OverClockers Twitchers' Thread

[Narj]

This has been discussed a couple of times so I thought I'd start it. Lockdown has made many of us a lot more appreciative of nature and the wildlife around us so bird-feeding and spotting has become a bit more popular.

I thought it'd be nice to share your interesting sightings here, have some friendly discussion and share tips and experiences

I'll kick off with a sighting - first successful kill in my garden by a Sparrowhawk this morning - looks like a female and she'd bagged a poor Sparrow. Unfortunately I only had my potato phone to hand so the photo is awful, I've tried to brush it up. It's been too wet to mow/sort out the grass, before I get piled on

Also a tip I'd like to share for dealing with vermin as this is quite a common issue. A while back I had an issue with a rat getting to my bird table/house. I managed to get around the problem with a couple of pint beer-cans (see above). Cut the top and bottom off with strong scissors, turn them inside out and fold around the post, fixing with self-tapping screws. I spray with WD-40 for good measure and you can see the sod can no longer get up there and has moved on: Frustrated Rat Video!

Obviously for ground feeders I only put out what I know will be eaten in the day to discourage vermin.

As for the species I have currently seen visiting: Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Magpie, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Blackbird, Sparrowhawk.

Not many Feral Pigeons thankfully and I tend to scare them off with a laser pointer if they become too much of a problem (green is best).

Look forward to seeing other people's stuff - I'm going to try to use my wildlife cam to get some close-up photos of the Robin that seems to have claimed the garden as its territory now.

 

[Narj]

But it's the damn squirrels that keep knocking all the seeds to the floor that are annoying me. Might have to stick the feeders on a greased pole to solve it.

I've found that when I've put mixed seed out and sunflower hearts. Apart from the Robin, the sunflower hearts get eaten first every time and they certainly attract the goldfinches.

I'm hoping something nests in my birdbox in the spring. Just need some binoculars now!

Goldfinches go absolutely nuts for Sunflower hearts. I had groups of 5 or 6 in the summer but they are much less frequent of late. The problem with Sunflower hearts is that Wood Pigeons go crazy for them as well and will try all sorts of tricks to get at them. It's pretty entertaining to watch but it took me weeks of frustration before I managed to outsmart them.

I've just got a new feeder that will only allow the smaller birds anywhere near so will stuff that with sunflower hearts rather than having it somewhere the bigger birds will try, scaring the others off.

You can get squirrel baffles for poles but grease will work equally well I'd have thought. Depending on the type of feed, you can get squirrel proof ones that shut the ports when they jump on to them.

I haven't seen a single Blue Tit - odd as my mate around the corner gets lots of them and I see plenty on walks.

I looked out my office window the other day and saw this beauty:

Absolutely stunning, well caught.

 

[Narj]

Strange isn't it. The blue tit's are pretty much in my garden non-stop. Bored of them now , I want to swap for more Goldfinches

I think the Pied Wagtails are my favourite at the moment. I just can't help laughing/smiling watching them although they tend to pick round on the rooftops more than visiting the garden.

 

[Narj]

I put a bird feeder up in the garden and it is actually surprisingly nice watching the squirrels birds eat from it. The robin is massive wimp and takes a tiny bite before disappearing for 5 minutes but a brown and green tit thing is much more ballsy and does trips to and from his nest every minute or so.

My resident Robin is more confident in the caged ground feeder and will stuff its face there, but otherwise yeah it's smash and grab. I've seen it stand up for itself when harassed by the Sparrows though.

The Starlings are possibly the most ballsy I've seen - they will basically give it, "Oi, **** off mate!" to the Feral pigeons. There is 1 seemingly regular Starling that doesn't really care about my presence, I think it must be the one that started coming to my garden as a juvenile.

 

[Narj]

Came into thread thinking this was a twitch thread.

Left disappointed

We can talk about Boobies - that would be quite relevant

 

[Narj]

From my album here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/sameermannick/820peN

You really have a great eye for a fantastic picture mate. The Robin on the suet ball feeder is great. I'm tempted to get myself a decent camera after looking at some of the amazing shots in this thread.

 

[Narj]

Tree sparow? No way? They are super rare. Like really really rare

They are easy to spot, they stand out with their chestnut cap. I thought it was a bit odd so had to look it up.

 

[Narj]

Where do you live to get them? I've only seen them once. In my life

NW Kent/Border of London. There is a fair bit of woodland nearby so maybe that would explain where they have come from.

Also I saw a male Sparrowhawk in the garden this morning. I wonder if he and the female I regularly see are a pair.

 

[Narj]

I didn't even think you got tree sparrows there.

