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Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

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Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Gardening

OMG my garden's full of birds!

87 replies

JellySlice · 03/02/2018 10:17

It's raining, but the garden is full of birdsong!

There is a blackbird pair foraging under the trampoline, a grumpy robin in a shrub on one side keeps dive-bombing out then fleeing back, some other birds that I can't identify in another shrub on the other side, starlings grazing across the lawn, and, most exciting of all, three coal tits in a little potted olive tree right by the window! They keep flying out and perching on the brickwork where I can see them.

AIBU to be totally, bonkersly, besotted?

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Autumnchill · 03/02/2018 10:29

Not at all.

I love sitting and looking out the patio doors at my bird feeder. Today I've had a bunch of Long Tailed Tits, the return of the Dumpy Dunnocks, Robins and then got excited by the return of the Goldfinches as I haven't seen them for a couple of months.

I need to fill up the feeder but there's a swarm of Starlings hanging about and they empty it in seconds!

5BlueHydrangea · 03/02/2018 10:30

Sounds wonderful

MrsBertBibby · 03/02/2018 14:53

God no, I can spend ages watching the bird soap opera outdoors.

Coal tits are adorable!

This morning in about 5 minutes I spotted coal, great and blue tits, robins, dunnocks, and a nuthatch.

Plus magpies, woodpigeons and a monster cock pheasant, hunting for the gang of 5 ladypheasants that came through the other day.

FuzzyCustard · 03/02/2018 17:43

I love the birds too! I did the RSPB birdwatch last weekend and we had starlings, sparrows, blue tits, marsh tits, great tits, blackbirds, a wren, robins and a female bullfinch. And this week the long tailed tits made an appearance too. I love them, they are so fluffy!

wowfudge · 04/02/2018 09:41

It's lovely isn't it? We have a huge old yew tree that is a Mecca for lots of small birds. We also have a friendly robin, blackbirds, wrens and a pair of jays. At the back of our house somewhere there are owls too. I love hearing them hoot in the evenings.

giddyupnow · 04/02/2018 10:04

I got so excited when i moved into our house and have been feeding birds, but then my dad told me this inevitably leads to rats and squirrels coming in and eating everything - this can't be true, is it??

MsHomeSlice · 04/02/2018 10:20

i think we have dunnocks....i spotted a couple of iffy small looking thrushes the other day, and then though maybe they were a fancy sparrow spin off sort of thing, but maybe dunnocks?

I'd say they were similar to sparrows in colour, a little longer, but pointier. Nowhere near as big as a thrush or black bird, but still with that thrush speckled front?

poddige · 04/02/2018 10:35

@MrsBertBibby loving the idea of a gang of five lady pheasants.

We started taking more of an interest at the garden birds last year and immediately got hooked! Reminds me to go give them some grub actually!

poddige · 04/02/2018 10:37

Also - may I derail with a question?

We've got something that sits on our chimney m/roof from about 9pm-11:30pm ish. It hoots and sounds like either an owl (but doesn't seem a 'traditional' owl noise, or perhaps a wood pigeon - but didn't think they were nocturnal. Any ideas? It's echoes through the whole house! We're used to it now, and they fly off whenever we try sneak outside to have a look!

AmethystRaven · 04/02/2018 10:43

So jealous of the long tailed tits, I love them! I saw a little flock in my birch tree not long after we moved in but I've not seen any since.

A little egret flew right in front of my car the other day and I was beside myself with joy. I live in a Midlands town and it seems we have a pair living around the Brook - I was really surprised!

BaronessBomburst · 04/02/2018 10:53

I love watching the birds!
We have a female robin, who leaves us in the spring, blackbirds, long-tailed, blue, and great tits, sparrows, collared doves, magpies, including one with no tail, a wren, and a flock of crows that land on the roof with a thump.
I regularly hear a little owl, and we sometimes see a spotted woodpecker on the trees at the back. The most exciting thing is when a stork flies over though! They nest locally on the chimney stack of the C17th town hall.

poddige · 04/02/2018 11:28

@BaronessBomburst WOW! I'd be beside myself! We have a local heron who gets a lot of grief from the crows, always thrilled to see him.

MrsBertBibby · 04/02/2018 12:21

Can you recognise the owl noise here?

www.wildowl.co.uk/owlcalls.html

blueskyinmarch · 04/02/2018 12:26

I adore sitting watching the birds. My garden is a Mecca for all sorts of birds as my DH likes to put out loads of seeds. I have a lot of long tails tits at the moment. They are beautiful little bundles. I also love my goldfinches.

poddige · 04/02/2018 13:05

That's a great link @MrsBertBibby a.m. now confident we have ourselves a resident male tawny. How exciting! Some of those clips are so therapeutic.

wowfudge · 04/02/2018 13:21

We saw a heron just after I posted. Think he paused in one of the trees before setting off again. We're between a reservoir and a river.

JellySlice · 04/02/2018 16:25

I love/hate magpies. They beautiful, interesting And intelligent, but also blood-thirsty, aggressive bullies.

Shortly after I posted, the garden went silent. A pair of magpies had arrived and were sitting on the neighbour's garage roof. Scared every other bird out of the garden.

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JellySlice · 04/02/2018 16:26

I sprinkle dried mealworms under the trampoline, as the larger birds never go there.

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FuzzyCustard · 04/02/2018 17:13

We've had a spotted woodpecker on our bird feeders (last Spring) and e frightened everything else off.

Don't magpies mate for life? Which always impresses me!

And poddige ahhh dunnocks! We also have those skinny thrushes/bigger sparrows and I have no idea what they are. I'll go and get my Bird Identification book!

Frogletmamma · 04/02/2018 17:16

I get upwards of 30s sparrows in my garden. Then I get the kestral. And its deserted!

theothersideoftheworld · 04/02/2018 17:20

I get lots of sparrows, a robin, blackbirds and tits. I did have a kesteral day in the swing frame recently. I did also witness a kesteral take a sparrow out of our bird bath. It made me very sad!!

theothersideoftheworld · 04/02/2018 17:22

At least I think this is a kesteral? It moved to the bird table and sat for 15 minutes

OMG my garden's full of birds!

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SealSong · 04/02/2018 17:31

That pic is of a sparrowhawk

MrsBertBibby · 04/02/2018 17:31

I'd say more likely to be a sparrowhawk than a kestrel

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/sparrowhawk

Specially with the dark back /light front thing.

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/kestrel/

StripySocksAndDocs · 04/02/2018 17:39

Ah i love birds in my garden.

I've a pair of robins moved in recently. Tgey were around toay. Heaps of sparriws and dunnocks. Loads of tits. Few finches and a blackcap.

Not all at the same time - that'd be mad it's only a small garden!!

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