Lovely birds and rare sightings

We don’t get sparrows anymore where we live so I was quite excited to see one down near our beach house. Never thought I’d feel that but when you watch them they are rather nice little things. Cheeky stealers,too. We get a few little hooded plovers and they are an endangered species apparently. Very cute the way they run across the beach. At night little penguins come up out of the sea which used to be our big secret for years but, sadly, people have found out so they come to watch them and numbers are dropping because these people are noisy and frighten them away. Grr. People.

We have house martins nesting in the eaves and swallows nesting in the stables, I never feel that spring has arrived until they visit. and some years, they just don't! That makes me feel very sad but until now, they have come back the following year.

We use the Merlin app to identify the birds we can hear but not see and we have a quite a variety.

We've lived here for 26 years now and it's been interesting to see how the wildlife has changed. We now have roe deer and muntjac visit the garden, we have had years when we've been over run with rabbits but currently they have disappeared and we have a young hare which I see very frequently in our paddocks. Like in many other areas, red kite are increasing in numbers and Mr fox, seems to have decamped to the towns and cities. We still have our visiting heron although he's had most of the fish in our pond but worryingly we have a new pest in our vegetable garden, a miner beetle which completely destroyed our crop of leeks....climate change is bringing changes!

I was excited to see about 4 and 20 blackbirds gorging on the windfall apples yesterday. I don't bother with birdseed because it always gets eaten by squirrels or crows.
In winter I see redwing and fieldfare on the fruit trees.

The rowan trees attract waxwings every year.

All my flowers are eaten by roe deer so I'm not so keen on them.

The kale has been gobbled by pigeon.

It's hard to be a bird watcher and a gardener.

That's such a fantastic bird to have seen greyduster, and on a tv areal!!!
It's one that's always escaped me and I would love to see even just one.

Not really rare but I was happy to see a female chaffinch this morning in the garden.

I’ve been a birdwatcher most of my life and have seen, I think, most of our native species at one time or another but the most exciting thing I saw was a waxwing. Not on a reserve, or out in the wilds, but sitting on a tv arial opposite our last house. They are very distinctive. It stayed there for some time and then departed. It was a hard winter that year and there was a glut of berries for the birds to feed on. I haven’t seen another one since and probably never will again.

Witzend your mention of a hoopoo brought back memories. We used to get hoopoos in our garden in france and however much I got used to seeing them a cple of times most days i still got that thrill that something so exotic and outlandishly gorgeous was just there for me to see close up.
We also had a regular long eared owls which decided to nest in a small group of large conifers at the bottom of our garden. It bordered on extensive field and woodlands so they picked a good spot to hunt from. They produced 3 young and managed to rear them to nearly being ready to fly when the male just disappeared, the female struggled and then also failed to turn up. Sadly the youngsters didn't survive...nature can be cruel. It felt devastating after watching all that effort from so close up but our lives were so enriched by all this going on and now having those memories..

My dad saw a hoopoe in southern England several years ago. There is a local sparrow hawk which patrols around here. I wish it would take a few more wood pigeons - we have a growing number!

Saw a hummingbird on my Buddleia in September.

Witzend

The most exciting one I ever saw was a hoopoe, pecking in the grass just outside a BiL’s place in France. Previously I’d only very rarely seen them in Cyprus. Burgundy is certainly not their usual territory! They are spectacularly distinctive birds.

I envy you. I’ve always wanted to see a hoopoe.

A canal runs along the top of my sister's garden. She often gets uninvited guests popping in.

I have seen very few Jays in my life even though they are, I believe, quite common. Beautiful birds. I was staying at a house outside London and a Jay followed the same flight path at exactly the same time every afternoon. In fact, I think that’s the only one I’ve ever seen.

We moved to a GFF where a big tree attracts magpies/crows
and 3 jays which I have never seen before, also 11 seagulls in september trying to peck at yellow weeds.
I'm looking forward to other birds as the new year carries on
I feel like joining the RSPB!

I’m almost sure I heard a song thrush near my daughters on two consecutive days!

fast that should have read fat!
I watched it demolish the pigeon.

Allira

Oh brilliant! I've seen a sparrow taken by a sparrowhawk and also a large, fast pigeon, disposed of in a very short time just leaving a pile of feathers.

Blackbirds nest in our winter jasmine which has got some ivy (from the garden behind us) entangled in it. I should get out there and get rid of the ivy before the blackbird come back but it's a bit chilly out there.

At my partners the Sparrowhawk hides in the hedge next to the bird feeder to ambush the poor little birds. It often gets a pigeon, too but all we see are the remains of a few few feathers.

That post was to missdeke

How exciting, madeleine45. What lovely birds - just found this image online.

Oh brilliant! I've seen a sparrow taken by a sparrowhawk and also a large, fast pigeon, disposed of in a very short time just leaving a pile of feathers.

Blackbirds nest in our winter jasmine which has got some ivy (from the garden behind us) entangled in it. I should get out there and get rid of the ivy before the blackbird come back but it's a bit chilly out there.

I used to see great crested grebes in the lake at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and when you walked down through the Henry Moores and Barbara Hepworths you got to this lovely lake at the bottom.

A couple of years ago , cant remember exactly when, there was quite a fuss as a pair of Bee Eaters came to somewhere near Bishop Auckland and I went to see them several times. The local RSPB people were doing a sterling job organising things so that the birds were not disturbed but were visible. They kindly brought bigger telescopes etc and I know many children were introduced to the wonders of bird watching. As an ex teacher I know how difficult it is to teach children to use a telescope or binoculars as you cant set it up for your eyes, only explain the best you can and let them try until they get the idea. So it was lovely to see so many children excited to see these lovely birds.At that time I think they were the furthest north that they had been seen.

I had a blackbird nesting in my small garden ( only 7 metres deep and a sparrowhawk flew down to attack. The blackbird flew down and attacked the sparrowhawk and chased it away. I was sitting a couple of metres from it, magical!

Driving on a rough road in N Queensland, a cassowary decided to stop in the middle of the road. We just waited until he/she had moved on. Best not to argue with a cassowary.

The most exciting one I ever saw was a hoopoe, pecking in the grass just outside a BiL’s place in France. Previously I’d only very rarely seen them in Cyprus. Burgundy is certainly not their usual territory! They are spectacularly distinctive birds.

Unfortunately I don't get red kites around me as the forest opposite us home to families of buzzards. When they have young, they circle my fields and their cries sound like babies crying! The long tailed tit only visits for a short time during Spring, although all the other tits, greater spotted woodpecker, blackbirds, wrens, robins and many other birds are regular visitors. Costs me a fortune for feed in the Winter!!!

Your story about the swan and the porthole reminded of my DD’s experience, Petra. She was staying at a friend’s house and went into the bathroom one morning, to come face to face with a peacock peering in through the window! A peahen, to be more accurate. Even more astonishing, the peahen disappeared for a few weeks and they thought a fox might have got her. She reappeared one day with five peababies in tow! Where she found a peacock in the wilds of Scotland, no one knows.

Grandma70s

The best thing I’ve ever seen in my garden was a humming bird hawk moth. I thought it was a bird at first! It was hovering over the valerian.

We were on holiday in Italy many years ago and my son took me to see a humming bird hawk moth that he and his friends were watching. They are amazing.