Must be great habitat.
Seems to be a lot of sparrow hawk about now.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/tree-sparrow/#:~:text=The tree sparrow is scarcer,in hedgerows and woodland edges.

Looks like it being Winter might explain that one. I'd not seen them before either. Not seen any Dunnocks so far.

Yeah the Sparrowhawks seem to be treating my garden as a local takeaway

 

[Narj]

I wish they'd come to mine. So many ferral pigeons it's practically a McDs for hawks.

They sit on the roof waiting for other birds to drop food from feeders

Goldfinch are most common here.

Feral pigeons are annoying but it's better they clean up than attracting a load of rats. That's the way I see it. They can be bullies though so, as I say, I just scare them off with a laser pointer if they are causing a problem.

I run a wildlife cam some nights to check that rats aren't getting to the feeders. Firstly I don't want to encourage them, and secondly I don't want them passing any diseases on to the birds.

A rat almost got past my contraption last night so I've added a cone around the post to make sure none can get up there. Mental thing about feeding the birds is you're always trying to outwit wood pigeons/feral pigeons/vermin.

 

[Narj]

Hoping to wild up garden next year so birds can nest

I'm trying to do the same but tbh there are too many cats around here. I've blocked off some of their entrance points to the garden so they don't use it as a cut-through anymore, and there are spikes on the shed roof, so they can't hang around on there.

Might put some nest boxes up out of reach and see if I get any takers!

 

[Narj]

I think I've only seen one sparrow at mine in 2 years. Didn't realise they were so rare.

Are you talking about House Sparrows or the other types?

Even House Sparrows are low in numbers in some areas. Their numbers have taken a massive hit but they seem to be recovering well now. I'll sometimes get up to 40 House Sparrows in my garden if I put a big pile of feed out!

Sparrows do make me laugh. Plenty of food available but they'd still rather nick it from one of the others!

 

[Narj]

Any of them.

If it's any consolation it doesn't seem that unusual. A mate of mine gets tonnes of Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Blue **** and the like but absolutely no Sparrows either. I'd be happy with the variety

 

[Narj]

Amazing! I've never got that close to a wild bird apart from the scabby looking pigeons outside of Notre Dame and St Marks Square.

I <3 Robins. They are great

I'm tempted to try this myself if it gets colder.

 

[Narj]

Yes, I have a dog too. We walk along the Roman Ridge and there are birds there but dog usually stalks them - unsuccessfully..
But we have some big fat pigeons in our back garden.

Wood Pigeons are really beautiful birds but my word, the amount of food they can stuff into their crop is remarkable. It's why I have caged feeders and only leave the odd bit out for the bigger birds.

They can neck something like 1000 grains of wheat in a go. No wonder Farmers shoot them. They can also bully smaller birds away, I'd seen one pecking at the sparrows to drive them off a while ago - again, that's why I got a caged ground feeder.

Feral Pigeons definitely do the "guarding" behaviour, even when they can't get at the food.

 

[Narj]

I love doing these types of days, had so much fun and left with a bug really wanting to experience more.

I keep meaning to book a Falconry day, I've just not got around to it.

That's convinced me to book as soon as we can actually do stuff again!

LOL @ Hungover Owl!

 

[Narj]

For those of you that use binoculars what make and model do you use?

Are they all pretty much up to the job for looking at birds (ooh er) at about 30-50 feet while some are just much better than others. Or are some just really crap and pointless?

I was thinking of buying these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Binoculars-Kylietech-Waterproof-Stargazing-Smartphone/dp/B07J6QXBP4

But I'll definitely be interested to see some answers and opinions!

 

[Narj]

Funnily enough, mentioning Blackcaps, I've had a male in my garden the past few days.

I also seem to have a regular Blackbird as well now

 

[Narj]

We drove to my wife's parents today and I lost count the amount of crows chasing buzzards and red kites away from their nests. They are certainly confident in groups.

I don't think I will ever get over how impressive red kites are. There were a pair of them about 50ft above us today for a good while and they are fantastic.

We also had a pair of herons fly over head when I was in the garden earlier. First time I've ever seen more than one together.

I saw a Heron the other day - no idea what it's doing over here - somebody must have a nice new fish pond.

 

[Narj]

Watching two pairs of buzzards a sparrow hawk or two and a couple of red kites in my OHs mother's back garden, grand day.
Buzzards stayed most of the day I'm the area as well so assume they nest close bye

Sparrow hawks are absolutely amazing birds. I've not seen the male and female that were visiting frequently around for a while though. Maybe they found better hunting