May Top Trumps....wildlife geeks step this way and get your spots in here!

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

I'll start - I'm hoping that someone will do better than an infernal wood pigeon and obnoxious noisy herring gull. Before the morning is up, hopefully.

And remember, cast ne'er a clout til May be out.

Well, I saw a pair of proper wild ospreys today, from a steam train! One was standing on top of a pine tree - he was impressively tall - and his mate was flying back to the nest nearby.

Their nest site is guarded 24/7 and supposed to be Top Secret... though I must admit it wasn't terribly hard to spot.

I saw a Merlin yesterday, just flew across the road right in front of my car. Never seen one before.

Loving the merlin and the osprey, we went to a local reservoir a few years ago to see if we could spot them but didn't.

Ooh lovely, Viva. I'd love to see a merlin - never seen one. Could you tell it was a merlin straight away - was it distinctive?

It was so close to the car, nearly hit the windscreen so I got a good view.

I wasn't sure what it was, knew it was a hawk/falcon and that it was small. Grey wings and brown underneath. I've googled and I'm sure it was a Merlin.

Fantastic.

Oh beggar, I hate auto correct rights not tights. Fabulous all these top predators, have the little birds taken a hammering? I allways feel sorry for blue tits and am aware that now we ate managing some of our gorse there's less cover for the smalls.

Merlin and osprey - brilliant. I find birds of prey really moving. Is that weird? So proud and noble looking . I must say it is particularly lame around here for birds of prey, given that it is very rural with lots of mice and things . Lots of buzzards and a couple of clifftop kestrels, and other than that not much.

I saw four ravens circling yesterday. That was quite good. And some grey seals on the rocks.

Don't worry violet - we have loads of noisy bloody blue tits here.

A pheasant wandering ponderously up the pavement this morning.

Yesterday I rescued a huge bumble bee from an empty haribo packet.

heavy tights of way
accessorised with stout shoes and a tweed skirt, I hope?

We've had a very tame weekend, mostly at home (DD in a state of post yr8 exam knackerdness). We had a goldfinch, and we've got 3 baby blackbirds. I was planting some perennials to replace the ones DH accidentally glyphosated - I'd just dug a hole, turned my back to pick up a pot and mummy blackbird was in there investigating for worms, totally unbothered by my presence.

Fabulous polyphony of blackbirds singing, and then there was a something else atop the highest tree - not quite as sweet, but an extended virtuoso performance, like a violin over cellos. A Song Thrush, of course.

Oh, and to reassure violet, lots of tits here too - blue, coal and great, we always have them on the feeders, and green and chaffinches, robins., house sparrows, dunnocks, Collared doves and fat woodpigeons - take them for granted too much. A garden wouldn't be alive without them.

Not much to report today, a fledgling finch that has probably left the nest too early, some foals in the herd of semi-wild horses down on the Fen (they use the horses to manage the vegetation but they are unbroken, I think they're Konig?) and a muntjac fawn in one of the dry ditches waiting for mum to return.

I saw a Green woodpecker, eating on a lawn as I drove down the road, a shrew ran across in front of me, and a lovely male blackbird with a beak full of twigs.
I also spotted a really tiny bumble bee. It was only about a cm long but perfectly formed. It was SOOO cute. I don't know if it's a baby version of our stable bees, (we have a whole colony living in the walls and floor) but it was sweet. I LOVE bees.

Grimma I love your poetic description of the birdsong. We have a wonderful song thrush who's been singing in the top of our tallest ash tree since February. I love the sound.

Saggy, I think the tiny bumblebee is a worker. The massive great big ones that you get early in the year are the queens and this time of year the workers are starting to hatch out. They are the same colour as the queens but much smaller.

The bullfinch male was back again today, devouring next doors apple blossom this time. He's so bright he looks exotic.

I love bees. When I was little I found one on the patio that was stumbling around feebly and I wanted my dad to take to the vet. I cried when he wouldn't

(it was a big, cute, furry bumble bee of course)

I saw these beautiful native bluebells, they were lovely and a lot less chavvy than the ones in my garden. I may not win any points here but I am at least atoning for posting a picture of my chavbells last month.

I also saw the most amazing heron from the car by a fishing lake, absolutely perfect, totally beautiful, whilst we were driving up for our weekend away. DH nearly choked laughing on the way back when we passed it again and it clearly hadn't moved in 48 hours, plastic, fine

I love our stable bees. They are so cute. In one stable they live under the floor, and have a 10p sized access hole in the floor. They fly in and 'stack', like planes over an airport, and slowly spiral down, one by one to enter the hole. They are not very bright though, they often buzz round the wrong stable, looking for the hole, and we regularly fish them out of the ponies water buckets. So often in fact, that we have a special tea strainer, which we use for skimming them out and draining them off!

Are they bumblebees or another species Saggy? I'm a bee lover too and have been trying to learn a bit more about them, they are declining so badly in the countryside.

LostInWales, I'm happy to share in your lovely bluebells, I've had a good bluebell experience this weekend too. And I think its great that you only get bluebell woods in Britain. There's nothing so lovely.

I love that I'm sharing a thread with someone who has a special tea strainer just for bumble bees, there is something quite wonderful about that

Bluebell woods were very, very lovely. All the more exciting for having had a false start with the forrin' ones. Just spotted your banner chix, do you have a National Park handicap too or are you a bit inland?

I thought the big bumble bees lived alone and the smaller thinner ones lived together. There is a nest/hive in a tree at the stables my DD used to ride at, in the car park, and people used to complain about them . The lovely owners put a notice up basically telling the moaners to feck off, the bees had residency rights.

They are bumble bees, but I have no idea which variety. We call them masonry bees, but those seem to look more like honey bees. But then bumble bees live in quite small colonies, and there are LOTS of ours. If you put your ear to the wall, at the right time of year and give it a bang with your fist, you can hear them buzzing. It's a HUGE noise. It's SOOO interesting.
I'd really love to keep my own bees.

Useful info on bee identification here

LostinWales I'm a bit inland, although close enough to the coast to bimble on the beach once a week or so :)

I thought mason bees were solitary?

MIL had lots of mining bees in her lawn one year - they're another solitary type but they were solitary in close proximity - lots of little holes in the lawn, we watched the bees emerging and re-entering. Fascinating creatures.

Love the bee strainer

Hm, so what have I seen this month?

Well, the pipistrelles are back in my loft for their summer nursery.

I have sparrows nesting in the loft again as well.

And I think a Great Tit is building a nest in my eaves. He certainly is hanging around near the window a lot.

Oh, and a new wasp nest in the garden shed, which is amazing but is going to have to go.

Just normal stuff really. Have a lot of Jackdaws around here....