Seen today

[Bledlow]

Bluebells! Only a few, on a south-facing bank south of the M4, but a harbinger of the vast swathes of blue soon to appear just north of here.

A robin sat on a tree above us and sang as we waited for our lunch.

I love this time of year.

[Adrian]

More bluebells here, well near the top of Reigate Hill in a bank of trees by the road.

[RJ]

First chiffchaff of the year on Thursday morning - on the Roseburn Path just by the Water of Leith.

[RJ]

... and an early willow warbler in the (very urban) garden this afternoon.

[Wowbagger]

The first batch of Priory Park frogspawn seems to be well dead and rotting. There's a second batch, appeared about last Thursday, which looks OK at the moment. Fingers crossed.

No ducklings yet. Won't be long now.

Still no ducklings, but there are some tadpoles!

[clarion]

The first batch of Priory Park frogspawn seems to be well dead and rotting. There's a second batch, appeared about last Thursday, which looks OK at the moment. Fingers crossed.

No ducklings yet. Won't be long now.

Ducklins doesn't come from frogspawn </extent of wildlife knowledge>

[rogerzilla]

I'm just watching a tree creeper on our silver birch.  Odd jerky movements, like a mouse.

[Marco Stefano]

Crossing the River Little Ouse at, er, Little Ouse in the morning last week, I saw a dull small thing flying low along the river coming from the east. Played poohsticks with it as it zoomed underneath the bridge, and transformed into an electric blue flash. Wonderful.

On the way home the same day, it came back the other way! Couldn't believe it. I seem to see it most days now. A lovely halfway stop; really perks one up. If no kingfisher, then woodpeckers and barn owls seem to sub in.

[Wowbagger]

The first batch of Priory Park frogspawn seems to be well dead and rotting. There's a second batch, appeared about last Thursday, which looks OK at the moment. Fingers crossed.

No ducklings yet. Won't be long now.

Ducklins doesn't come from frogspawn </extent of wildlife knowledge>

Well they've come from somewhere. 9 on the lake today following their mum. There's tadpoles too, but in a different stretch of water.

I also spent a very interesting 10 minutes watching large carp eating bread. The carp in Priory Park lake go up to about 30lb - the biggest I've seen was a 27lber that the anglers call "the pig".

The water is very turbid with a blue-green algal bloom so it's hard to see the fish below the surface until they come up for the bread. Then, without warning, there's a loud "slurp"and the bread disappears. Once, the upper half of a carp's head appeared above the water as it grabbed a piece of crust. I'd say it was at least 4" from snout to the start of the fish's back so that fish was a good "double figure"one. On another occasion, I saw the side of a fish shine gold just beneath the surface, and I reckon that was a good 20lb plus. It looked like a side of beef.

As a pointer, the guy who caught this one told me it weighed 13lb.

[Bledlow]

Two swans having sex in the Thames. Looked as if he was drowning her, but there was a touching display of neck-rubbing when they'd finished, so presumably she had no complaints. Spent a long time straightening out her feathers, though: much longer than him.

Hordes of grebes, in both the Thames & Kennet. They seem to be getting more common.

Rather tame blackbirds in my garden, hunting worms within a few feet of me or Mrs B. The goldfinches are also being brave, feeding when one of us is quite close. The blue tits are shyer.

[rogerzilla]

The water is very turbid with a blue-green algal bloom so it's hard to see the fish below the surface until they come up for the bread. Then, without warning, there's a loud "slurp"and the bread disappears. Once, the upper half of a carp's head appeared above the water as it grabbed a piece of crust. I'd say it was at least 4" from snout to the start of the fish's back so that fish was a good "double figure"one. On another occasion, I saw the side of a fish shine gold just beneath the surface, and I reckon that was a good 20lb plus. It looked like a side of beef.

If you go to a carp lake in calm summer weather at dusk, you can see them swimming about with their dorsal fins out of the water, presumably catching flies and pond skaters.   They're very wily fish and notoriously hard to catch; I heard of a guy who was determined to catch one of the big carp out of a lake, so he went out in a boat and carefully laid a field of "boilies" (boiled bait balls) on the lake bottom with one right  in the middle that was actually attached to his line.

