h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I get alot of pleasure from watching the birds in my garden, along with the birds that make use of the orchard next to my garden.
Most birds are regular visitors to the feeders i put out, some like to spend summer in the hegderow, like the lovely little Blackcap with his very tunefull song
I have a small list of birds i would like to see for the first time and some i would like to see again, having not seen them in many years.
I got to tick one of them on my list just now It has to be at least a decade since i last saw a Bullfinch, untill today. I was making some and something caught my eye out the window, a coral coloured chest. I always have my binoculars by the kitchen window, looking through them i saw a beautiful male Bullfinch perched on the fence, he was magnificant with his vibrant coral chest and black head. It was only a brief visit and i could'nt see a female anywhere, but it has made my day so much better especially as i'm off sick from work.

Has anyone else got a list of birds they would like to see? or am i the only person sad enough to make a list?

Hi,

I don't think your sad at all it's a hobby is it not? I don't have a book and keep a list, I don't see many wild birds in the garden probably due to all the cats around here. But next doors garden they have bird feeders just see blackbirds, thrush, sparrows, blutit/greentits the odd robin now and again also doves.

Sorry to hear you're ill. Hope you'll be better soon.

I don't have a list, but then I can tell only very few birds apart.

Afternoon Venus, and you are not feeling well.

A Bullfinch? And a male? Not terribly common, and a bird I haven't seen for a good few years, like so many others.

I miss the common birds I used to see like linnets, jackdaws, blackcap, yellowhammer, song thrush, marsh and coal tit. All conspicuous by there absence, but during the summer I see and hear more of your 'favourite' bird, along with a multitude of long tailed tits. I've also noticed a reasonable flock of goldcrest in Kew gardens as well.

My rough list runs, currently, at 181 birds, having secured my bogey bird last year... The sparrowhawk. Only took forty years.

Current wish list? Hobby and merlin, great white egret, barn and/or tawny owl and of course, the nightingale!

And no, it isn't sad to have a list. Why should it? At least you aren't doing the 'Victorian' thing and killing them to prove you've seen them. I've been making lists for decades, although I rarely do much wih them. Best daily list? 53, plus a stoat, fox, fallow deer and rabbits. Not a bad day out!

Keep it up, and I look forward to reintroducing you to your 'favourite' bird within the next few months, if we can sort a date and the



MMF

Hi MMF
Looks like i'm doing better with my list than you are yours. Then again my list only has around 8 birds left to spot, it only started with 10
You would like it here, a female Sparrowhawk regularly hunts from my garden. She's been eyeing up the fieldfares and Redwings.
My list is small. Kingfisher, Corncrake, Waxwing, Coaltit, tree-creeper, yellow hammer, Flycatcher and cattle Egret.
I don't think we need mention the 'C' bird do you!

I'll let you know when i can come visit again. At the moment my health is too poor to even think about it I have to go for an angiongram next Tuesday, not looking forward to that.
In the meantime, i'll watch the resident Sparrowhawk on your behalf

Sorry B'el i missed your posting. Thanks for your wishes. I hope to feel better soon

Venus, with your angiogram. Sorry you are not well. Take care.

As for a bird list - I started feeding the birds seriously about four years ago, and from the original 'ordinary' birds I now have a huge list that I never expected. It is amazing what appears if the right kind of food is put out, especially in bad weather, or hot dry spells. I will check my official list and let you know how many. I do the BTO Garden Birdwatch, and the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, coming up soon on the 24th and 25th January, so you are far from alone in your hobby.

My wish list is limited as I don't travel, but in the garden I do so want to see a Green Woodpecker. They are around as I've heard them but no sighting as yet. Everything I have wished for has turned up in the garden, except for that one. Perhaps I need to wish harder!

My other one is a kingfisher, which we have locally but I never seem to get time to go and look. I would prefer not to go alone too, but unfortunatelyhaving company lessens the chance of seeing one.

I do hope things are ok with your angiogram and that you are soon fighting fit again.

Take care,

Websailor

An angiogram? To do with the heart, or with the arteries? Either way, I really hope it will be OK.

Venus, I have just checked my official list and if I include birds I see fly over regularly then I have 46 species, which I have to say is quite a shock. I haven't checked for ages. Of course these are not all at the same time or we would be overrun

When I started I had blackbird, robin, blue tit, great tit, wood pigeon and the odd magpie and I thought that would be the lot. The pleasure it has brought us is beyond price.

If you have to be at home for long it is a good hobby to pursue. Feed them and see what arrives. You might be surprised and it will brighten your days, especially at this time of year.

Websailor

Yes B'el it's to do with the heart, looking at the arteries and chambers to see if there is anything wrong, i'm hoing they find nothing of course.

Hi Webbie
If i listed all the birds i have seen, it would cover alot of species. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area that attracts alot of species.
I've been feeding the birds for years now and brought some binoculars so i could see them close up from my kitchen or spare room window.
I regularly see Green woodpeckers, especially in the summer. They like to feed on the ants that build mounds on my lawn.
The most common birds are the blue/great/longtailed tits. They love the suet and seeds. Then theres the gold & green finches that come for the nyger seed. The resident robin likes to chase them all away and guards the feeders He is the first bird to appear when i'm putting the food out and has become quite tame. Theres a flock of house sparrows, which is great to see as they are not so common now. A pair of Chaffinches come in to take the dropped seed, along with Dunnocks, blackbirds, wood pigeons and ring-necked doves. A great-spotted woodpecker comes and feeds of the suet at least twice a day. Then there are the opportunists, Jays and magpies which will take any fruit thats left. I think that covers the regulars
Oh i nearly forgot Hercules the pheasant, who only comes into the garden to strut his stuff

Good luck with the angiogram. I hope all is well. Your new health regime will certainly help... And don't rush to get here. Kew Gardens isn't going anywhere that I'm aware of.

>>Looks like i'm doing better with my list than you are yours. Then again my list only has around 8 birds left to spot, it only started with 10<<

As I live in a first floor flat, I'm amazes my list is quite extensive. I have wood pigeons, great, blue and long-tailed tits, blackirds, magpie, crows and dunnocks (hedgesparrows) in the cherry tree. That's about it.

Overflying are the resident green fruit flies, aka ring necked parakeets, black-headed, herring, lesser black-backed and greater black-backed gulls, green and goldfinch, cormorant, mallard, teal, canada geese, mute swan, jay, starlings and the occasional mistle thrush... Oh! And the vagrant tawny owl last autumn.

Unfortunately they all have to cope with four banshees aka which I would dearly like to remove from the equation along with both fluff-tailed (squirrels) and ordinary rats and foxes.

Maybe a day at the London Wetland Centre is called for, if the weather stays mild.

Best wishes and , Venus.

Caring s

MMF



*And my lips are sealed re: the 'C' word! *

Pssst! MMF, i'll trade you my 'C's' for your parakeets.

Done! Consignement of three hundred parakeets flying your way!

Just got to find that poor lonely 'C'!

* I think I get the best out of this deal!!! *

MMF

You reckon? There was a whole family of C's in my garden in Autumn And i know there will be several hundred waiting to plague me in the Spring, so you're welcome to them.

un/sub

'shrugs'

Another non 'C' lover then?

How's the cold today?

Btw, I forgot to mention my 03.00 alarm call bird, the robin. Luv 'um really, just not at 3am!!!

MMF

Ah, the joys of living in a city with 24hrs a day light. Poor little bird must be exhausted not knowing when it's night and time to sleep.

It's not a cold i have, it's a really bad flare up of the arthritis, the pain is unbearable at times I see the specialist tomorrow, hopefully some new medication to ease the swelling and pain.