Myles Offside Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 White faced heron 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny van Axeldongen Posted June 6, 2021 Share Posted June 6, 2021 I've been watching fledgling starlings harassing their parents for food over the past couple of weeks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 90% sure I just saw an osprey flying over the artificial pools beside where the Aberdeen bypass crosses the River Dee. Seems unusually close to the city, but a Google search shows reports of them coming down to the Donmouth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SANTAN Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) I just witnessed a bird f**k up a snail, had my back door open and heard a knocking noise, looked out and saw some bird repeatedly smacking a snail off the ground, eventually the bird scranned the wee fucker out of his shell after smashing it to bits probably took about 5 minutes in total. Took a video but it's too big or something. It's real out there. Stay safe. Edited June 15, 2021 by Stormzy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 28 minutes ago, Stormzy said: I just witnessed a bird f**k up a snail, had my back door open and heard a knocking noise, looked out and saw some bird repeatedly smacking a snail off the ground, eventually the bird scranned the wee fucker out of his shell after smashing it to bits probably took about 5 minutes in total. Took a video but it's too big or something. It's real out there. Stay safe. Song Thrush. The RSPB site says: It likes to eat snails which it breaks into by smashing them against a stone with a flick of the head. They sometimes have their own dedicated stone. I wish we had some in our garden, there's plenty of food for them. Dull Literary fact: A thrush appears in a scene in "The Hobbit" where the dwarves and Bilbo are trying to find a secret door to a cave. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Kestrel and goldfinch at musselburgh today. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Isle of May last Tuesday 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Just now, The Mantis said: Isle of May last Tuesday Close the thread immediately. I don't think we'll ever see a photo better than that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 (edited) I saw a pair of carrion crows yesterday, both of which had a cool pattern of black and white feathers. Looked like a whole new species of 'zebra crow', so I looked it up. It would seem that they can get 'leucism' where some feathers lose their pigmentation, but I'd imagine that would be an individual issue. Both looked pretty much identical. Siblings with leucism passed down to them, or do they get together like The Freaks and do the corvid equivalent of "one of us, one of us!" Both had a pattern like this: ... and no, it was not a magpie (or a hoodie). Eta: saw them both again earlier today and one of them was kind enough to leave a feather behind: Edited June 20, 2021 by Hedgecutter 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 2 hours ago, philpy said: Close the thread immediately. I don't think we'll ever see a photo better than that. Cheers @philpy but I'm sure I once saw a photo of an Osprey with a fish in each foot, one in the beak, one tucked under each oxter, being harassed by a crow while trying to read a Harold Robbins paperback. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philpy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 2 hours ago, The Mantis said: Cheers @philpy but I'm sure I once saw a photo of an Osprey with a fish in each foot, one in the beak, one tucked under each oxter, being harassed by a crow while trying to read a Harold Robbins paperback. I'm going to keswick next month, when there we are going to bassenthwaite Lake, which has an osprey viewing point. So I might get the photo you described. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 I realise this isn't an entomology thread but wondered if and birders also had an interest in insects. This was on my kitchen window today. Not even sure if it's a bee or a fly never mind what actual species it is.ETA been told by a biology student it's a Pellucid Hoverfly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 1 hour ago, philpy said: I'm going to keswick next month, when there we are going to bassenthwaite Lake, which has an osprey viewing point. So I might get the photo you described. Probably with a tourist in its talons then. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewan14 Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 16/05/2021 at 20:48, Melanius Mullarkey said: However, they were upstaged by the bizarre looking young coots. Sat and watched them being fed sticklebacks by their maw. Some feet on the bairns though. Moorhens ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewan14 Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 07/05/2021 at 23:03, tamthebam said: Stop off at Dunbar on the way. Kittiwakes nest in the walls at the harbour Cheers. I always wondered what they were . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewan14 Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 08/05/2021 at 14:18, mathematics said: Walking along the canal today and some high pitched squeaking alerted my attention. Saw the below bird, and thought, weird noise for a bird to make. Turns out it was the rodent in his mouth that was making all the noise. Rightly so, as it was swallowed whole soon after. I fell out of like with the heron at Inverleith pond when I found out they take ducklings ! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 2 hours ago, Billy Jean King said: I realise this isn't an entomology thread but wondered if and birders also had an interest in insects. This was on my kitchen window today. Not even sure if it's a bee or a fly never mind what actual species it is. ETA been told by a biology student it's a Pellucid Hoverfly. There's quite a few species hoverflies. I quite like them for pretending to look like wasps or bees while being harmless. Some hoverfly larvae eat aphids so are gardeners friends. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 25 minutes ago, ewan14 said: Moorhens ? Deffo coots. They’ve been at the pond for years. Was speaking to a local yokel last year and he says he watched a coot take out a seagull and drag it underwater to drown it. It had been attacking the nests. 11 minutes ago, tamthebam said: There's quite a few species hoverflies. I quite like them for pretending to look like wasps or bees while being harmless. Some hoverfly larvae eat aphids so are gardeners friends. Had loads of hoverfies last year but not so many this year. Quite a few beeflies however. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Offside Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Black necked stork 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 The sparrows have finally taken to the bird feed box which I attached to the window (dried mealworm was the answer). A fine view just about the computer monitor, although this little greedy one has been in here for ages now with others fluttering about as if to say "your time's up, f*** off" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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