For WHO's birders

[Nurse Ratched]

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

[Crassus]

"Fo Yes, licence required I’ve just read We anglers have an issue with cormorants, the bastards have invaded freshwater inland and are decimating whole ecosystems Funny enough, it’s all down to the EU so we may be able to have the bastards soon. As a consequence of dopey fishing policy certain traditional areas have been ‘fished out’ which has rendered certain cormorant species endangered, the EU in hasty policy, decreed the whole group protected status. With no sea fish the buggers swept inland, not the endangered, the Black Death versions. They have ravaged the water system eating their own weight in fish each day, then roosting as a mass flock in a small number of trees and killing them with the mountain of shite they produce. Once they have emptied the water they are off to the next and there is fuck all, legally, that can be done bar trying to scare them Otters and the fuckwits behind that farago are worse, but I am too far down a digressions rant Apart from saying those otter bastards are killing huge numbers of water birds and mainly for the shits and gigs, as a yoot night say"

[Fo the Communist]

Crass https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14631856

[Crassus]

"Billy Worked with a lad of good farming stock, he hated magpies and they knew it He used to shoot one then hang the remains, which attracted the others, he then shot those and hung them too - and on it went until the magpie situation was resolved Fo I think that you will find that they are classified as a pest, so can be culled under certain circumstances, not sure what they are mind"

[simon.s]

"Watched the resident red kite tonight, circling very low above us. Beautiful bird."

[Fo the Communist]

Billy Isn't it illegal to kill a wild bird without a licence? We had an issue down here where a local restaurant got into trouble for serving up crow.

[Billy Go Wings]

"We had a huge issue with Magpies this year, problem is on top of dominating the feeders, they will eat all the songbirds eggs, so you end up with no birds. Solution was a Larsen trap, had to get a professional in to set it up. It’s a wire cage with three compartments, in the middle you keep a magpie, a call bird, which you feed, water etc. Either side are spring loaded traps that you can put some fake eggs and cat food on top of the attraction of the call bird, I was a little dubious but we caught over 20 in a week, the trapped ones get killed and once finished you set the call bird free. Caught a few crows too.."

[Far Cough]

"Agree with Nurse, Lyrebirds are fucking amazing at mimicry, there's one clip of a Lyrebird mimicking a chainsaw that was ironically cutting down it's own habitat"

[Fo the Communist]

"blueeyed.handsomeman 2:28 Thu May 14 So would crocodiles but there's a fucking limit, mate..."

[blueeyed.handsomeman]

"pea fowl are a noisy breed,but they get rid of rats"

[Nurse Ratched]

"Excellent! Cheers, Ludo."

[Bouncing Ludo]

"Nurse Ratched 12:37 Thu May 14 Yep, works on leaves/flowers/fruit/bark"

[Crassus]

"Ahhhh the old rat bastard issue For the first time three years ago we had them in the garden Just after the barley had been cut and groundwork in the neighbours, never had them before Big fuckers too Called in a rat catcher who sorted them out sharp order, but he cautioned against feeders I expect the resident canines to up their game if we get a repeat"

[Fo the Communist]

"Hermit. Yes rats (or a rat) are a bit of an issue in my patch too lately Had one the night before last under the feeder scratching around for seeds missed by the ground feeders.I stood at he window and chucked a tennis ball at it. It bounced right over his head and yet the brazen fucker just carried on regardless. We have three goldfinches that have a set flight bath across the garden and they have real no-go areas. Probably to avoid being hectored by corvids and rats. Lovely birds though, for sure."

[Nurse Ratched]

Does the plant version for trees as well as smaller plants?

[Nurse Ratched]

"Ludo Thanks, my love. I saw that, but I can't remember why I didn't choose it. Maybe I didn't realise it was a Shazzam type app. There are loads of birdsong ID apps that a nothing more than a list of birds and you click to get a sample of their song, which obviously has its place (I already have one of those) but not helpful when you can't ID a song you are hearing."

