philpy Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Couple of pics from today at Newbattle abbey. Did hear a woodpecker but couldn't see the fucker. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 OK, just the one as I can't upload over 8mb.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Bit of an aerial duel over my house the week before last - carrion crow giving a buzzard a proper hard time. Went on for a few minutes - poor buzzard clearly just wanted left alone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightswoodBear Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 53 minutes ago, Deanburn Dave said: Saw a Greenfinch today in Bo'ness. First one in nearly 2 years !! No exaggeration I have seen well over 100 Goldfinches since I last saw a Greenfinch. The greenfinches are scarce in my garden just now. There's usually quite a few of them. Loads of Goldfinches just now though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 41 minutes ago, Hillonearth said: Bit of an aerial duel over my house the week before last - carrion crow giving a buzzard a proper hard time. Went on for a few minutes - poor buzzard clearly just wanted left alone. You quite often spot buzzards being harassed by crows. Mainly because crows are cnuts! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Deanburn Dave said: Saw a Greenfinch today in Bo'ness. First one in nearly 2 years !! No exaggeration I have seen well over 100 Goldfinches since I last saw a Greenfinch. I suspect the Bo'ness folk prefer Blue Tits to Greenfinches... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Why have Goldfinches exploded in numbers ? 10 years ago it was a rare spot round my part of Ayrshire there are now literally dozens in every garden and field, easily the most common bird around here nowadays. Saw a Greenfinch today in Bo'ness. First one in nearly 2 years !! No exaggeration I have seen well over 100 Goldfinches since I last saw a Greenfinch. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartsOfficialMoaner Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 4 hours ago, tamthebam said: You quite often spot buzzards being harassed by crows. Mainly because crows are cnuts! A mate of mine a while back told me they were clever birds and bird handlers told him they werehard to train because they got bored quite easily unlike they falcons or whatnot. so I quite like them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 (edited) I always wondered if the rise of the goldfinch was aided by the variety of bird food folk are putting out these days. When I was younger I really only ever remember being able to get peanuts, fat balls and mixed seed. Now you can buy stuff like niger seed and sunflower hearts which are more attractive to birds like the goldfinch. I seem to have a pair of greenfinch along with numerous house sparrows and goldfinches that visit my garden. Not seen the long tailed tits for a while and I liked them. ☹ Edited May 18, 2020 by Rizzo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Rider Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 After a chat about the increase in Goldfinches I’ve noticed loads of them whilst out walking the last few days. We even had a pair visit this morning and we never usually see them. We have Starlings nesting in the roof and It looks like they have fledged recently. We have a wee flock in the tree at the bottom of the garden. Cracking wee birds. I’ve noticed far more birds recently due to the Lockdown. On our evening walks we’ve seen a Tawny Owl and owlet, woodpeckers and treecreepers for the 1st time at our local park and woods. We’ve had a sparrow hawk visit the back garden and we heard a cuckoo whilst out on a longer walk at the weekend. Good time for twitching. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 14 hours ago, MixuFixit said: what @Rizzo says seems to be the main reason, at least according to the BTO. What I'd like to know is why they were persecuted before the 30s as the article says? https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/a-z-garden-birds/goldfinch I don't know about persecuted but they used to be kept as cage birds and if they were being caught for the pet trade that would have depleted numbers in the wild 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Plenty of Whitethroats out singing the other day. Cracking wee birds. Was surprised to see a pair of stock doves as well. Does anyone know how common/uncommon they are? I've only seen them once before. Wrens out singing as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 22 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: Seems to be a bit of a data gap on them in Scotland (do you have a BTO birdtrack account? You can report casual sightings like this) but English data seems to be a success story. Farming practices around pesticides changed and now it's doing really well: https://app.bto.org/birdtrends/species.jsp?year=2018&s=stodo Good shout, I forgot I had an account actually. Just logged in my sightings there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 15 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: Seems to be a bit of a data gap on them in Scotland (do you have a BTO birdtrack account? You can report casual sightings like this) but English data seems to be a success story. Farming practices around pesticides changed and now it's doing really well: https://app.bto.org/birdtrends/species.jsp?year=2018&s=stodo They seem to be more expressly confined to low-lying farmland here - reckon I've only seen one or two in our garden our whole time here. Interesting to compare them with collared doves, who after their explosive expansion across Europe - they didn't occur north or west of Bulgaria until the 1940s - was on the verge of becoming a farmland pest until the population settled down and it became a bird more characteristic of suburbia. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Loads of ringed plovers on the shore at Barassie last night in full summer plumage. Also some cracking Gannett diving action just off the beach. Perfect still night but was clearly the calm before the storm as blowing a hoolie today. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snobot Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Regarding greenfinches, they were very common but it seems that they have suffered badly due to disease:- https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/trichomonosis I know my folks in the highlands have seen sick siskins and other finches in the last few years due to this. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shotgun Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 This picture is from Google because I couldn't get close enough with my phone before I scared him off but... We had one of these boys at the birdbath this morning. He's a Western Tanager and as central Colorado is at the far north of their range, we don't see them often. They remind me of a Tequila Sunrise. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted May 24, 2020 Share Posted May 24, 2020 Was going to cut back a couple of bushes in the front garden this afternoon until I heard sounds coming from one of them...it can wait a few weeks... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 These pics are 2 years old this week. My mate found some tawnies nesting in a tree so I went along with him and got some shots. They're round about lockdown distance from my house but haven't got around to looking this year. These are about 40 yards away with a 600mm and a bit of Lightroom. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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