[Boboff]

Tim suggested that I start this thread to share with you all whats in my Garden.

So with Sticky Status in mind lets start with today's sightings!

Well as I already mentioned we had 3 Peacocks in the garden this morning.

Also Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Robins, Starling, 2 Nuthatches, a Jay, sparrows, I saw a shag or cormorant thing fly in the river, a Red Kite nesting in the trees opposite me, plus several lovely little Wrens peeping out from the long grass.

Blackbirds, Ducks, Magpies and Sea Gulls all seen overhead and opposite today.

Lovely!

[The Deadly]

Did you not see me sniffing the clothes on your washing line?

[Yudster]

I actually laughed out loud when I read Deadly's post. I like this thread too.

[Boboff]

Deadly can I have my Tummy Trainer pants back please, I need them for work.

Also in amazing news, I just saw an Otter!!!!!!!!!!

I have been here 8 years and only briefly caught a glimpse of one about a month ago, today I actually managed to take a picture, but its shit, but I did see one!!!!

Stunning.

[Yudster]

I am highly jealous. have you got water voles? Apparently, where otter are coming back they are reducing the numbers of mink, and thus enabling water voles to re-establish. Great stuff.

[Boboff]

I am not sure on the water Voles, they are cute mind! I have lots of tunneling along the water front, not really seen anything.

I had a mink take a batch of chicks a few years back, nasty things.

[Yudster]

Well, if you have an otter in the area, the mink will be on the retreat.

[Boboff]

A nice male Pheasant has just sauntered on by, looking colourfull and stupid.

In other related news, yesterday I trimmed my Plums and cherries, and started weeding out the Blackcurrant patch before mulching.

The heavy rain only caused the bank to be flooded by about a ft and only for about 12 hours, which is good news all round.

The Bats were out again this morning which is odd as I thought they hibernated.

Today I shall be cutting last years growth from the fennel and dahlia, and generally having a bit of a weed in the herb garden.

[Yudster]

Bats are less active through thte winter but don't hibernate completely. The milder temperatures of the last few days will have prompted them to get out and feed when possible - but the rain and blustery wind will be another thing that will put them off. So in any dry spells when the wind has dropped you are likely to see them - even in the middle of the day, if that's the only time the weather is ok.

[Boboff]

A goldfinch today came to see me in the back garden, I haven't spotted one of those here before, although they are quite common. Finches are very pretty birds generally I think.

If you want to encourage them apparently you have to grow Teasel and hang the dried stalks up in your garden.

[Yudster]

They do love teasels - also if you put food put for them specifically, goldfinches like Nigella seeds.

[Boboff]

Indeedy, I have a nigella filled finch feeder, it's the only one that stays full! But it does take time I am told, I saw a Serin/Siskin (probably the later) last year and i have been trying to get them in the garden since May!

This morning at around 6.30 I had a Starling trying to get in the Bedroom Window! I don't know why? I think it wanted to pluck out Charlie States eyes, which is understandable.

I saw about 6 Pied Wagtails go through the back Garden yesterday as well, they have really long tails!

[dimtimjim]

Finches are very pretty birds generally I think.

I prefer Tits.

[Yudster]

You might get grey wagtails too (which are more yellow than grey really, although not as yellow as yellow wagtails, which you are less likely to get). Long-tailed tits are good ones for gardens too. I'm jealous of your siskin, I've never seen one of those. The other finch I love, and have only seen when it used to be a regular visitor in a garden of a house I lived in years ago, is the linnet. Haven't seen one of those for 20 years now.

Winter, especially when the weather is bad, is good for redwings and fieldfares in gardens, often big groups mixed with other thrushes - I had three redwings in my paltry excuse for a garden last weekend.

[DevilsDuck]

My mums got a thrush in her garden...or something like that, I only overheard the conversation and couldnt understand why she should buy cream for a bird

[Boboff]

Well this is actually good for me as I am seeing things and then looking them up.

I have just seen a Red Kite in the field opposite, and then, one for the Ducks, a Shag flew up the River.

It's like Spring Watch but without the annoying twat.......of hang on...

[DevilsDuck]

You saw a Red Kite in Cornwall...I dont know why I didnt think they where around these parts any more

I saw a Jay just now and a load of squirrels

[Yudster]

Red kites were extinct in England until a reintroduction programme which started at the end of the 1980s and the first part of the 1990s. They were originally reintroduced in the Chilterns, and quickly restablished there and have now spread throughout the central part of England and are doing very well. I would say that Cornwall is a good sighting, there won't be many established pairs that far south and west.

[Boboff]

There have been a pair in the trees above us for the last 2 or three years, this one seems to have nested in Devon, on the other side of the River. It was having a fight on the wing with a blackbird yesterday, I assume, although I have no real skill with this sort of this, that the bird is a juvenile.

[Yudster]

Red kites are the most beautiful bird I think -



I still say that's a great spot in that part of the country. Far more likely to get the also lovely but far more numerous buzzards in that area -



I love raptors.

[Yudster]

Owls are lovely too. Again, seeing fewer and fewer around here, but I still hear tawny owls and barn owls in the area. I'm told there are little owls too but I haven't seen or heard one.

[Boboff]

I'll get a picture next time, I am pretty sure it's not a Buzzard, they come through now and again, and they are generally allot smaller.

[Yudster]

I'm sure you're right Boboff, I reckon where you live you must have seen enough buzzards to know when you are looking at something that isn't a buzzard!

[DevilsDuck]

Kestrel?

[Yudster]

Kestrels are teeny tiny in comparison to buzzards, and even teenier in comparison to red kites. I see no reason to doubt Boboff's red kite sighting!

Did you know that in Victorian times, kestrels were known by gamekeepers as "*" because of the jerking tail movements they make whilst hovering in mid-air.