Seen today

[Mrs Pingu]

A GSW, and the hole it was excavating, on our patch
IMG_2741_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

IMG_2763_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Auntie Helen]

For the first time ever, saw a snake swimming across a river (about ten metres wide) today on our daily exercise walk. It was too quick for me to get a pic.

Apparently grass snakes are strong swimmers.

That’s a huge snake! 

[mattc]

A Little Egret! (I think - a smaller white heron, in a shallow stream where I regularly see the Heron on my commute).

Only barely outside S****l D'ing range! What a spring, I was still smiling even after nearly choking on a cloud of flies (these are the downside of riding alongside a stream  )

[JonBuoy]

The bird that has spent the last week or two pecking at my windows has been identified as a long-tailed tit.  It may be taking insects off the glass or it may just be trying to be friendly.

[Phil W]

We have Red Kites over the house now. Seen most days including today. First seen in summer but daily or twice daily fly overs noticed now working from home.

[rafletcher]

Unusually, a pair of herons passing overhead this morning.  We often see a single one, as it hunts in the field on the other side of the road.

[Mrs Pingu]

Seen from our front door:
IMG_2854_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[SteveC]

MrsC saw a swallow over the garden this afternoon, then we both saw one on our permitted exercise walk later.

[Auntie Helen]

Oystercatcher in the local Baggersee.

I learned the German for it - Austernfischer.

[Basil]

Swallows have arrived back home in Llandisul.

[rafletcher]

And we saw our first swallow today, here in the Chiltern.

[PaulR]

Excellent to hear swallows are arriving - I noticed back in the Autumn that there were still some around when the first fieldfares arrived, and I saw a late fieldfare earlier this week.  Sedge and reed warblers seem to have arrived on the upper Thame today.

[Salvatore]

A hedgehog turned up as normal at about 9 pm yesterday to help itself to some disgusting tripe-rich dog food. One of next door's puppies could also smell it, but unlike the hedgehog couldn't squeeze under the fence and could only poke his nose through to smell the forbidden fruit.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The blue tits are back in the rowan tree, though they're not using the nesting box, and they were accompanied yesterday by a wren, which I haven't seen here before.

[citoyen]

Spotted among the leaves by the path as I walked through the woods - couldn't identify a nest nearby that it might have come from:


With the help of a friend who knows about these things, I have identified it as a pheasant egg. Shame I didn't know that at the time - apparently, pheasant eggs make good eating...

[rafletcher]

Seen from the back bedroom window, sitting on the fence near the bird feeders. May have been tempted, but too nervous, to try the peanut feeder that I've moved up from the pergola further down. Shame about the bisecting twig!

P4130196 by Richard Fletcher, on Flickr

[Wowbagger]

Excellent to hear swallows are arriving - I noticed back in the Autumn that there were still some around when the first fieldfares arrived, and I saw a late fieldfare earlier this week.  Sedge and reed warblers seem to have arrived on the upper Thame today.

There were reliable reports of a swallow in New Year's Day in Essex, at Abberton Reservoir.

Wednesday 01st January 2020south south west, mostly cloudy, max6°c

Rayleigh, The Paddocks 09:15 to 09:20
Male Sparrowhawk sitting on fence by feeders. Norman Oliver.

South Fambridge 11:00 to 11:40
c.120 House Sparrow - a very healthy village flock in hedgerows, gardens, and on field edges. Pair of Collared Dove mating - obviously not discouraged by the cold and gloom, 6 Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, 1 Green Woodpecker. David Selley.

Abberton Reservoir 11:00 to 14:00
20+ Goosander, 3 Smew (redheads), 1 Black-throated Diver, 4 Great White Egret,1 Cattle Egret, 10+ Goldeneye, 1 Swallow, 1 Stonechat, 1 Ring-necked Duck, 4 Scaup, 2 Long-tailed Duck, 2 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 1 Merlin, 6 Egyptian Goose, 5 Redshank. Robin Peppiatt.

Abberton Reservoir 13:00 to 15:00
2 Smew (female), 2 Scaup (female), 2 Ring-necked Duck (drake), 7 White-Fronted Goose, pair Long-tailed Duck, 4 Bewick's Swan, 250+ Fieldfare, 1 Swallow (1), 1 Black Swan. Steve Atkinson.

Canvey Point 14:00 to 15:00
15 Red-throated Diver, 120 Great Crested Grebe, 500+ Dunlin, 10 Sanderling, 35 Knot, 83 Curlew, 12+ Cormorant, 100+ Brent Geese. Terry Blackwell.

People who claim to know about such things suggest that it was a bird that was too weak to attempt the journey back in September/October. No-one seemed to see it anywhere else after NYD.

[Kim]

apparently, pheasant eggs make good eating...

But you're only allowed to eat them if somebody else breaks them first.

[ElyDave]

First chaffinch in the garden for a while, hopping around amongst the sparrows.

Loads of bee mimics buzzing around in the garden, look like a fuzzy hunny bee with an extended proboscis, but capable of hovering and zipping about upwards, sideways etc. I counted a good half dozen visible over the lawn whilst I was out in the garden on sunday

[citoyen]

apparently, pheasant eggs make good eating...

But you're only allowed to eat them if somebody else breaks them first.

I looked up the legality of taking eggs from the wild. Seems it’s ok to take game bird eggs if you have killing rights on the land where you found them, or permission from someone who does. I have neither.

You’ve reminded me of the time I was out with a friend and he picked up a roadkill pheasant (“it’s ok because someone else killed it”). Left it “hanging” in his manky student basement for weeks until he eventually had to remove the rotting, maggot-infested carcass.

[T42]

Yesterday, a handkerchief-sized piece of white, filmy plastic moving at speed across next door's midden garden and darting halfway through the wire netting into ours; at which point it snagged abruptly and the sparrow that had been underneath dragging it did a lovely back-flip and somersault into the weeds.*  There followed a jolly five minutes as the unfortunate's siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins all tried to make off with the prize and failed, before suddenly remembering urgent appointments elsewhere.

Good old sparrows, always good for a chuckle.  The chap who said as cheerful as a hedgeful of sparrows wasn't wrong.  Maybe we need a nice tall hedge...

* Gardening? Are you serious?

[Basil]

Just spotted the first swift from my kitchen window.  Fist swallows were last week, but I've not seen them since.

[ElyDave]

out on a family walk, in the field behind the house

[Steph]

A Little Egret! (I think - a smaller white heron, in a shallow stream where I regularly see the Heron on my commute).

Only barely outside S****l D'ing range! What a spring, I was still smiling even after nearly choking on a cloud of flies (these are the downside of riding alongside a stream  )

Brilliant white, slim black bill, black legs, but dayglo feet. They look as if they are wearing Hi-Viz yellow/green overshoes. Much smaller than herons. If you get a great white egret, they are a lot bigger with a more robust yellow bill, This website has a superb photo of LE next to GWE
https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/the-changing-status-of-the-great-white-egret-in-britain/

Cattle egret are very different, as are purple heron, and squacco heron, which are odd.

[JonBuoy]

Nearly forgot - I spotted what I think was a Little Egret near a stream in deepest Leicestershire last Thursday.

Whatever it was it was ridiculously white and flew off before I could get a photo.