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."

"That is amazing Exeter. How do you do that when you can hardly see, hear and have a dodgy knee. What a star. I am sure he brought a lot of happness to a lot of people. Rest in peace"

"Toms, haven’t got any grass in the garden, aside from a couple small patches of ornamental grasses. Mostly just soil that’s ready to rumble already. Never had any problems with tulips, irises and dozens of other flowers, just the wildflowers, which in theory should be the easiest of the lot. Am going to follow Zebs advice this time and rake it up a bit."

"Sorry for your loss Exeter. Good tips from Zeb. If it's your own garden then get some yellow rattle seed, it's a grass parasite that'll reduce the grass and give other wildflowers a chance. Also if your grass is getting long around April time give it a high setting cut so that the grass isn't swamping out the wildflower seedlings."

"Thanks for the kind words all and cheers as well for the tip Zeb. I do watch gardeners world, but missed his advice with the wild flower seeds. Will give that a go as some people have said you can just scatter them and that’s it, which is what I’ve been doing. Never get very good results, especially with corn flowers, which are my favourites. Roundabouts and where I’ve got in mind will be a doddle. I walk a long way home one night each week in the early hours, but in the event of getting questioned will be “just looking for one of my contact lens officer”."

"Not corny at all Exeter, sounds like a great idea to honour the memory of your Dad, you'll remember him whenever you see them and it will bring pleasure to all those who notice them even though they may never have known your Dad"

"That is so sad Exeter. It must be a punch in the gut. Wild flowers are a brilliant tribute to your Dad and it is great that he gave you a love of nature. As it happens now is perfect time to sow wild flower seeds - some of the seeds will need a thorough frosting before they will germinateI have turned my front garden into a wildflower meadow and it attracts all sort of insects. I sowed my latest top-up last weekend so have none left. I get mine from here https://www.wildflower.co.uk/. Not sure you'd get away with this on a roundabout (some Hi-Viz might help) but the best way is to first scalp the grass and anyhting else where you want to sow, scratch up the soil with a rake, sow the seeds and then tread them in. Seeing Monty Don do this on Gardeners World inspired me to give it a go and it works. It will be a fitting memory and give load of people pleasure."

WHU (Exeter) Bless you and your dad mate. RIP. Will certainly do my best to spread whatever seeds I have wherever I can in memory of your dad.

Please accept my sincere commiserations

"Don't want to come across all corny, but... My Dad died this week, and I just wanted to ask a favour of other Hammers and couldn't think of a better thread than this. My Dad loved his gardening and he knew the names of so many birds as well. When he was really getting on, could hardly see anymore, or hear, and his knee was giving him real pain, my Mum and him had to move to accomodation for old folk and he was on the first floor. The communal garden beneath it was overgrown and grim. The next time I went down to visit a few weeks later, my Dad had transformed it into a really lovely garden, full of colour. A few weeks later, I was amazed to see that he'd then also done up the two little gardens either side. As well as cutting through wire, to get to a railway verge, dig up the undergrowth and plant flowers. I said ""Dad, that's amazing what you've done, I couldn't have done that"". He just replied ""it's a nice spread"" My Dad was my hero. Am going to throw loads of wildflowers all over the shop as soon as the weather's right. Roundabouts mostly I think. Going to make a nice spread If you've got any wildflowers......"

"For the last couple of weeks we've had hoards of Goldfinches on our feeders and on the lawn beneath. 20 to 30 at a time. Never had them before. Spectacular little buggers, absolutely beautiful. Jackdaws have all buggered off now thankfully. Noisy, greedy bastards."

Tomshardware 11:21 Thu Nov 16 Bloody jackdaws raid our feeders and take it all :-(

Do they wear Ugs?

"I've been seeing fairly large flocks of Fieldfares in the countryside, also some superb displays by jackdaws."

Redwing! I've hastily put out a halved apple to encourage repeat visits.

Very interesting indeed - kind of thing I love about this site!

"Nurse / H and P …. I remember watching a film and reading the book CONCUSSION . It was about American footballers suffering dementia / mood swings / violent episodes . In the film I believe he mentions a woodpeckers brain is attached to a cord that keeps the brain fairly stationary . In a human repetitive knocks means the brain flies around as there is no cord . This led to to a lot of American footballers becoming ill , in some cases suffering psychosis. Trauma Related Disease . One doctor , I think he may have been a Kenyan took the NFL to task over this . They tried to shut him up from memory , the whole thing got quite nasty but eventually he was proved right and safety had to be dramatically improved . Decent head gear, not targeting the head in tackles . Sorry if this seems a strange post on this thread but it just reminded me of the case !!!"

"Pickle, apparently Woodpeckers have evolved some top notch shock absorption in their heads/necks to ensure the vibrations from all that knocking doesn't churn their innards to soup. Meanwhile, you might enjoy this short clip of a pileated 'pecker going to town on a tree: https://youtu.be/TLJCSSIQ1fI?si=l_k5-sUzvQmwnQNI"

"Pickle, apparently Woodpeckers have evolved some top notch shock absorption in their heads/necks to ensure the vibrations from all that knocking doesn't churn their innards to soup. Meanwhile, you might enjoy this short clip of a pileated 'pecker going to town on a tree: https://youtu.be/TLJCSSIQ1fI?si=l_k5-sUzvQmwnQNI"

Wife filmed a lesser-spotted woodpecker getting on with it on an ant nest in a willow not a yard and a half of our living room window just now. What those buggers’ heads are made of I’ll never know. The tree looks like it’s been hit by several rounds of small-arms fire - I kid you not.

zeb - agree re the butterflies.

"cheeses cruyf 5:56 Fri Sep 15 That's sad. I hve noticed similar here over the years with Chaffinches. Not one this year but my local sparrows have had a bumper spring. There are loads of them now. When they whoosh over my garden there are far too many to count. It has also been a great season for butterflies and insects in general. I have had various dragonflies, hornet and bee mimic hoverflies and all sorts of bees. Also green shield bugs and a first which was a spider wasp. They have a pretty grisly life cycle but are mesmerising to watch on the hunt. Best this week was a female Tawny Owl kiyicking her head off from my roof. Pleasingly she got a few replies."

"Lovely sightings, chaps. Overall, my very unscientific impression is that we've had a good birding year. How are we measuring this, btw? Does it make more sense to go Jan-December, or Spring to Spring?"

In Yorkshire this summer saw my first wheatear

A lovely rural scene. I'm sitting in my car on a farm on the edge of the Herefordshire village of Abbey Dore. My wife is a beekeeper and we're getting ready for the annual honey show. There must be around 150 to 200 swallows and house martens flying around animatedly and sometimes settling at the top of a stand of pine trees. Presumably they're gathering to head south at some point today. A wonderful sight.

All migratory birds large and small seemed as normal this year. They seem to have all left now as well.