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."

Who wouldn't want to go out like that if they could choose!

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Dunno about that but I have wiped out beaucoup pigeons with the train. Thump. Once half volleyed one into the chest of a punter waiting at a platform. Oof. A colleague took out two in one hit once whilst they were copulating.

Might not be in the spirit of the thread but I wonder if city centre pigeons have started canabalizing yet?

"""LBJ's sort out the twitchers from the merely interested. They are hard as fuck to identify and they never keep still for long enough to compare them properly to a picture in a book."" Yep. Feckers."

"Toe Rag. Maybe wrens? UK's most numerous bird, often overlooked. Always seem them by the riverside when I'm fishing. A little bit too early for most warblers I'd think. Heard a few chiff chaffs recently. LBJ's sort out the twitchers from the merely interested. They are hard as fuck to identify and they never keep still for long enough to compare them properly to a picture in a book. I'm ok at telling some of them apart by song but they aren't really much to look at. Same goes for some, but not all, of the waders , I'm clueless on the ID of some of them look a like fuckers."

I am sat by a river as of this moment watching kingfishers going backwards and forwards. Busy little things they are as well. Seem to be disappearing into the banks so I guess they’re nest building. Lots and lots of brown jobs flitting about. No idea what they are. Various types of warblers I guess?

Hermit Road Sunflower hearts in one feeder. Nyger seeds in another feeder. Patience. You'll get goldfinches eventually I'd think.

All lovely stuff.

Seen a load of Red Kite recently. I’ve probably seen tons of them before without knowing what they are. Saw a Goldfinch in my garden a couple of years ago and haven’t seen one since. I’m a bit gutted about that they are incredible birds.

Saw a lapwing for only the second time whilst driving the train the other week. Best spot I've had whilst at work was possibly a cuckoo. Or 6 Whooper swans in formation. Little owl. Tawny. Peregrine. Once had a kestrel fly parallel and alongside the cab for a few seconds. That's easily the most exciting thing that's ever happened at work. One freezing winter's day years back there had been an overnight irruption of redwings and fieldfares. Absolutely 1000s of them flying everywhere all day thatbtime. as they got disturbed by the train. I would imagine in the wilds of Scandinavia they don't see any trains so they must be petrified by them.

"Nurse Ratched 12:50 Sun Mar 29 Been pressure washing the patio. A Robin keeps hopping around nearby, presumably looking out for worms I've disturbed? That was a bit crap really wasn't it?"

"Nurse 1250 Not recently but last summer I was fishing a small pond with a trees all around it and a small copse on one side. Sparrowhawk was attending to a nest about 5 metres to my left and maybe 8 metres up. I am sure it was unaware that I was so close and it came down and flew right in front of my face, so close I could feel the air turbulence from it's feathers. A short while later a grass snake swam past the rod tip. Some idiot has released a teenage mutant ninja terrapin into that pond. Silly cսnt."

"When I’m out with my Labrador I often get a red kite come really close . I think they associate the dog with the shooting community and look to see if there is a dead bird they can grab. I’ve been told the kite will not kill but scavenge, whereas a buzzard will kill and sometimes get chased off their prey by a kite. Not related but I saw a hare at full speed across a field yesterday,a few days before I startled three fallow deer close to me,and even closer ,about three yards a muntjac. I love being out."

"*WhatsApps video to local Chinese restaurant with a ""What can you make of this?"" request.* Kill or cure! Kill or cure!"

"More bird news, please! ?üôÇ"

"Mex Martillo 10:39 Sun Mar 29 Good work, keep it up. Here, there's a lot less food being thrown out. Street dogs depend on scavenging for food. We regularly feed a group of local street dogs and they've been ravenous the last couple of evenings. Same for birds, I expect, and other urban wildlife. Civets and deer have taken to roaming the city's streets, while dolphins are jumping around close to shore."

"Nurse Ratched 10:38 Fri Mar 27 Good call on the sunbird (olive backed), though wiki says they can be 4.7"" long, which is larger than this bird."

"The birds around here seem to be hungrier than usual and taking more risks to get a morsel of food. I’ve started putting chicken food on a bird table for then. That seemed to go down very well, but then some collared doves took over the table and would not let other birds approach, not even other collared doves! Anyway, I’ve put a cage over the table so only the little birds can get to the food! I’ll keep you informed on developments as I am sure you will all be interested. Keeps me slightly entertained."

"Perhaps a type of sunbird, or maybe a common tailorbird? I know bugger all about the tropicals, though, sorry."

"That's fantastic. Amazing how the cuckoo coos without opening its beak. For anyone who knows about tropical birds: I saw a small bird the other day, about the size of hlaf a sparrow, but with a long, pointed beak and a yellow/greenish hue. Any ideas what it is? Calcutta is usually very noisy. Car horns, rickshaw bells, revving motorbikes, people arguing, shouting, expectorating, dogs barking. And that's just for starters. The lockdown has made things eerily quiet. No cars, few people. But for the first time ever, you can hear birds sing."

And now for some dogging and dogging etiquette...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEFFW_Dsdys

And now for some dogging and dogging etiquette...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEFFW_Dsdys

"This is SORT OF topical in that, unusually for a West Ham website, you can hear a bit of W(H)IN CHAT on this video."