nature notes II

[wigginhall]

We did the RSPB's birdwatch thing, and it always surprises me.  Lo and behold, there were wrens, song thrushes, dunnocks, singing away, plus both large woodpeckers sounding off, tons of goldfinches, and the local teal were looking definitely amorous.  I suppose this happens every year in late January.   Snowdrops well out now, plus crocus, and lots of catkins.   Winter, pah!

[Rhiannon]

Just been drinking my morning coffee and watching a kestrel hunting out of the window. Not a bad start to the day.

[Rhiannon]

Likewise, the buzzards sometimes land in the trees at the bottom of the garden. Red kites are around too.

[floo]

I can't say I have ever seen a red kite.

[Rhiannon]

I was staggered when I first saw them here. I was out walking not so long ago and one took off from the ground in front of me. They breed in local woods.

[wigginhall]

Walking by the river today, you could feel the sun warm on your face.   And our solar panel started twitching, and registered about a 1° rise.   Is this nature, not really.  OK, many birds singing, I thought I heard a goldcrest, and definitely a Cetti's warbler.

[wigginhall]

Well, I am being optimistic, if our solar panel is twitching, then spring is on the way!

[ekim]

There are masses of frog's spawn about.  I've never seen so much.  It must have been quite an orgy and they couldn't even wait for spring.

Frog spawn frozen solid now.  Will they never learn?

[wigginhall]

Yes, expecting mass deaths of frogs at bottom of ponds, and fish also.   Some will survive if the pond is deep enough.   The last big freeze, I fished out 20 dead frogs.

[wigginhall]

Local lakes frozen solid, a few coot gingerly tiptoeing around, and a few little pools have opened up.   This is a good time to see bitterns, who look for open water in odd areas, such as ditches.

[ekim]

On a country walk today I spotted a reasonable number of tadpoles despite the previous frozen spawn, also two adders partially entwined and basking in the sun.

[SusanDoris]

It is now 2:45 p.m. and I have just returned from a stroll round the block, stopping to listen to all the bird song along the way. Hardly any traffic, sunny, quiet and still. I don't think I have ever heard so many at once. I think there was a Nut Hatch - it is in a spot where I have heard one before, but I'll listen to it on its RSPB page to check. Sparrows, Dunnocks, Wrens, Goldcrests, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blackbirds and Robins of course, BlueTits.
No Great tits but I am not sure what other song they sing at this time of year. No Chaffinches either,  but I know where there is one. Didn't actually hear a Song Thrush, but there are quite a few around.

What else would I have heard do you think?

By the way, last night on BBC Radio 3 around 01:00 a.m. or after there was a programme about how musicians go to a wood where Nightingales are known to sing and they play what was called a duet with them! I winced rather! Who needs a violin and cello when there's a Nightingale singing|?!!

[Enki]

There is this famous duet between the cello and a nightingale recorded in 1927, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOUb48W1_90

Like you, I much prefer hearing a nightingale by itself, even though they are sadly becoming much scarcer in the UK.in recent years.

[SusanDoris]

There is this famous duet between the cello and a nightingale recorded in 1927, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOUb48W1_90

Like you, I much prefer hearing a nightingale by itself, even though they are sadly becoming much scarcer in the UK.in recent years.

Have you actually heard one live?

[Enki]

Have you actually heard one live?

Yes, many times.

The first one I heard and saw was in Clumber Park(Nottinghamshire), many years ago.

 My wife and I regularly go to Lesvos, and we ask for the same apartment at the hotel where we stay. Every morning without fail(for the last few years, at least) a nightingale was holding territory just outside our ground floor balcony, and every morning woke us up with its singing. It also often sang in full view about 4 metres away, and there was nothing more pleasant than having a morning cup of coffee watching this particular nightingale singing away. I have some beautiful video of it in full song. We won't hear it this year because we are going to Austria instead.

However, tomorrow, with a few friends we are going birding in Norfolk/Suffolk for 3 days and I hope to hear one somewhere near Cley Next the Sea, if we are lucky.

I hope that one day you might hear one, Susan, I think that you would find it a breathtaking experience.

[SusanDoris]

Yes, many times.

The first one I heard and saw was in Clumber Park(Nottinghamshire), many years ago.

 My wife and I regularly go to Lesvos, and we ask for the same apartment at the hotel where we stay. Every morning without fail(for the last few years, at least) a nightingale was holding territory just outside our ground floor balcony, and every morning woke us up with its singing. It also often sang in full view about 4 metres away, and there was nothing more pleasant than having a morning cup of coffee watching this particular nightingale singing away. I have some beautiful video of it in full song. We won't hear it this year because we are going to Austria instead.

However, tomorrow, with a few friends we are going birding in Norfolk/Suffolk for 3 days and I hope to hear one somewhere near Cley Next the Sea, if we are lucky.

I hope that one day you might hear one, Susan, I think that you would find it a breathtaking experience.

To hear a nightingale in such circumstances sounds absolutely wonderful. 
The chances of my being able to hear one live are just about nil! Fortunately, the internet can provide as near a live song as makes no difference.

[Enki]

To hear a nightingale in such circumstances sounds absolutely wonderful. 
The chances of my being able to hear one live are just about nil! Fortunately, the internet can provide as near a live song as makes no difference.

No problem, Susan. Many people think that a song thrush has a wonderful quality to its song. Also worth remembering that the American warblers are beautiful to look at, but none can sing as well as ours, and they haven't an equivalent singer to our blackbirds, song thrushes or nightingales.

[wigginhall]

I used to hear them near Bath, hope they are still there.   We got excited as house martins are nesting under the eaves, as they've been missing for several years, and we thought they were gone for good.   They zip around in the back garden chirping.   We also have frogs again, they also disappeared.   Butterflies so far looking good, orange tips numerous, also brimstones, and a few  speckled woods, here's hoping the sun keeps shining.

[Rhiannon]

Am currently trying to keep a baby field vole alive. 

[Rhiannon]

Found a wildlife hospital half an hour away. Baby vole was conveyed safely via ice cream tub. If he makes it we will release him back in our garden. Such lovely wildlife people looking after him, it’s great that there are such people in the world. A tiny little life but he matters.

[Enki]

Found a wildlife hospital half an hour away. Baby vole was conveyed safely via ice cream tub. If he makes it we will release him back in our garden. Such lovely wildlife people looking after him, it’s great that there are such people in the world. A tiny little life but he matters.

Great.  I hope he/she makes it.

[Rhiannon]

Great.  I hope he/she makes it.

He didn't. 

[Enki]

Sorry to hear that Rhi.

For some reason I was reminded of an occasion in the 70s when I went to Filey, only to find that there were lots of auks(mainly guillemots) in some difficulty because of a recent oil spill or oil from a tanker which had been cleaning out its bilges. Several of us started collecting some of these very distressed birds and a RSPB unit which was on hand took them to a central washing area. Many died because they had ingested too much oil through attempting to preen their oil covered feathers, but some were not too bad and every one that we managed to save gave us a just a little sense of achievement. Thankfully, the number of oil spills has shrunk enormously in recent years.

[Rhiannon]

At least you were able to help, Enki.

We are a stupid species.

[bluehillside Retd.]

Just looked out of my window in North-West Essex and saw a large bird of prey circling quite low. It had a deep V-shaped tail, which when I googled it suggests that it was a red kite. Don't know how accurate that is, but if it's right there are apparently only 1,600 breeding pairs in the UK so it was quite a sight.