For the birds

[malcd1]

^ Lesser Spotted Something-or-other?

Definitely a sparrowhawk. Got a good view through the binoculars.

Whereabouts is it in the pic?

Just above the bird feeder on the far right. Camouflaged like another bird feeder.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

^ Lesser Spotted Something-or-other?

Definitely a sparrowhawk. Got a good view through the binoculars.

Whereabouts is it in the pic?

Not sure Bruce, It's in there somewhere

[Bruce Rioja]

fecking varifocals!!!

[TANGODANCER]

Sorry the pic wasn't very clear, but this is the fella..

[thebish]

a lady great spotted woodpecker in my apple tree today... first photos I have ever achieved of woodpeckers!

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Great photo Bish. They are difficult to get as they are very skittish. I managed a couple of photos nearly 20 years ago in Wales and missed with a couple of rolls of film before I got one! Excuse the quality as they are scanned from old prints.

woodpecker.jpg (112.63 KiB) Viewed 1894 times

woodpecker2.jpg (102.82 KiB) Viewed 1894 times

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Oops. It seems I broke the page. Sorry

[Bruce Rioja]

Great Pics, AT.

Bish - stick the other one up.

[thebish]

Great Pics, AT.

Bish - stick the other one up.

err - ok - here she is without her head in the hole!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Just driven over from Manchester this afternoon and I drove (as a bit of a shortcut) through a village called Peak Forest ( a bit of a misnomer as there's no forest there whatsoever).
As I topped the hill on the way up to the village with the quarry off to my left an enormous flock of birds was streaming over the road. I was doing about fifty mph and not a single bird hit the car even though the lower segments of the flock must only have been about two/three feet off the ground. what's more, they just kept coming, left to right. It got so bad I had to slow down and stop as I could no longer see the road in front of me.
They were going really fast, so I couldn't make them out individually, but I think they were starlings - whatever they were, they were in their thousands, if not hundreds of thousands - I exagerate not.

[thebish]

Just driven over from Manchester this afternoon and I drove (as a bit of a shortcut) through a village called Peak Forest ( a bit of a misnomer as there's no forest there whatsoever).

it could be an archaic name - from the times that "forest" could mean an uninhabited area of uneclosed land set aside for the King to go hunting in... (or summat like that) - like the NEW FOREST - large areas of which have not got trees in...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Just driven over from Manchester this afternoon and I drove (as a bit of a shortcut) through a village called Peak Forest ( a bit of a misnomer as there's no forest there whatsoever).

it could be an archaic name - from the times that "forest" could mean an uninhabited area of uneclosed land set aside for the King to go hunting in... (or summat like that) - like the NEW FOREST - large areas of which have not got trees in...

Aye.
Forest didn't originally mean a treed area at all. It designated the area of a royal hunting ground. Peak Forest was where the royal hunting lodge was situated in the hunting grounds surrounding Peveril (or Peak) Castle.
[Award yourself two bonus points for trivia, to go with your Useful badge. ]

[Bruce Rioja]

They were going really fast, so I couldn't make them out individually, but I think they were starlings - whatever they were, they were in their thousands, if not hundreds of thousands - I exagerate not.

I was in Oldham, must be 25 years ago when I saw, again, literally thousands and thousands of starlings gather and swarm like an incredible black cloud - didn't see any of them fall from the sky so presumably none of them fly into one and other either. The whole thing lasted about 30 minutes. It was a truly breathtaking sight that I'll always remember and one that I feel incredibly lucky to have seen so close to hand.

[Gary the Enfield]

They were going really fast, so I couldn't make them out individually, but I think they were starlings - whatever they were, they were in their thousands, if not hundreds of thousands - I exagerate not.

I was in Oldham, must be 25 years ago when I saw, again, literally thousands and thousands of starlings gather and swarm like an incredible black cloud - didn't see any of them fall from the sky so presumably none of them fly into one and other either. The whole thing lasted about 30 minutes. It was a truly breathtaking sight that I'll always remember and one that I feel incredibly lucky to have seen so close to hand.

I used to work in Fulham. Walking to the train station over Wandsworth Bridge every night in late Autumn (as it was getting dark around 5.00 pm) I was regularly treated to the sight of thousands of Starlings flocking to roost underneath. They would climb and spin in an almost liquid movement before a few would detach themselves and dive under the bridge where they came to rest. This would go on for up to an hour before they all bedded in.

Amazing stuff.

[thebish]

a murmuration, I believe... one of the wonders of UK wildlife...

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article ... UK-1150152

[Lost Leopard Spot]

a murmuration, I believe... one of the wonders of UK wildlife...

http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article ... UK-1150152

These ones weren't quite doing that. They seemed to be going from A to B en mass. But because I was amongst them rather than witnessing them from a distance, maybe it was a murmuration. They appeared to be coming up from the quarry, so possibly what seemed to me to be the low cloud of birds was maybe the upper part of a murmuration that had become detached and was heading out from the bigger flock... in which case there must have been millions of them

[Gary the Enfield]

Of course we didn't have You tube back then but they are apparently still at it.

http://uk.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A7x9Q ... TEiinNp3v8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bruce Rioja]

Now then, I'm sure I asked for guidance on this one last year, too. However, is now a good time to stock the bird-feeder things with fat balls, or will just encourage laziness? Conditions are currently mild and damp.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Now then, I'm sure I asked for guidance on this one last year, too. However, is now a good time to stock the bird-feeder things with fat balls, or will just encourage laziness? Conditions are currently mild and damp.

I've just got bird seed out. All the little birds are enjoying it, no sign of the jackdaws or other big buggers yet.
I put one of those fat balls out the other week and squirrels had away with it in seconds. (Not that I've got anything against squirrels).

[Lord Kangana]

Beneath the thin veneer of respectability you've always struck me as someone with squirrelist tendencies, if I'm being honest.