Hobbies and Crafts

Oh dear Island....sorry to have upset you so much.....I consider my wrists well slapped and my ignorance shown up for what it is.

Thank you for the information about the Herons and thank you Jude for the links.

I have taken a few photos and when I get them sorted will see if I can tell the difference.

The baby birds on the river are soooooo sweet :-D

What a smashing photo Shaun.Well done for getting that one. :-D :-D Brilliant!

Love those owls :-D :-D :-D
Well spotted Shaun :-D

Herons breed and roost in colonies (heronries) but they hunt alone and spread out more in the winter.

I do wish people who know little or nothing about birds wouldn't use the term 'twitcher' when refering to bird watchers. Bird watchers - which I think most are on this thread - enjoy watching the birds behaviour. Twitchers prefer to race off anywhere at a moments notice to tick another bird off the list.
I enjoy spending hours just watching, if I see something new, great, if I don't I'm just as happy.

Hello Everybody.
Jude's asked me to put this on here for Susan, sorry I'm late Jude.
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Was just reading the bird thread on GR and Susan with numbers was asking about the Heron, can you add this link ..... http://www.pbase.com/nicolebouglouan/grey_heron&view=slideshow ..... to the Bird thread and tell her that its difficult to tell the difference between male & female, the female has a shorter aigrets, which is the black line on the top of its head.....another link.......
http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-grey-heron.html

The first link show (slide show of pics in Regents Park) female with young and about 5 in a tree, but don't think the male is there, so presumably they mate and he's gone!!
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Have any of you seen the Owl photo yet, very chuffed with it , would of been better if I took the try-pod with me. Photo is a little grainy because of camera shake but you can still see the Owls which is great.

Hope you are all okay.
Take care.
Shaun

Susan I have only ever seen a single Heron at a time.We have one that comes across over the garden most days.

I am loving watching all the Baby Birds coming out now with their little fluffy feathers.Greedy little devils there are too lol.So much bigger than the parents.
It is just coming over sooo dark here right now.I think we are in for a massive downpour :-SI better shut the doors and windows.Oh here it comes!!!!!!!

Hi Susan with Nos~~

I'm no' twitcher,' but can tell a Heron from the blackbird family lol and can only identify common birds.
I have a RSPB reference book 'The Complete Book of British Birds ', smashing pics and full of so much detail.

I quote from it :-
The male and female herons are indistinguishable , young birds lack the striking black and white markings of the adults.

Sandie.

Hello Twitchers :-D

I have a bird question which google doesn't seem to know, so was hoping any member of this thread could help me.

I often see lone herons along the river banks but never with a mate. Why is this and what does the mate look like? I have no idea if the Herons I see are male or female but they all look alike. It has been driving me crackers so I hope the answer can be found here :-D

Hi Jane~~

Difficult to tell between the 2, but Swifts are lager in size, dark in colour and tend to fly higher than Swallows which have colourings...but when they go so fast you can't see it.:)
Lovely to see tho

Sandie.

The Swifts are having a ball whizzing around over our garden at the moment.No pics though as they are too Swift :-D Normally they are further down the lane opposite us.I say Swifts (they could be Swallows) I'm not sure of the difference.

I don't think there is much chance of feeding on the coconut tonight.The wind is too strong for their little feet to hang on lol.They have probably felt quite seasick :-S

Lovely pic Jane. Tits like coconuts :-D :-D

I don't think so Jane, because I checked the nest immediately the fledglings had left and the egg wasn't there. No sign of shells from the other two below the nest or around it either. I wondered if the parents dispose of the shells elsewhere, so as not to attract predators. Maybe that's why you find bits of shells on your lawn, as I do. The magpies are responsible for that too, though, I know.

Thanks Jane , just saw your post on the Welsh thread :-)

Your photo's of the Blue tits are smashing.

Has a Magpie visited the nest Wend?They are B*****s around here.I keep finding broken little blue shells on the lawn.
That is lovely to have at least seen two survive from your nest :-D :-D

Jane, Island has put up the link to the Webcam on her 'Butterflies' thread. I've just had another look and the little Pied Flycatcher is still there, looking rather lonely.

Remember I told you a while back about the pair of blackbirds that died mysteriously on my patio. Well since then another pair have built a nest in a terracotta pot on the patio wall, well hidden by a tall camellia and I have been able to watch their progress from my lounge window by standing on a chair. She laid 3 eggs, but only 2 hatched and grew to maturity. The other egg remained in the nest with them as they grew. They flew the nest a few days ago, but the 3rd egg is no longer there. What could've happened to it?

Anyway, it was such a pleasure to watch them after the earlier sadness :-)

message from Jude .....more pics on the Birds Blog

Island he is a pain in the backside :-SJust wants to get in on the action lol
No I haven't seen any of the Webcam .I wonder if it will be on IPlayer.
I have been glued to watching the Coconut lol

your dog sounds like a right diva Jane LOL :-D

Is anyone else glued to the Springwatch live wecams?
The last little pied flycatcher just doesn't want to go :-(

I now have a pic of Mum and 2 babies on the coconut.Sent a pic Jude.Not sure how clear it is.I have a problem with the dog as every time he sees me pick up the camera and point it at the patio door he rushes to it and starts blooming barking :-S :-S.So then all the birds scarper :-|