The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: northfifeduckling on July 24, 2011, 02:42:47 pm
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oh no, 3 of them this time. Can't babysit my birdies all the time :(
i know they are stunning creatures, but I hope they go away, far away ... :&>
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oh i hope they fly straight over, a pic would be lovely :wave:
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well, one of them has an eye on the place, hovering over the next hill, flew over here once, too fast for me to catch a pic! Impressive through binoculars - and yes, he's still here and I'm still babysitting...Still hoping they go back to where they came from! :&>
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How wonderful to see them, but yes, passing through would be best :o
The sparrow hawks and buzzards stress me out here at little-chick time :P
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never had a problem with the buzzards but sparrowhaws took some ducklings in our first year..
one of them is still here, 4 hours later.... :&>
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For just over a year now we have had 3 turkeys in with our chooks and haven't lost any chicks to sea eagles or goldies yet despite a high presence in the area. Maybe we've just been lucky though....... Or maybe they are just scared off by all the eaglewatchers lurking nearby in the bracken ::) and shouting excitably to each other!
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someone in Fife let their hens out one morning and found on in there :o it made the papers
I hope they find enough wildlife around here but they make me feel uneasy - I do have to go out every now and then! It's tempting though just to sit there with the binoculars :&>
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The north Fife sea eagle colony was established several years ago and seems to be doing well. I occasionally see something high up and can't make out if it's one of them or a buzzard cos my eyesight at distance vertically is rubbish ;) but they are so local to us NFD..
I wonder if I should drape some black veg netting strips over the chicken run ??? I hadn't thought of air predation, only cats, foxes etc :(
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if your run is small enough it's worth a go, but here it's impssible...
get the binoculars out, Ellie - honestly you can't mistake them for buzzards! Buzzards circle, eagles hover. I know some were released near Muchty in the spring, no distance for them at all. Peter photographed one on the Newburgh/Muchty road last year :wave: :&>
http://north-fife.blogspot.com/2010/08/fish-eagles-north-fife.html (http://north-fife.blogspot.com/2010/08/fish-eagles-north-fife.html)
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whereabouts are you NFD? I'm desperate to see one! But NIMBY of course. Hope your flock are safe. I once had a buzzard swoop down at a hen, I was in the garden in a bright yellow jacket fixing fencing and heard the hen squawk, turned & saw buzzard inches from it but it veered away when it saw me.
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North Fife ;) they are all over the place around here, one once nearly hit my car on the way to Dundee on the A 92, it swerved faster than I could hit the break, thank heavens... :&>
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Interestingly I was out with the newly arrived chooks yesterday putting up used balewrap as strips and creating a white camouflage netting which has totally ruined my view of the ponies in the foaling field but hopefully will dissuade anything airborne from trying to drop in uninvited :) Aswell as good recycling practice I feel marginally better about the overhanging tree too, tho youngest cat still managed to get in and was engaging in a staring contest with chief chook Dixie til I dashed out screeching ::)
There were lots of birds of prey overhead yesterday, at one point one buzzard had caught something and was carting it home while 2-3 others tried to get it from him/her - maybe a fledged family unwilling to wait for delivery? Very low for them around here, hence my panic with the chooks in case my place was being added to potential hunt zones ::)