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."

[jack flash]

I live in West Cumbria and although further to the East hawfinches are relatively common we don't see them here Except about 10 years ago a pair turned up in our field and were around for about an hour feeding on something on the ground then flew off never to be seen again! Quite unmistakable little birds because of their huge beak which looks out of proportion with the rest of their body Bullfinches aren't uncommon here and we get huge flocks of chaffinches and yellowhammers We used to see greenfinches but they seem to have disappeared We get the occasional goldfinch and siskin

[BN2]

A bit of digging has turned up that there’ve been a few sightings of hawfinches on the outskirts of town here in the past week or so. So maybe…

[BN2]

A bit of digging has turned up that there’ve been a few sightings of hawfinches on the outskirts of town here in the past week or so. So maybe…

[Tomshardware]

My parents saw a flock of Hawfinches a couple of years ago in North Essex.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Looking around there’s definitely a lack of the previously abundant magpies this winter. Also noticeably fewer swallows, swifts and martins last summer. On the other hand, the jays seem OK. As do the crows, jackdaws, rooks and ravens (I’ve seen the local pairs out and about only this week)."

[the exile]

Never seen a hawfinch myself but someone I know out here in Herefordshire saw one a couple of years ago.

[Nurse Ratched]

Mine was clearly old information.

[Aalborg Hammer]

Just looked in my 'Observer Book of Hawfinches' and they're shown mainly up the middle of England up to southern Scotland and the Welsh borders

[Nurse Ratched]

"BN2 I'm not 100% sure, but I think hawfinches are only found in Scotland."

[BN2]

"I think I saw a hawfinch a couple of days ago, but it was there and gone in a flash, so can’t be sure. Certainly seemed too brown to be a female chaff, though."

[Aalborg Hammer]

"exile - I'm in east Hampshire- I did see a pair of Bullfinches back in December but none since.We had a pair of Firecrest/Goldcrests nesting in our Cypress tree but not seen them for a while...we have a back of thistles that I planted years ago and that attracted Goldfinches (a charm I believe the collective noun is) but they've vanished too...I fear the flu has got them. If you have bird feeders ,keep them clean"

[Tomshardware]

"Not keen on otters, the fishy bastards."

[Nurse Ratched]

Pickle - sadly I've concluded that's what has happened to my birds. So few this year.

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Maybe they are identifying as birds? The bastard otters, not the eco lemons that is…"

[the exile]

"Aalborg - that's an impressive list of sightings - where in the country are you? I take it you're not in Aalborg if you're doing the RSPB thing. Funnily enough I saw a greenfinch on my sunflower seed feeder this morning - first one for ages. Like most people, haven't seen a bullfinch for ages but goldfinches are really common around here."

[Crassus]

"Indeed, same here, only saving grace is that it is killing bastard otters too - fuckers are catching infected birdlife, something the eco lemons claim they do not do"

[Hammer and Pickle]

Listening to a boffin on the radio atm - a very nasty case of bird flu going round on a global scale this year apparently

[Aalborg Hammer]

"I took part in the RSPB birdwatch this weekend and am disappointed in the decline of bird numbers this year -I have the usual blue tits,great tits ,coal,marsh and long tailed tits but no finches to speak of. Robins ,wrens and nuthatches appeared fleetingly - a few redwings and fieldfares on our berry bushes.Our usual firecrests ,goldfinches and bullfinches have vanished and we haven't seen a greenfinch,a yellowhammer or a siskin for ages-when we moved in 30 years ago they were common. One first this year,a pair of waxwings appeared briefly on our niger seed feeder earlier this month"

[Hammer and Pickle]

The White-Tailed Sea Eagle I’ve just seen from the window going up the river probably thinks it’s lunchtime and it’s coot or rat on the menu.

[Nurse Ratched]

Blue tits have joined in now. The birds definitely think it's spring.

[lab]

"Red kites will see ferrets and dogs as flushers of things like rabbits and indeed will keep an eye on them . The thing is kites will only prey on dead things , things that buzzards kill for example . I recently saw a kite chase a buzzard off a hare that the buzzard had killed . Someone mentioned long tailed tits , yep gorgeous , twitter away in little groups as they work down a hedgerow . Leave them selves open to a sparrow hawk though . Saw a woodcock today ….now they make a hell of a journey ."

[Northern Sold]

When my daughter was at Uni in Reading they had shed loads of the Red Kites... quite interesting when she used to take the Ferrets out for a walk... those things would fly circle above your head... https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/23265462.gyrfalcon-missing-london-spotted-southend/ In other bird news... anyone see this and grab it nice little £1000 reward

[the exile]

"It's a bloody good thing you have started here Nurse - I really enjoy reading these accounts of birdy sightings and experiences. Not a great deal to report from here in deepest Herefordshire. I don't know what I have done to offend the tits, but they seem to be boycotting the feeder in my garden. But a couple of blackbirds have been having a clumsy go, which is quite funny to watch. I went for a walk by the Wye the other day and saw a pair of goosanders, a little egret which was a brilliant white on a very overcast day - would be good on an advert for Dulux. Also a couple of buzzards, a kestrel and two separate groups of long-tailed tits, which are one of my favourite birds."

[the exile]

"It's a bloody good thing you have started here Nurse - I really enjoy reading these accounts of birdy sightings and experiences. Not a great deal to report from here in deepest Herefordshire. I don't know what I have done to offend the tits, but they seem to be boycotting the feeder in my garden. But a couple of blackbirds have been having a clumsy go, which is quite funny to watch. I went for a walk by the Wye the other day and saw a pair of goosanders, a little egret which was a brilliant white on a very overcast day - would be good on an advert for Dulux. Also a couple of buzzards, a kestrel and two separate groups of long-tailed tits, which are one of my favourite birds."

[BeauLarkyBuff]

"Rio, I live in The Chilterns West of High Wycombe and Red Kites are very common up here. Majestic birds. Can often count a dozen of them spiralling on thermals. We have a nest in one of our trees where a couple of chick's were raised a year or so ago. Hopefully it will be used again. Getting some bad press though due to people putting out food for them and consequently the reports of kites raiding picnics and bbqs. Plenty of grub for kites on the roads with squashed pheasants and squirrels. Processed human food not good for them."