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."

Do they wear Ugs?

"I've been seeing fairly large flocks of Fieldfares in the countryside, also some superb displays by jackdaws."

Redwing! I've hastily put out a halved apple to encourage repeat visits.

Very interesting indeed - kind of thing I love about this site!

"Nurse / H and P …. I remember watching a film and reading the book CONCUSSION . It was about American footballers suffering dementia / mood swings / violent episodes . In the film I believe he mentions a woodpeckers brain is attached to a cord that keeps the brain fairly stationary . In a human repetitive knocks means the brain flies around as there is no cord . This led to to a lot of American footballers becoming ill , in some cases suffering psychosis. Trauma Related Disease . One doctor , I think he may have been a Kenyan took the NFL to task over this . They tried to shut him up from memory , the whole thing got quite nasty but eventually he was proved right and safety had to be dramatically improved . Decent head gear, not targeting the head in tackles . Sorry if this seems a strange post on this thread but it just reminded me of the case !!!"

"Pickle, apparently Woodpeckers have evolved some top notch shock absorption in their heads/necks to ensure the vibrations from all that knocking doesn't churn their innards to soup. Meanwhile, you might enjoy this short clip of a pileated 'pecker going to town on a tree: https://youtu.be/TLJCSSIQ1fI?si=l_k5-sUzvQmwnQNI"

"Pickle, apparently Woodpeckers have evolved some top notch shock absorption in their heads/necks to ensure the vibrations from all that knocking doesn't churn their innards to soup. Meanwhile, you might enjoy this short clip of a pileated 'pecker going to town on a tree: https://youtu.be/TLJCSSIQ1fI?si=l_k5-sUzvQmwnQNI"

Wife filmed a lesser-spotted woodpecker getting on with it on an ant nest in a willow not a yard and a half of our living room window just now. What those buggers’ heads are made of I’ll never know. The tree looks like it’s been hit by several rounds of small-arms fire - I kid you not.

zeb - agree re the butterflies.

"cheeses cruyf 5:56 Fri Sep 15 That's sad. I hve noticed similar here over the years with Chaffinches. Not one this year but my local sparrows have had a bumper spring. There are loads of them now. When they whoosh over my garden there are far too many to count. It has also been a great season for butterflies and insects in general. I have had various dragonflies, hornet and bee mimic hoverflies and all sorts of bees. Also green shield bugs and a first which was a spider wasp. They have a pretty grisly life cycle but are mesmerising to watch on the hunt. Best this week was a female Tawny Owl kiyicking her head off from my roof. Pleasingly she got a few replies."

"Lovely sightings, chaps. Overall, my very unscientific impression is that we've had a good birding year. How are we measuring this, btw? Does it make more sense to go Jan-December, or Spring to Spring?"

In Yorkshire this summer saw my first wheatear

A lovely rural scene. I'm sitting in my car on a farm on the edge of the Herefordshire village of Abbey Dore. My wife is a beekeeper and we're getting ready for the annual honey show. There must be around 150 to 200 swallows and house martens flying around animatedly and sometimes settling at the top of a stand of pine trees. Presumably they're gathering to head south at some point today. A wonderful sight.

All migratory birds large and small seemed as normal this year. They seem to have all left now as well.

"We have a rose hedge along one side of our driveway where after flowering the blooms turn into rose hips, usually we get greenfinches in late August and early September coming in to eat the hips. The numbers have been gradually dwindling for the past few years but this year not a single one has turned up. The number of swallows this year has drastically gone down as well. Any clues as to why ? Other birds numbers don't seem to be any different from usual."

"Kampinos - the large forested area north west of Warsaw. The eagles are common enough - they come up the river where prey like rats and beaver are plentiful. The ravens are one of the local pairs. Got a breeding pair of goshawks nearby and I even see the odd merlin, which is a delight; these can easily be mistaken for swifts until you notice the wing to body ratio is different as is the flight pattern."

"Very nice spot, Pickle. Where?"

White-tailed Sea Eagle as usual being mobbed by a pair of distraught ravens. These things are absolutely massive given it was at least five times the size of a large bird like that.

I see a Red Footed Booby has turned up on the Scilly Isles-only seen in South America - apparently you can't get to the islands 'cos of all the twitchers!!

Saw a grey wagtail bobbing about next to a stream in North Wales.

Think I’ve only had to water the garden 3 times since June :(

"Saw a peregrine falcon take out a pigeon in canonbury this week, I interrupted the final killing and the pigeon flapped under a parked car. Falcon looked peeved. Also there's a family of swans near where I work, in which the parents have fucked off and left two geese in charge of the 5 cygnets, but they occasionally pop in to check on them. Weird."

"Saw a peregrine falcon take out a pigeon in canonbury this week, I interrupted the final killing and the pigeon flapped under a parked car. Falcon looked peeved. Also there's a family of swans near where I work, in which the parents have fucked off and left two geese in charge of the 5 cygnets, but they occasionally pop in to check on them. Weird."

Loads of them at the WE R Festival this weekend especially the Tattoo Tits and Swallows

"A bit of holiday birding. This one was kind of in my face. The sparrows here have a bright blue face and underneath. Cool as fuck, come on the breakfast table looking for crumbs, but respectful enough not to be a hygiene hazard. Looked them up, southern cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus angolensis). Cute little fuckers!"