OverClockers Twitchers' Thread

So I was out digging out the compost heap and as usual theres a robin hanging about waiting for me to turn any bugs out of the heap which he'll happily snatch up. They get really close you almost step on them at times. Later he was on a branch not six feet away singing away. Was quite a treat.

Theres always one when its compost time one year every time I put a fork in he'd dart in and grab the inevitable centipede or other bug that tumbled out he was at it all afternoon I don't where he put them all eventually he gave up he must have been stuffed by then but it went on for hours.
 
Blackjack Davy said:
So I was out digging out the compost heap and as usual theres a robin hanging about waiting for me to turn any bugs out of the heap which he'll happily snatch up. They get really close you almost step on them at times. Later he was on a branch not six feet away singing away. Was quite a treat.

Theres always one when its compost time one year every time I put a fork in he'd dart in and grab the inevitable centipede or other bug that tumbled out he was at it all afternoon I don't where he put them all eventually he gave up he must have been stuffed by then but it went on for hours.
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During the beast from East one was so cold and hungry it took Food from my hand. Was quite a special experience.

See all time in nature group people who have them that tame they are happy to even sit on the hand!

m3ngK2i.jpg
 
I've been feeding the wildlife in my garden for about 3-4 years now.

The one thing I've learnt is don't curse the squirrels or pigeons or whatever for eating the food/throwing the food around. It's because of the pigeons throwing the food around that we attracted lots of hedgehogs to visit and now feed them separately. We've also had dormice stay in the garden for the last couple of years, having attracted them from the fallen seed on the floor, and a couple of frogs who live in the wild area where it stays wet.

The best thing you can do is create a wild area in the garden - I have an area where i throw the old christmas trees, bags of leaves, old wood, cuttings etc. This has provided nesting grounds for several robins (they love making their nests in the old Xmas trees), frogs who live under the leaves along with all sorts of bugs and insects which live under everything which then attracts birds/amphibians/hedgehogs etc.

People these days have their gardens so tidy and devoid of any sort of greenery that no wonder we're losing species. The worst is laying astro turf instead of having a lawn - laying plastic on the ground instead of a lawn because it's easier than having real grass is the epitome of modern times.
 
Gaygle said:
I've been feeding the wildlife in my garden for about 3-4 years now.

The one thing I've learnt is don't curse the squirrels or pigeons or whatever for eating the food/throwing the food around. It's because of the pigeons throwing the food around that we attracted lots of hedgehogs to visit and now feed them separately. We've also had dormice stay in the garden for the last couple of years, having attracted them from the fallen seed on the floor, and a couple of frogs who live in the wild area where it stays wet.

The best thing you can do is create a wild area in the garden - I have an area where i throw the old christmas trees, bags of leaves, old wood, cuttings etc. This has provided nesting grounds for several robins (they love making their nests in the old Xmas trees), frogs who live under the leaves along with all sorts of bugs and insects which live under everything which then attracts birds/amphibians/hedgehogs etc.

People these days have their gardens so tidy and devoid of any sort of greenery that no wonder we're losing species. The worst is laying astro turf instead of having a lawn - laying plastic on the ground instead of a lawn because it's easier than having real grass is the epitome of modern times.
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Really salute your attitude. I wish more people shared it with you.

I always feel upset when I see over other gardens all devoid of shrubs and trees, or worse seeing trees getting cut down in urban gardens in order to have a postage stamp sized turf lawn. Such gardens are also rarely used by their owners.
 
We've recently bought a bird feeder to see what we get. Unfortunately our garden is devoid of shrubs and trees :D not done too bad though. We did the big garden bird watch and got blue ****, sparrows, great tit, wood pigeons, black bird, magpies, robin and a goldfinch.

I see so far over 13million birds have been counted this year compared to 7.6million last year.
 
Gaygle said:
I've been feeding the wildlife in my garden for about 3-4 years now.

The one thing I've learnt is don't curse the squirrels or pigeons or whatever for eating the food/throwing the food around. It's because of the pigeons throwing the food around that we attracted lots of hedgehogs to visit and now feed them separately. We've also had dormice stay in the garden for the last couple of years, having attracted them from the fallen seed on the floor, and a couple of frogs who live in the wild area where it stays wet.

The best thing you can do is create a wild area in the garden - I have an area where i throw the old christmas trees, bags of leaves, old wood, cuttings etc. This has provided nesting grounds for several robins (they love making their nests in the old Xmas trees), frogs who live under the leaves along with all sorts of bugs and insects which live under everything which then attracts birds/amphibians/hedgehogs etc.

People these days have their gardens so tidy and devoid of any sort of greenery that no wonder we're losing species. The worst is laying astro turf instead of having a lawn - laying plastic on the ground instead of a lawn because it's easier than having real grass is the epitome of modern times.
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The back half of my garden has been left to wildlife due to sheer laziness.

We get plenty of wildlife, lots of birds, bats, rodents and hedgehogs. Last summer's highlight was finding a wild lizard in the garden. Never seen them in the s Wales valleys before!
 
Gaygle said:
People these days have their gardens so tidy and devoid of any sort of greenery that no wonder we're losing species. The worst is laying astro turf instead of having a lawn - laying plastic on the ground instead of a lawn because it's easier than having real grass is the epitome of modern times.
Click to expand...

Agreed 1000%. Also I get the feeling 10 years down or so down the line people are going to start finding birds dying with blockages of tiny blades of astro in their stomachs.
 
Our house was a new build, and had a couple of families of sparrows when we moved in. Over the years (5) of feeding the sparrows have doubled in number, as have the Starlings (a lot of houses have those nest boxes installed which the Starlings claimed). For 5 years all we really had are a large number of sparrows, a few Robins, quite a lof of blackbirds, a few blue 2 pairs of collared doves and a couple of pigeons and some Dunnocks.

However during the last cold spell we had 1 Pied Wagtail show up, then a week later 2 of them, and finally now we are at 4. They seem quite territorial but funnily they rotate clockwise around the garden picking up after the other birds. They're quite well organised lol
 
413x said:
During the beast from East one was so cold and hungry it took Food from my hand. Was quite a special experience.

See all time in nature group people who have them that tame they are happy to even sit on the hand!

m3ngK2i.jpg
Click to expand...

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.
 
Junglist said:
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.
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I <3 Robins. They are great :)

I'm tempted to try this myself if it gets colder.
 
The only Robins I have near me are literal little feathery balls of hate.

For something the size of a tennis ball they really have some courage!
 
He's got a tasty treat

I really need to invest in a camera for taking photos of birds. My phone just takes blurs!

About to walk the dog along the woodland path, going to be on the look out for some Jays. Have been hearing woodpeckers recently but not seen one this year
 
Junglist said:
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.
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I've held a greenfinch, had a kestrel as a rescue pet and a jackdaw also as a rescue pet. Couple of rescue pigeons too.
Jackdaw was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Got 5 hens at the moment.
 
Out on our walk. Heard the woodpecker and just spotted two of them! I'll update my potato pics when back

not sure which one they were though. The ones I saw last year looked a bit green. These ones had red on them
 
Junglist said:
He's got a tasty treat

I really need to invest in a camera for taking photos of birds. My phone just takes blurs!

About to walk the dog along the woodland path, going to be on the look out for some Jays. Have been hearing woodpeckers recently but not seen one this year
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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.

1RQCUzE.jpg
 
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