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."

Great stuff!

Delighted to report the sighting of a pair of black woodpeckers obviously househunting on the edge of the forest. The local raven pair was also out and about. Signs of some big packs of boar as well. Spring is definitely in the air.

Starlings are wonderful. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cornwall-64599052

"Good for you Nurse, at least you gave one a fair start, don't know much about hedgehogs but I wonder if they return to successful breeding sites/food sources? We had similar with our rural foxes, Vixen delivered 6x cubs with us feeding them daily For 18 months since she left her brethren, she patiently waited at our fence for supper. Then her fella, and ultimately all eight Then one night, nothing, not to be seen since - most strange. She and the dog used to come to the call, then suddenly gone Not unusual behavior but they routinely return to previous earths and feeding sites but nothing seen since October - absolutely stunning creatures in the picture of health too, mind you, the amount and quality of food we were dispensing it's no shock"

"Crass First Tank left us, then her baby Biscuit left us, and neither has returned. We haven't had any hedgehogs since. There are still routes in and out of our garden, so fingers crossed for the future."

"jack flash - interesting how the finches vary by region. Down here in Herefordshire goldfinches are dead common. A fair number of greenfinches too. Yellowhammers have become noticeably more scarce in recent years. Ref. other comments, plenty of magpies, and numbers of swallows and swifts remain unchanged. Sand martins doing ok too though possibly fewer house martins."

"Nurse Out of interest, how did you get on with the hogs?"

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"Of all the people on this site, it's Nurse that's the passionate about birds"

"Never seen an osprey, what I did see today is some Curlews on an arable field. We aren't far from the coast but to see Curlews next to a busy a road was unusual."

"Oooh, I could kick you on the shin."

How brilliant .

"I was on my way to work and saw an osprey on the top of a telegraph pole by the road. At first I thought it was a big seagull, but as I past I thought no way thats an osprey. I did a U turn and went back stopping below the beast. I was reaching for my phone to take a picture and it took off, lovely to see it drop down and fly away, but a shame not to get a photo. I'm telling everyone I see!"

I live in West Cumbria and although further to the East hawfinches are relatively common we don't see them here Except about 10 years ago a pair turned up in our field and were around for about an hour feeding on something on the ground then flew off never to be seen again! Quite unmistakable little birds because of their huge beak which looks out of proportion with the rest of their body Bullfinches aren't uncommon here and we get huge flocks of chaffinches and yellowhammers We used to see greenfinches but they seem to have disappeared We get the occasional goldfinch and siskin

A bit of digging has turned up that there’ve been a few sightings of hawfinches on the outskirts of town here in the past week or so. So maybe…

A bit of digging has turned up that there’ve been a few sightings of hawfinches on the outskirts of town here in the past week or so. So maybe…

My parents saw a flock of Hawfinches a couple of years ago in North Essex.

"Looking around there’s definitely a lack of the previously abundant magpies this winter. Also noticeably fewer swallows, swifts and martins last summer. On the other hand, the jays seem OK. As do the crows, jackdaws, rooks and ravens (I’ve seen the local pairs out and about only this week)."

Never seen a hawfinch myself but someone I know out here in Herefordshire saw one a couple of years ago.

Mine was clearly old information.

Just looked in my 'Observer Book of Hawfinches' and they're shown mainly up the middle of England up to southern Scotland and the Welsh borders

"BN2 I'm not 100% sure, but I think hawfinches are only found in Scotland."

"I think I saw a hawfinch a couple of days ago, but it was there and gone in a flash, so can’t be sure. Certainly seemed too brown to be a female chaff, though."

"exile - I'm in east Hampshire- I did see a pair of Bullfinches back in December but none since.We had a pair of Firecrest/Goldcrests nesting in our Cypress tree but not seen them for a while...we have a back of thistles that I planted years ago and that attracted Goldfinches (a charm I believe the collective noun is) but they've vanished too...I fear the flu has got them. If you have bird feeders ,keep them clean"