Hobbies and Crafts

Tec, do you think the chaffinch thinks his reflection is another male muscling in on his pitch? As you say very strange behaviour. Maybe you should cover the mirror up.

Crazy Chaffinch?

For several days now I have been watching the crazy and amusing behaviour of a male chaffinch.

He has taken to sitting on the wing mirror of my car - he sings, or chirps loudly, then hops off the wing mirror and ferociously attacks his reflection in the mirror. This behaviour has become more aggressive as the days have passed. He is really giving my wing mirror a hiding.
I am beginning to think I should place a cover over the mirror as I'm sure he's going to hurt himself - and my mirror and drivers door are covered in bird poo :-(.

We have a pair of starlings nesting in the barge boards on the gable end of the house.

Reported in the local paper that the ospreys have returned from Africa to their nest near Porthmadog - the nest is monitored 24/7 by the RSPB.

Tec.

I am sitting here watching 2 little sparrows through the patio doors.They are only just a few feet away.Busy looking for bits and bobs in amongst the rockery stones.Then along comes Bossy Boots(the Robin)it's a right little Bully :-S trying to chase them off. :-| :-|.But they are tough little cookies and aren't deterred :-D

It must have been Ann :-D :-D.Bet I won't see another now for ages here.
My little lonely Moorhen has disappeared.I do hope it wasn't the one I saw crossing the busy main Rd the other week.I have a feeling it was though :-S :-S
Just hung up my last fat filled coconut.I hadn't realized the last one was empty.Poor little birds have been expecting something (but the cupboard was bare) :-(

Guess he was reading over your shoulder Jane Lol!!!!

After my last post Ann ..........I have just seen a Buzzard lol.Just the one.

Sounds as if they are both territorial then Jane. As you say lovely to see the big birds. :-)

Four Red Kites here this morning.I just love to see them.It is strange ,because I hardly see any Buzzards over us and yet my friend who lives just down the lane (maybe a 1/4 of a mile) have the Buzzards but not Kites :-S
I have often wondered why next doors chickens kick up a racket .I think it is when the Kites are flying low overhead.The chickens are safe though as they are in the runs.

aaw, baby robins are so cute like little pom poms on legs.

Spied a pair of robins in the garden this morning, they are probably nesting our Laurel hedge again.
Glad son cut it back when the weather was good , they won't be disturbed now.
I usually prune it, and always find used nests in it, but as it was such good weather and son was on leave he took the electric cutter to it , there were no new nests...I checked beforehand.

I keep meaning to add about the birds that were in Westonbirt Arboretum when we were there. Well we could hear the blackbirds and a robin but not see them. We did see several nuthatches runing up and down the trunks of trees, and a couple of long tailed tits, I think there were more but we could only hear them they were very high up.

The pair here regularily get mobbed by crows. There were a pair of crows last year in the woods where people take their dogs for walks & the crows were mobbing the dogs-it was rather Alfred Hitchcock!

I'm sure the other day somebody else said about a Red Kite chasing a Buzzard, maybe it is because they both hunt the same food. I have seen crows chasing Buzzards though. Mainly near the crows' nests.

We tend to notice when it goes really quiet in the garden & invariably it's not a cat scaring the little birds (the presence of the dog keeps them away)- there's a pair of Buzzards swooping around.

We usually go & watch because they are stunning birds to see in flight, however, t'other day the Buzzard was circling at a great rate of knots persued by a Red Kite...it was a truely amazing sight.

It also explains how a Wood Pigeon vanished off the hedge at the back leaving a few feathers scattered on the ground... :-0

The results of the recent bird watch are in:

In total, over 70 different species were recorded in 285,440 gardens across the UK over the weekend of 28 and 29 January.
Starlings at all time low

Sadly, the counts revealed that starling numbers are at an all time low since the survey began more than thirty years ago.

Though still at number two on the results board, starlings were seen in fewer than half the UK's gardens. In the first survey in 1979, the average number of starlings seen in UK gardens was 15. This year, that number fell to its lowest ever with an average of just three starlings seen per garden.

These declines are being mirrored across much of northern Europe too, and because of this drop in numbers, the species is red listed as a bird of high conservation concern.

We've been monitoring this decline and research is already underway to find out more about the disappearance of these birds. Possible reasons could include changes in their feeding habitats and changes beneath the soil reducing their insect food.

The unmistakable flash of the glossy purple green starling is a familiar sight for many, but sadly it seems their numbers have dropped even further in this year's survey.

As well as being garden favourites, starlings are also famous for their amazing winter displays known as murmurations. At dusk they gather in huge groups above roosting sites, flying in patterns before settling down for the night.

Despite these murmurations involving hundreds of thousands of starlings in some places, numbers in these spectacles are also dropping.
Going for gold

Thankfully, it wasn't all bad news. Goldfinches are up one place at number seven this year. This colourful bird has been steadily increasing in UK gardens and first reached the top ten in 2008.

Blue tits overtook blackbirds to take third place, with an overall increase of 21 per cent since the first survey in 1979.

Blackbirds and long-tailed tit numbers have both dropped since last year. This is most likely due to milder weather, which enabled them to find food out in the wider countryside.

:-D :-D :-D

I will try but I will have to clean the windows first.

:-D :-D :-D

Lovely Lesley and convenient if you can take photos.

Jane, graceful birds when they glide aren't they considering their size.

How lovely Lesley .I hope you can get some nice pics :-D
I was sat in my friends garden this afternoon ,and in the clear blue sky watched 3 Buzzards just floating around on the thermals.They looked so graceful ...Just brilliant :-D :-D

I noticed today that we have ducks nesting in our garden they must have been there since Sunday/Monday as they have laid 3 eggs already, last year we had a pair that laid 11 eggs, I obviously don't know if it's the same two but they have nested in exactly the same spot just outside the porch window between the peonies and the house, it's a perfect spot for me to watch them hatching.

:-D :-D :-D