Great British Garden Bird Watch Results.

[frank rabbets]

Nobody saw any owls.

 

[clivehorridge]

Nobody saw any owls.

I like Owls...

Not a particular fan of funny pet videos, but this one appealed to me...

By the way, a lifelong friend of mine Jeremy Marshal (Jay) runs a Rescue Centre for Birds of Prey in the Bath area, he’s a registered charity and an all round good egg. If anyone wants to donate some money (any amount) to help fund his mission (it’s desperate for help at the moment) he would be very grateful.

Otherwise, those in the locale may wish to visit....

http://www.westofenglandfalconry.org.uk/

He’s 110% legit and donations and all about the falconry can be found at the above link. He’s the guy in the “Rescue and Rehabilitation” panel of the front page when you scroll down a bit, right hand side.

Sorry for the thread-jack Frank, it’s over now...

 

[flint]

There are a few Tawnys about here and the occasional Barn. This is one of the Ravens snaffling some cold pasta (from a 6" pan).

 

[frank rabbets]

Sorry chaps. Daytime survey = joke.

Actually I do like owls and kept them before you needed a licence Clive.

How close was that Raven? They are big and shy aren't they? They seam to be extending their range as we get them honking over the house on the outskirts of Stourbridge. Also saw a Red Kite and Osprey recently over the garden. Buzzards nest in a tree nearby. We used to have to travel to Wales in the 70's to see those.

 

[clivehorridge]

Sorry chaps. Daytime survey = joke.

Actually I do like owls and kept them before you needed a licence Clive.

How close was that Raven? They are big and shy aren't they? They seam to be extending their range as we get them honking over the house on the outskirts of Stourbridge. Also saw a Red Kite and Osprey recently over the garden. Buzzards nest in a tree nearby. We used to have to travel to Wales in the 70's to see those.

Ha, ha

I was surprised last time in the UK how many Red Kites we saw. They’re big aren’t they, I dont think I’d seen one before... we must have seen a dozen pairs on our run down the motorway from Brum to London.

The Ravens here (I’m guessing they’re Ravens or Rooks (I’m no twitcher) are grey with black heads, they look like butlers standing tall with their hands behind their backs

In the city they will take food out of your hands and steal anything not tied down, especially if its shiny like Jackdaws and Magpies do.

 

[frank rabbets]

Plenty of Red Kites along the M40 Clive. There's a feeding station somewhere along that route.

They ain't no ravens Clive. They sound like hooded crows to me. Ravens are huge and very shiny black all over. If they took food out of your hand they would take your hand as well. Sometimes, obviously in a Raven area, they will kill a sheep if it's got stuck on it's back. They just tear it to bits. A friend of mine lost several sheep this way in Cornwall. Isolated area so he waited and shot a dozen. Long time ago and he died so no come back now.

 

[flint]

You got me ! The raven pic was taken from about 7 or 8 feet away by one of those wildlife cameras. They are big, 5 or 6 ft wingspan at a guess, they've been nesting here for a few years now. With us, it used to be the crows that went for capsized sheep, pretty merciless, going for the eyes first, had to shoot a few. About 30 years ago Red Kites could usually only be seen up around Tregaron way in mid Wales, but now hardly a day goes by without seeing them, lovely looking birds.

 

[frank rabbets]

Ah, wondered how you got so close to a Raven. You can sometimes see them here on a clear day miles up in the sky gliding from one horizon to another.

 

[clivehorridge]

Plenty of Red Kites along the M40 Clive. There's a feeding station somewhere along that route.

They ain't no ravens Clive. They sound like hooded crows to me. Ravens are huge and very shiny black all over. If they took food out of your hand they would take your hand as well. Sometimes, obviously in a Raven area, they will kill a sheep if it's got stuck on it's back. They just tear it to bits. A friend of mine lost several sheep this way in Cornwall. Isolated area so he waited and shot a dozen. Long time ago and he died so no come back now.

Happy to accept they’re not Ravens Frank, maybe hooded crows, but from the photos I’ve seen of hooded crows, even they are too big and scruffy looking to compare with the grey/black birds I see here. They are slimmer and tidier than crows, and smaller.

