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

Yay, yay, yay and double yay!
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I looked out my window and a small bird was on my new feeder. I was so pleased and wanted to rush out and put new feed in to make it sure it was fresh but am having to resist as don't want to frighten them away in my enthusiasm.I get a group of assorted, presumably it is the same group, Tits here and the Blue Tit was actually inside and took a peck at some food. A Coal Tit(yay) was on outside perching, and possibly a Great Tit but don't know if went inside as suspect they are all a bit nervouse of a new feeder.
I will change feed later as been in there a week or so. I am so pleased though. I never expected a big rush of birds so am happy a group of assorted Tits found it and hopefully they will return later.
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Starlings have starngely been searching around in the Leylandi hedge and am wondering if looking for a nest site? Last year I counted around 20, yes 20, younbg Starlings on top of lopped leylandi, can you imagine the noise 20 yappy young Starlomgs make, lol!
two Collared Doves also seem to be making a nest there and fairly close to front of hedge so might get a fairly good view of them. The Blackbirds seems to have chosen the small tree as a nest site and left the holly bush nest site the other side of garden. It means the pair are in my garden just about all the time now..
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There is a Woodpigeon with infected claws and side of head and if I had an air rifle would shoot it as clearly not in a good way. It is no point calling RSPCA as they would just say I need to catch it first as they are so busy and the Woodpigeon is ony here some of time and flies off at slightest noise. I do feel sorry for it and can no longer bear to look at its claws which are more or less just lumps now.
I suspect it might be infectious too but it is everywhere so disinfecting is pointless.
I wish it would just die to be honest for its sake as always seems to be on its own so might be a bit of an outcast due to infection, I don't like to see it suffering and with poor standing ability. If I found it half dead on lawn I think i would kill it to end its suffering.

I have just changed the food in feeder for fresh food from the 13kg sack, I couldn't resist, at this rate it might be a little too large,lol!
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I have just been to the piece of fenced in ancient woodland in a local park. It was lovely to see Great, Long tailed, Blue and Coal Tits in their natural enviroment as the Great Tits, for example, spend most of the time in my garden at tree hight whereas in the woodland they forage around in the dead leaves a lot. the Coal Tit also delved into a pinecone which was fitting.
It was a lovely morning/afternoon as warm but not too warm. I know the area quite well, it isn't that big and one on side of ancient woodland is a pathway which has a lot of birds usually as is bush lined. I walked in that direction and heard a cacophany of sound all high pitched like Finches create. I couldn't really see anything so laid on back with binos and saw something I didn't recognise. the bird had a finch like tail and was fairly slim with a thinish beak. It looked slightly Greenfinch in pattern but wasn't. I was thinking it might be Goldfinches. In the end it dawned on me it was a bird I had only ever seen once briefly a couple of years ago, they were Siskins!
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I had a fantastic time, at least half an hour, maybe an hour, watching every detail of them as they kindly went upside down, upright, just about every way they could and saw everything from leg colour to white bum colour. At one point one was vertically about 20 feet above!
They were feeding off Ctakins which just confirmed it even more as they love them.
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As to numbers, well there are a lot of catkin trees there and bits of catkin was raining down from most so I will say at least a 100 Siskins!
According to Collins Bird Guide they can come over en mass in winter so it sounds about right.

That is strange, I rarely see them, just a few times in street outside strangely-and local wooded park, but I have just seen a pair of Goldfinches in my garden like WS did yesterday!
I thought they were a brief flyover as seemed to have stopped on oak tree to left of my garden for a rest but they came back minutes later and started to look around the gravel drive and lawn for around 5 mins. I had the best view ever, one even stood on the saw off log to give me an even better binos view. I was surprised how brown the body was, they were adults though as have seen the young in a wooded park near me in a fairly large group. They seemed to be in their new summer clothes as fairly clean and bright.
I nearly mistook thenm as nearly didn't get binos in focus while in tree and thought they were Chaffinches due to assorted colours!
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The GS Woopeckers are still taking turns to dig nest with male doing most of the work. They are practically none stop from around 7am, the earliest I have seen, to around 4pm every day when they stop work. It must be really tireing as also spend a lot of the time swinging body from side to side watching for danger. The nest is full body and feather length in length/depth and they seem to be enlarging the chamber.

