Birds/Nests

[Paul Cleaver]

2 minutes ago, gary112 said:

Bloody hell not much meat on them

they will eat anything with wings -the exception being tampons

[Peasgood]

3 hours ago, Ratman said:

Where do you reside Peasgood?

Near Beeston Castle

2 hours ago, Paul Cleaver said:

they catch and eat swallows in Africa - may be 1 reason why they are scarce?

I read a newspaper headline claiming they caught 140 million in Egypt. Don't know how exaggerated that is but it must make some sort of difference.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Ratman said:

We get a fair dose of cormorant on the river below work, but there are two dammed sections which creates a slower water coarse so maybe this is why, as fish will prob be easier to catch?

I saw plenty on the Thames from the narrowboat and I don't know how long they have been inland, I don't remember them from my childhood, if they do find the canals are easy pickings it could be devastating for fish stocks.

2 hours ago, Ratman said:

Regards the seagulls, i’m not a huge fan of them, but at the same time i’m not gona wish any harm on them either, but they are bloody noisey, and cheeky!

I get used to them in Brighton but would never encourage them by feeding them

 

...except, given I cannot stand waiting in queues so my wife fetched me a crab sandwich after waiting a fair time in Exmouth I took one bite and next thing it flew out of my hand. I was mugged!

[Ratman]

I get used to them in Brighton but would never encourage them by feeding them
 
...except, given I cannot stand waiting in queues so my wife fetched me a crab sandwich after waiting a fair time in Exmouth I took one bite and next thing it flew out of my hand. I was mugged!

We’ve had some near misses whilst sat having bbq’s, hence cheeky sods! ?

[rapalaman]

11 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I saw plenty on the Thames from the narrowboat and I don't know how long they have been inland, I don't remember them from my childhood, if they do find the canals are easy pickings it could be devastating for fish stocks.

 

They’ve been inland for a good few years now and have devastated a lot of waters fish stocks. Fishing clubs can apply for a licence to cull a very limited number, but nowhere near enough to make a difference. What with the reintroduction of otters and our Eastern European friends that eat everything they catch (not ALL Eastern Europeans), our fish stocks have taken a hammering these last few years ☹️

[spuddog0507]

On 07/05/2019 at 21:37, Treerover said:

Abso-bloody-lutely.

I’ve got 10 nest boxes in my garden ranging from tit boxes to mostly natural hollow logs of various types and aperture sizes.

i usually get a minimum of 75% uptake but thus far i’ve nothing nesting anywhere that I’ve noticed . 

I thought it was just me .

Slightly worrying indeed . 

But Chris Packham wants to save all the corvides that do the damage to all the song birds, i think you had better ask him as he is a expert ? in this field,,, may be he could explain it to us all where the song birds are going but it would only be FAKE news ??????

[MattyF]

Black Death...
There population along with goosanders are out of control , my mates had his licence revoked and has 30 cormorants on his lake.. imagine the damage they are doing to his business.
Back in the day there was a very healthy number of salmon par until the 80’s when river keepers where told it was illegal to control there numbers.

[Stubby]

 

Not seen any nests in the garden and no birds in the nest boxes but over the fence is over grown and they must be in there . On the feeders I get lots of Gold finches , Chaffinches , occasional bull finch and one or two Greenfinches  . Loads of Sparrows , Starlings , .Rooks Magpies and some times a Jay .   Over the fields the Buzzards and Kites are like confetti ! 

[Treerover]

9 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

But Chris Packham wants to save all the corvides that do the damage to all the song birds, i think you had better ask him as he is a expert ? in this field,,, may be he could explain it to us all where the song birds are going but it would only be FAKE news ??????

Whilst I’m not disagreeing with the point you’re making, I live on an estate that has had corvid control for decades and I’ll even pop off the odd magpie in the garden if they come in, so as much as I’d like to agree with you, I’m afraid the TEMPORARY rescinding of the General licences late April will of course not have affected bird nesting numbers . 

[Woodworks]

Counting our blessings as it seems to be a good year for the birds here. Loads of blue tit's, sparrows, robins also quite a few goldfinches, coal tits and blackbirds. Not seen a song thrush yet this year and we used to have plenty of them. Only a few swallows so far but maybe some more will come up next time we get a southerly. Cant be easy flying up from Africa with the number of northerly blasts we have had this spring. The usual selection of corvids as well. Liz saw our first ever red kite last week to join our bountiful amount of buzzards.

 

We do get large swings in populations. A few years back the place was overrun with sparrows and blackbirds but hardly a blue tit to be seen. Nice mix this year

 

Edit. Forgot to mention a thriving population of wagtails one of which is driving us mad. It attacks it's reflection anywhere it sees it. Smacking against our windows, bashing on the truck's mirrors and burying them is shite and quite often whacking itself against the stainless flue on the roof. Had this little blighter for several years now or it's kids do the same

Edited May 9, 2019 by Woodworks