Lots of reports and pictures online of a (very rare for here) Citrine Wagtail at Widewater Lagoon yesterday...................
[Misc] The Official NSC Bird Spotting Thread.
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Dozens on the golf courses I played there this week.........................also saw a Purple Heron
BrightonCottager
Well-known member
Nice. Did you play any in Lagos or west of there? I'm not a golfer (my main reason for going is for the surf), but the courses I've seen look very hilly. I saw a purple heron when we were there in April.
We played 4 - Silves, La Pinta, Gramacho and then Vila Sol yesterday as it’s on the way to the airport (we usually stay in Alvor). A few hills but not too dramatic really - just enough to have some lovely elevated tees.
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- Oct 20, 2022
- 4,948
I’m really fortunate to live and work in a rural area which means if I have time to take an hour’s lunch break at work, I get to do some birding. I also get to do it all on private land so no dogs or runners/cyclists, just the whole area to myself and very quiet and peaceful. Fish are spawning so no fisherman on the lakes today either.
My lunchtime walk today included:
Kestrel
Common Buzzard
Reed Bunting
Cuckoo
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Marsh Tit
Lesser Whitethroat
Common WhiteThroat
Black-tailed Godwit
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Mute swan
Mallard
Sedge warbler
Wood pigeon
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Chiffchaff
Teal
Tufted Duck
Great crested Grebe
Cettis warbler
Moorhen
Wren
Reed Warbler
Stock Dove
Shelduck
Blackbird
Robin
Starling
Coot
Greylag goose
Canada Goose
Egyptian Goose
Oyster Catcher
Jay
Long-tailed Tit
Skylark
Pheasant
Swift
Robin
Magpie
Song Thrush
Dunnock
Nuthatch
Pied Wagtail
Collared Dove
My lunchtime walk today included:
Kestrel
Common Buzzard
Reed Bunting
Cuckoo
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Marsh Tit
Lesser Whitethroat
Common WhiteThroat
Black-tailed Godwit
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Mute swan
Mallard
Sedge warbler
Wood pigeon
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Chiffchaff
Teal
Tufted Duck
Great crested Grebe
Cettis warbler
Moorhen
Wren
Reed Warbler
Stock Dove
Shelduck
Blackbird
Robin
Starling
Coot
Greylag goose
Canada Goose
Egyptian Goose
Oyster Catcher
Jay
Long-tailed Tit
Skylark
Pheasant
Swift
Robin
Magpie
Song Thrush
Dunnock
Nuthatch
Pied Wagtail
Collared Dove
- Oct 20, 2022
- 4,948
Nice selection but I’m very surprised that you saw a Siskin which would be a very interesting record - they are Winter Visitors to most of UK and back on their breeding grounds by now - there is a breeding population in UK but in the far north of Scotland.
I can't claim to have seen/verified the siskin, which was picked up by Merlin. Not quite as whacky as the nightjar it suggested the other day, which was actually a lawnmower in the distance
Boroseagull
Well-known member
You do need to treat Merlin with a little caution even though it's a good app. Why not add BirdNET app too? Here you actually record the bird song. Then you send it to the BirdNET servers in Germany who will analyze your recordings. Generally it is more accurate.I can't claim to have seen/verified the siskin, which was picked up by Merlin. Not quite as whacky as the nightjar it suggested the other day, which was actually a lawnmower in the distance
BrightonCottager
Well-known member
Nice. Did you play any in Lagos or west of there? I'm not a golfer (my main reason for going is for the surf), but the courses I've seen look very hilly. I saw a purple heron when we were there in April
That's an outrageous list for a lunchtime. I heard (but didn't see) some Blackcaps up at Hollingbury Hill Fort on Wednesday- one of my favourite birdsong. I use Birdnet to id them.
- Oct 20, 2022
- 4,948
That’s a really good birding spot - I found a male Red-Backed Shrike up there one summer. Also good for Nightingale and both species of Whitethroat
I love Blackcaps singing too - woke up to one in the garden a few weeks ago.
There's a lot of GSW near me. In fact, one widened the opening on our bird box and cleaned out a brood of blue tit chicks a few years ago. I have since put a metal ring over the aperture, but somehow the tits know and haven't been back.
There's a telegraph pole about 5m from our bedroom window and we are often woken by the sound of a woodpecker tapping away at metal. I used to think it was just a really stupid woodpecker, but apparently they are males showing off with the sound it makes rather than looking for food.
They are too smart to go into the nest when they can see me, but I could hear the chicks, so waited by this tree with the obvious nest holes to get a shot of sorts (and now I'll be late for work):
View attachment 182416
Swallow, swift and house martin populations have nearly halved, finds UK bird survey
Reduction in insect numbers contributes to drop, and there are declines across more than a third of bird species surveyed
www.theguardian.com