I am in two minds about going out when I leave and disturbing them as no one else will be careful as hopefully they won't be seen. If I am too quiet they won't get used to noise and might abandon nest with babies in.
I hope the 2 stupid cows who live here and think they own the garden and try to take everything over don't try to feed the young bread and milk like they did to a young Jay last yearthat was doing just fine with mum close by trying to feed it!
I really hope the Blackbird pair will be ok but their chosen nesting site is loved by Squirrels, jays and Magpies so really exposed to danger. I love all the bigger creatures too but they can be ruthless where eggs and young birds are concerned so really wish the Blackbirds had continued with the holly bush site as a bit safer. The Blackbirds are valeant with their nest defence but am not certain it will be enough, sadly. I loved to watch the fledgling young go around last year with their dad guiding them for a month or two but fear I won't see them this year, however if worst comes to worst they will have learnt a lesson for next year that only the more thoughtfull get to raise young and continue the line. Perhaps one of the pair of Blackbirds is even one of young raised in my garden last year, that would be lovely.

I must be wonderful to watch GS woodpeckers nesting. I do hope it comes to fruition. The blackbirds, if predated, will usually have another brood, but the two birds in close proximity could be a problem. They must have noticed though

I don't think you will disturb them, they usually recce where they are going to nest, but I hope the two ' silly moos' don't interfere

Websailor

Hey Strangely Strange why don't you find out if it wasn't some farmer who had lost those two cows who are now 'taking over' your garden and trying to feed the young birds! Sounds like very unusual bovine behaviour

Actually, I apologise to farm cows everywhere as they produce the milk and even they wouldn't be stupid enough to feed it to young Jays!
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I have just spent a lovely nearly 2 hours at the riverside and saw, amongst the 5 Eygyption Geese as being interesting birds I saw a Buzzard high up fly over and a smaller bird of pray lower down, can't tell which sort as didn't have binos with me and birds of prey aren't my strong point even with a good view sometimes.
What was good to see was, across the river, and only just visable was a Great Crested Greeb. They are stunnng looking birds and look very exotic but some live here all round. Pillowcase, I don't know if you can ever get to look at a video of them but they have a lovely courtship dance not often seen by many. There was a couple taking photos of Canada Geese as so close but they missed the Greeb as so far away but even at a distance their head ruff is eye catching and distinctive. I was luck as the sky has clouded over now so came home at a good time.

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There seemed to be a lot of small finch type birds around in fir trees there so will go back a weekday when quieter and with with binos. They are possibly Goldfinches going by sound but not at all sure as so fast. it would be nice if it was a rarer bird to see.

Hello Strangely Strange! I hope the cows accept your apology

I find it very interesting that Egyptian geese are managing to establish themselves in Britain! Over here this goose is of course native and happens to be one of the most common species of wildfowl around. Even small ponds will often support a family. And they become *very* tame too. There are some at the Pietersburg Bird Sanctuary and also tame ones at the WildWorld section of the Meropa entertainment complex. I'll see about getting some photos of them! I love these geese.

And did you know we have Great Crested Grebes here, too! I've never seen their courtship dance yet, though. I've only seen this grebe species once - when I visited the Turfloop Nature Reserve a few years ago along with a couple of German girls, exchange students. I saw the grebe only in the distance, not very well. This is for me one of the most 'ornamental' of bird species!

