I have always been a keen birdwatcher but not at "Twitcher" levels. I have a great collection of birds that visit my garden and lucky enough to live on the edge of a town in Mid Devon, a fairly rural area.
I have been amazed by the Merlin app that recognises the bird song around you and teaches you which birds are making which tweeting noise. My wife and I are now in serious competition to see who can add the most to their "life list". I am up to 74 birds, most of which have been within a 20 mile radius of where I live, up my sleeve I am planning visits to the Exe estuary and Ham wall rspb area on the Somerset levels.
Unbelievably it's a free app, get it here and get addicted https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/. Might also be interesting to share lists and see how geography throws up a few differences.
That's brilliant, Nick. Thanks for that. Downloaded now and looking forward to using it. I heard an unfamiliar birdsong in the garden a couple of days ago and didn't get around to looking for it on YouTube. This will be great.
I love the Merlin app and use it regularly. When we go and stay elsewhere it is great fun spotting birds I do not usually see over here.
Never created a lost of any sorts though. Might need to start doing that.
My wife had the merlin app but I thought it was a subscription thing..so she ditched it.. will need to get it again if free😀
Downloaded.
First try picked up a House Martin and Goldfinch. I couldn't hear a bloody thing!
I keep meaning to start a list as although I live a mile - as the crow flies - from the centre of a 100,000 population town we have farmland behind us.
In our garden we've had everything from Goldcrest to Buzzard and Wrens to Waxwing, then in the field behind we can see the "proper" non garden birds.
Must admit with my tinnitus some birds like goldcrests I can't hear anymore, but hey that's rock and roll.
Quote from: Nick on August 10, 2025, 03:04:15 PMI have always been a keen birdwatcher but not at "Twitcher" levels. I have a great collection of birds that visit my garden and lucky enough to live on the edge of a town in Mid Devon, a fairly rural area.
I have been amazed by the Merlin app that recognises the bird song around you and teaches you which birds are making which tweeting noise. My wife and I are now in serious competition to see who can add the most to their "life list". I am up to 74 birds, most of which have been within a 20 mile radius of where I live, up my sleeve I am planning visits to the Exe estuary and Ham wall rspb area on the Somerset levels.
Unbelievably it's a free app, get it here and get addicted https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/. Might also be interesting to share lists and see how geography throws up a few differences.
Love that app - my wife was listening to the local birdlife a couple of months ago and there was an unusual squawk at the end of the recording. According to the app it was a Peregrine Falcon - she didn't see it unfortunately
I've seen a lot of gulls in fields while out cycling this last week or so. Herring gulls I think.
these birds are costing me a fortune in food.. the nuts and other stuff disappear within a day... blue tits , finches, sparrows, magpies then the pidgeons appear and hovering up the stuff on the grass... stiill lovely to see right enough..
Encountered a cloud of gulls overhead near Orton while I was out on a bike a few days ago. Just enormous quantities of them, wheeling around in the sky. Never seen anything like it.
Quote from: Fishy on November 07, 2025, 11:09:33 AMthese birds are costing me a fortune in food.. the nuts and other stuff disappear within a day... blue tits , finches, sparrows, magpies then the pidgeons appear and hovering up the stuff on the grass... stiill lovely to see right enough..
We get through 4kg of Sunflower seeds a week, plus about 20 fat balls. That's all without Squirrels coming for a feed.
Goldfinches absolutely hoover them up and they attract a crowd of Pheasants who come to sweep up all the bits that fall to the ground - we do get one Pheasant which walks along the hedge and tries oh so very hard to reach the feeders itself, thankfully it falls off before doing so.
We have mostly great & blue tits and the occasional finch. But we have these stick on things for the window, so it's up close and personal :)
We had a woodpecker last week, sitting on a cut don fig tree eyeing the food only before a pair of magpies spotted it and chased it off! All excitement all day here!
And we now have a hedgehog that wakes just after it turns dark, and we hear him wander around the yard. The wife bought some food and we fill a bowl a day. I know they are noisy eaters, but this one is particularly loud. Lovely though, he is growing fast.
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on November 07, 2025, 12:58:39 PMwe do get one Pheasant which walks along the hedge and tries oh so very hard to reach the feeders itself, thankfully it falls off before doing so.
Is it a survivor? Most of them are dead within a year of being released. I think it's sort of gross, releasing huge quantities of birds that aren't evolved to survive in Britain every year.
Quote from: Slim on November 07, 2025, 02:09:07 PMQuote from: Nickslikk2112 on November 07, 2025, 12:58:39 PMwe do get one Pheasant which walks along the hedge and tries oh so very hard to reach the feeders itself, thankfully it falls off before doing so.
Is it a survivor? Most of them are dead within a year of being released. I think it's sort of gross, releasing huge quantities of birds that aren't evolved to survive in Britain every year.
