One of my favourite bird watching spots is Hoveton Great Broad on the Norfolk Broads.
The catch is that you can only get to it by boat, but it’s such a peaceful walk with some nice hides, and the staff are so helpful and knowledgeable.
One of my favourite bird watching spots is Hoveton Great Broad on the Norfolk Broads.
The catch is that you can only get to it by boat, but it’s such a peaceful walk with some nice hides, and the staff are so helpful and knowledgeable.
On my drive to work this morning…3 separate foxes along the country lanes. Coming home one unfortunately squished squirrel. It always saddens me to see roadkill.
We get a lot of pleasure watching all the birds on our property. There have been eagles and osprey, swans, ducks, gulls, and tons of songbirds, lately, we have had an influx of rose-breasted grossbeaks for some reason, with a bunch of obviously immature ones coming into our feeders.
Like @Trixie-n-Russell the Merlin bird app is an absolute favourite of mine. It’s like the grown up Pokémon app. Collect them all.
I enjoyed my times I ventured on walks around The Broads.
What a nice idea, I was thinking of suggesting something like this before, really glad it’s not just me into my nature! ![]()
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I’ve seen some happy sightings today. We had a pair of nuthatches that lived in the woodpecker holes in the poplar trees next door, they were there for several years and they raised young ones and I’d feed them mealworms every summer, shake the container every morning and I would see one of them come out the hole and fly straight for me like an assassin and get the worms right in front of me and go straight back to the young ones.
Anyway, I don’t know what it’s been like with everyone else’s birds, but I think there gets to be viruses and bird flu and what we tend to find is that at one time they’ll be loads of a certain species, say sparrows and then suddenly they’ll just disappear.
Well that’s what happened with our nuthatches, woodpeckers and a lot of the other birds. I’m hoping it wasn’t contaminated food, but then there has been a lot of bird flu about and we’ve had dead ducks, so I’m guessing most likely it is that.
But anyway, I saw and heard a nuthatch a few doors down, so I’m ecstatic about that because as well as looking really pretty they’re really feisty characters, very entertaining to watch and I love to see them creeping up and down the trees and losing their rag with the other birds!
Saw another really nice sighting I haven’t seen or heard them for about two or three years but I heard a skidding sound and saw the green woodpecker flying past! The quite shy and difficult to see, when I usually see them it’s about this time of the year, usually about four or five in the morning I’ll get woken up by one and try and race to the window to see them in time, sometimes pecking for field ants in the garden.
One last sighting, not birds but hummingbird moths, they are absolutely lovely and seem to be quite common this year, I’m wondering if anybody else has seen them? But they don’t look like something that is native to this country ![]()
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It would be really nice if you could share some pictures! I think I remember you saying that you lived near to the water? That would make two of us! Really interested to see what animals you have there… Am I right do you live in California?
Ahh I’ve got a very close relative who lives in the broads and moved there because he was very much into his boating after doing so much of the Cut network… I’m slightly jealous about all the marsh Harriers over there! Did you go to Minsmere?
It is very sad, we’ve had dead animals in the cut as well. The only good thing about it is sometimes I hate to say it, but it’s the only way I’ve been able to see certain species. For example badgers, as we have them here but I’ve never been able to see them in the daylight.
If you ever want to get on the good side of a fox, put some cheese and onions sausage roll out. There was one that had been in the freezer for too long and got put out for the birds, but Mr. Fox was standing on the table, gobble the whole lot up and then licked the whole table over! And I thought I loved cheese! ![]()
I’ve been hearing a lot about hummingbird moths but I’ve yet to actually see one.
I have seen elephant hawk- moths though, they’re quite big and very pretty in pink and green.
I’m not sure. But it is in the area I was walking around when I took time off work before moving to Scotland.
@Wood-Nymph i grt ring-necked dovws in my garden too, amd house martins and bats fly over later in the evening. I do love doing a bat watch.
Oh, I love bat watch! There are loads over the cut bombing about. They absolutely love the mosquitoes and midges and I love the bats for dispatching of them!
so hopefully I get less bites! I think the Pipistrelle is the one that likes the mosquitoes. I love it when they fly past and I can feel the turbulence of the Little wings ![]()
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I’m Absolutely envious, they’re definitely one of the bucket list moths! I think they’re supposed to be one of the biggest ones? Do you know what plants/trees they’re attracted to? We have poplar Hawk moths which I think is one of the biggest ones, as we have poplar trees. But they’re very well camouflage so they’re not easy to spot. Also the lime tree Hawk moth is a stunner, it is green and orange as there are lots of lime trees in the area and they smell absolutely lovely when it’s hot ![]()
usually the council let the wild flowers and plants opposite grow and we have lots of moths and butterflies but this year for some stupid reason they decided to trim it all down and I don’t think that has helped. But when they did let it grow wild, we got Cinnabar moths which are one of my favourite as red is my favourite colour. They are red and black and also the tiger moths are gorgeous we had a lot last year but as they cut the grass back this year not so much. And I miss seeing them. X
Okay, there is only one thing that has outwitted the squirrels and it is the squirrel buster. Basically it is a normal seed or peanut feeder with a cage around it. When the big fat squirrel goes on it, the cage goes down and blocks the food outlet so it can’t get to it. The squirrel will bite the cage in a frustrated rage before pinging off in a huff! I bought a seed feeder version and peanut version of it about I’d say 8 to 9 years ago. And it does the job. Unfortunately, the peanut version broke in the end, I think it was a spring in it that went but the seed feeder version is still going strong. They were not cheap. So hopefully by now there will be a temu version of it somewhere but if you want a squirrel proof feeder that is your answer! And the good thing is it stops all the seed flying everywhere and attracting the ratty tat tats as well. ![]()
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They are a bit of a target for female sparrowhawks. They nearly disappeared at one point around here because the sparrowhawks, she kept going for them. And then my neighbour decided to keep feeding the feral pigeons, which put the focus onto them. And if the startings are doing well as well, that will give the dove a chance then. One of the species that helps the starlings do well is woodpeckers, because when they make the holes in the trees it provides a nest place for the starlings. Woodpeckers are one of those species they called doorway species because they help others to thrive, such as nuthatches as well. And nuthatches make their nest in the woodpecker holes, but unfortunately the woodpeckers predate on the young nuthatches so it’s a bit of a love hate situation. But ultimately they do benefit each other.So what you find is sometimes when you get one species of birds, it encourages others as well.
Thank you @Hannahnim for the suggestion, I am quite happy for the squirrels to take their portion as long as it’s not to the detriment of the birds I feed the wildlife like I feed anyone who comes to my home. They leave well fed.
Oh don’t worry they get cheese and onion rolls, leftover bits of bread, apples and whatever is left over on the plate… Same with the ducks and even the fish get warburtons as well ![]()
If you get bitten a lot, grab yourself a bug repellent roll-on. I used to get bitten to blazes and now I keep a bottle of Incognito bug repellent in the hallway. If stinks to high heaven of camphor but it’s DEET-free, vegan and it works ![]()
And yes, Pipistrelle bats are amazing. Their little wings go frantically and they dodge and weave like tiny fighter jets ![]()
Yes they are one of the bigger moths, I think the Privet Hawkmoth is bigger still.
Apparently Elephant Hawk moths like tubular flowers like honeysuckle which we do have in the garden although that’s not where I spotted them. I actually discovered one near some raspberry canes.
There are so many beautiful moths.