Some wonderful news!
I was looking at Grest Spotted Woodpecker new nest in tree only around 20 feet from my halway window and realised the female was sitting in nest looking out of hole entrance!
She is still doing some digging but seems to like the nest and looks so cute and shy now, bless. I am glad she appears to be inside a lot as ensures both privacy and more inportantly safety. Hopefully breading will start now, unless it already has. I wonder if they use the woodchippings from nest building as nesting material or a bare nest floor as don't seem the sort of birds to go looking for bits of old leaves like the Blackbirds have been doing.
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It really is lovely to watch them as quite a rare thing to see Woodpeckers nesting, their nests in woods seem quite inaccesable to all day watching really. I try to look every time I pass the window to make sure they are ok but don't really spend hours watching as my concentration is poor at moment.

That's lovely news SS. I bet she is ready to lay eggs if she hasn't already. I think our female is fattening herself up for a long sit-in too, as she has been at least four times today.

It's quite exciting. I do hope you get a grandstand view

Websailor

Typical bloomin' male!
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I just glanced out window at 6.50am and the male G S Woodpecker popped out nest, had a quick preen and was off for the day, oh after a quick drum to say how wonderful he was of course,lol!
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Joking aside it was great to see the male was still around as hadn't seen him for a few days and of course no male might mean no eggs. I even thought the female had gone as hadn't seen her digging for 24 hours but she was actually inside nest, well, nest bulding!
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I am a bit confused though as always assumed the drumming was to atract a mate or mark boundaries so to drum only 10 feet from nest was a bit odd. Perhaps not all drums are the same even if sound so to us. Perhaps this morning's was a 'Keep away she is taken drum'?
My book's just limited and vague and just say druming is used in spring and mating time, which suspect means no one really knows exact meaning of drumming.
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I collected some of the large amount of woodchips on ground around nest. Some chips are an inch long, a quatre wide and about an eighth thick. The thickness at around the thickness of a match is expected as any thicker although might be possible you would imagine it would be really draining on energy and since the male was often digging for 8 hours too tiring!.
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There was a lovely moment with the male G S Woodpecker just leaving, the female chucking out woodchips, a Jay five feet below on a branch and a Songthrush only inches from nest entrance not bothering everyone else at all,

I have noticed something quite odd with Woodpigeons. What I have seen them do a lot around here is fly up at a steep angle, like a plane going up from a runway to avoid noise on ground, but then dive down a little to say the tree they are going to land on. I simply don't understand why they do it as wastes precious energy?
I went out Birdwatching to my local nature reserve, the one which was a reservoir and filled to give lakes and ponds. It really was a Green Woodpecker and Chiff Chaff day as saw loads of them. Infact there were so many Green Woodpeckers I nearly fell over them at times, literally as one was rarely sitting on the side of a bush on pathway and cackled as it flew away. Even Frogs were out and about in warm shallow water and a few were croaking already!
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I have ruined my binos, the 10x42 ones, with water inside so used my 8x42 Nikons today. I thought I would be at a disadvantage as less 'powerful' for want of a better term but surprisingly they seem to be ok. Certainly it would seem the more powerful 10x42 would be better at distant objects as make them look bigger but it isn't as simple as that as perhaps the Nikons give a fractionally clearer distance image which seems to compensate for lack of magnification and makes objects perhaps even easier to see than more powerful binos.
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Another advantage is that a lot of time I am fairly close to birds I see around here so the more powerful binos made it difficult to see fast moving birds due to making the image too large and difficult to find, it is the narrow angle of view that makes it harder.
Anyway, I shall use the Nikon Action 8x42 for a while to see how I get on, they were half price at £50 around a year ago.
I did see a bird I didn't recognise which I think was a Pippet of some kind but as always if not certain won't 'claim' it so to speak. I checked book and DVDs and it might be a Pippet of some kind. If it was fledging time I would be even more cautious as could be a young anything!
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What I did notice on the reserve is just about everything seems to be carrying nesting material around, someone put up nest boxes last year which like this year seem to be booked up by prospective mums already!
There was a great moment with a Wren with a beak full of green moss type nesting material trying to balance on a bramble bush with its tail fanned and fluttering, same with its little wings, looking like an overwound clockwork toy, bless!