Pheasants were probably introduced to Britain by the Romans and certainly by the Normans, so there has been an established population in the UK for a long time. Whether our local Pheasants are long term survivors or recent hunt escapees I don't know, but we get the same ones in our garden over a period of years. We had one male keep coming over a three year period, he was a big bugger and you can differentiate them with their neck collars - some have, some don't, some are partial, some wide, some narrow.
AFAIK there aren't any Pheasant shoots round here. We get a bloke every now and again who fills up a few Bin Bags with Wood Pigeons. The local scum have also recently shot two Swans on the canal, if I could get hold of them they would suffer >:(
Looking out the window just now I could see a cock Pheasant four hen Pheasants, a Great Spotter Woodpecker, Great Tit, Blue Tit, a couple of Dunnocks and three Goldfinch.
For her birthday, the boy bought Mrs S a bird feeder with integrated camera. She keeps sending me videos of "interesting" birds and other things now.
I won't bother with the one where I'm hanging out the washing...
Ah red squirrel. Lovely..
Good to see a greenfinch, we used to have loads but now just occasional visitors. Decline in Blackbirds also noticeable this year. No shortage of sparrows.
Quote from: Nick on November 08, 2025, 07:38:08 AMGood to see a greenfinch, we used to have loads but now just occasional visitors. Decline in Blackbirds also noticeable this year. No shortage of sparrows.
Yes, we get the occasional Greenfinch, but this year Goldfinch have gone off the scale, frequently get 8 at a four hole feeder.
Blackbirds have really dropped off this year, I blame the dry summer and our Sparrows disappeared at the end of August, lone ones have just started cropping up again.
Quote from: Fishy on November 08, 2025, 01:12:43 PMHa.. tinge of red around the face..
Like humans some grey squirrels are Ginger.
Not a bird, but we nearly had a Roe Deer in our back garden today, running round the field behind us.
There were then six Herons in the field, a big flock of Seagulls - which the Merlin app can't identify, it just says Common Gull, when I know they're Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls - then a Kestrel came and landed up in the Oak tree in the garden, we then watched as it swooped down to get a Wood Mouse. It's been all go today!
A trip to Ham Wall under the watch of Glastonbury Tor. Amazing Starling murmuration and 2 Marsh Harriers amongst the water fowl.
im doing the rspb garden bird watch tomorrow afternoon for an hour with a bottle of wine handy...
Mrs S did the RSPB garden bird watch with a cup of coffee and some porridge.
Quote from: Fishy on January 24, 2026, 12:38:56 PMim doing the rspb garden bird watch tomorrow afternoon for an hour with a bottle of wine handy...
No double counting ;D
Noticed a field full of corvids while I was out on a bike earlier. Hundreds of them, and one gull. Also a Kestrel hovering in a stiff breeze.
Bizarrely as a birdwatcher way back in the day I've just noticed this thread - what a great read; yes, we have a back garden in a semi-rural area, but we also have a dog who is prone to noisy melodrama at the slightest violation of his territory, so I'll have to make do with a vicarious twitcher enjoyment of the posts here.
All "regular" the birds Mrs S missed yesterday - Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Greenfinch - have shown themselves today :)
One thing that has disappeared is House Sparrows.
Good to see another Greenfinch back here. Usual tits,sparrows and standard garden birds this morning, plus a woodpecker.
A few nights ago I could hear a Tawny Owl hooting late at night, quite clearly from in the house. Nice! Then again at 5 in the morning, not quite so nice.
Quite a lot of activity in the garden recently and thankfully no sparrow hawk carnage of late. My (nice) neighbour has solar panels on his roof and town pigeons roost under those. They make easy pickings for usually Mr Hawk despite his fairly diminutive size and he seems to favour my garden for his butcher work, probably because there's more cover. No surprising species to report and last year's bullfinches haven't appeared again which is a pity. Last year being the first time I saw them. Cockatiels have begun to make themselves known a mile or so away and I'm hoping my hybrid poplars put on another couple of metres in height this year and attract them.
A worrying thing appeared in my FB news feed about fat finch disease and how regular feeding can cause this disease to spread. It's suggested garden owners plant more shrubs to encourage natural feeding on insects. I plan to get planting when the risk of frost subsides, although there are plenty of established shrubs here already.
Still no jays in these parts. I wonder why.
The saddest thing for me is the total disappearance of the the lapwings from the field a couple of hundred metres from here. We called it the peewit field when we were growing up. There were common snipes there too, now nothing. The local burn which appears fairly clean always had fish life, brown trout and sticklebacks were always present but now the water seems lifeless. No water voles either which we always used to catch a brief glimpse of when playing there. Dippers too. Very, very sad.