[Hermit Road]

Fo the Communist 10:11 Thu May 14 I’ve given up on the bird feeders which is a shame because someone gave me an excellent tip on this thread for how to use them to encourage goldfinch in your garden. Unfortunately though they attracted loads of brown rats and I’m not quick enough with a shovel to get the bastards. We have put some traps down and are in the process of really tidying the garden so hopefully it will just be magpies nicking seed and bullying the little ones before too long.

[Hermit Road]

"Billy Go Wings 8:21 Thu May 14 Thanks Billy, Crassus. I thought that at first but I see quite a lot of Red Kite round Epping Forest and the Chilterns and it didn’t have the forked tail that they have. Also, I think their red is on their back whereas this was on the front. Similar size though. The alternative is that it was a red kite and that all the other times I thought I was seeing a red kite, I was actually seeing something else."

[Bouncing Ludo]

Nurse Ratched 10:58 Wed May 13 I use an app called Birdnet which seems to be decent and UK centric. (There also an app for identifying plants - Plantnet - which is excellent)

[Fo the Communist]

"Its a war of attrition, for sure. I took to fixing my feeders to branches as crows were literally pulling them off the branches. That has stopped now - or at least the crows have fucked off elsewhere. Off for easier pickings as you say. Will have a look at your proposal at the weekend and keep shovelling the seed in in the meantime."

[Fo the Communist]

"Its a war of attrition, for sure. I took to fixing my feeders to branches as crows were literally pulling them off the branches. That has stopped now - or at least the crows have fucked off elsewhere. Off for easier pickings as you say. Will have a look at your proposal at the weekend and keep shovelling the seed in in the meantime."

[Crassus]

"Fo, they are cheeky buggers for sure Drop kicking eh Well I recommend that you consider the flight path, can you both elevate the feeders within a branch 'shroud' but sufficiently isolated and rigid in suspension whilst maintaining visual contact? Whatever, do not give up, these fuckers are clever, but not clever enough, its a battle of wills and once you have them stumped they apply the law of least resistance and find other victims That crow episode was a real sight, as I said earlier here, I noticed two fat ball feeders on the ground empty, thought it was Mags. so wired them to a branch. One morning amid squawkage, I saw a crow, the size of the average condor, hop down the branch and tried to take off with the feeder,when it realised it was going no where, it flipped the lid, impaled a ball and had it away, five minutes later the second, the third was too far down, so it just tipped the thing on it side and it dropped out. This was repeated upon the second previously grounded feeder - hence wiring the lids and longer suspension, that's sorted it"

[Fo the Communist]

"Morning Crass. Admire your fortitude and ingenuity, mate What my fuckers are doing though is not shaking the branch but the hopper itself. They just fly up and hover long enough to either grab it for a second or just kick it. Enough seed comes out for them to fly down, grab a few mouthfuls and then do the same again. I might try fixing the hoppers to either a trunk or a think branch so they can't move it. The trials of life. eh? At least you can get back to the fishing now."

[Crassus]

"Fo, morning sire I've had issues with the mags, and a bloody great crow, having my fat balls away I have resolved the issue, I think, by wiring the lids on and then suspending the feeders on 2 ft of wire, from slim branches too, works on the nut and seed feeders The buggers can't get close enough to do their work and because the wire is of reasonable gauge, they can't pull them up and can't sustain a hover First morning after fixing there was a right old racket as the mags got the hump, branches not taking their weight and the feeders visible but out of range - I swear they were having a moan up"

[Fo the Communist]

"Any non-lethal tips for preventing magpies from rocking feeders to spill seed all over the ground? There were six of the buggers tearing around the garden vandalising the place, scaring the shit out of tits and finches and hogging the birdbath like corvid Germans this morning. Same last night. I am currently getting through four hoppers a day. Avian madness."

[Crassus]

"Bill First time I saw them was way back and I was on a lake near Thame, since then their spread has been wide I'm interested to know what sort of individual range these birds would have from their roost I have seen them throughout Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds, Nhnts, Bucks and parts of Beds and Herts, clearly colonising elsewhere and we get plenty up here, but they seem to come in waves, so commuters"