i heard a cuckoo for the first time in ages yesterday too! i named it "Chanel".

n Devon, the singing male Barolo Little Shearwater has returned to the Manx Shearwater colony on Lundy, where it has been present over a week. A singing male Iberian Chiffchaff in Staffordshire was also confirmed today, after it was first heard on Sunday near Rudyard.

Other quality rarity discoveries today included a Subalpine Warbler in Weymouth and a Red-rumped Swallow on Portland, both Dorset and Black Kites in Kent (two) and Cornwall. A Snowy Owl is once again present at Grenitote, North Uist, Western Isles.

Lingering rarities seen today included the Black Scoter in Northumberland, Rufous Turtle Dove in Oxfordshire, Savi's Warbler in Devon, single Bonaparte's Gulls in Devon and Western Isles, single Tawny Pipits in Lincolnshire and Scilly, single Long-billed Dowitchers in Ceredigion and Dorset and Blue-winged Teal in Carmarthenshire.

Scarcity highlights included a White-spotted Bluethroat in Worcestershire, a Kentish Plover in County Wexford, a Purple Heron* in Bedfordshire and a Woodchat Shrike in Yorkshire.

*Migratory.

For the past 2 days no sign whatsoever of the above-mentioned Mallard chicks.The early broods don't seem to survive for very long.

Good result on Mommy Mallard No. 2.  12/12 hatched.

a neighborhood cat seems to have taken up near permanent residence my garden.  dunno who he belongs to but i think they may have moved away and left him.   he's old and doesn't seem to bother the birds much

went to the coast today and saw a buzzard along the quiet country lanes on the way home. possibly the same one i saw last year (it was the same area and i'd only just mentioned that to the other person in the car with me and bang on cue it was there). massive wingspan.


he is now known as Leyton.

Out for a walk this morning,saw several red kites circling round looking for prey.A beautiful sight.

Thanks, boggle, I will  try the mix without the blackberries.  I know I can sieve them, but cannot be bothered and I am not sure they will not go through the sieve.  The seeds are like bits of wood.

I thought that Fixodent is supposed to stop them getting under your plate?

naturewatch ?

For whatever reason you do see them looking for food in the day sometimes. I had one wandering around in the garden with two magpies who were very interested in it. I don’t think they knew what it was because they didn’t seem to know whether to attack it or not and they’d probably not seen one before in broad daylight. They followed it, but it just ignored them. I think they are nocturnal out of habit rather than built for it especially, but I don’t know, it’s just that they don’t have much of an eye for a creature that’s up at night. Their nose is obviously the main thing, but other nocturnal animals still have decent eyes usually.

Was hanging some washing on the ole' Hills Hoist today when a Kookaburra came and landed on in, just above me. What a beautiful bird. He was soon joined by his mate, and they managed to catch the Don Strasbourg I threw to them.

carpet1
Not rare. Just not as commonly seen in a garden as say, Greenfinch,chaffinch or even goldfinch.As you say they are a beautifully coloured bird.

Put some stale granary bread out this morning.2 young magpies had a dust up with a jackdaw over it. Magpies won ! Then they in turn were ousted by a solitary rook( first time for this species in  my garden)

I think my young robins are about to get their pilots’ license. To recap: for what seems like forever two robins have been feeding young high up in a bush in my garden. In what seemed like constant feeding the two would arrive on the ends of the washing line with beaks full of stuff and disappear into the bush. Today, that’s all stopped and instead they are sitting on the ends of the washing chirping in the direction of the nest, and occasionally flying up there. Sometimes they fly away but they don’t have any food with them when they come back. I assume they are trying to tempt them into having a short flight/ swift plummet before resuming feeding them. Luckily, there’s only one cat around and he’s not very bright, so I reckon they have a fair chance of making it though the dodgy phase between leaving the safety of the nest and becoming competently airborne.

(Went to make a coffee before posting and saw what was really going)

Spoke too soon. I see now that the cat is not so dumb as I thought, he’s got himself up in an adjacent bush, about 6 foot up and he’s peering out. I went out and scared him off and he came straight back, went after him a mop and he still sneaked back, the little bugger.

It went a bit quiet, then the two adults came back and are chirping still, I think the cat’s around but I can’t see him. On the bright side, this has been going on all morning and he doesn’t seem to have got anything, so maybe he’s just holding a watching brief.

Robin returned with a food, but still not going to the nest. A blackbird had a look; pretty sure the cat’s hidden somewhere in the greenery. The robin’s nest is about 8ft up and I think the twigs may be too dense or too fine for a lumpy thing like a cat to actually get at them. I’m standing by with the mop. Before the days out I’ll teach that cat to fear the mop (please note: no cats will be harmed, scaring the fecker is my plan, not wounding).

I kept checking for as long as I could, haven't seen the robins since and didn't want to do too much going out there myself for fear of scaring the robins off. I don't mind cats, but my dad used to keep a collection of stones on the window sill when I was a kid and he'd react like mad if a cat went into to his vegetables and he did break a few ornaments in his hurry to get out of the window. I'm more placid but this little sh!t was really just causing trouble more than anything, I think. I'd seen him the day before and he just made a fool of himself so I didn't rate his chances, but today he seemed to have got a better idea about catching them. Soon as they fledge they'll be in danger. I know it's just nature and all that and that's why I'm reluctant to do anything more than scare the cat off.

This morning 5 dead hatchlings from House Sparrow nest or nests in our eaves, sad

^ wonderful - you're very fortunate to have all this near to you.

Facts
09 May 11 21:57
Joined:
05 May 03
| Topic/replies: 5,121 | Blogger: Facts's blog
get a catapault - the only remedy imo for cats and squirrels !

Thanks for the advice.

Just as a benchmark, how far would you expect to fling a squirrel?

found a blackcap nest and went to hopefully ring them today but unfortunately they were too big and soon to fledge!

Since I posted about the Sparrows there has been 6 more! They nest every year around eaves but never noticed this before
Could something be at the nests? Would squirrels do this, whatever it is aint eating them .