Garden birds - wotcha got?

SimonC

I’m regularly getting attacked by a Buzzard while out  running just along the road close to where I live at the moment.
The bugger gave me a right wallop a few days ago. Thought someone had smacked me round the back of the head with a cricket bat. It’s an impressively powerful bird.
I suppose it must have a nest nearby.

Dominic

We get a lot of Yaffels ....(green Woodpecker )
Very sad thing......one afternoon 2 years ago 3 flew into our windows and died all within an hour .2 dead on impact but one survived for 30 minutes as we tried to help it .
Somebody said it was typical ,not unusual and that they were all males fighting in Spring ???????
they have huge long thin tongues about 6 inches long.

lasermonkey

We only have a small garden but we regularly get (as in actually land in the garden)

robin
dunnock
blackbird
song thrush
starling
blue tit
great tit
coal tit
long tailed tit
wren
goldfinch
greenfinch
jackdaw
magpie
collated dove
wood pigeon.

We have been coaxing some of the birds to come to us for food. There's one particular female blackbird who comes running over whenever she sees us. She'll come within a couple of feet. There's a robin that will also come that close and a young starling that is a little more cautious, but will still come running over.

less regular visitors are

chaffinch (used to be amongst the most numerous, but disappeared from the garden around three years ago and only came back this year) 
sparrowhawk
great spotted woodpecker
rook

rare visitors:
siskin
linnet
goldcrest
blackcap
fieldfare
reed bunting
red legged partridge
stock dove


We get lots of other birds which fly over regularly. Over the last few years several red kits have moved in and are over most days, sometimes barely above rooftop height. Buzzards are also common and I've also seen kestrels, peregrine falcons and one year several hobbies in the distance.

From the top of my head, the other birds that fly over regularly are
little egret
swallow
house martin
swift
grey heron
pied wagtail
oystercatcher (a new one for us this year)
green woodpecker
mute swan
greylag goose

Last week I was in the garden late at night, looking out for moths when I caught something move out of the corner of my eye. I then heard a rather distressed squeaking noise coming from the closest tree, though that didn't last for long. I trained my torch on the trees for a few minutes, not seeing a damn thing and was just about to give up when a tawny owl suddenly took off, with whatever it had caught in its beak. I've heard them around often, sometimes very close, but that's the first time I've seen one here.

I get a huge amount of joy from the wildlife that visits our little garden.

yorkio

We get most of the the usual garden birds plus a few woodland specialities such as nuthatches, tawny owls and treecreepers, plus red kites, which are extremely abundant locally (the Derwent valley in the North East of England) these days. Yet to receive a garden tick however are house sparrows and starlings - and that's after living here for the best part of 20 years!

RobDavies

I’ve got a couple of feeders out and get a similar selection of birds as @HAL9000 - although the Nuthatches and Long tailed Tits are regular daily visitors.   

I’ve had the feeders out for about six weeks now, and wonder if we’ll ever get anything more exotic?

fields5069

HAL9000 said:

Moominpapa said:

One thing we have in relative plenty here in Wokingham is red kites. I could watch them all day. They regularly make passes over our back yard because they know we leave tasty tidbits out for them  quite often.

My daughter lives in Caversham and also sees plenty of red kites. They really are impressive.

The M4 around there really seems to be a draw for them. I remember seeing one circling over our old house in Reading, when we lived at the top of the old Basingstoke road.

CHRISB50

Goldfinches - We get 2 gangs of about 5 birds each. They will spend all day on the feeder, fighting over it. Once they’ve eaten they continue to drop food out of it for the wood pigeons sitting underneath. 

Blue tits - Fights with the goldfinches and great tits over control of the feeder. Also like picking roosting mosquitoes off the tree and the buddleia, and spiders off the fences. Also have a pair nest in our box each year. 

Great tits - Fights with the goldfinches and blue tits over control of the feeder. 

Robin - Tends to just sit and chill on the fence. 

Sparrows - Love sunflower hearts, and the bird bath. 

Sparrowhawk - Arrives about once a month to try and catch any of the above. He / she has been successful a couple of times. 

Magpie - Uses the bird bath. 

Jackdaw - Uses the bird bath. 

Crow - Uses the bird bath. 

Thrush - Gets rid of all the snails. Every day hear it smacking snail shells into the patio, to get at what’s inside. 

Blackbird - Tends to come in the morning for about half an hour looking for worms. 

Starlings - Love meal worms. Put them in the feeder and the garden has loads of them until all the meal worms are gone. 

Wood pigeons - A pair and an individual that constantly fight over the place under the bird feeder

I love them. It’s like watching a drama, seeing them interact with their own, and each other, every day. 

RandallFlagg

Jonathangus said:

Got a group of swifts round here at the moment.  Great watching them doing circuits of the house in the morning and evening.

