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in reply to: Whatsapp roundup 7/4/2024 #8592
Andrew…and Rosie… My comments were not intended as criticism, merely an observation that postings seemed to be dropping off now that we have several different platforms to enjoy. I fully appreciate the hard work that goes into maintaining the website and am grateful. I have joined the Whatsapp group…thanks Pete.. so posting faster and more easily will be possible now. Transferring a Whatsapp roundup is an excellent idea. Delighted to hear all the old records are curated too. I did not know that.
Regards all
Eddyin reply to: Whatsapp roundup 7/4/2024 #8585Aside from that, complete respect for the time and effort you put into this Tech stuff Andrew. Thank you. Forty years ago I could write ZX81 programmes onto a cassette tape. These days I have lost the will to live with the rate of change of platforms. In a work based groundcare forum recently, some of the contributions coming from a score of the finest groundstaff in the country (Wimbledon, Wembley, Lord’s, St Andrews etc) … for free to their colleagues… was wiped out overnight. Tens of thousands of gems of help. The 25 year archive of advice and guidance on a web forum was deleted because those in control, a couple of webmasters in their mid twenties felt it was no longer that important. I could have wept. Published on paper it would have been in several volumes and the seminal paper on groundcare in the UK.
We have to be very careful about the recording, retention and publication of data to avoid this issue or we will enter into a dark age. The excellent publication “The Birds of Lancaster and District 202x” that drops on my doormat, compiled and edited by so many hard working and experienced experts is a vital cog in this system.
Just saying. Eddy
in reply to: Whatsapp roundup 7/4/2024 #8583OK How do I join this Whatsapp Group? The Message Board is almost becoming redundant owing to the hassle with Captcha. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter and hardly email at all anymore … but I do have a couple of Whatsapp groups with family because my children told me I had to. Can somebody ‘join me’ if that a verb? I can post on that instead. My telephone number is Oh seven eight 1 seven 9 two 4 three 8 nine
in reply to: OOA Old record ID required please #8463Good call. Any other thoughts? Not a woodpigeon or a feral pigeon. In 65 years I’ve never seen a stock dove in the area although there are a few in the county….
in reply to: Freehold waxwings #8176Excellent. A flight of 16 birds flew overhead going East towards the Park or the Cemetery near sunset yesterday. I saw nothing today as was away early and back at dusk but nice to know they are still around…. As far as I’m aware all the rowan in the Cathedral area, Storeys, Ridge Lane etc and the Edward Street car parks has already been stripped. If there is a big influx of waxwing because of the Scandinavian weather (which is quite brutal at the moment), the Ridge estate is well planted with service trees which are all well fruited and have been secondary sources for waxwings in late winter before. Well worth checking these if this flock disappears from Freehold.
The second brood of swallows in the TCC machine shed fledged sometime in the last 24 hours. They aren’t brave enough to go outside yet but are flying around and perching on everything. Interestingly the activity from the 5 plus 2 increased in the last 3 days and the 5 juveniles re-entered the shed for the first time.
in reply to: Freehold swifts and elsewhere…. #7783Just 2 swifts over the city centre for a few minutes very high at 8.50 pm . Nothing over Freehold.
in reply to: Freehold swifts and elsewhere…. #7777In contrast tonight in Freehold. Just six birds screaming briefly around 8.35pm and very high up, 1000 feet or more and dispersed in 5 minutes. Nothing since at any level and certainly nothing at rooftop height. The bats emerged around 9.10pm and since then only the odd gull over heading for the shore. Pretty confident the local swift season is over though we may have passers by.
in reply to: Swifts and swallows #7636I thought it was four swallows fledged but I was wrong. It was five!
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in reply to: St. Nicholas Arcades #7590I’d heard them driving through a few times but not located them. There is a pair on the remaining pillar of a stone barn by the roadside about 2-300 yards towards Langthwaite from the top of Stocka Bank.
in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #7409Ridiculous, I spent half my childhood within 4 miles of Aberaeron! The hinterland behind the town and five or six miles further south is high moorland between the Aeron and Teifi valleys, very similar to the the undrained and unimproved parts of Quernmore. My father, who knew his stuff, showed us whimbrel every Spring and how to differentiate them from curlew on Banc Sion Cwilt on the road to Llandyssul. I went on a hunt without success earlier on today for whimbrel in drizzle. I was rewarded with two gems however. A tidy male pied flycatcher singing 15 yards in front of me in the little car park by the bridge in Abbeystead and a very surprising little owl I disturbed from a wall by Narr Lodge leaving Quernmore. This was a regular spot but I haven’t seen a little owl anywhere near Quernmore for probably 10 years.
in reply to: Whimbrel roost #7405I had a text exchange with Pete last night. My understanding is the roost is at Damas Gill. My contact now lives abroad and I have tried to contact him without success using all media I have. He first told me of them gathering there about 12 years ago when I was working with him. I believe his brother nows farms that land. Their father was the man who highlighted them to his sons but he has retired now and lives in a local village. None of them are in the phone book unfortunately so I have hit a brick wall.
