Author Topic: Spring has started!  (Read 4231 times)

ninthace

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #15 on: 17:45:11, 22/03/21 »
My car is also due its annual appointment o Wednesday to keep the warranty going.  I shall spend the time wandering down the Taw estuary on the SWCP to see what I can see - depends a lot on the tide.
Solvitur Ambulando

Little Foot

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #16 on: 22:56:38, 22/03/21 »
@ Pleb
My car is in for its ticket too. It's staying overnight; discs and pads arriving tomorrow. The brakes alone are £150 ish,plus a few bits like wipers and bulbs. On top of that an oil and filter change. So over £200 all up.  :(

Yes, yes - I know that's off topic. But the jackdaws and the wood pigeons in my garden are in full spring mode - much courtship going on. The songbirds are being more discreet.

@ Mel

Good to hear you saw an egret - lovely elegant birds.


As soon as the wind drops pigeons are at it lol. No wonder half look haggard.  ;D

Skip

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #17 on: 07:41:53, 23/03/21 »

. . .  pigeons are at it lol. No wonder half look haggard . . .

 ;D   

I know how they feel! Well, I used to . . .

Where's the 'haggard' smiley?
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ayjay

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #18 on: 11:40:22, 23/03/21 »
Pigeons are always "at it", they'll breed in every month of the year.


Saw my first butterfly of the year yesterday, a single male Brimstone.

Birdman

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #19 on: 08:42:30, 31/03/21 »
I saw my first Swallow yesterday!
 
My list from yesterday (Pennington & keyhaven Marshes) included a few really nice ones: excellent views of a Water Rail (minutes long, foraging in front of the reeds), a Garganey drake and a Merlin!

1   Brent Goose
2   Greater Canada Goose
3   Black Swan
4   Mute Swan
5   Shelduck
6   Garganey
7   Shoveler
8   Gadwall
9   Wigeon
10   Mallard
11   Pintail
12   Teal
13   Tufted Duck
14   Eider
15   Pheasant
16   Woodpigeon
17   Water Rail
18   Moorhen
19   Coot
20   Little Grebe
21   Great Crested Grebe
22   Oystercatcher
23   Avocet
24   Lapwing
25   Grey Plover
26   Little Ringed Plover
27   Curlew
28   Black-tailed Godwit
29   Turnstone
30   Ruff
31   Dunlin
32   Snipe
33   Redshank
34   Spotted Redshank
35   Greenshank
36   Black-headed Gull
37   Mediterranean Gull
38   Great Black-backed Gull
39   Herring Gull
40   Cormorant
41   Little Egret
42   Marsh Harrier
43   Buzzard
44   Kestrel
45   Merlin
46   Peregrine Falcon
47   Jay
48   Magpie
49   Jackdaw
50   Carrion Crow
51   Raven
52   Coal Tit
53   Blue Tit
54   Great Tit
55   Skylark
56   Swallow
57   Cetti's Warbler
58   Long-tailed Tit
59   Chiffchaff
60   Wren
61   Starling
62   Blackbird
63   Song Thrush
64   Robin
65   Stonechat
66   House Sparrow
67   Dunnock
68   Pied Wagtail
69   Meadow Pipit
70   Water Pipit
71   Chaffinch
72   Greenfinch
73   Linnet
74   Goldfinch
75   Reed Bunting
   
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

Dodgylegs

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #20 on: 12:32:44, 31/03/21 »
I saw my first Swallow yesterday!


So did I. O0

ninthace

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #21 on: 14:38:52, 31/03/21 »
Bluebells were out today.
Solvitur Ambulando

andybr

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #22 on: 14:48:03, 31/03/21 »
The first Sand Martins arrived at our local nesting colony yesterday. There were also lots of Small Tortoiseshells on the wing, te first butterflies of the year for me.

Birdman

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #23 on: 19:19:27, 02/04/21 »

Seen today included:

 
- Jack Snipe!
- My first Common Whitethroat of the year
- 2 Yellow Wagtail
- 5(!) Garganey drakes
- Water Pipit
- Several Blackcap singing
- Tons of Sand Martins flying around now.
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

gunwharfman

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #24 on: 13:51:20, 04/04/21 »
There is one 50yd very dense hedge that I run beside most days just below Portsdown Hill here in Portsmouth. I ran past it this morning and it was teeming with so many small birds, I think they are sparrows, they make a lot of noise and are incredibly active flying in and out of the bushes and branches. They arrive every year.

My niece lives on a housing estate in Maidstone, Kent and they too have one 100 yd tall and dense hedge (owned by the Council) that runs alongside about 6' from their house and garden fence. Some locals have been trying for a few years to get the hedge cut down because it too, teems with hundreds of sparrows at this time of the year, and some neighbours never stop complaining about them. With the help of other neighbours and the Council, my niece and her family have been able to resist their demands.

windyrigg

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #25 on: 15:07:53, 04/04/21 »
I've already seen an adder and frog tadpoles (plenty spawn)  :)

ninthace

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #26 on: 15:20:47, 04/04/21 »
There is one 50yd very dense hedge that I run beside most days just below Portsdown Hill here in Portsmouth. I ran past it this morning and it was teeming with so many small birds, I think they are sparrows, they make a lot of noise and are incredibly active flying in and out of the bushes and branches. They arrive every year.

My niece lives on a housing estate in Maidstone, Kent and they too have one 100 yd tall and dense hedge (owned by the Council) that runs alongside about 6' from their house and garden fence. Some locals have been trying for a few years to get the hedge cut down because it too, teems with hundreds of sparrows at this time of the year, and some neighbours never stop complaining about them. With the help of other neighbours and the Council, my niece and her family have been able to resist their demands.
Sparrows hah!  We also have loads of them but they are as nothing compared with the combined Rook and Jackdaw colony at the foot of the garden.  Both have learned to use our feeders, a rook trying to be a Blue Tit is quite a sight.  Sitting in the garden in summer is best done wearing ear defenders.
Solvitur Ambulando

Birdman

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #27 on: 17:25:44, 06/04/21 »
Saw my first Willow Warbler today (singing).
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

Dodgylegs

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #28 on: 17:47:50, 06/04/21 »
Opened the bedroom curtains one morning last week as a Blackbird flew past, closely followed by a Bird of Prey (Brown coloured .. Hawk?), then another Blackbird following behind... dramatic start to the day!

Birdman

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Re: Spring has started!
« Reply #29 on: 17:56:24, 06/04/21 »
Opened the bedroom curtains one morning last week as a Blackbird flew past, closely followed by a Bird of Prey (Brown coloured .. Hawk?), then another Blackbird following behind... dramatic start to the day!


Almost certainly a female sparrowhawk
My travel and walking reports: https://www.hikingbirdman.com/

 

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