Wildlife in your Garden

BUMP
Looks like it's just me doing this years 'Big Garden Birdwatch' then. (see post above)lol

In other news I've just put up another blue tit nesting box. My old one has been up there for 4 years now and was used by blue tits each year until last year, when tree sparrows nested there. The sparrows enlarged the hole which is now probably too large for blue tits to choose, hence the new box. I have left the old one up in the hope that the tree sparrows may also return.
If anybody is thinking of siting a bird box in their garden BTW, now is the ideal time.;)
 
kev said:
BUMP
Looks like it's just me doing this years 'Big Garden Birdwatch' then. (see post above)lol

In other news I've just put up another blue tit nesting box. My old one has been up there for 4 years now and was used by blue tits each year until last year, when tree sparrows nested there. The sparrows enlarged the hole which is now probably too large for blue tits to choose, hence the new box. I have left the old one up in the hope that the tree sparrows may also return.
If anybody is thinking of siting a bird box in their garden BTW, now is the ideal time.;)
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Tree Sparrows are beautiful little birds aren’t they ?

Getting quite rare now too.
 
Blue Sky said:
Quite common now buzzards but rare to get one so close to the house .

View attachment 115896
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Now the commonest bird of prey mate.

Ten years ago, you’d have to go out into the country to see them, everywhere now.

There’s a pair by me, that have successfully reared chicks for the past 2 years, in a massive nest in the crown of a very tall Llaylandi tree.

How they survive is beyond me, as when it’s windy the nest gets blown all over the place, as the tree whips backwards and forwards in the wind.
 
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COYBL25 said:
Now the commonest bird of prey mate.

Ten years ago, you’d have to go out into the country to see them, everywhere now.

There’s a pair by me, that have successfully reared chicks for the past 2 years, in a massive nest in the crown of a very tall Llaylandi tree.

How they survive is beyond me, as when it’s windy the nest gets blown all over the place as the tree whips backwards and forwards in the wind.
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Their resurgence may have been something to do with gamekeepers being cracked down on

www.bbc.com

How buzzards came to fly over the UK again

Buzzards, the UK's commonest bird of prey, were once almost hunted out of existence, but they've made a huge comeback.
www.bbc.com
 
Was walking my dog, a lurcher, down Walton Lane right opposite Goodson a week or two back when he suddenly went berserk (not uncommon tbf) and dived at the park railings. A fox had one of the two domestic ducks that usually live on the lake in its mouth, actually round its neck. Anyway the fox s*** itself and dropped the duck which scampered one way while the fox took off in the other direction; unfortunately have not seen said duck since, but no doubt the fox had a full belly.
 
JimmyJeffers said:
Their resurgence may have been something to do with gamekeepers being cracked down on

www.bbc.com

How buzzards came to fly over the UK again

Buzzards, the UK's commonest bird of prey, were once almost hunted out of existence, but they've made a huge comeback.
www.bbc.com
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Deffo and also they have such an adaptable and varied diet - anything from worms, frogs, to rabbits, other birds and any form of carrion at all.

Their mating display is something special.
 
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COYBL25 said:
Deffo and also they have such an adaptable and varied diets - anything from worms, frogs, to rabbits, other birds and any form of carrion at all.

Their mating display is something special.
Click to expand...
Got up close to a barn owl when I was driving before Christmas. It was eating next to the roadside on a country road. Didn’t care that I was there. I just stopped the car and watched it for a while from a few metres. They don’t seem that jumpy for some reason.
 
JimmyJeffers said:
Got up close to a barn owl when I was driving before Christmas. It was eating next to the roadside on a country road. Didn’t care that I was there. I just stopped the car and watched it for a while from a few metres. They don’t seem that jumpy for some reason.
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There’s a pair that use the fence alongside Speke airport as a perch, on Hale Road, when hunting. They’re exactly the same. You could get cracking photos, but you’d have to go very late on, as they’re only there once the traffic properly dies down.
 
COYBL25 said:
There’s a pair that use the fence alongside Speke airport as a perch, on Hale Road, when hunting. They’re exactly the same. You could get cracking photos, but you’d have to go very late on, as they’re only there once the traffic properly dies down.
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I’ve had a few occasions where a Tawny owl is just sitting in the middle of a road at night. Pretty freaky when your driving along. Apparently that’s not uncommon either.
Tend to see a lot of the short eared hunting in daylight this time of year on the coast.
 
COYBL25 said:
Tree Sparrows are beautiful little birds aren’t they ?

Getting quite rare now too.
Click to expand...
I built a sparrow terrace this year to compensate our sparrows losing access to our eaves last year when I meshed them off because rats were getting in. I felt bad because apparently they never move more than metres from their nesting spots so they struggle as their habitat is changed by modern people wanting spartan plastic easy maintenance gardens.
Fortunately there's an enormous privet hedge nearby so our numbers have kept up.

In other news.... we had this woodpecker in our garden today. 20210129_213454.webp
 

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