He waited all night.  Nothing happened.

He rowed out again in the morning and every boilie had gone except the one with the hook in it.  Carp have been seen to suck bait in and blow it out repeatedly to see if it has a line attached.

[toekneep]

Swallows

Several of them so it is now officially summer. I know they have been swanning around down south for a while now but these were Northern Swallows. With flat caps and whippets and everything. 

[Bledlow]

A bird I didn't recognise, perched in a tree looking longingly at my bird feeder, but put off, I think, by there being too many people around. Maybe goldfinch sized, but slimmer, with a slimmer beak, & a small crest. Sort of greenish-grey, bands on wings. Any ideas.

Blackbirds (male & female) & a blue tit which weren't put off at all. Looked up from fixing together my new garden tool store to catch the eye of a blackbird with a mouthful of something wriggly, only a few feet away. I think he's a regular, & used to me - and obviously not put off by drilling & hammering. The female & tit both popped by for a feed while I was sitting reading in the sun, only slightly further away.

[Zipperhead]

A great big one eyed rat in the City today (a few yards from where Mr. Tomlinson and the Police tangled last week).

I stood a couple of feet away from it and watched and it ignored me completely. It couldn't care less about a human.

[Sergeant Pluck]

one eyed rat in the City

I'm not familiar with that species, Zipperhead. Any pics? 

[TheLurker]

Reed Bunting (male). Back garden.

[border-rider]

A bird I didn't recognise, perched in a tree looking longingly at my bird feeder, but put off, I think, by there being too many people around. Maybe goldfinch sized, but slimmer, with a slimmer beak, & a small crest. Sort of greenish-grey, bands on wings. Any ideas.

Siskin ?

http://www.wildliferanger.co.uk/users/www.wildliferanger.co.uk/upload/Garden%20IX%20Hen%20Siskin%20002.JPG


They seem to be getting more common.  We have loads of them here; I hadn't seen one close up until this year

[Bledlow]

A bird I didn't recognise, perched in a tree looking longingly at my bird feeder, but put off, I think, by there being too many people around. Maybe goldfinch sized, but slimmer, with a slimmer beak, & a small crest. Sort of greenish-grey, bands on wings. Any ideas.

Siskin ?

http://www.wildliferanger.co.uk/users/www.wildliferanger.co.uk/upload/Garden%20IX%20Hen%20Siskin%20002.JPG

They seem to be getting more common.  We have loads of them here; I hadn't seen one close up until this year.

But the crest . . . it was quite distinct.

[border-rider]

A lot of little birds pop a crest up when they're excited...or trying to pull.

Bluetits, even

greenish-grey: my first thought was siskin.  Very distinctive colour

[Bledlow]

I've just looked through some of the pictures on Flickr, & if it can pop up a crest, it could be a female. The female at RSPB Fairburn Ings (two pics) looks rather similar, as do some  of the other lighter-coloured ones - mostly labelled female. It didn't look like any of the males.

Flickr: Search
Siskin, Carduelis spinus, Female at RSPB Fairburn Ings on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[border-rider]

The ones we have - even the males  - are not anything like as yellow as the pics.  They're really more greeny-grey-dull

Might try to get a pic tomorrow

[nobby]

Woodpecker. Fairly small, black and white with a scarlet butt.
I don't think that I have ever seen a woodpecker before but I could tell it was a woodpecker because it was banging its beak on a tree.
Seen at Heath Chapel up on Brown Clee.

[border-rider]

Probably a Greater Spotted

British Garden Birds - Great Spotted Woodpecker

If it didn't have a red bit on its head, it was an adult female

We get them on the peanut feeders.  At the former Volio Towers one Went Bad and tried to break into the blue tit nest boxes.

[clarion]

The red knickers are a bit of a giveaway there.

[nobby]

Female Greater Spotted it was; no red fancy on the head but definitely red knickers.
Cheers