Deer and foxes galore now at least as farmers must be less inclined to get their guns out these days,
Must have been having afternoon naps around here... only saw 2 Magpies 1 Robin 3 wood pigeons and two blackbirds.. between 2/3 pm..
I just did some very lazy impromptu wildlife photography out of the living room window with a 500mm telephoto. The shot was underexposed (tried to rescue it in darktable) and handheld.
But anyway .. I think it's a sparrow.
(https://i.ibb.co/BH4tBQNJ/sparrow.avif)
Went walking on Wednesday and we saw a Pied Wagtail hopping along the path through the woods in front of us. Not rare, but quite charming.
Out on a bike yesterday and saw three our four pheasants being eaten by corvids, all females. I asked ChatGPT if the females are a bit more vulnerable to cars.
(https://i.ibb.co/GvSsQDGb/pheasants.png)
We seem to have some blue tits in residence in one of our bird houses.. and on a side note our bee hotel has some customers..
You gotta love nature man...
Our Bee Hotel rapidly turned into a Bee slum...
I asked ChatGPT about bird evolution, it's very good at infographics now. Click for a decent size render.
(https://i.ibb.co/B2CXP6fz/birdevo.avif)
Doesn't that show how fascinating evolution really is. Just heard a news article this week that the front arms in dinosaurs such as the T-Rex became basically useless due to the power, strength and dexterity of the jaw. Those arms became an evolutionary dead end.
For another set of dinosaurs (not that far apart looking at the Coelurosaurs above) those arms become the enablers of one of the most amazing feats of evolution - flight!
I find it amazing. Not just the anatomical development, but behaviours for example. Like leafcutter bees.
We had a duck in our garden last night.. was perched on the roof for 15 mins then flew down onto the grass and had a wander about.. flew away then came back 10 mins later and sat on our side wall..
Don't mention Ducks! We get a pair, or sometimes just the duck which come and stare through the window until they get fed. You haven't been stared at until a Duck stares at you. Failing that they come and stand on the bird food box.
(https://scontent.fbhx4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/693530575_10162945388435544_5290141843742509029_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpegr_p526x296_tt6&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=x4O06_JTDsEQ7kNvwGFxBf9&_nc_oc=AdqxtsNdQ_o9U1cHNn1gZHczjIewpv660bB7tprHoMx73xyzeDUk1r2kRCzp9nJeOZcJ6pEq8QY79wUT8uGeZI2D&_nc_zt=23&se=-1&_nc_ht=scontent.fbhx4-2.fna&_nc_gid=52JP7-9_rn_w1iNCXQvjvA&_nc_ss=7b2a8&oh=00_Af40X3XePLwKlMlKuhRE5ZU6ThuS8XsNWFgr9FFns4q7ow&oe=6A19506B)
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on May 24, 2026, 09:47:55 PMDon't mention Ducks! We get a pair, or sometimes just the duck which come and stare through the window until they get fed. You haven't been stared at until a Duck stares at you. Failing that they come and stand on the bird food box.
(https://scontent.fbhx4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/693530575_10162945388435544_5290141843742509029_n.jpg?stp=cp6_dst-jpegr_p526x296_tt6&_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=x4O06_JTDsEQ7kNvwGFxBf9&_nc_oc=AdqxtsNdQ_o9U1cHNn1gZHczjIewpv660bB7tprHoMx73xyzeDUk1r2kRCzp9nJeOZcJ6pEq8QY79wUT8uGeZI2D&_nc_zt=23&se=-1&_nc_ht=scontent.fbhx4-2.fna&_nc_gid=52JP7-9_rn_w1iNCXQvjvA&_nc_ss=7b2a8&oh=00_Af40X3XePLwKlMlKuhRE5ZU6ThuS8XsNWFgr9FFns4q7ow&oe=6A19506B)
Get some pancakes and plum sauce
Not content with stuffing its beak with fatballs, bloody Woody Woodpecker has found the nest box with Blue Tits in in our garden. Greatly enlarged the entrance hole and I presume has made off with the chicks.
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on May 27, 2026, 05:05:48 PMNot content with stuffing its beak with fatballs, bloody Woody Woodpecker has found the nest box with Blue Tits in in our garden. Greatly enlarged the entrance hole and I presume has made off with the chicks.
Chicks are always attracted to a big pecker
::)
Coat please!
Sorry to hear, maybe it can be repaired with a metal plate with a hole.
I can hear the blue tit chicks in the bird house.. any idea when they make an appearance..
Think our blue tit family have moved out..
We've just had a Blue Tit nest clear out in the vicinity. The young ones sit on the bird feeder pole while a parent feeds them - apart from one it flies out, then abruptly does a U-Turn back to a nearby tree. The parent does go and feed it :)
Quote from: Slim on May 21, 2026, 03:34:08 PMI asked ChatGPT about bird evolution, it's very good at infographics now. Click for a decent size render.
