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Wilf
Jul Member 2019

Wilf

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Not a bad day, went to look at the Great Grey Shrike that has been in the area the past couple of week. Got a few decent photos of it as well.

I may have mentioned them before on here but they are known as butcher birds as they like to make their own food store by impaling their prey on hawthorn spikes. They eat small birds,mammals and insects! This one has been photographed impaling a robin.

08-Feb-2015 18:05:08

Bernadette
Dec Member 2021

Bernadette

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I just looked it up. It's a nice looking bird, but I am not so keen on its eating habits!

We haven't had much of interest, mainly the usual visitors to the feeders. We did get a couple of long tailed **** feeding for a while, but I didn't have my camera with me.

This morning we saw a bird of prey silhoutted on a fence post as we drove up the farmers road, but couldn't tell what it was.

The movement activated camera shows even more cats, an increasing number of pigeons and a stray dog sprinkling the young hedge plants! No badgers or anything exciting so far.
One man's Truth is another man's Lie

08-Feb-2015 21:11:12

Wilf
Jul Member 2019

Wilf

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Saturday walk had a large flock of mixed birds: Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, and Reedbunting. I'll be going back next weekend with my scope to check for Brambling as there was that many flying in and out of the tree tops into the fields there could well have been one or more.

Today more Yellowhammers to start with and then a number of house sparrow and starling around farm buildings probably tree sparrows as well as they are in the surrounding hedges for sure, but I didn't see any. Into the wood a flock of goldcrest with excellent views of three that were going over some branches that had fallen to the ground could really see there crests. Further on most of the common *** species and the odd great spotted woodpecker calling in the surrounding fields thrushes were foraging, and then finally back home a number of long tailed ****.

Other wildlife today was a fox at around 1pm in the garden and seeing as a hen went missing yesterday i think it is safe to say he was the culprit.

15-Feb-2015 23:22:04

Bernadette
Dec Member 2021

Bernadette

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Poor hen. We have at least one fox in an enclosed section of garden and vegetable patch. I have just set up a fox deterrent, it says it may take a while before we see results. Next step is a cat deterrent, as I am fed up with them. I am sure the birds avoid that area because of them. I can hear birds in the trees, but they rarely come down to the feeders there.

Mostly the regulars on the other feeders - the long tailed **** seem to be popping by more regularly, as are the goldfinches although they don't seem to be eating the ***** seeds I put out, preferring the sunflower seeds. There were a few green finches and a couple of Jackdaws in the beech tree.

We have just made the loft more accessible and I can look out of the window towards the farm reservoir. I saw something I decided was a redwing in the trees but t is so far away that it is hard to determine colour a lot of the time. I think I need binocs that have more strength if I am to see that much over there.

Edit - Oh dear, the name of the tiny little black flower seeds was censored, but I can see why.
One man's Truth is another man's Lie

16-Feb-2015 12:42:26 - Last edited on 16-Feb-2015 12:45:02 by Bernadette

Wilf
Jul Member 2019

Wilf

Posts: 17,032 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I used to put **** seed out but everything that would eat it also went for the sunflower instead so I didn't buy anymore.

My advice on binoculars: stick with either 8x or 10x.

The higher the magnification the steadier you'll need to be to hold them still and also the weight goes up as the higher the magnification the darker the image unless the objective end is made bigger to let more light in which in turn increased the weight



This is why after 10x magnification it usually goes 12/15x50/52/56 then higher is into astro binocular 20x80 etc that need to be mounted to a tripod.

You'll also get a narrower field of view due to the increase magnification.

for further distances you're better of buying a cheap scope from a reputable make or a slightly better scope secondhand from a reputable store.

scopes usually cost more than bins though so you'd have to decide whether the views will be worth it :P

16-Feb-2015 18:21:56

Wilf
Jul Member 2019

Wilf

Posts: 17,032 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Spring is certainly on its way, and it won't be long till their is enough light to go on an early evening walk.

Saturday wasn't particularly exciting, and today when I went to the spot I was at last weekend the farmer had ploughed the sacrificial crops ready for re planting so their was nowhere near as many birds, but still I did see a Peregrine as I was returning fly over the field dive and roll into the birds which was a decent end to the walk. Don't know if it caught anything though.

In the afternoon the weather went bad and was sleeting so I made my nestbox plates, I went for a thinner piece of aluminium to save time.

22-Feb-2015 18:31:15 - Last edited on 22-Feb-2015 18:39:27 by Wilf

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