in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #7357Brilliant. I’ve been looking for these birds last week without luck. From my experience it’s always about 20th-30th April and always about 20-30 birds always in roughly the same spot. A friend tells me there is a roost near Castle O’Trim
in reply to: Torrisholme CC #7315The Captcha ID for posting is becoming a burden. It took me 20 minutes to post the data above because I couldn’t recognise a motorbike or a telephone box or the exact centre of an owls head. We will lose local data if people aren’t easily able to post their sightings. I know it’s difficult, this computer security lark, but there has to be a better way than Captcha.
in reply to: Starling Spectacular #6728Superb John. At dawn the last few mornings there has been a pass-by of starlings heading South and East over Lancaster. They fly perhaps 10 deep but hundreds and hundreds wide in one passage perhaps 1km wide. Am I right in assuming these birds are part of the LM Roost as they are coming on a beeline from there?
Great post. The longer I’ve watched sparrowhawks in Freehold, nearly 30 years, the more convinced I am they have two hunting strategies. One is a daytime dive bomber from height, over 1000 feet up with a stoop and the other is a low level tour in low light or crepuscular conditions. The sparrowhawk is easily the latest hawk or falcon hunting in my experience around us. Sometimes in near dark. Unfortunate swift. with the other record at Leighton and the weather, do we put these as pallid swift or just swift spp which seems safer…
in reply to: Pink-footed geese #61943 large skeins over Lancaster 7.20am too high to count accurately for me but several hundred in total…
in reply to: Freehold swifts 10th Aug #6000Still at least six birds at rooftop level from 6am onwards, focussed on Grasmere and Windermere Road it seems. A bit of luck might reveal a nest entry or exit if one is patient.
in reply to: Freehold and Torrisholme CC #5978Just to add … 7 low level screaming swifts over Freehold now, 21.11pm
in reply to: Freehold Swift Boxes #597030-35 arrived screaming and circling over Freehold at 20.20 and disappeared high up again 10 mins later. The last hour has had stragglers, possibly mature adults who may roost, screaming in 3s and 4s. Tomorrow may very well be the same but you have to be looking out. 20.10 to 20.30 in a clear blue sky as promised. It is a rare opportunity where weather does not play a factor. The later in the season, the higher the birds are over their territory at sunset and in the last days it requires bins to see them.
in reply to: Mistle thrush #5969As per usual the 2 or possibly 3 breeding pairs of m thrush have disappeared from Cross Hill Park after breeding success 4 -> 9 on my ground worming in July then gone. Presumably joined an Autumn flock.
in reply to: Freehold Swift Boxes #5968Mon 8th Aug 19.50pm
Wall to wall blue sky and light breeze, sun setting.
….not a single swift in the sky above Freehold for the last two hours and none I can see on Windermere or Derwent Rd servicing extant late nests. This is usually an every 20 minute appearance at the nest site.
My prediction is a whole load will arrive in the next hour to give a reasonable screaming count of the local population. The numbers should be declining from here on in. 40-45 would be good. 30 would imply the departure has started. I might look an idiot in 3 hours time but I’m willing to put my head on the block… Please look out and count in your town or village. It is the best census we have. A mobile phone sky shot makes counting easier if you struggle with swirling birds. When they bunch up in a spiral take a snap. You can count the black dots at your leisure.
in reply to: Freehold Swift Boxes #5960Sunday evening 8.30pm , 42 swifts screaming over Freehold. The forecast remains excellent for similar counts in other urban and village locations around the same time, all worth posting to get an overview of the area population.
in reply to: Freehold Swift Boxes #5951Sat 6th August
Finally still air and a clear sunset. A reassuring maximum count of 34 swifts tonight directly over SE Freehold. I believe this is the combination of two local colonies, one from the SE and another located around NW Freehold. These don’t involve the Moor Lane or Bulk Road colonies nor the diminished St Leonardsgate colony. Numbers lower but a terrible season for breeding with excessive windy rain events contrasting with short periods of blistering perfect weather.
The next week with the current forecast is perfect for a daily sunset count, a rare opportunity to census the swift population in an area of town or your village. The departure date coincides with a pretty perfect sunset each evening. If you could step out at 8.45 to 9.15pm and make a count and location we would have some interesting data from the area.
in reply to: Freehold Swift Boxes #5935I’m sat out now in chilly windy conditions in Freehold. Sunset. We have up to 18 screaming birds above. Well below the expected 40-50 of previous years. In addition the nest exploring trails of juveniles in July have been of 5,6,or 7 rather than the more usual 12 or more. There are ample nesting sites in Freehold still and the nest boxes only add to the availability. My personal theory is that both June and July mirrored their difficult weather. My cricket records show exceptionally wet periods at the beginning and end of both months. Not just cold, but debilitating heavy exceptional rain. In contrast, Oxford, in drought, is looking to list a record number of successful nests. I would suggest our continuing high summer windy rainfall events are going to make it a marginal habitat for the common swift. Regular 3mm rain days fine, but regular summer days with 12-25mm. Tricky.
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