UKH

Heard a commotion, the sort of noise usually heard when birds go mad coz of a nearby owl.  This GS Woodpecker came closer than normal.  Then I heard a much quieter, but very similar distress call, coming from inside a hole in a nearby tree, which must have been where its nest is.  Saw a flock of 13 Long Tailed Tits, one of my favs.  And got a great view of a heron perched on a brick tower built in a lodge (mining lodge), very close and a perfect shot, framed by the trees, went to press 'click' and realised battery had died !!  Whitethroats and Blackcaps particularly numerous this year.

In reply to mick taylor:

I went for a short walk this afternoon after work and saw something sitting in a recently-cut grass field. Due to its small size and ears my first thought was rabbit. As I got closer, the ears flattened down further and further and I got to within ten feet and saw that it was a leveret (young hare, kiddies). The little fellow was stock still but seemed to be watching me intently even though I was almost right behind him - hare eyes are almost on the side of their heads and bulge so they must have almost all-round vision. I moved a little and then he leapt into the nearby hedge.

In reply to mick taylor: I'm on a golden streak.  Was camping by a lake when one, then another beaver swam by

The woodpecker is fantastic   I got my best view of similar last year when I deviated from the path for a pee and he landed in a tree very near.

In reply to mick taylor:

We have a GSW breeding in the garden, the noise is unbelievable, beats even the starlings!

Long eared owls a few years ago, just a few meters from the bedroom window, was even worse.

Birds of the weekend were ortolan bunting and nightjar, so I am quite happy despite missing the Woodchat shrike a few km away.

CB

In reply to mick taylor:

Sparrows! Everywhere. Not seen so many sparrows in years. 
We have Parakeets and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers raiding the bird feeders regularly. The is a Green Woodpecker in the local woods but so far has been elusive to spot. All with I the M25. 

In reply to mick taylor:

A grand day at work today,  a golden plover pair herding chicks then later a male hen harrier quartering the moor (dived after something once but missed) then a juvenile golden eagle, keeping the binos close to hand!

In reply to mick taylor:

There's a wee park in my town. A skate ramp, a swing park and lots of grass, surrounded by houses. There's a burn running through it, which is fed into a pond. The pond used to be a notorious midden, shopping trollies etc so I haven't been near it in years. The other day we passed it and I noticed flag iris blooming, so we went over for a look. A couple of hours mini safari and photography followed! It's been cleaned up and planted and it was a wee revelation. The iris, lots of other water plants I don't know the names of. Plus ducks, swans, juvenile coots hiding in the iris' (strangely though, no adults) loads of wee shoals of minnows, pond snails, whirligig beetles, great diving beetles, pond skaters, caddis fly larvae, and lots of damselflies. We saw a dragonfly attack a damselfly, they fell onto the water fighting, the damselfly escaping after an epic struggle!

In reply to aln:

Treat yourself to a net and get dipping - you're never too young!  On a general note, the improvement in waterways in UK has been amazing.  Fishermen play a key part, even tho a minority leave their rubbish and sometimes hooks etc. behind.  I used a fish a small lake in Cheshire that was a polluted dump, 3 years later and it had a good stock of fish, grass snakes swimming, green woodpeckers in nearby trees.  Held the British record golden orfe.

In reply to mick taylor:

Good shot of the woodpecker, especially as they are very wary birds.

My best sightings a couple days ago were two little egrets and a muntjac deer all less than a mile from a couple of London Underground stations.

Dave

In reply to mick taylor:

Watched a badger then a barn owl on our walk yesterday evening. Cheered me up no end.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

I went for a run around the woods this evening, came around a corner and there were two badger cubs in the middle of the path ahead.  They legged it initially, but then after I'd been keeping still and quiet for a moment just seemed to forget I was there and got on with rummaging around in the leaf litter.  At one point I was crouching on a tree stump and they were rooting about barely more than a metre from my feet.  Wonderful.  I've caught a glimpse of a badger once or twice, but never been able to watch them from so close before.

I wasn't carrying a proper camera, but got a few snaps and a couple of short videos with my phone.

In reply to deepsoup:

Awesome. Posted this a while back:  I built a crude tree hide to watch badgers. Watched them and climbed down the tree. Thought I’d wait to see if I’d disturbed them. After a few mins I had three cubs sniffing at my boots, I mean touching them, making barking noises etc. I was totally stunned and initially apprehensive and couldn’t wait to tell my mates. 

