For BB

Oh thats lovely Irish,thankyou.To think when you first started taking them they were little dots.Now theyre getting closer every time. Ill soon be asking you what they are Lol

lol i dont think there is any fear of that BB, your the expert. its great to be able to ask you whats what in the bird world

No expert just enjoy chatting to people who love them too !!!

well to me your an expert, loads of times you helped identify birds for me and im sure im no the only one

This time of year Eileen with our gardens looking so bleak just love to see them.Esp when so many seem to be reducing in numbers - think many of us becoming more wildlife concious and nice to share these things .

too true. gardening and wildlife go hand in hand

Yes Eileen,the other day was talking to someone and saying how many of the things we love depend on the things we hate like slugs and snails.Ladybirds eat greenfly etc......

aye thats very true,,, watched a few programmes lately on wasps and bugs and now see them in a different light

Found it quite interesting that someone like Andrew R now puts his snails on his garage roof and gets lots of lovely thrushes.Id rather have a lovely thrush than a lovely hosta ..so put up with the nibbles lol

Is it a Chaffinch Eileen ! I don,t think it,s a Greenfinch is it ? a good photo anyway :o)

lol well i guess this way he ahs the best of both worlds.
lovely birds coming into the garden to protect the hosta's from snails.
i found two snails last week hiding in the central heating boiler, their still there, i didnt have the heart to put them out in the cold lol

thanks Amy, aye its a Chaffinch

Oh Irish...we have two inside front door been there at least 2 months..our carpets have snail trails over them in the morning...weve even had a toad really must do something about that gap under front door lol

Fantastic Photo Eileen :)

LOL, BB. I remember the snail trails on my Grandparents kitchen floor every morning. My Grandma used to get so mad and go on at Grandad to do something about the gap.

Great photo Eileen. Well done.

thanks Jacque and Gilli

Great photos Eileen dont see many of these here ...

thanks Janette. its my messy garden that seems to be attracting loads of birds lol

Oh BB I love the idea of the little creatures creeping into your house for the warmth and staying untill the spring , straight out of Enid Blyton...lol

Gilli I remember something called silver fish on the old kitchen stone floors , where they for real ! does anybody else remember anything about these ?

omg Amy , i remember these silver fish too lol.
used to see them in the bathroom and the kitchen in a flat i lived in yrs ago

Remember them well not seen any around for ages now.......

Pretty birdie!

Hi, I remember seeing silver fish in our shed when I was a little, not seen any for ages. I've been moving things around in the garden this week and spent most of my time placing toads and newts in suitable places and throwing worms I dug up to the nearby robin. I'm like you BB, rather see lettuce plants wrecked by slugs than killing thrushes by using slub pellets.

Agree Dawn.Nature has a way of balancing everything out at the end of the day.Where did you place your newts ?

Hi BB, I placed the newts on the bank of the pond - I checked that they were not great crested ones!

If great crested Dawn your place would be designated protected !! How good would that be !!

Irish..did you do a bird count this weekend ? Do tell us about the Irish version...how often do you take part ?

That would be FABULOUS! But they weren't, lol. Well, I dont think so, John said their backs would be like a dragons. We have a few holes in the soft bank of the brook, probably 2 inches in diameter, and perfectly round, I never see any movement and I suppose they are just made by water rats but I wonder if we have water voles?

hi BB, the irish one starts at the beginning of Dec and runs for 13 weeks . i usually fill the sheet in online every friday .

That seems to make more sense Irish......because in this one if they dont appear in that particular hour,its like you never have them in your garden.Neither we dawn or Jacque saw our woodpeckers or thrushes today,but we all get them !!

I agree BB, Irish's way would show a more realistic result. Wonder why the Bird Watch is done this weekend - is it done before they start nesting, do you think?

true Dawn i wonder why they pick this particular weekend to do the survey

is another survey done later on in the yr BB?

Yes Dawn and Irish....once a year before nesting starts and also to get an idea of which birds are surviving the winter.Plus winter visitors,like baamblings,fieldfares and siskins etc
Irish there is another one later in year by BTO ...British Trust for Ornithology Have a good book out about garden birds and wildlife [haent they Dawn/]

Oh right, thanks BB. Wish I had seen the fieldfares. So we'll do the BTO survey then too?, must tell Jacque! YES Irish, the book is absolutely brilliant, if you want to know more we can fill you in.

im def interested, so tell me more plz

Well, BB told me about the book. Its called, BTO Garden Birds and Wildlife, it retails at £20 but I got mine online from Amazon for £8 with free delivery! Its A4 size and hard backed but its amazing - there's a wildlife section showing shrubs and plants and wildflowers, butterflies and bugs etc. Then 2 pages are dedicated to each bird, with lovely images and loads of information, it is great! Isnt it BB

Yes Dawn,it is.Irish its great for dipping into for info...loads of it...andbrill photos too.Got it for Christmas.

sounds like a great book guys, ill have a look at it on Amazon, maybe ill drop a hint for mothers day lol

ive just had a look and its a perfect book, im gona start hinting now lol

Good idea, nice one Irish!