HAL9000 said:

Moominpapa said:

One thing we have in relative plenty here in Wokingham is red kites. I could watch them all day. They regularly make passes over our back yard because they know we leave tasty tidbits out for them  quite often.

My daughter lives in Caversham and also sees plenty of red kites. They really are impressive.

I regularly have one I see from my kitchen window here in Reading - but a couple of weeks ago there was a big group of them round here.  I reckon a dozen or so.  I saw them over Prospect Park just in front of me - they'd spotted food on the ground and a few of them landed.  Then again over the next couple of days, moving back and forth over the local area.

Wonderful, Red Kites are my favourite raptor, beautiful birds. We don't get them this far east yet but there is a big population around Oundle just outside Peterborough. I'm hoping they spread further east in time.

We see a few common buzzards cycling on the hottest days. 

EricTheWeary

I don’t know much about them but certainly a goodish range this year. 

There are two duck ponds not far away so occasionally you spot ducks resting on the front lawn. There’s a heron or two around the ponds and you see them go over from time to time. 

There are buzzards over the hills opposite so I can see them circle. 

There are Red Kites in the area near my office, I remember one flying across my car on the slip road of the M5, quite amazing. 

We also have otters by the office, not a bird admittedly. 

Dominic

lovely to see otters in the wild and not just a sanctuary

spark240

All the usuals...plus the current influx of Parakeets seem to be hanging round lately.

EricTheWeary

Dominic said:

lovely to see otters in the wild and not just a sanctuary

At the end of our office block is a large duck pond ( although it rarely has a duck on it for some reason) and the other side of that is the start of some woods and a country park. The otters dip into the duck pond from time to time, there’s a large window from the canteen overlooking the pond so you can have a badly made latte whilst trying to catch a glimpse. 

CHRISB50

EricTheWeary said:

Dominic said:

lovely to see otters in the wild and not just a sanctuary

At the end of our office block is a large duck pond ( although it rarely has a duck on it for some reason) and the other side of that is the start of some woods and a country park. The otters dip into the duck pond from time to time, there’s a large window from the canteen overlooking the pond so you can have a badly made latte whilst trying to catch a glimpse. 

I’d imagine the otters are the reason the duck pond has a lack of ducks. 

CHRISB50

Not birds, but they do fly...

We’ve had a couple of bats going mad over the garden in the last month or so. It’s mosquito season so they must be getting quite full up. 

EricTheWeary

CHRISB50 said:

EricTheWeary said:

Dominic said:

lovely to see otters in the wild and not just a sanctuary

At the end of our office block is a large duck pond ( although it rarely has a duck on it for some reason) and the other side of that is the start of some woods and a country park. The otters dip into the duck pond from time to time, there’s a large window from the canteen overlooking the pond so you can have a badly made latte whilst trying to catch a glimpse. 

I’d imagine the otters are the reason the duck pond has a lack of ducks. 

That genuinely never crossed my mind before but seems they do. There are some other smaller duck ponds nearer the road which have loads of ducks and it always seemed odd to me as the one by the canteen looks like a better pond. 

Every day’s a learning day! 

Limehouse_Blues

Family of Egyptian Geese arrived at our pond this spring. 4 little ones being closely watched by their parents.

gordiji

Dominic said:

gordiji said:

Lucky Here in France with, Reed Warbler, Kingfisher, Heron, Cormorant, Buzzard, Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Green, both spotted & Black Woodpeckers, Blackcap, Gold,Green,  Chaff, Bull & Hawfinch, Goldcrest, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Redstart, Tawny, little & Barn owl , all the common tits even crested a few times ,all regularly seen except the oriole which is unmistakable by its song but so far unseen. I liked egging when i was a kid so always had an interest but have never lived anywhere with such diversity.

I'm assuming that you're quite southerly to get Hoopoe.......I've never seen them in N or Central France but they are extremely common in S .Spain
Always amazes me how many Flamingoes in the Rhone Delta .....especially Camargue

Not really, Charante between Poitiers & Angouleme, they're common as muck ( but still beautiful). Must also add greenshank, all the wagtails, nuthatch & treecreeper.

kaypeejay

We have all the usual suspects and whilst out on a walk yesterday I saw a Grey Wagtail. I used to see these a lot when younger but haven't seen one for years.

westford

One of our neighbours has been feeding the red kites recently.

artiebear

kaypeejay said:

We have all the usual suspects and whilst out on a walk yesterday I saw a Grey Wagtail. I used to see these a lot when younger but haven't seen one for years.

I was just thinking how long it was since I last saw a yellow wagtail. Seems like years, once they were relatively regular sightings. Same goes for Swallows and House Martens these last couple of years. A few swifts around and the odd colony of Sand Martens, but like the aforementioned wagtails there is a sad absence.