Zonda

[David M]

Chaffinches are the bird equivalent of Peacock butterflies - indescribably attractive but neglected due to their relative ubiquity.

[Gibster]

Congratulations Zonda! Am I right in assuming your good lady will turn a blind eye to your recent fascination with my Sami's 'flying' Glanville Frit lol!!!

PS - Sam's got a real thing for dungarees...remember your pic last year...

Not sure of our exact itinerary this year, but we're bound to be in Devon at some point. Be very nice to meet up - birder to birder to tattoo enthusiast!

[Zonda]

Congratulations Zonda! Am I right in assuming your good lady will turn a blind eye to your recent fascination with my Sami's 'flying' Glanville Frit lol!!!

PS - Sam's got a real thing for dungarees...remember your pic last year...

Not sure of our exact itinerary this year, but we're bound to be in Devon at some point. Be very nice to meet up - birder to birder to tattoo enthusiast!

I'm allowed to drool, but not handle. About the dungarees,,,, tell her to think 'Grandpa Walton'.

Dorset mate, Dorset. I rarely venture west, usually preferring to go east (Hamps), or north (Somerset), and occasionally Wilts. Most of them on here know that i get terribly constipated if i go out of Dorset.

[Jack Harrison]

...not sure if its 38 or 39...

So long-service medal next year or the year after? Might be as well to get that one right.

Jack

[Zonda]

Jack:

So long-service medal next year or the year after? Might be as well to get that one right.

It is actually 39 years this year. So next year is what 'ruby', or 'wax'? The fems on here will know.
I've known her since she was 15, and i was 20. We do our own things, but come together daily, with the same sense of humour, the same politics, and the same house.

[Zonda]

MR JO BANGLES

He's been a member of my wild bird community for some weeks now, and eating up my mealworms and oats. He carries on him a lot of research data, that i am not really interested in passing on, to whoever put these shackles on him. If anyone can ID his rings from this one pic, so be it.

[Gibster]

Hi Zonda.

Try here http://blx1.bto.org/euring/lang/pages/c ... ng@bto.org although it could take a while for them to trace your bird. It's the British race of White Wagtail (ie Pied) so hopefully it won't take them too long to figure it. Doubtless someone's hoping to hear back from 'their' bird!

Cheers mate,

Gibster.

PS - I knew you were in Dorset, so where the heck did 'Devon' come from???

[Zonda]

Some photos of Brimstones, tatty Red Admirals, and Small Torts appearing on Flickr this week. My time has been taken up with a debut photographic subject. Common to some people's feeders, but i have to go out in the woods to find it. This week, i had my first crack at photographing Nuthatches in the wild. What do you mean, 'Peanuts'? This was an enormous crop.

[Piers]

I love that photo Zonda, Nutties are such enigmatic little characters. We have a pair on our feeders several times daily, but this photo of one in a wild setting is a cracker. I've got to say (from a total novice) that your bird photographs are simply excellent.

Felix.

[Jack Harrison]

Another superb photo Zonda but it's only what we have come to expect.

A web search for Nuthatch produced this gem:

http://www.thenuthatch.co.uk/

Jack

[Zonda]

Gosh,, praise indeed from you two. I shall probably have my butterfly kit up and running for the new season. (hopefully). May see you both around the prime spots.

[Gibster]

"Stockists of Fudge"? Useless stuff, I had my hair dyed a deep vibrant blue (probably best not to ask why...) and Fudge ruined it within days. Stay clear of The Fudge! Ha, that sounds like the slogan to a cheap 1960s B-movie.

Zonda, that really is a pretty cool pic. See if you can find the nest site and start a portfolio. It's the only British species where the female gets 'walled up' inside the nest cavity. Crazy stuff.

Cheers, mate

Gibster.

[ChrisC]

whatever you do zonda do not stop posting these images. they are fantastic, somehow found your Flikr account again via a dorset one last week and that greater spotted woodpecker is a stunner.
Chris

[Zonda]

Gibster:

"Stockists of Fudge"? Useless stuff, I had my hair dyed a deep vibrant blue (probably best not to ask why...) and Fudge ruined it within days. Stay clear of The Fudge! Ha, that sounds like the slogan to a cheap 1960s B-movie.

LOL, you sound like a real fashion victim mate. I saw that B movie, they sell it in high end sweet shops, and it roams the countryside, getting into women's mouths, causing them to become really fat.

With the Nuthatch males, they seem to realise that you have to hold the females prisoner, in order that they don't fly away with a young buck Nuthatch.

Thanks for the positives about my Flickr Chris.

[Jack Harrison]

Nuthatch:

....the only British species where the female gets 'walled up' inside the nest cavity.

Would I be correct in assuming that if the male has an accident, she doesn't get fed and dies?

Jack

[Gibster]

Would I be correct in assuming that if the male has an accident, she doesn't get fed and dies?

No, both sexes are quite capable of breaking through the 'cemented-up' opening. When the young are ready to fledge the female starts breaking through from the inside with the male sometimes helping from the outside. Just check the beak shape in Zonda's superb pic - I suspect sheet metal wouldn't be enough to contain a bird in its hole!

It's believe that reducing the diameter of the nest cavity is just an anti-predator mechanism. Tree snakes, brood parasites, rodents and avain predators are doubtless commonly encountered threats across much of the nuthatch families' range. One American species goes so far as to daub sticky tree resin around the entrance hole and another sweeps around the hole with noxious, foul smelling insects. Yum...

[Firecrest]

Hi Zonda

I was interested to see the photo of your colour-ringed Pied Wagtail and forwarded the photo to the bird ringer. He has sent me the following information about the bird:

BTO ring; X899992
Age at ringing; first year (3)
Date of ringing; 15th October 2009
Place of ringing; Abbotsbury Swannery
Wing length; 89mm
Weight; 22.6g

The bird has, therefore, survived two winters. The maximum age recorded for a Pied Wagtail is 11 years and 3 months but most live just two years. Your bird is obviously feeding well in your garden and must have a good chance of surviving longer than the average age!

Here on the Isle of Wight, we have had records of Tufted Ducks that were colour-ringed at Radipole, of a Greylag Goose ringed in Norway and subsequently seen in the Netherlands and Spain, and of an Avocet ringed in SW France, but presumably this wagtail hasn't travelled that far. Would you mind telling me the name of the town/village where you live and giving me the first date you saw the wagtail in your garden so that I can pass the information on? Alternatively, perhaps you could contact the ringer directly at steve_hales@btinternet.com?

[Zonda]

Hya Firecrest. Very interesting, i have sent PM. I know little about bird movements myself. He's still with me, on a daily basis.

[Zonda]

The last pic from this location,,,shooting distance too far for quality shots.... I paced it out this morning, and checked the exif data,,,,, over 11m, which is 3X my usual working distance for a bird this size. Well,,, it was a Jay stakeout originally. Moreton, South Dorset.

[Zonda]

Why is it that all early butterflies do not settle. I had a Brimstone this morning, and another butterfly that passed me so fast, i couldn't ID it. To be fair,,, i was in the hide, with the wrong lens on, so i could not record either. This little chap did settle, and i was able to grab a few shots.