In reply to deepsoup:

Took this Friday morning,

In reply to mick taylor:

Brilliant.  That posture - it's almost like a cartoon.

In reply to deepsoup:

I f***ing cold and I'm in no mood to go fishing.

In reply to mick taylor:

😁Yep, keep em coming all

In reply to mick taylor:

Not animal nor bird life but vegetable.

A small wild strawberry plant sprang up in the garden at the beginning of Spring, probably seeded by a bird, so I let it grow and it's produced about half a bowl full of tiny strawberries. I picked them and ate them with some ice cream after supper last night. Barely more than half a dozen tea spoons, but they were delicious!!

A lovely sharp/intense/sweet taste, far far more tasty than bigger cultivated strawberries. So yummy that I'm going to encourage more wild ones for next year!

In reply to mick taylor:

There has been influx of Rose Coloured Starlings in Yorkshire.  We've even one in our village.  Stunning birds.    They are quite rare in the Uk and normally live in eastern europe.

(Think ordinary starling but with a body completely rose pink), head & wings normal starling colour).

In reply to Billhook:

That's a really great one to see.

If normal starlings were rare and you had to go out of your way to their habitat then we'd think they were stunning birds when they're all glossy and spotty. But because they're common and live in urban areas, we ignore them.

We do the same with mallards, the males are stunning but we ignore them because they're just "ordinary" ducks. Similarly with house sparrows, etc.

In reply to Michael Hood:

Good point about sparrows: Ive ignored them for years even though we have a thriving colony in the hedge dividing our garden from our neighbour's; but when I hear about people who never see them  i start to appreciate them more ( even though all the attention at the moment is on some newly hatched blackbirds in the same hedge literally one metre from the French windows).

In reply to Billhook:

Went looking for a reported Rose Starling in a nearby village, but no success!

edit: Forgot to mention my bragging rights from last week:  Eurasian pygmy owl at its nest, the last chick poking its head from the hole until the female arrives with a dead songbird, while the older chicks and the male are making a racket in the trees just a few meters away.

CB

In reply to Michael Hood:

Then there's the cry of "oh it's just a buzzard"

This week the gannets have been fishing in the sea Loch out front and the 2 kinds divers (Black throated and great northern) have been close to shore. 

In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

These where only buzzards, courtship display in Cheshire.  Tumbling everwhere.

This week:  goldfinches everywhere, most I've ever seen.  Good views of bullfinch.  Usual warblers and spent ten minutes being mesmerised by a blackcap singing.  Highlight was a great view of a cuckoo, first i've ever seen on my patch.

Love divers though, hopefully might be up there in August.

Rose coloured starlings: only time they've been near me is when there's been a grubby juvenile, so never been bothered.  Look stunning though, and the influx was mentioned on Springwatch (which has improved in my view, excellent, especially those 'mindfullness slots', could watch a full hour of that 

In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

And another only a buzzard, mile from my house.

In reply to mick taylor:

The last of my kestrels has left the nest in my gable today, hopping around on the lawn and looking a bit confused. Five of the things perching all over the house now and the parents squawking at them to behave.

Bit unnerving when they peer in the windows though!

In reply to mick taylor:

In my garden this afternoon something splatted on my back and I could feel it climbing up towards my shoulder.  Locust ?  Bird eating spider ?  I turned my head nervously to see a beautiful wren chick top out on my right shoulder.   It looked at me and cheeped a few times.  Lovely markings and yellow bits around it's beak. Then decided it should leave and flew off inefficiently in a straight line, struggling to maintain height.  I knew there was a wren nest by the pond. Today was obviously the end of lock down.

In reply to jimtitt:

Sounds brilliant.  Not seen the film 'Kes' for a while, but want to.

In reply to David Riley:

That is really cool, and I guess a rare event. 

For folks interest:  think they are the most common bird in Britain and have a uni-directional call, meaning loud when they point at you, quiet when they turn away, so they can sound louder than they should.

In reply to mick taylor:

Quite loud right in your ear.  Surprisingly loud from the nest all week.  Directivity should be good for finding mum and dad.   I would never have thought they were the most common birds.   Easily mistaken for voles.

In reply to David Riley:

They used to hunt them in some odd ritual, very interesting:

https://www.bto.org/about-bto/press-releases/he-who-shall-hurt-little-wren-...

In reply to mick taylor:

Clutches up to 8 apparently.   Probability of collision not so low then.