West Ham Online

"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."

"Reminds me of our neighbour..very much a country yokel-he put in a nice big fishpond and I said ""Don't you have problems with herons"" ""Only once"" he said"

#gank

Herons are big bastards when you see them flying low.

"Have to say, it looked really big. Although was flying quite low so probably a Father Ted moment :-)"

"Have to say, it looked really big. Although was flying quite low so probably a Father Ted moment :-)"

zebthecat 12:55 Cheers fella. Just Googled it and think that's the one.

If it puts you in mind of a Pterodactyl it is a Heron. They fold their necks up when flying.

"Know pretty much fuck all about our avian friends (I can tell the difference between an owl, eagle and pigeon mind). However spotted a BIG fucker flying overhead today. Grey and white, with a large wingspan and graceful as fuck. Looked like a stork, although am fairly certain it wasn't. Any ideas?"

Sounds idyllic zeb.

"Wonderful nature moment just.now. The evening chorus and church bell practice as the soundtrack with added bats and a Tawny Owl flypast. I love it here, it is the small things that make a huge difference."

Hardly expert-level knowledge but thanks all the same.

"H&P, you're a good fellow, but is there anything about which you're not an expert?"

"If we’re talking about gannets, puffins and other fish-feeders, it will be the low stocks due to overfishing and climate change. Sea is too warm so krill-rich cold currents fail, leading to a collapsing food chain."

"the exile 3:28 Tue Apr 30 Agree about bee eaters. Stunning birds, loads of different colours."

"the exile , I think it‚Äôs down to bird flu . I noticed the same in the Channel Islands ?üôÅ"

"Just back from a trip to northern Spain with a bunch of geologists. Fabulous birdwatching in a number of places. The stand-out site was an area of kind of heathland about half way between Le??n and Astorga. It was absolutely covered with wild lavender, broom and rock roses with the odd orchid. First we saw a hobby, then a pair of black kites followed by the stars of the show - a group of about half a dozen bee-eaters - spectacular birds. All of this while listening to three nightingales simultaneously. On a different note, we visited quite a few sites on the north coast of Galicia right in the north-west corner. We were struck by the almost complete absence of sea-birds. Apparently they have had a few oil spills along there over the years but it all looked clean enough. A mixture of cliffs and beaches but almost no marine avians. Just very low numbers of gulls and waders. Anyone got any idea why?"

"Easter was too hot. Then April has been generally cold and wet, which has meant the spring flowers have stayed around much longer. Warming up again now but still no swallows or swifts. Instead we were visited by three Goat Moth caterpillars yesterday (must have come with the bark mulch for the conifers) - look them up, they’re impressive beasties."

"It's been a cold wet spring so far, the swallows must be thinking why the hell did I bother flying here for this."

"Yep, I can’t remember a stretch of miserable weather lasting for this long before. “Tomorrow there will be outbreaks of dour, in between heavy showers” for six months."

"WHU(Ex) I know you mean regarding this Spring. Awful dull and damp show. Earlier today I was sitting with a coffee in my sitting room. I had the patio door open, to welcome the robins and great tits inside to have their worms, and to watch the bright green parroty chaos on the feeders outside. It was so damp and cold. Found myself remembering that beautiful Spring of 2020 when human activity and machine noise all but disappeared, even in London, but the Spring weather was exquisite. Birdsong everywhere, no longer drowned out by vehicle and aeroplane engine din."

"I’m just so glad I took notice of the repeated messages on the BBC gardening programmes last year, and have replaced loads of plants in my garden with ones more capable of coping with global warming. It’s a shame they’re not bleating out the same message every 15 minutes this ‘spring’."

"Nice one Aalborg. Yep, spring is here too. The swallows are back. Cool birds. That flying looks a lot of fun."

"About three years ago, our Kiwi son-in-law set his cameras up to record a great spotted woodpecker's nest in our old cherry tree..see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=godR1K7bcNk The same cherry tree ,this year ,appears to be housing a couple of Green Woodpeckers only this time they've decided to be sociable and burrow a hole in the side of the tree that we can see..I can see a project starting up again! This year we've seen a redpoll , linnets ,nuthatch and goldfinches - good to see the greenfinches back but not in the same numbers as 10 years ago. The Merlin app has detected goldcrest ,blackcap ,lesser spotted woodpecker and yellowhammer songs Spring is indeed sprung"

Spent the weekend in Arundel and managed to see a Mandarin duck and a few Egyptian geese along with the normal water birds.

"Nice one, Pickle. Looks like you're first lookout for 'Swiftwatch'."