Tag: Magpie

Garden Bird list for 4th of April 2013. RSPB Ā£4 off Suet Cakes.

Iā€™ve beenĀ incrediblyĀ busy, the Edinburgh Science festival is on and a few friends have been up from England for it and keeping me out late at night when I normally get my bird updates done. Ā I had great sightings of the Long-tailed tits, Iā€™m pretty sure theyā€™re nesting in the hedge, or in the neighbours garden, I saw them collecting nesting materials and were back and forth through the hedge very quickly! Ā If you do have Long-tailed tits visiting they love RSPB suet cakes, thereā€™s currently Ā£4 off them for the next few days, Iā€™ve done a post about them here:Ā RSPB Ā£4 off Suet cakes – check the latest RSPB Sales they just love them!

Also had much better views of a Common Buzzard, one was much lower today, still getting mobbed by gulls, also pretty sure blackbirds are nesting in the garden! Ā Nothingā€™s taken up the nest box Iā€™ve put up yet.

In sadder news I was getting the greenhouse ready for some plants, was left by previous owner of the house, very helpful for salad growth over the winter! Ā However as I was looking around I found a frog had baked in there from the heat, I have started checking it every time Iā€™m outside and going to try and find a way to get a bit of regular water in there!

Now for the Garden bird list for the 4th of April ā€“ sorry itā€™s a bit late, again!

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 2
  3. Carrion crow x 2 ā€“ flyovers.
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Common Buzzard x 1
  6. Dunnock x 3
  7. Long-tailed tit x 2
  8. Magpie x 2
  9. Woodpigeon x 3

Bird list for April 3rd 2013, and British Bees need help!

Sorry my bird list is a day late, been very hectic with my parents over from Australia, theyā€™ve been wanting to see a fair few things, and Ā get a lot done around the house, also with UK ISA season happening at the moment Iā€™ve been answering a lot of emails trying to help people save and make the most they can out of ISAs (itā€™s not great out there at the moment!), as well as keeping up to date with the Australian finance pages:Ā Saver Scene Australia: FinanceĀ (now closed as I move into gardening as a profession) so far just got the savings done for this week, but about to start on credit cards and best bank accounts. Ā These websites will hopefully only be something I run while Iā€™m injured, as I really want Ā to Ā get back to photography, but had to do something to earn money as I couldnā€™t get into any jobs with my ankle tendons and the carpal tunnel strikes bad at times, I wouldnā€™t feel right asking an employer to pay me when I knew I couldnā€™t do the work at 100%!

My parents are enjoying the UK, have already ducked off to Paris where they said it was freezing cold, worse than Edinburgh! Theyā€™re looking forward to more travel and Iā€™ve been trying to teach them the UK birds that visit my garden, thankfully a few of them have been very obliging and 2 long-tailed tits landed less than a foot away from my dadā€™s face while he was in the garden yesterday, they sang for a bit and then moved on quickly, as LTTs always do!

Garden Bird list for April 3rd:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Bullfinch x 1, 1xF
  4. Carrion crow x 2
  5. Coal Tit x 1
  6. Common Buzzard x 1 ā€“ very high overhead, once again gulls mobbing it
  7. Dunnock x 1
  8. Long-tailed tit x 2
  9. Magpie x 2, looks to be the same pair collecting twigs off the front trees for their nest, theyā€™ve pretty much stripped the top of one tree of itā€™s leaves.
  10. Robin x 1 ā€“ great to see the robin back!
  11. Woodpigeon x 1

This was posting on the Lothian Birds News yahoo group:

British Bees need help:
ā€œThereā€™s mounting evidence that some pesticides are killing bees. But the UK Environment Minister recently refused to support a European vote to stop the pesticides being usedā€ There is just a few weeks to change the Ministers mind before he votes again

85,000 people have already signed a petition to demand that he protects our bees. The target is to reach 100,000 signatories. You can get involved @ https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-bees.

Bees and other insects pollinate about three quarters of our food so are incredibly important. Bees are dying in great numbers.

A good sighting of woodpigeons, and another new species for the year!

Another trip back and forth to Glasgow today, sadly not a lot seen on the road except for about 25 woodpigeons feeding on a roundabout just near the airport. Ā I did see a bird of prey briefly, it was resting on a tree on the side of the road, but it was soaking wet, looking the other way and I couldnā€™t identify it.

In the garden there was however some great news as a Curlew flew overhead, a first for the year:

  1. Blackbird x 2, 1xm, 1xf
  2. Blue Tit x 2 ā€“ not in my garden, but another garden in Corstorphine Edinburgh
  3. Carrion crow x 10 ā€“ fly overs
  4. Curlew x 1 ā€“ fly over, bit of a shock!
  5. Dunnock x 2
  6. Magpie x 2 ā€“ had a great time watching them preen and share a bond, one was passing leaves to the other then grooming the one holding the leaf. Very Interesting!
  7. Woodpigeon x 2 x in Garden and 25+ ā€“ just outside Glasgow airport. Ā Glad to see so many, as the woodpigeon is this weekā€™s species of the week forĀ SpeciesofUKĀ on twitter, a twitter account very worth checking out if youā€™ve got an interest in UK wildlife.

Been Hectic ā€“ very few birds been seen :(

Edinburgh Science festival is on and a couple of trips to Glasgow in the past 3 days have kept me busy, so the only birds I really got to see were

2 x long tailed tits ā€“ flying down the street where I live as I got into the car

on the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there were other birds but I couldnā€™t get a great ID.

