[CrimpyMcCrimpface]

Those pictures of Hoopoe are fantastic! What a treat to see one in the UK. I've seen a few in Cairo and Doha on school lawns and always get excited. They never seen too bothered by people there either.

[Falling Down]

Fab photos guys. I’ve only seen one Hoopoe in the UK. On Cilan Head with Dave L back in the early 90’s. Amazing looking birds.

[tlr]

Slightly frustrating day at Old Moor the other week, incredible light all afternoon, but the Bearded Tits left it until after sunset to make an appearance. And since then the weather has been universally shite!

Taken at ISO 5000 unfortunately.


Bearded Tit by Tim Russon, on Flickr

Bearded Tit by Tim Russon, on Flickr

[Fultonius]

Also struggling with low light, but it's the first time we've spotted a woodpecker in mum's Garden. It's now my mission to get a good snap of this shy and elusive visitor at some point!

[Fultonius]

Not the trickets bird to catch, but still nice to get one with good light and nice background.

P1010051_DxO by Alasdair Fulton, on Flickr

[SA Chris]

Good shot

[Will Hunt]

I took the canal route home from nursery drop off this morning and saw the kingfisher again. There was a birdwatcher standing there looking at it through his binoculars. It was very peaceful - a cold, frosty morning.

I then realised that birdwatching is a recreational or leisure activity so I pushed the birdwatcher in the canal. He started to swim, so that was fine.

[Fultonius]

I took the canal route home from nursery drop off this morning and saw the kingfisher again. There was a birdwatcher standing there looking at it through his binoculars. It was very peaceful - a cold, frosty morning.

I then realised that birdwatching is a recreational or leisure activity so I pushed the birdwatcher in the canal. He started to swim, so that was fine.

But Will, is "twitcher cowping" necessary exercise, or a leisure pastime?

[SA Chris]

It is if you run away afterwards.

[Oldmanmatt]

I think it depends on how hard you push. If you get a good distance, a large amplitude twitch, if you prefer; then it’s exercise.

[Fiend]

Let's see if this works:



Spotted by Prof Coel Hellier, discoverer of planets, on a local walk from Edale up to Kinder Scout, he suggested a goshawk collecting prey....

[Johnny Brown]

No idea why you'd reach straight for goshawk, but it looks far too small. The tracks leading in look more consistent with grouse.

[Fiend]

I dunno I'm not a birdologist and neither is the astrophysicist! I just thought it looked cool 

[Fultonius]

No idea why you'd reach straight for goshawk, but it looks far too small. The tracks leading in look more consistent with grouse.

Are you saying it's not a goshawk, it's a grouse? Or that it's not a goshawk; there's also grouse tracks?

To me the left one looks like a bird of prey landing and catching something.



Anyone else doing the great garden birdwatch today?  We've seen:

Tree Sparrows x 15
Black Cap x 1
Chaffinches x 8
Blue Tits x 3
Wood Pidgeon x 3
Coal Tits x 2
Starlings x 9
Black Bird s x 3
Robins x 2
Collared Doves x 2
Great Spotted Woodpeckers x 2
Great tit x 1
Pied Wagtail x 1
Dunnick x 2
Rook x 8

And normally:

Magpie
Pheasant
Wren
Long-Tailed Tits
Yellow Hammers

(this my mum's house...our flat in Glasgow would only have a fraction of this.)

[tlr]

That is a pretty good list.

We had the usual great/blue/coal tits, dunnocks, starlings etc. Bullfinch was nice, but wren, goldfinch and goldcrest were MIA.

For anyone in Sheffield, there is a very convenient Tawny owl which has taken up daytime residence directly over a pavement and busy road in Crosspool. I wouldn't normally mention the location of a bird, particularly an owl, but this one doesn't seem concerned by all the traffic and interested passers-by as it's been there for about 3 weeks now.

Tawny owl by Tim Russon, on Flickr

[nai]

We normally do pretty poorly but this year had 10 house sparrow, magpie, 2 jay, 2 blackbird, Ribon, 2 Jay, 2 Great Tit, Blue, Tit,  5 Long Tails, Dunnock and Wood Pigeon. The regular Coal Tit and Goldfinches didnt show but in a WTF moment a Greater Spotted Woodpecker dropped in, not seen one in the garden for at least a year.

Also saw the Tawny Tim mentions and a field full of Redwing and Fieldfare so good day all round

[Fultonius]

That is a pretty good list.

We had the usual great/blue/coal tits, dunnocks, starlings etc. Bullfinch was nice, but wren, goldfinch and goldcrest were MIA.

For anyone in Sheffield, there is a very convenient Tawny owl which has taken up daytime residence directly over a pavement and busy road in Crosspool. I wouldn't normally mention the location of a bird, particularly an owl, but this one doesn't seem concerned by all the traffic and interested passers-by as it's been there for about 3 weeks now.

Tawny owl by Tim Russon, on Flickr

I do like a good owl!

Good haul, but not sure it's great value for money considering how much bird feed mum buys....

[GazM]

Are you saying it's not a goshawk, it's a grouse? Or that it's not a goshawk; there's also grouse tracks?

I think JB is saying (and I agree) that its just a grouse - walking along and then taking flight. The footprints look like something walking on 2 legs. And if it was a bird of prey flying in and taking something I'd expect to see a bit more disturbance in the snow.

[Fultonius]

After I posted I did a bit of searching online for birds of prey imprints in snow, and did think it might have been a takeoff.

Makes sense! 

[gme]

Pair of barn owls at the back of the house yesterday and today. We often see one of them but not pairs, guess they might be mating at this time of the year.

Fully white stoat as well this morning plus a normal coloured one, not together in two different log piles both disturbed by my dog. Anyone know why some change colour and others dont.

[SA Chris]

Loads of ptarmigan and white hares on Morven yesterday. Love the hares, the speed they can move at on hardpacked snow is amazing.

[andy_e]

Fully white stoat as well this morning plus a normal coloured one, not together in two different log piles both disturbed by my dog. Anyone know why some change colour and others dont.

I've seen ermine stoats in Durham in the middle of a snowless winter, you could see the poor thing from miles off! We're in quite a transitional area between ermine and non-ermine stoats in the UK. Further north and in more continental zones, where snow is more regular, ermine stoats are dominant, but further south where snow is far less common, non-ermine stoats dominate. UK is somewhere in between!

[gme]

Very little snow up here either as we are right on the coast so this one stood out like a sore thumb. Are they two different animals or the same?

I rarely saw them as a kid even though i grew up in the countryside but see loads where i am now. You hear a lot about population decline of many species but i definitely see more stuff now than as a kid, especially birds of prey and mammals.

[SA Chris]

A stoat in winter coat is called an ermine. Same animal.

Also read recently, hares are one of the slowest animals to adapt to climate change.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/04/color-changing-hare-cant-keep-climate-change

[tlr]

Had an amazing encounter with a sparrowhawk yesterday- just driving along, I saw a flurry of feathers by the side of the road and this beauty sat triumphantly on top of the ex-pigeon. I jumped out and got some photos. Unfortunately, the tale has an unhappy ending; as I was cycling past the same spot today I saw the sparrowhawk lying in the middle of the road. When I moved him he was still breathing but had a broken neck, and died a few minutes later. I was gutted.

IMGL8419 by Tim Russon, on Flickr

IMGL8396 by Tim Russon, on Flickr

IMGL8395 by Tim Russon, on Flickr