The Mock Turtle

That's ace. We had one popped by a couple of times in December, but I've not seen it since.

We're just run of the mill here, though we had a green finch last week. I was watching them all yesterday, clinging onto the feeders for dear life.

Much the same here. No sighting of the sparrowhawk these days but plenty of pigeons.

Mr D has started a wormery does that count on this thread?

New visitor! I think it’s a female black cap.

A bird caught my eye along the canal this morning because I hadn’t seen one before. Google tells me it was a citrine wagtail. I love a new spot!

That's exciting Cerise.

No new spots here but I've put up a new feeder in the back middle of the garden so we're seeing the same birds but out in the open more.

The wood pigeons are taking over the garden and we have a pair of magpie constructing a nest.

I am so envious of your black cap, Cerise, I think they are such absolutely lovely little things. The one that visited us briefly before Christmas hasn't been back again. The bullfinches are regulars now though, so I can't exactly complain.

Our nyjer seed feeder gave the ghost a few weeks ago and R bought this batshit thing to replace it. The birds are Not Keen. A goldfinch tried it out the other day but mostly they are completely ignoring it. I am going to order a plain, ordinary, everyday seed feeder instead. I think the problem is they can't see round it for predators, so they've decided it's not safe.

BTO have made Garden Watch free - Link. It's usually a £17 annual subscription, which pays for the researchers to analyse the results. It's not as demanding as the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. They ask you to do 20 minutes a week, but that doesn't need to be all in one, you can do a few minutes over breakfast each day, for example, then just record the max number of bird types you see that day. It might be a nice distraction or an activity for kids.

I do 40 minutes at a set point each week but I love doing that because it's 40 minutes 'break from life' for me and I love that spending that amount of time means I get to know my birds individually almost. The input is minimal and online.

I got the email this morning and tried to sign up for that but their website is struggling a bit I think. I already have an account at least. I'll try again later.

It's very active out there at the moment. There's a nuthatch shouting its head off every day from the copper beech, and a wren bellowing* a lot too. The goldfinches are very much in evidence and two male blackbirds seem to be in a bit of a turf war. Blue tits are nesting in the roof apex again I think and a pair of robins are up to something down in the lower camellia. I've also seen the odd butterfly, and lots of lovely fat bumblebees.

*they are well noisy for such a weeny bird.

That feeder thing is a bit of a monster.

Birders call wrens Tiny Shouters. Well, Lev Parikian does.

The goldfinches have come round to the Monster Feeder, but they're still not massively keen. We've sparrows on the fat ball bit and a coal tit on the nut bit, but it's not wholly the enormous attraction R was hoping for.

Bat Macdui wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:46 am Birders call wrens Tiny Shouters.

The nuthatch was Mr R's nemesis when he was recording the book. The producer listening online said "is there a car alarm going off near you?".

I love wrens with their little, flicky tails.

It's Swan Day in Rotherhithe. There are 8 outside, and the (presumed) males are doing that thing with their wings. Also I saw a pair of them do that heart-neck thing earlier.

The bees are really going mad for my wisteria - it's amazing. Sitting under it sounds like you're in a hive.

I've started doing the BTO birdwatch + other wildlife weekly report thing and what I've learnt is I had no idea there were so many different types of bumblebee!! I had to look up all the options they give you to try and identify some of the different ones I see. Amongst others I get tree bumblebees. They're the furry reddish ones. I couldn't see an option for honey bee on the reporting list though, and I swear that's what's all over the wisteria.

I'm also not much cop at bat identification either so the pair that runs laps around my house gobbling bugs are down as "unknown bat" for now. The April warmth has brought them out earlier than usual - I don't normally expect to see them before May. I also expect the flooding will have ramped up the bitey bug quotient this year which means DEET for me sooner rather than later

I think the predominant bat species is Pipistrelle in the UK.

I've only ever seen a Pip.

We're now getting goldfinches in the garden, tons of bees all different types and of course wasps. Our insect hotel is bees only it seems.

It offered pipistrelle, unknown pipistrelle (?) and unknown bat as options IIRC. You're right though it's most likely to be one.

Hurrah for your goldfinches.

I've never seen a bat as anything more than a dark blur, there'd be no hope of IDing one!

The night before last there was HUGE amounts of bird noise in the middle of the night, from about midnight onwards, then one of them shrieked a few times even more loudly and woke me up again around 3. I'm going to see if I can find out who it might have been - we are used to a frog / toad chorus constantly from April onwards, and sometimes one of the nocturnal bird cries makes them all shut up, so I assume it's a predator for them. We have a lot of raptors here, but as I see them in the day I guess they're not the ones doing night hunting. Although I know there's also various owls.

My fox was shrieking a couple of nights ago, I think it was getting its groove on

Barn owls are known for being very shrieky. Their other name is Screech Owl.

I’m sure I’ve just seen a pair of arctic terns! They’re so pointy and elegant.

Also, our swifts & house martins are arriving back . The numbers are very low at the moment. I do worry about them.

We were sure, for about an hour, that some sort of bird of prey had moved into a big oak which over looks our garden. It kept flying to another tree and sitting in it. But then it shouted and now we think maybe it's just a big crow?! I suppose a BOP living in the 'burbs does seem unlikely

Peregrines do urban and suburban living, but probably not in trees.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... cess-story

Our town centre's nesting box has a pair again - 2 eggs hatched so far.