  1. 3 x common buzzards
  2. 2 x Magpies

Edinburgh Garden bird list for 29th of March 2013

My list for my garden in Edinburgh for Friday 29th of March 2013:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 20+ flying over at dusk
  4. Dunnock x 2 ā€“ think thereā€™s a fair few more as I can see movement in the hedge, hope theyā€™re building nests.
  5. Feral Pigeon x 1
  6. Long-tailed tit x 2
  7. Magpie x 2
  8. Woodpigeon x 3

Nice and sunny in Edinburgh today, birds were out enjoying it!

Had a good chance to be in the garden today, nice and sunny, although snow was on the ground to start it thawed very quickly and there was actually some warmth in the sun! Ā Flying high over head I could hear geese and got a short glimpse of 6, but not sure what type and once again a common buzzard being mobbed by gulls, I wish I could identify the gulls better as thereā€™s been a few overhead of late, look like herring, common or lesser black backed, but not 100% sure, the black-headed ones are thankfully easy to identify! Ā Will get my bins out soon to get a better view, Iā€™ve let my neighbours know that Iā€™m a keen birder in case they wonder what Iā€™m up to ;)

Hereā€™s my garden bird list for today:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Bullfinch x 1, male ā€“ hoping the femaleā€™s sitting on eggs somewhere!
  4. Carrion crow x 1 in garden ā€“ about 15 flying over.
  5. Common Buzzard x 1 ā€“ flying high!
  6. Dunnock x 2
  7. Long-tailed tit x 1 ā€“ pretty sure I could hear more flying past.
  8. Magpie x 1
  9. Starlings x 6
  10. Woodpigeon x 2

Another new bird for the year! More snow!

Woohoo finally saw a wren, Iā€™d been missing them for my year list and I know they visit my garden, but today finally in the snow I spotted one. Ā All my tits seem to haveĀ disappearedĀ though, really do wonder where theyā€™ve gone off to, that said I was working on the Saver Scene Australian financeĀ (now closed as I move into gardening as a profession) pages, although Iā€™m KiwiGav I was brought up in Australia and thatā€™s why I know more about Aussie deals, savings, bank accounts and credit cards than I do about NZ ones. Ā Iā€™ve actually spent more time in the UK now than the country I was born in! Ā All 3 places have fantastic birds, you just have to pay a little more attention to the UK ones to see their beauty!

Hereā€™s my garden bird list:

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Bullfinch x 2, 1xm, 1xf they were eating the buds of new growth on the trees.
  3. Carrion crow x 4 ā€“ flyovers
  4. Dunnock x 1
  5. Magpie x 1
  6. Woodpigeon x 2
  7. Wren x 1

I should say I kept an eye out for the gold crest but sadly no show today, it was the weather Iā€™d seen it in before, Iā€™ll try and get my 1 and only photo Iā€™ve ever managed to take of a goldcrest tomorrow.

New birds for the year and the cold takes itā€™s toll.

As I looked out the window this morning I saw that a poor wood pigeon hadnā€™t made it through the night, a real shame. Ā Iā€™d put out a fair bit of fat and apple cores to try and help the birds through the cold snap.Ā  Sadly the weather was just too much for this poor bird. Ā I hope it wasnā€™t one that was mating yesterday, be a real shame to loose a partner so early in the breeding season!

In other news added two new birds to my year list, mallards and goosanders that were on the water of Lieth when I was out of the house for a bit.

Garden:

  1. Blackbird x 2
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 3 ā€“ flyovers
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 3
  6. Magpie x 1
  7. Woodpigeon x 1, and sadly one dead in the tree.

Water of Leith:

  1. Mallard x 5, 3 male, 2 female
  2. Goosander x 5, 4 male, 1 female.

The Goosanders were beautiful it was on slow dark water with sun hitting their white breasts and wow they were vibrant and reflected off the dark water!

It was of course Monday; there were many updates for the finance pages and donā€™t forget if you havenā€™t used your ISA limit for the year over on Saver Scene Iā€™ve got the latest best interest rates.

Spring finally on the way in Edinburgh?

The Long-tailed tits were so close to me today, it was fantastic! Ā Maybe less than a foot away, great views for a few seconds, then they were on their way again. Ā The Magpie I did see was once again collecting nesting material, this time it looked like moss so maybe close to finishing their nest. Ā 2 of the woodpigeons were mating, another great sign of spring, weā€™ve missed most of the snow, hope for a few fine days soon! Ā My garden bird list and 1 feral pigeon that I spotted from the car:

  1. Black-headed Gull x 3 ā€“ flyovers.
  2. Bullfinch x 2, 1xm, 1xf
  3. Dunnock x 2
  4. Feral Pigeon x 1 ā€“ not in my garden, on Ballgreen Road.
  5. Long-tailed tit x 2
  6. Magpie x 1
  7. Starlings x 9
  8. Woodpigeon x 3

Woodpigeons mobbing magpies & Long-tailed tit back!

The magpies are still building their nest in the monkey puzzle tree opposite, however I noticed that the woodpigeons are mobbing the magpies, anyone else seen this behaviour?

  1. Blackbird x 1
  2. Blue Tit x 1
  3. Carrion crow x 2 ā€“ fly over
  4. Coal Tit x 1
  5. Dunnock x 2
  6. Long-tailed tit x 1
  7. Magpie x 2
  8. Woodpigeon x 3 ā€“ I noticed one of these was mobbing the magpies as they were making their nest. Anyone know if this is normal? Iā€™ve seen it in song birds before but not woodpigeons.