www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi! Neil and Mike, my Husband is very sad when the Sparrow Hawk takes a bird but says " they have to live has well" Live and let Live he says, according to him the birds are very Savvy, he's noticed and pointed out to me, that most of the smaller birds seem to arrive at the same time has the Starlings, I've watched the Robin in particular sit waiting on our Fir tree underneath the feeders picking up any thing the Starlings drop

The Dunnocks and the Black bird also the other smaller birds are dab hands at doing this, the main point also is the fact that the Starlings always seem to have a look out and when the alarm is given off they all go.

Sadly it's the Wood P are the Collard Dove that ends up being caught , Unfortunately, that's Nature at it's most unpleasant. Goldie

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND A HAPPY BUTTERFLY YEAR

THE VERY FIRST SHOT I TOOK OF MY FIRST WOOD WHITE FINISHES THE YEAR FOR ME GOLDIE


ALL THE BEST FOR 2017

Have a cracking Xmas Goldie, looking forward to 2017 already!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, I'm in Kent now and just had a Hot Chocolate in Canterbury with the family, marsh mellows ,
cream, the lot, Goldie

All the best, Goldie. Looking forward to hearing how you get on in 2017.

Goldie M wrote:Thanks Wurzel, I'm in Kent now and just had a Hot Chocolate in Canterbury with the family, marsh mellows ,
cream, the lot, Goldie

Sounds wonderful - enjoy

Mike

Just got back home after a lovely Christmas,
My daughter has a lovely dog and for his Christmas he was given a huge meaty bone which he took outside onto the patio, he visited the bone on and off for the rest of Christmas, on Christmas day we looked outside and saw this little bird also tucking in to the bone so I couldn't resist posting a shot of it having it's Christmas dinner, Dunnock I think

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY LET'S HOPE IT''S A GOOD ONE FOR BUTTERFLIES

GOLDIE

Indeed let's hope it's a good year for butterflies You're right about the Dunnock though I prefer the older name of Hedge Sparrow, but then I prefer Hedge Brown to Gatekeeper

Have a goodun (New Year that is)

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU HAS WELL. Goldie

I was looking out over the front garden this morning when I noticed a large Bird in a tree across the road, I thought at first it was another Sparrow Hawk so I dashed for my camera but on looking through the lens I saw it was a Mistle Thrush, I then got my bird book out and decided it could also be a Meadow Pipit, my book doesn't give dimensions so I'm not sure.
The Mistle Thrush seems a bit darker than the Meadow Pipit and this bird was very light in colour, the wind was very strong and blowing the birds feathers about My Neighbour feeds the Black Bird Grapes so it looks like this bird joins in because my neighbour says he's seen it there for the last few days. Goldie

Definitely a thrush Goldie, Meadow Pipits are sparrow sized and the underparts are more streaked than spotted

Thanks Bugboy, My bird book put me right off track. Goldie

Hi Goldie,

yep, defo a Mistle Thrush. Looks like it`s sitting in a bush containing berries. They get very territorial and chase off any other birds which come to feed on the berries. This behaviour was noted in Brecon town centre last week when a party of Waxwings arrived. 1 Mistle Thrush versus 17 Waxwings, no contest ! The Waxwings had to fly off and find another berry supply in a different part of town, and frustrate the birders who`d come to "twitch" them ( me included ) !

Jenks.

Hi! jenks, Yes the tree has berries and underneath the tree there's an hedge where the Black Birds visit every day and in Spring build their nests there.
I watched yesterday when my Neighbour threw grapes onto the lawn for the Black Birds and they popped out of the hedge very quickly took some Grapes and shot back into the hedge the MT also got some grapes and flew a way I think the Black Bird may have an advantage over the Thrush by being in the hedge, it's certainly funny watching them Goldie

I remember, many years ago, we had a Cotoneaster growing on the side wall of our garage. Our resident Blackbird was treating this as his winter food store until, one day, a flock of winter thrushes (in my case, they were Redwings) arrived and cleared the lot in a matter of minutes! The look on 'our' Blackbird's face said it all

Your problem over Pipits and Thrushes demonstrates the short-comings of book illustrations. There's so much more to identifying a bird than 'looks'. When you actually see these birds, they are 'chalk and cheese', with completely different behaviours. Most of us can recognise a Robin at a glance, from its behaviour - no need to see the red breast or much else! Some really expert birders seem to be able to do that with a great variety of species - they leave me gasping with admiration.

Hi! Mike, me too, I can recognise the song of the Robin and the Thrush but that's my limit

I've only recently, say in the last few years been interested in looking for unusual birds, I must say mostly in my Garden or at Penn Flash/Hall-lee-Brook, both places get their fair share of unusual birds so when the weather permits we like to visit these places starting from January until March when, of course, the Butterflies take over I've managed to keep adding to my bird album each year, I must say it does help when they land on your fence like the Sparrow Hawk did.

I'm looking forward to going to the new sight at Brockholes nr Preston where they've made two large lakes, very impressive, it's a sight where you can cover both, Butterflies and Birds because wild flowers have also been planted, not today though it's bitter cold and we'd snow last night, roll on a nice Spring. Goldie

Hi Goldie,

Nice Mistle Thrush. I can the difference between these and Meadow Pipits easily enough having seen both in the flesh...it is Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush I struggle with .

Cheers,

Neil.

Nice shots of the Mistle Thrush Goldie They always look a little bit mournful to me - though granted that's not the most useful identification feature

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I know what you mean Neil, I was told the Song Thrush was smaller but I still get mixed up.
The last time I heard the Song Thrush it was at Hall-Lee-Brook CP, trouble is I couldn't see it or I may have got a photo.

Thank's Wurzel, I've not got a lot of Bird shots so far this Winter, they fly in and quickly fly out of the Garden again and the Snow hasn't stayed long enough to entice them to stay longer, we've had more cold weather than mild up to now though so it does look like it could be better for BF's this year. Fingers crossed . Goldie

Well it's the 22nd Jan and so far I've not had too much to report, I was going to have a ride to Penn Flash today but it stared to Snow , the snow really didn't take off but you never know a round here and I've been caught out before so I thought I'd do a bit of baking and keep one eye on the back garden

I was glad I did because later looking through the kitchen window I caught sight of Gold Finch, Starling's, Robin's, Black Birds, and various Tit's but what a surprise I got when I saw this little red/rust coloured head, once again it was back to the bird book I think it could be a Female Black Cap and would once again like confirmation please has I've never seen one before.

According to my bird book it's a Summer visitor although some seem to have wintered further North lately, I wondered if it could be a Warbler of some kind but it does seem to have a definite Cap. Goldie