the vent up and suffered the heat to stop it from being harmed as every time we tried to get it , the owl went back out then waited an hour then went exploring again :))

Still not seen Bellblair, will have to email her. Hope all is well!!

just off now to update the blog.

We had a chaffinch on the femce half hr ago and a male blackbird forraging on the ground in the grasses and a dunnock.

Jane did you find a pic of a dunnock??

jude