Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
Has anyone noticed how quiet over head it is in Dover?
No screetching of swifts as they zoom around after the insects, No swallows as they dip along the river and no House martins gathering mud for their nests.
They all should have arrived weeks ago, But NOTHING. how strange.
Any way, heres a bundle of joy.
Four Baby Black Birds waiting for their next meal.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Where's the other 20 Ian? I've got a pie to bake!
Apparently there were swifts in Dungeness very early this year. Sadly there is a decline in the swift population due to loss of nesting sites. Ray saw a couple yesterday - we always keep an eye open for them as I call them my birthday birds. They usually arrive about the 8th May and leave on 15th August. Nothing more reminiscent of an English summer than the swifts screaming and swooping low.
Perhaps the Icelandic volcano eruption has had a side effect we weren't expecting?
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Awwww Ian, I've always wanted to see a baby blackbird and never have so thank you for posting that pic of the 4 little darlings.
I was only saying the other day day how A, you don't see baby blackbirds. B, you never find blackbird feathers and C, you see very very few dead blackbirds. I came to the conclusion they are smart!
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
I'll try and keep you updated on their progress Jeane.
Very smart and probably the second best song bird in our fair land.
The first being.........................?
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Dame Vera Lynn?
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Lol Sid.
Thanks Ian, I'll guess and say the robin (I'm probably wrong.) We have a regular robin singing his head off at the top of my neighbours tree, it's so lovely. He came in and had a bite to eat from our bird food bowl the other day and a bath in the stream
Unregistered User
House Martins have this week built their nest on the house opposite me as they do every year, perhaps the winter dragging on as long as it did has delayed things.
Best song bird? Have you ever heard a nightingale singing at dusk? Beautiful, just beautiful.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
Meadow Larks. Just a joy to hear, every time I'm out with the dog from April to September....
True friends stab you in the front.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Moorhen...real ale bitter being drawn from an old hand pump.....aah lovely
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
One of the best of the lot, Marek, is in your neck of the woods. Oystercatchers on the south coast of Jersey, especially on the stretch between St Helier and Gorey. A distinctive 'Kleep' call, and when there's a load of them, it's a magical sound.
True friends stab you in the front.
Used to work near to Berkeley Square and felt very cheated as there were no nightingales to be seen or heard!
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
Andy, I have one of those relaxing Cds mate, featuring the ocean off North America, and with it somewhere`s in the middle, Oystercatchers! Jeane, we have young blackbirds every year for which I thank my .22
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Just to update: they mentioned the lack of swifts and swallows on Spriingwatch, and it seems it is due to the same strong winds that caused the trouble with the volcanic ash. Apparently they should be arriving any time soon,.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
Thanks for that Diana, It turns out our Sidney was right after all. well done Sidders.
Alas no more pictures of the little Black Birds, bothered by cats the parents abandoned.
My no2 songbird is the robin, It would be the Nightingale but how often is it you hear one. Only twice for me.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Thanks Ian. Modesty forbade me from announcing my hypothesis as being closest to the actuality.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Awww Ian I'm sorry about the blackbirds
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
Nice picture above Ian, and a great shame they never survived. It`s a tough world, and I suspect the youngster I got this morning may not make it. A sparrow hawk or similar snatched a young thrush from the garden yesterday morning. The blackbird alarm call gave warning something was about. I was just in time to see the hawk disappear over the hedge with it in it`s tallon`s.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
