Birds and other wildlife.

MrFraggle

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Not the best picture as it is through a window and rushed but what type of bird is having a go at the home made bird cake, it has a yellow beak.
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Yep starling, we get loads in our garden. The crows make short work of our fat blocks (you no nothing Jon Snow :)) leaving the littles ones to pick up the scraps.
 
... Starling.. or in Latin, Longius neckius! :D
 
I don't get a lot of Starlings in fact these are the first I have seen, I get bucket loads of Sparrows a few Blue tits and I have a couple of pairs of JackDaws which I think are a handsome bird.
 
I don't get any starlings where I live now but at my previous address I had a lot, they are very greedy!
 
We get starlings, sparrows, blue tits, great tits, crows, jackdaws,magpies, wood pigeons, doves and one occasion a heron having a go at the pond.
We seem to be lucky in our varieties.
 
We get a lot of starling now we put food out they like, they don't bother with seed. We get the nibbles from the RSPB shop, the fat nibbles. Getting two flocks of 20 or so home in at the same time is quite a riot.
 
Not the best picture as it is through a window and rushed but what type of bird is having a go at the home made bird cake, it has a yellow beak.
3PKPm5f.jpg

This reminds me, a Starling chick flew into our patio doors back in 2016 and knocked itself out.

After fending off my cat several times it sat itself up and flew away after about 20 minutes.

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Starlings are seen as pests by most farmers - a murmuration of Starlings can wipe out a crop in pretty short order.

Where I grew up in Lincolnshire, aside from bird scarers, the farmers would trap en-masse Starlings in cages and drown them (throw the cages into a pond with a piece of string tied to it, so it could be retrieved and re-used).

Don't know if that practice still goes on - it seems pretty barbaric, and hardly dents the population, but what else are they going to do when their livelihood is being wiped out?

Don't see a huge number around here (too many raptors), but I remember driving down the M74 approaching Carlisle and seeing the biggest murmuration I've ever witnessed - I almost drove off the side of the motorway watching it - and I wasn't the only one!:blush: Quite an impressive sight!

edit: found this web-site, which may prove useful in the Autumn should you wish to view Starling murmurations. Starling Murmuration Location Map
 
This reminds me, a Starling chick flew into our patio doors back in 2016 and knocked itself out.

After fending off my cat several times it sat itself up and flew away after about 20 minutes.

Lucky bird.

Any that have hit my windows have stayed down :(
 
In my childhood, the garden was always full of sparrows, starlings and thrushes. My mum still lives in the same house and when I visit it is very rare to see any of these.

Same with house martins - used to be loads of them, building their nests in the eves - can't remember the last time I saw one.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Used to be a hot works nearby that see thousands of starlings settle in a few tree's each night due to the heat.
Watching the raptors try and take them was fantastic and each year thousands of them would settle of surrounding roofs with new offspring and would be the loudest things known to blah blah, but then would go completely silent for ages, or until someone clapped their hands.
The hot works closed and now we hardly see more than 1/2 dozen at a time :(
 
Used to get all sorts in our garden, then the squirrels moved in and we hardly see any birds these days :(.
 
In my childhood, the garden was always full of sparrows, starlings and thrushes. My mum still lives in the same house and when I visit it is very rare to see any of these.

Same with house martins - used to be loads of them, building their nests in the eves - can't remember the last time I saw one.

Cheers,

Nigel
Next door has house martins as does a few around us. Most of the houses close by back onto each other and it is a great sight in the evenings when they are feeding on the wing before bed time. We get bats flitting around as well. I suppose the wall of houses looks like cliffs.

But out of 8 or so gardens that back up to each other, many are just patio. No greenery.

But you can buy house martin nests to try to encourage them in. Unfortunately I do not have the ladders to fit a few.

Our front hedge is now Sparrow Towers, we found out they like fat balls and a couple of feeders and a hanging water bowl and they soon find it. Very popular.

Help them in and hopefully they will oblige.
 
I used to park up on the embankment opposite Battersea Power station in the early 90's and most evenings there was a murmuration of what looked like thousands. Haven't been there since 95 so don't know if it still goes on.

On the Somerset levels there was a thriving colony, the road would be crowded with bird watchers, but haven't seen more than a few at a time here. I hope they increase their numbers.
 
I must admit I used to see lots of Starlings years ago round my way but very few in the recent years.
As for Magpies they rarely visit the communal back garden but when they do they tend to be bullies. Used to have a few pairs but they to seemed to have disappeared.
Had two Jackdaws visit now it is two pairs, plenty of greedy pigeons and another black bird who I have yet to get an image of.
I am two squirrels rown in Kate tear as they were killed by a pest controller but I think I saw a youngster the other day so looking good.
I am going to set up and hopefully film an assault course for the squirrels this year.
 
As for Magpies they rarely visit the communal back garden but when they do they tend to be bullies.
They will also eat all the eggs and chicks of smaller birds, so you might not want to encourage them too much. And of course grey squirrels are an invasive pest that certainly shouldn't be encouraged, especially in Scotland where native Red Squirrels still exit.
 
And of course grey squirrels are an invasive pest that certainly shouldn't be encouraged, especially in Scotland where native Red Squirrels still exit.
Red squirrels have never lived in our cities as far as I know and grey squirrels may well be considered invasive, but that genie is well out of the bottle and as far as I am concerned will continue to enjoy the nuts and corn on the cob I provide.
 
While Millie enjoys the birds you lure in for her to catch? :devil::laugh:
 

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