You really do get to see some fantastic birds SS! And lots of them too. Mine have been 'shouting' at me for most of the afternoon for disturbing their feeding time as I cut the lawn and tidied up, but they have made up for it since.

I think your birds must be a bit more advanced than mine at the moment. They are all paired up pretty much, but there is no sign of anything more at the moment. I am trying to make up my mind whether to get some mealworms again this year. They are a bit expensive but the fun they bring is worth it. It is just finding somewhere to store them that's cool.

Your binos sound a bit good. Mine are a bit boring, and on the kitchen worktop most of the time, I can't even remember the size. I have a lightweight pair which I haven't tried out yet. I really must get out and about soon. At least I got a good dose of sunshine this afternoon

Websailor

...blimey, she says with Bullfinches as regular visitors to her garden!

Yes, I must admit people are a bit envious as they are supposed to be quite scarce and very secretive. Not ours, brazen lot they are At least four, possibly six, but they don't often all come together.

Since the railway cut all the trees down we are definitely seeing fewer varieties which is sad. I just hope they found somewhere else to live and dine

Websailor

Well that was fun. I was sitting in garden and could hear a gentle drumming and thought a GS Woodpecker, one of the nesting pair, was digging in new nest and Lo And Behold one popped its head out of nest for a look around.
It looked around for a while and through woodchips out, it didn't seem to mind me being there.
I have bought and fitted a new nestbox around 8 feet from my flat hallway window and around 20 feet off ground but only around 6 above outhouse roof. I was worried about isolated, but sheltered, position as birds might not see it, but a flock of mixed Tits just flew to wall it was on and although couldn't see the box think they might have seen the box and possibly looked around,yay! I believe one might have been a Coal Tit too, fantastiic if one nested wouldn't it?

It would be lovely if some nested in it, but as it has turned cold again (well, here anyway) they might have been grateful for a cosy roosting place.

Websailor

I am a bit gobsmacked really. I walked past my hallway window and thought I saw a Coal Tit around new birdbox, possibley looking for bugs on wall, I stopped and saw it was going back and forth non stop into birdbox with nesting material!
It was only yesterday I put new birdbox up!! It seemed to be going to leaf buds on oak tree to left of my window but not certain, I know I saw it with a twig of somesort too. I carried on for quite a while but 2 Great Tits proceeded to nose around inside box and stand on top so Coal Tit stopped building nest. The entrance hole to box is too small for Great Tits and the way they seemed to be moving beak around hole told them this. The fact that Coal Tit stopped building nest could mean it is just going off to feed for the day with the mixed flock it seemed to be with yesterday.
A great and surprising start to the new birdbox's life. I thought the position would be poor but with the sheltered place and a lot of trees, particularly lopped leylandi, it seems ok,
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The one thing I am wondering though is have birds grown to know and learn the shape of a manmade nestbox means a safe and secure place to nest without having to build an outer structure, they certainly found it was a good place to nest quickly if just came across it by chance?

I have just seen something decidedly odd in my back garden. I saw a squirell with a mouthful of grass go up to my bird bath dunk the grass and run up a tree. I suspect it is building a nest as a few days ago in my local nature reserve I saw a large nest like structure with twigs at bottom and dried grass forming a dome. I think they are called drays,` but not certain of fact.
Anyway, it is the silly season so expect it is nest buiding.
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The Coal Tit is back and taking fresh green moss and similar things into new nestbox. I say Tit but actually I saw another and they flew away together so expect it is a pair now!

Yes, it is a dray and you could well be right. As for coal tits they take most of my moss from the wall, and I noticed yesterday that *something* had pulled a chunk of coconut fibre out of one of my hanging baskets I don't mind when the flowers are finished, but they are still in full bloom.

Websailor

with the new nest box SS

We have two in our big hawthorn tree, I am sure that one is about to be occupied by blue tits .

I will have to take the 'To Let' sign down .

Nigel