West Ham Online

"I thought you might like this video.



It's a compilation of different birds singing. Beautiful photography. If you expand the 'title' under the video it gives a list of species and the times they pop up in the video. Most of the species are familiar to us in the UK, but there are some 'exotics' (the cranes - wow, what a noise!) It was filmed in Belarus. The guy has a channel you can subscribe to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and maybe it'll take your mind off you-know-what for a few blessed minutes."

Oh no. What happened?

Neighbour’s cat just tried to off it with a nesting magpie pair. That went well.

"In recent days, I've taken to walking the dog on the roof of our building. It's a flat roof, in case you're wondering, and offers a panoramic view of other roofs and tree tops. But this post is not about the skyline, but a question about parakeets. There have been solo flights as well as squadrons of the things overflying our roof -- but always on the same flight path: from northwest to southeast and vice versa. I can see no obvious reason why they choose that route. There's a river a couple of miles away and not much of interest in the other direction. Other birds don't seem to follow any route and the parrots always, without exception, take this route. Any theories why?"

The Jackdaws who were nesting in my chimney fledged this morning. All the Jackdaws in the area got together for a mass fly around (there were upwards of 50) and eventually all flew to the oak woods up the hill from me.

Feeding time is really dramatic - has all the pathos of a proper cup tie.

cHARLIE DOVE

"Good lord, yes! Thanks."

How about a live stream to a roosting peregrine falcon pair at Warsaw's Palace of Culture? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdezYfZdYT4&fbclid=IwAR2wCDlfEpmqI13Bv8P6A5az5ezOzhskUjynHmNAopvaPi5DD4dQ1j69sAk

"Loads of red kites where i work (Caversham), could watch them all day as they glide around effortlessly without using their wings. Also we have a couple of very industrious woodpeckers at the back of our garden,the racket they make is a wonderful sound as is the tuneful whistling of a yet unidentified bird. We have rewarded him for keeping us entertained by naming him Otis. And our mob of hedghogs have swelled their numbers,we now have ten regular spikey friends who get fed every night."

Red Kite right over my garden this afternoon. Got chased away by a couple of other birds.

Also had the the jackdaws in my chimney successfully fighting off a crow who was trying to pinch the chicks. Glad that they won that little battle.

bruuuno 10:31 Sat Apr 25 I had four this evening at dusk. Love them.

Haha

Haha

"bruuuuuno, don't eat that fucking bat"

Bazil the bat is back in my garden

"There is a lovely bird watching spot in the centre of Bristol near where I work. In a square mile of bland office after office, there is a waterway with a few canal boats, a little bridge and a terrace to sit and watch the world go by. Had been walking over there every working day, since working from home, could sit down there, see one or two swans taking half the afternoon to swim one way and then the other past, under a willow tree that droops right into the water....when the sun shines through the willow tree and the swans are right underneath, it's like you are thousands of miles away from a soulless block of office after office. To the right there's some trees that are home to a host of bluetits and a pair of blackbirds. Both the blue titis and the blackbirds ruling the roost and providing the entertainment and beautiful song, depending on what time of the afternoon it is, It's lovely down there and so quiet..was about half a dozen or so sat there each day, usually there are a hundred plus, but with everybody working from home... Dead quiet and in that could hear a pin drop for an hour, the few there could just watch the swans and the blackbirds and almost every day down there, could drift off and actually forget about this lockdown. One of the half dozen people there, I recognise from being one of the all day, everyday crowd from the nearby wetherspoons. bloke in his mid-sixties, sat on the 'ferry stop' seats with sandwiches and a bottle of cider, watching the bird life and the water flowing slowly by. Few days in you could tell that a kind of set of unwritten laws establishing themselves on the terrace, the swans would come really close to the side and nobody would break that silence then with some inane mobile call. It was unusual to hear a single telephone conversation at all after 3 weeks of it down there. Really beautiful spot and with hardly anybody around, what with most heading to more popular parks, a real oasis in all around it physically, and a real break from everything else happening. Went there on Thursday and the terrace has been taped off. There are some things in modern Britain that I fucking detest."

Where do you live pickle? Toe rag I saw a weasel chasing another weasel the other day along a country lane.

Swallows arrived today about a week late. I attribute their tardiness to the prevailing northerly winds and lack of rain (therefore lack of breeding insects to feed on) this spring.

Been a good day on the wildlife front today. Working out in the sticks About 08.20 spotted a barn owl quartering a field and about 14.30 this afternoon spotted a Marsh Harrier swooping low by the roadside. Never seen a Marsh Harrier before and I’ve seen 2 in the last 3 days. Also had a stoat run out in front of the van. I missed the little ginger twat luckily.

"Hermit Road 3:07 Wed Apr 2 I get it. I suppose I am just an old softy for Pigeons having recued and bonded with a few, would do the same again. Nothing against Hawks, they are magnificent creatures and do what comes natural to them. Seeing them up close is special. One other time I was near the window when a Sparrow Hawk attacked a Pigeon, but this Pigeon was smart, it came hurtling towards my window with the Sparrow Hawk on its tail, at the last split second the Pigeon dived down, but the Sparrow Hawk was unable to conduct such a manoeuvre and went head first straight into my window pane at some force. I admit I had a little chuckle, Pigeons are notoriously fast flyers and good at acrobatics, probably why they have been around since 3000 BC."

Hermit Road 3:07 Wed Apr 22 I grew up fascinated by the peregrine falcon (stories of medieval falconry probably helped) and was a budding eco-warrior with the DDT stuff back then. Wrote a couple reports on it in school. Still peak in on these every once in a while https://www.ab-conservation.com/wildlife-cameras/peregrine/genesee-power-plant-peregrine-camera/

"Kestrel today hovering above the fields in Abridge, and what looked like another pair of red kites."

J.Riddle 12:35 Wed Apr 22 My reaction would be the complete opposite. I love seeing birds of prey at work. They are incredible things.

You can't getting all anthropomorphic with a hungry bird of prey. Bird eat bird world out there. Feed the birds and you are inadvertently providing a sparrowhawk feeding station as well. All good.