(https://i.ibb.co/B2CXP6fz/birdevo.avif)
Thought it might be interesting to see the state of human ancestry at those times .. apart from the human those mammals are roughly mouse-sized. Your great, great, great ( x a few dozen million) great grandparents.
(https://i.ibb.co/sdG9byVx/birds-humans.avif)
I've always enjoyed feeding birds and wildlife. It has become more difficult recently as gulls have taken to nesting in the gulley behind the chimneys in this area. That doesn't really bother me except when I put food out for the foxes at night, any gulls with chicks will swoop down on the foxes making the most horrific racket. Even in complete darkness.
I get a bit of grief from a couple of neighbours about the foxes but their claims about them being a nuisance are either exaggerated or just completely untrue. They can be a bit noisy in the mating season but that's normal behaviour and nothing to do with where they find food.
There's woods about 100 metres from where I live, mostly tall ash and beech so luckily there's a small Rookery. They make a racket in the early hours during spring but there's no mention of that by the local naysayers. There must also be about 1000 Jackdaws which flock onto the roofs opposite my house, nearest the woods. The roofs go black with the numbers. It's quite a sight.
I hate those who complain about birds and wildlife trying to eke out a living when about 500 houses have been built in this town in the past 10 years. The acreage of natural habitat destroyed is scandalous and totally down to the fact that house prices are high here.
No Bullfinches this year as yet, maybe a one off last year, but I must have an artificial House Martin nest installed for next year. I was delighted when they started to rebuild a nest a couple of years back but so disappointed when I realised the replacement PVC soffit boarding had prevented them completing.
We've had to stop feeding birds a lately. I know RSPB advice is to stop seed feeders in the Spring because of the viral disease which finches pick up, but it's also been attracting Rats to the garden.
Taking the feeders down has pissed off the Squirrel. Mrs S keeps the bird food outside in a plastic box, the Squirrel has managed to eat its way into the box, little bugger, thankfully we disturbed it before it could fill its stomach.
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on June 18, 2026, 07:05:04 PMWe've had to stop feeding birds a lately. I know RSPB advice is to stop seed feeders in the Spring because of the viral disease which finches pick up, but it's also been attracting Rats to the garden.
Taking the feeders down has pissed off the Squirrel. Mrs S keeps the bird food outside in a plastic box, the Squirrel has managed to eat its way into the box, little bugger, thankfully we disturbed it before it could fill its stomach.
I don't think rats would survive very long with my fox visitors. I realise the Grey Squirrel isn't indigenous and is a danger to garden birds as well as the virus they carry, but I can't help liking them. I used to have a few here on a regular basis, but I think they may also have fallen prey to the foxes.
No sign of any Sparrow Hawk kills around here recently. One had regularly been picking off the pigeons which roost under my neighbour's solar panels but it must have found easier targets elsewhere, or met its maker perhaps.
I keep getting pigeon crap on my garage door, and noticed some on a front window earlier. Can you get fake hawks I wonder? Ah, you can, just had a look on Amazon.
Pigeons hate hawks.
Well, we get Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels and Buzzards round here. We also get a bloke with a shotgun who shoots pigeons in the field behind us, binbags full of them. We still get plenty of Wood Pigeons. They'll breed all year round.
We have a pair of more or less resident Wood Pigeons in our garden, Limpy and her/his mate. Coo.
Quote from: Slim on June 18, 2026, 09:24:48 PMI keep getting pigeon crap on my garage door, and noticed some on a front window earlier. Can you get fake hawks I wonder? Ah, you can, just had a look on Amazon.
Pigeons hate hawks.
As well as model birds of prey you can also buy a hawk kite attached to a pole. My neighbours had one for a while. It flew quite well but didn't deter the gulls they were hoping to intimidate. Gulls are hard though.
I remember strolling through Trafalgar Square in 2002 or so and suddenly thinking - wait a minute, where are all the pigeons?
When I'd lived there a couple of years earlier there'd be a knee-deep fog of them, partly because you used to be able to buy breadcrumbs in little bags to feed them. Then I noticed a bloke with a hawk!
When I worked at Broadgate a man with a hawk used to come once a fortnight. He'd let the hawk off, it would fly up to a ledge on Lehman Brothers for a bit, then it would come back. No aggressive behaviour, it just sat there. Then it would come back. Very rarely saw a pigeon there. I need some sort of low rent version of that.
I've always had a fascination with birds of prey from a very young age. I used to constantly sketch Golden Eagles on my school brown paper jotter covers.
I always assumed that at some stage I would take up falconry but something always seemed to get in the way. I'd like to think it might still be a possibility.
This got a brief mention on the national news yesterday. Coleorton, a village about 5km from here and on a regular cycling route has an "absolutely huge" anti-social buzzard.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgmn6edqy6o