[Fleecewife]

Has anyone heard a lark yet?    They usually start rising and singing here in mid-March.  I don't think any bred around here last year so I am worried there will be none.  Lying snow has all gone but it's still going down to -5 at nights.  Am I just being impatient or should I be concerned?    There is a lurking Peregrine which years ago we saw take a lark at the height of his song 
 
We lost our wrens three years ago and have only heard or seen a couple passing through since then.
 
Hard times for birds 
 
On the upside, our flock of tree sparrows have mostly come through the winter and are building nests, and there are great, blue and coal tits galore, a couple of pairs of yellow hammers, and all the usual blackbirds, robins, dunnocks and so on working away at building their nests.   
There is a pair of magpies unfortunately - they are the only bird I'm not pleased to see as they take most of the eggs and nestlings.  Aldrin the buzzard isn't too popular at the moment as he has been picking off my Scots Greys over the winter - wish he'd stick to rabbits 

Swallows and martins are expected next week, or once we get a southerly wind.  There are absolutely no flies for them still, not even a mozzie, so I hope they hold off for a bit.  Maybe the southerly wind when it comes will bring flies as well as swallows and martins 

[Bionic]

Can't say I have heard a lark yet but I did see a mozzie this morning. Swallows have just arrived and they were picking something off the garage windows too so I guess there must be some insects for them.

[GSH]

 
Seen a few Skylarks, no swallows or martins yet in my patch of North Yorkshire.  Yellowhammers are in good voice, Robin is busy building a nest under my bedroom window and a G S Woodpecker was poking about the logpile this morning.........sun is out........the chucks are laying........the pigs are snoring...........spring must be on its way at last 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Don't panic, lots of skylarks at our pace, singing loudly as they rise ever higher. The curlew is calling too and the oystercatchers. The yellowhammers are as usual enjoying eating the hens mixed corn :-))))

[Bodger]

We feed the wild birds all the year round and have been getting dozens of goldfinches and siskins. I'm filling three niger seed feeders a day and although its expensive, its worth every penny in entertainment.
 
Here are a few pictures.
 
 

 


 


 


 


 

A Great Tit.
 


 
 

[Fleecewife]

 
Good pics - I love the one with the siskin peeping around the feeder 
We feed ours year-round too - it's lovely watching them at the feeders and  numbers definitely increase if you provide food. We have also put feeders where we don't see them, well away from humans which seems to suit some species.  Our hedgerows have helped numbers too with shelter and nesting sites.
We had lots of siskins and goldfinches through the winter but they have gone now I think (or they are busy).  We don't provide niger seed though as it's just glorified thistles and there are plenty of wild thistles here     There is a woodpecker, then her young later on.
There are also lots of LBJs - Little Brown Jobs - which are hard to identify and nest very secretly, sometimes in the tiniest of nests.  I don't usually find the nests of those until the winter, although one year we had a tiny warbler-type bird nesting in a hedge through the teeth of a huge gale.  She sat tight in lashing rain and with the hedge almost breaking in the wind and her eggs hatched during the storm, then her chicks eventually fledged successfully - I've no idea how she clung onto that tiny nest, or how she didn't die of hypothermia (or fear every time my big human eye peered at her to check she was ok).
 
Aldrin the buzzard was eying up one of the pairs of partridges this evening;  they have moved into our wildlife strip and under the hedges - he'll be in big trouble if he takes them 

[oor wullie]

I think I saw a skylark last week, it just sang very briefly and hasn't been seen since.

The curlews arrived in the last week of March and the oystercatchers a couple of days later.  Still waiting for the lapwings.  This threesome is what defines spring for me.

Our resident red kites have been doing a lot of low flying recently (brilliant to watch) and I have found a couple of piles of pheasant feathers, not sure if the two things are related.  No matter how much time I spend watching the kites hunting I have never seen them going in for a kill.

[Fleecewife]

The lapwings have arrived here so yours will surely arrive soon.  Ours are in an uproar as the neighbour has just ploughed the big field which surrounds our land, where the lapwings mostly nest.  Every year they get at least one clutch squashed by tractor passes     All cultivations are weather dependent of course and it's hard to get a suitable time to do them, so sadly the birds come last.
Oyster Catchers and a couple of curlews are here.  I agree - they mark the start of spring and their calls are wonderfully atmospheric.
 
I have only ever seen one kite, sitting on a wire about 35 or 40 yrs ago, in Anglesey.  I hear their numbers have increased greatly, but don't they mainly eat carrion rather than catching their own ? (I don't know anything about them really, so I'm probably wrong)

[SallyintNorth]

You gotta be careful how you phrase things, Juliet.

I read

Hard times for birds 

and then realised that the ad-strip under your post was inviting me to browse nubile Filipinos for dating... 

I took a screen shot and notified Dan!  I couldn't decide whether I was more amused or found it distasteful - decided it was about 30:70.

Back on topic, we hope our swallows delay too.  Normally the swallows would be here in about another 7-10 days.  The daffodils were 3 weeks late this year.  Curlew, oystercatcher and peewit (local name for lapwing) have been around for a few weeks now.  First houseflies in the house today, though, so maybe...

[Fleecewife]

Oh - my ad strip is for business cards  . I guess you were just lucky Sally  .  Actually I hate those ad things as the moving ones give me a headache    which means I am far less likely to read them, let alone act on them, than if they were static.
 
You've got daffodils?   Ours haven't opened yet     I envy you the houseflies rather less 
 
Mild weather and southerlies forecast so the swallows could well be here on time - I'm excited when they first get here but then I'll be moaning about all the poop in the workshop 

[colliewoman]

The swallows have made it back to the Somerset levels and a little further
Saw them yesterday and it brought a real smile to my face
Be heading North as I type

[Fleecewife]

Yes, the wind is belting up from the south, so they shouldn't even be tired when they get here  .  I hope they can put their brakes on to stop here and don't all end up at John o' Groats .
 
I just heard a LARK this morning - they must have been waiting for some sunshine 

[SallyintNorth]

BH saw swallows nearby yesterday - we'd had a light southerly wind all day, first time for a long time the breeze had been a warm one!

[Fowgill Farm]

BH saw swallows nearby yesterday - we'd had a light southerly wind all day, first time for a long time the breeze had been a warm one!

Arrived with us this morning, heard almighty row in byre and as went in to feed Twinkle & Gerry they divebombed out past me!
Yay this means summer is around the corner!
Squally sunshiny showers here today but lurvely & warm.
Mandy

[Bodger]

The swallows have been back here for about a week. Not huge numbers, just the odd one or two.
 
I travelled down to Pembrokeshire through Powys on Sunday ( have pig will travel) and was treated to seeing half a dozen Red Kites enroute. Although i've seen lots of them now, I still find them absolutely stunning.