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."

"Doves not migratory afaik crass. Such a shame, delightful birds"

"8m in Australia these days and we have a local magpie which is unrelated to the European one. It's crow sized and feisty, but not a crow. I recently saw one fly across the road in front of me and collide loudly with a truck. It landed on it's back on the driveway of a petrol station and was kicking it's legs, but I assumed it would die. I ran across the road and picked it up and put it under the trees near where it fell. A few hours later, I went back past there and it was standing up where I left it. So for a few days I took food and water until I didn't see it. Now, whenever I sit at the bus stop opposite the petrol station, magpies come to me and sing. They probably just want food, but it feels like the magpie people are paying tribute to me. Their song is a distinctive piping warbling. I describe it as someone speaking Cantonese through a harmonica. I recorded one, but don't know where to upload it. I don't know what ultimately happened to the one I picked up as they look the same. But I do often see them dead by the road."

Good call on the doves Bru I’m devoid of them so far too They were busy last year but not around Excuse my ignorance but are they migratory? If not internationally but within localised areas?

"zebthecat 11:40 Sat Mar 11 They are very loud aren't they, song it beautiful and their alarm call is a racket. I was once divebombed by wrens that were nesting in a shed and every time I went in there she would go for me. Bruno, I still see plenty of collared doves around, think their numbers are doing ok."

"I used to see loads of collared doves when I was a kid, I rarely see them now. Shame as they’re lovely birds, I understand they mate for life"

"Nurse You just made me snort, you have a way with words my lady Thanks for the bat info, we have those here too and had plenty of experience of them when night fishing. Agree with Zeb, their agility defies logic, they swoop, glide and evade through our pergola and I've watched them dodge my fishing rod mid cast, stunning little creatures Oh and whilst typing, a big thanks for this threads contributors, a delight to read and I'm constantly learning, which is always a bonus"

"I love bats, especially those massive Aussie fruit bats. They look like flying puppies. This is despite being raised to think of bats as aggressive and dangerous. My mum had a serious phobia of bats. And spiders. And balloons. In fact, judging by the results of my recent Ancestry DNA test, the only thing she wasn't scared of is cock. (I'm still getting over it)"

Thanks Nurse - will give it a go. Also heard a fascinating radio programme on animals different perception of time. Bats are curious as they use time to perceive distance as they use sonar to map out their environment when they are on the wing. Also their perception of the passage of time changes as they spend a lot of life torpid in between bursts of hunting. Compared to us humans their reaction time is ridiculous - single digit milliseconds when they are feeding unlike us where even the fastest is about a quarter of a second.

"Zeb The RSPB online shop has BAT DETECTORS you can purchase. The gizmo picks up the calls the bats make as they fly and, according to the frequency of the call, can tell you what species you have."

Thanks Crassus it is. So does yours. I also live in a short cul-de-sac right on the edge of town. The High Weald AONB starts at the end of the road which is next door but one and there is a stand of old oaks at the end of the road. Bats and owls are my favourite visitors. Watching bats darting all over the place on the hunt is amazing. They are much more agile than any bird.

"Zeb Outstanding, sounds idyllic Ours is quite the opposite, a private drive off a cul-de-sac, so absolutely no through traffic but with an abnormally small back garden for the house The benefit however, is that we back on to green belt, so protected open rolling countryside from the back as far as you can see and virtually without a house in sight, the odd barn in the hedgerows As such, I consider our meagre garden conversely, a bloody big viewing platform, which being on a gradient, I levelled It provides all sorts of natural activity and obviously birdlife if you take the time to see it rather than the view and offers hours of simple pleasure through all seasons We are extremely lucky for sure"

"Crassus 11:57 Sat Mar 11 I am lucky to have decently sized front a back gardens. The front is now a small wildflower meadow. I have planted daffs and loads of cocuses for Spring but it is completely seeded for wildflowers and looks wonderful in the Summer. The noise from singing grasshoppers and crickets is great and, of course, that means more food for the birds. I have four apple trees in the back and last year's windfalls are still feeding the blackbirds. It does have a lawn and some flower beds including bluebells under the trees but I have left the very back to go wild and brambles have moved in. Yet more food for the birds and also me as I love blackberries. Stopping the brambles completely taking over the rest is bit of a chore but there does need to be some human space."

