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in reply to: Freehold swifts #3745
12 birds last night around 8pm under blustery overcast skies…
in reply to: Freehold swifts #3726Maximum of 15 birds tonight around E Freehold, activity dying at 21.20pm. Two other observations of note. House martins investigating nest sites under the eaves next door, not unusual at any time during their stay but always driven off by swifts if they attempt to settle. Also two large buzzards over central Lancaster at 5pm associated with a ‘tiny’ male sparrowhawk that gave all the gulls on the river and an early gathering of ‘balling’ starling something to make a fuss about.
in reply to: Freehold swifts #3724…and tonight a maximum of 29 birds at 8.45pm. Are the additions fledged birds or returning to natal site non-breeders? No idea but numbers up again. I favour the idea that fledged youngsters hang around for a few days if the weather is comfortable…..
in reply to: Freehold swifts #3721Again, 17 birds, 9 to roof height and 8 not descending below about 500 feet then screaming in a trail to disappear upwards. Perfect weather for observation. Some stil active at 9.20pm as I type….
in reply to: Leighton Moss #3645The same at Cross Hill Park on Friday afternoon, 100s of gulls, mostly black headed, anting. Saturday morning all the ants were grounded on the field and there were perhaps 100 gulls, 4 carrion crows, blackbirds, mistle thrushes and a gronded gs woodpecker all making their fill.
in reply to: Mistle Thrush #3536Yes Dan, max count a week ago I think was two families on the field while I was cutting. 5 and 6 birds with adults still feeding young on the ground. I did not regard this as unusual. It’s pretty much the norm at Torrisholme CC over the last 25 years.
in reply to: Mistle Thrush #3533We have two pairs of mistle thrush that regularly breed around Crosshill Park/Crematorium area in the large parkland trees. It is not uncommon post fledging to see 8-12 birds feeding or being fed.
in reply to: Tawny owl and surprising others #3388Interesting. Thank you Steve.
in reply to: Red Kite – Freehold, Lancaster #3348Pete M very kindly phoned to tell me but unfortunately I was in Torrisholme.
in reply to: Freehold swifts #3119Four swifts this morning, Sunday, in Freehold
in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2628To be honest Dan I don’t remember but my sister might have called it Mortimer. The gun dog we had might have called it something else though. If it was asleep in the sun the raven would drop down silently, hop up to the dog and give it the most fearsome pull of its tail and fly off.
in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2598Excellent ….absolutely typical film there, looking for a thermal??
Nothing wrong with discussing ravens. Seen again over Newton yesterday, one in front of the other by a few hundred yards going North like bats out of hell. Very fast fliers when they have a mind.
I spent about six months in a house near Carmarthen in a village called Cwmdwyfran which translates directly as ‘the valley of the two crows/ravens’
I have to admit to having a ‘pet’ raven in the mid 1970s (different times) and taught it to fly from a flat roof. It lived on offal and any roadkill available. It was a murderously dangerous beast and you couldn’t put your head too close for fear of losing an eye. It would land on my grandmother’s head demanding food. We took it to a local forest about 15 miles away and released it, but was home before us. Eventually we took it to North Wales after other failed attempts from up to 50 miles away. It was a magnificent creature, very intelligent, but utterly untrustworthy.
in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2582….there have been a couple over Freehold and Torrisholme quite regularly in the last month.
This thread reminds me of something many many years ago in a summer with a plague of rabbits, perhaps 1981 or 1982? I had to drive my brother from Cardigan to Manchester for an exam and it entailed a very early start. On that desolate part of the road between Corris and Dolgellau, every mile or so in the dawn half light, a pair of ravens were picking at the night’s road kill. As we approached, they’d lift to a fence or gate then swoop down again when we passed. My brother, who has always been well-read and something of a wit remarked “Why do corbies always come in twas?”
in reply to: LDBWS feeding station at Fairfield #2387Dan
I hope you and Mal don’t mind. To keep the project going until Spring I have ordered a bag of sunflower hearts to be dropped off at the above address. It should be with you in the next seven days. I have been able on a handful of occasions to see the results at the station. Remarkable. With the number of chaffinches it is quite surprising a brambling hasn’t cropped up….perhaps in passing soon??
in reply to: 2020 record queries #2215Pete
Just to confirm your waxwing observation….or non-observation…I have done my usual urban trawl varying my routes prior to lockdown and then using my work visits and weekly shopping trips after lockdown to scour all my known rowan, service tree etc. sites. Nothing so far this winter in Lancaster, Torrisholme or Morecambe. The fruit was plentiful in September but rapidly stripped by visiting blackbirds, redwing and fieldfare. There are a handful of pink or white rowans with a few fruit still, Lentworth Drive near Booths is one. The habit of silage farmers attacking their hedges as soon as allowed in the Autumn and prior to slurry spreading is removing so much hedge fruit up to the New year. I wish they’d just wait til January or just flail what is essential. There is nothing left for winter thrushes in the remaining hedgerows by the end of October…..then as soon as April comes so many spray with a broad leaved weedkiller under the walls both sides. An obsession with neatness. It is so depressing.
in reply to: Search Function … new web design #1608Andrew, thank you.
in reply to: Search Function … new web design #1591I guess this belongs in discussion really. Sorry again. My thanks to all those involved in both the old and new sites. Tremendous work and much appreciated.
in reply to: Search Function … new web design #1590Thanks both. I hadn’t scrolled low enough below the screen…sorry.
I was looking for swift records , nothing important right now. For me it would be something of a tragedy if the historic database was lost. I use the search function all the time. The printed annual reports are excellent and detailed but there were extensive ‘quick reference’ records online going back more than ten years with no hard copy.
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