You do that Irish lol

lol ill let you know if it works

Rrrrrrrrr here u All R :)

Oh dear Jacque been trying to find you for ages...kept going back to blog lol

lol Im here now :)

Jacque: You could do the same as Irish, be a bit crafty and drop a hint for Mother's Day - or maybe you can't wait that long :-)

MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm Sounds a Great Mothers Day Gift 2 me Dawn :) Now where can i leave those Hints?? LOL

you'll have to write a little Wish List and leave it in a prominent position, lol

i find the fridge is usually a good place lol

My Phil& Kids never cook lol so i think the TV/Computer Screens a Fab idea ;) lol

lol aye that would work too jacque

:)

Do you think once you ve all bought this book I might qualify for some commission? £8 ? I had to pay full price as only place I could get it so close to Christmas was local book shop. : - ( That said well worth it loads of information beautifully laid out.

Hi There
~got a coal tit, magpie,nuthatch and Jackdaw in the garden today! Did I see any of those on Sunday~or my eight to ten collared doves?It is too small a snapshot I think but hey we are not experts!
Sounds more realistic your way Eileen.
Today husband has ordered the RSPB Birds of Britain and Europe for £18.99 including postage and a bird song cd from Tesco online. having bought The Garden Bird Handbook by Stephen Moss at Wyevale for me for £4.99.Not that we haven't got half a dozen bird books already..... but you can't have too may can you! Will have a look for the BTO one as well.
He has not got over seeing the Kingfisher the other day....and seeing a male pheasant not twenty yards from the house ~woohoo!~ unbelievable~ not in thirty years!

Aww, sorry you had to pay full retail price BB, apologies but looks like your loss is our gain, lol. I'll contact Amazon and try and get you some well deserved commission.! Arlene: Looks like you had plenty of visitors today, brilliant. I havent seen the kingfisher in our garden recently :( I can relate to how your husband feels Arlene, whenever I see the one here I am totally gob smacked.!

Thats great Arlene , wonderful that such things can still give us that child like thrill .. so few things do these days . I occassionally get one when having cooked tea Jane says that was nice and most of it not hanging from trees for the rooks - I kid you not I ve got photos !

Kingfisher blue stunning.

Yes, they say, The Best Things In Life Are Free, which is true, expect for all the bird feed, he he

~thanks Dawn~
I also had starlings, bluetits, two robins chasing each other as were two blackbirds and my resident black and white wagtail but they all turned up on Sunday!
What's the betting it is really fine this weekend with lots of birds everywhere!

I know Arlene, last weekend must have sadly been the worst ever for the bird watch. I'm glad we all have them back now though.

~hi BB
~it is the second time he has seen a kingfisher recently on the same walk and he is totally thrilled about it ~is intending to take the dogs that way quite often to check on it~I will have to get out with him myself when it is not quite so muddy.
.However we have never,ever seen a pheasant hereabouts in all the time we have lived here~I have seen lots of pheasants before but this one must have been totally lost or on holiday! !We have a lot of foxes about....

Hi Arlene...kingfishers have favourite perches and return to the same spot.having seen one in that area is worth going back to.Any consolation we see far more pheasants than kingfishers !

~ I'm sure you have BB~
what I can never get over is how big and colourful pheasants are~ not exactly unobtrusive or fast!You would think they would not survive!
However we do have a tale to tell~once about 20 years years ago we got lost down this single track road in the Cheviots~ only to find we were coming up to MOD land with a red flag flying~it was very quiet and peaceful and we did the unthinkable and went on~there was no one there and it was some of the loveliest scenery and we saw for the first and only time a leck of black grouse~we sat for a few minutes and watched but decided we had to get out of there fast.
We managed to get onto the main road only to find a column of army vehicles heading the other way!Phew!
Wouldn't do it nowadays....

Often see grouse on the moors here - there are banks and hides ready for use on shooting season and large groups of pheasants bred in the woods for similar reasons.

Gamekeepers and land agents maintain area is controlled by allowing this most of which is Crown property .

Used to work in the grounds of a large hotel on the moors and pheasants would fly out of the woods when scared by beaters and down into grounds - sure they knew if they flew up they d be shot .Used to give small groups of them hand fulls of grain , then off they would go when shooting stopped.

Think some of these people would happily pay a fortune to get the chance to blast everything in sight from a tank !

Aww BB, this is sooo sad. I can just picture this, yuppies arriving from the City, shooting everything in sight, with no idea of the value or care for wildlife etc. etc.

I know Dawn....al we can do is continue to try and do our bit to promote wildlife...sometimes wonder where it will all end

I know BB, I don't understand why people get a thrill out of harming innocent creatures, the wildlife follow their natural instinct and know no better, its all very, very sad.

On a positive note Dawn it does seem that more animals are using gardens as a refuge.Of course many not too happy that foxes badgers even deer will use larger gardens but a garden such as yours is sure to become a real haven and think that generally people getting more wildlife friendly.

I have an old gardening book printed in the thirties and truly terrifying the toxic substances used to kill anything that got close to a flower ! Arsenic lead etc ...

lol isnt it a wonder WE are all here , lead was used in almost everything back then

Quite scary what went on in the past. I was talking the other day to someone about the pesticide DDT on how it lead to the thinning of birds egg shells, but like you say BB at least if the wildlife enter our gardens they will be well looked after. Muntjacks have been spotted a couple of miles away so fingers crossed xx Not quite a Fawn For Dawn (remember your Ode), lol but close x

Cyanide for moles sheds lined with asbestos really scary what was kept in them! My father worked on the forestry in the fifties and sixties and used to spray areas between trees to keep them clear of brambles ivy etc -
he said you could see the weeds burn as this stuff was applied.Literally would fizz and shrivel stuff on contact !

We had one visit us in the school grounds next door Dawn so sure they will be heading your way.Due some snow next week so out early and check for those little prints ..lol