The pigeons here are a bit different from the usual pigeons I remember seeing in the UK as well. This may be the difference between wood pigeons I’ve seen in the UK and other types. They are smaller here and slimmer, not so puffed up and fat like UK pigeons look.

These little fellas are common too in our garden. Not good photos but there’s dozens of them. The cat likes to stalk them but it’s rare that she catches one.

We’ve got woodpeckers too, but they’re very difficult to photograph.

We see quite a lot of Owls crossing the headlights at night too, I’ve recognized some as barn owls and others, maybe they’re Tawnys, I wouldn’t know, they dont stop to be identified

 

[froggy Steve]

lots of owls around here all sorts of flavours too. A couple of years ago, when I walked the dogs first thing, we kept sneaking up on what I presumed to be several buzzards in a tree, but they aways dropped out of the tree and glided away by the time we got close.....any way, long story short they turned out to be a group of largish owls - Did lots of research and although not 100% sure they could have been Eurasian scopes owls! We lie there in the morning (I) listening to the different flavours of owls in our hamlets gardens We very often disturb them at quiet properties we look after as well plenty of wildlife around here

 

[frank rabbets]

Good pictures of great tits Clive. Very clear.

Yes lots of owls in France Steve. Plenty of nesting sites and also their food both of which we are running out of in England. When we drive through France we often see both Tawny and Barn owls dead at the side of the road after being hit by cars.

Steve you might have Golden Orioles where you are. Difficult to spot. If you google their call you'll find it very distinctive and if you memorise it you might well hear it especially by poplar plantations off rivers but more especially by rivers or water. You can wait quietly and they may be coming towards you. If so you'll probably see the female first followed by the DAZZLING gold and black male. 2 seconds and they've disappeared. Now is the time of year they'll start to call.

 

[Chas]

Happy to accept they’re not Ravens Frank, maybe hooded crows,

There's an old country saying to tell the difference between Crows and Rooks Clive, dunno about Ravens though,

A Crow in a crowd is a Rook and a Rook on its own is a Crow.

There is another way but you'd never get close enough to tell, one has smooth legs the other has rough legs

 

[froggy Steve]

We have indeed. Quite a few not rare, but not common. Heard my first cuckoo 2 weeks ago, just waiting for my 1st hoopoe and nightingale now to to make spring complete oh and a bit of sun would be nice!

Good pictures of great tits Clive. Very clear.

Yes lots of owls in France Steve. Plenty of nesting sites and also their food both of which we are running out of in England. When we drive through France we often see both Tawny and Barn owls dead at the side of the road after being hit by cars.

Steve you might have Golden Orioles where you are. Difficult to spot. If you google their call you'll find it very distinctive and if you memorise it you might well hear it especially by poplar plantations off rivers but more especially by rivers or water. You can wait quietly and they may be coming towards you. If so you'll probably see the female first followed by the DAZZLING gold and black male. 2 seconds and they've disappeared. Now is the time of year they'll start to call.

.

 

[flint]

Looks like the english speaking cuckoos are a bit behind so far: https://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

 

[Gav missin]

There's an old country saying to tell the difference between Crows and Rooks Clive, dunno about Ravens though,

A Crow in a crowd is a Rook and a Rook on its own is a Crow.

There is another way but you'd never get close enough to tell, one has smooth legs the other has rough legs

Rooks also have the walnut as we call them on the base of the beak. Carrion crows as you rightly say are normally lonesome birds or hunt as a breeding pair. Trapped and shot hundreds over the years whilst keeping my shoot.

 

[StarCruiser]

Good pictures of great tits Clive. Very clear.

One of Clive’s passions I believe…

 

[StarCruiser]

My father in law is known for his partial deafness and habit of interrupting conversations mid stream by starting a new one. He also puts long pauses in at odd places. One day during an unrelated topic he declared that my sister in law (his daughter) had great tits. Probably sensing the stunned silence, furtive looks and slight awkwardness that had taken the room, after what seemed like forever he blurted out ‘in the garden’.

I for one was thinking ‘now where do we go from here’…

 

[clivehorridge]

One of Clive’s passions I believe…

Two, actually, Rich

 

[StarCruiser]

Is it true they’re much more noticible during the cold of winter?

 

[frank rabbets]

They are Blue Tits Rich.