"Zeb Congratulations, I always take a nesting bird as a signal that you are 'doing something right' in terms of habitat, either by design or otherwise Where I am there's a multitude of natural options, so choosing our place is by choice, rather than necessity A thought that comes from an interest in aquaria and words from my Dad, keep the water son and the fish will keep themselves"

I have a wren starting to nest in the hedge for the first and I have been here for over a decade. It is amazing just how much noise can come from such a small animal.

I have a wren starting to nest in the hedge for the first and I have been here for over a decade. It is amazing just how much noise can come from such a small animal.

"Crassus, have little wrens visiting as well, but they seem very periodic and always head solely to a ceanothus bush and nowhere else."

"Tom Cheers mate, hopefully so Strange how I’ve become attached to the feathered interlopers"

"Crassus, if it's a cock wren then it may be off building nests to attract a mate."

"Exe Bad news for your Chaffs, lovely little things and the more I watch them, when they are stationary for over a second or two, the more I appreciate their plumage Chief nutbars in my garden are the pair of blackbirds, I like a blackbird, elegant shape but mine have a movement that conveys absolute confusion with the world, amusing to watch and mine too have their domestics for all to see Had a treat yesterday, a woodpecker, a consistent visitor, came to the closest batch of feeders, it's usually down the end under a big eucalyptus, but this time I got a close, about 12ft, viewing of it feeding, outstandingly good looking and with a sense of knowing it! Plenty of birds arriving now, tits by the swarm, blues, greats and long tails, sparrows and this years yob squad of starlings. Now they are the chavs of the gaffe, ought to be donned in a hoody and headphones, spend more time loudly rucking with each other than feeding One bird that has gone absent, is my little wren, was around parodically for a month or so but now not to be seen, not seen the wagtails of last year either - bothered that the dreaded flu may have struck?"

"Crassus, that's strange with the chaffinch as the ones in my back garden have been a bit the opposite, sort of oblivious and naiive to what's around them, until it's too late. Particularly in relation to the little local cat :("

"Exe Yep, I hear you Wonderful little characters. I have swarms of tits, if I venture to the back door, let alone go out, they are off as one except a couple of hardy individuals that look and carry on feeding When it comes to replenishing, they hover and sit on the fence right in front waiting Same as my cock robin, got to love a robin, they follow you about, albeit I understand the science behind that And chaffinches, is it me or are they the fallow deer of the bird world? Skittish is not the word. I have a growing number arriving now but they are nervous of everything, scared senseless of the sparrows let alone robin"

"While I was living in Muscat, a pair of Mynah birds ""adopted"" me after I started leaving offcuts of fruit on my balcony wall. Cheeky fuckers even resorted to pecking on my lounge windows if I missed a day. Messy, argumentative fuckers though; would gorge themselves stupid then stuff as much in their beaks and fly off. Should they have seen other birds attempt to feed after them, they dropped whatever they'd flown off with and came back to have a right royal dust-up. They eventually won and the other birds just gave up."

"Crassus, I do the same, I spend hours in the garden, many more than I ever used to and I get to notice the individual characters. It‚Äôs brilliant to watch it all. Just little things as well, like watching a male blackbird getting a proper telling off from his missus, for feeding with all the other birds around the bird feeder. She flew down from a tree and it was all ‚Äúwhat do you think you‚Äôre doing, we‚Äôre not eating that shit, get me some proper worms, NOW!‚Äù. He even dropped what he had in his beak on the floor. I love watching stuff like that. Had jays in our street the last couple of years as well, hope they come back, their colours are beautiful. The chaffinches are lovely little birds, but they‚Äôre really na?Øve when it comes to our neighbours cat."

That doesn’t read so well. The interesting chap in question was mid-size bird up a tree in my garden not a clown riding a unicycle down the high road.

I saw an interesting chap the other day but my eyesight was too bad to catch it so I bought some Binoculars from Amazon in the hope he pops by again. I’m also trying a new bird feeder that is supposed to be rat-proof. It doesn’t come with explosive traps though so it won’t be. I’m just hoping it slows them up long enough for me to pick them off with my air rifle.