Scandinavian Birds.

Is that a Norwegian Blue?

Wow. Lucky you! We've got the usual gangs of Fieldfare and Redwing just now. There's plenty of geese and waders on the Solway plus I'm sure I saw a group of Shovellers yesterday. I heard a strange owl the other nIght, might have been a Short Eared chappy.
Waxing are gorgeous tho.

Just the usual in our garden - I do need to get the feeders topped up though, so thanks for the reminder as they have been emptied this week.

Is that a Norwegian Blue?

I can't hear it pinning for the fjords so don't think it is.

Saw some waxwings a couple of weeks back ,only fieldfares fighting the blackbirds for apples today.

I can’t hear it pinning for the fjords so don’t think it is.

😎

Don't forget water for the birdy garden visitors

Not in the garden, but on my regular dog walk down by the river there are the seasonal Stonechat that seem to appear about this time of year. Lots of fieldfare and redwing plus gangs of goldfinch although they are pretty common year round.

This not the thread I was looking for……………(wanders off bemusedly)

This not the thread I was looking for……………(wanders off bemusedly)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hills-are-Stuffed-Swedish-Girls/dp/0956242804

think it's the first year I'd properly been looking out for different birds.

I feel quite blessed living on the outskirts of glasgow. our regular visitors are mostly blue tits, great tits and coal tits, with the occasional long tailed tit. Fieldfares are rarer now, as are the thrushes. kingfisher spotted regularly, plus blackbirds, chaffinch. treecreepers and nuthatch.

plus normal wood pigeon, rooks and jackdaw, the latter normally chasing off buzzards.

We're also lucky enough to have this fella living pretty close by.
They're pretty common round here though.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52393550608_e96fc431b5_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52393550608_e96fc431b5_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPQDes ]2022-09-29_06-55-04[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/ ]StuartBrettle[/url], on Flickr

Where are you? Whether something is unusual or not does depend largely on this…

I like tits, not keen on thrush and nuthatch doesn't sound too appealing either.

That book looks interesting though. Is it all in shorts?...

Not that rare really, but not had them before, we've had Fieldfare and Redwings land in the garden this winter. Me and the youngest did inadvertently wander into a load of photographers trying to get pictures of a small flock of ring ouzel who were very late in leaving for winter.

Where are you? Whether something is unusual or not does depend largely on this…

Scottish Borders. TBH we also used to have a heron pretty close by when we lived in the W Mids but I'd never seen a Waxwing anywhere before.

Had a white tailed eagle over the house this morning but I am on the Isle of Mull. Bit of an birders paradise here, any one time, there’ll be about 50 small bird in the garden - blackbirds, robins, sparrow, chaffinch, greenfinch, dunnock, goldfinch, wrens, blue tit, coaltit, great tit and lesser spotted woodpecker. We have buzzards, ravens, hooded crows, kestrels, barn owls, short eared owl, bullfinch and woodcock around us. I’ve spotted peregrine, hen harrier, curlew and hoopoe in the last month or so. There are flocks of fieldfare and redwing in the forest, plus long-tailed tits.

All the usual residents here in Angus, with a lot of fieldfares, redwings and non- resident blackbirds. No waxwings as yet but have seen one solo male brambling in among the chaffinches this week.
I’ve left plenty of windfall apples out, which seems to be pretty popular..

Another on the outskirts of Glasgow here. Got the feeders up and running for the start of the cold spell. Very noticeably more chaffinch and golffinchs than last year. Resident nuthatch hanging upside down on the feeder. Not seen a sparrow in years…they seem to have been replaced by finches of every sort! Redwings here too at the minute, but they’re mopping up the last of the berries.
Sadly though the woodpeckers haven’t made an appearance yet this year, I’ll need to get the fat balls out.

@dovebiker do you really mean lesser spotted woodpecker? If so, please can I come to your house next time I'm on Mull - I've never seen one. I didn't think they were that far north?

Still hoping for a good waxwing year, last one in Sheffield was 2019.

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Is now a good time for a "birds don't like my big fat balls" post ?

birds don’t like my big fat balls

I have some nuthatches that like my big fat balls so much they spend hours every day hanging upside down pecking them.

@tlr I think @dovebiker means a greater spotted woodpecker, they are resident on Mull, but I think a lesser spotted is only south England.

However, Mull remains a massive wildlife hotspot

Just checked, yes they’re greater spotted - it was the red head on a young bird that confused me

Oooh how exciting to see the waxwing.
The birds in our garden have gone through 3 feeders with sunflower hearts, in 2 days.
Everything from Bullfinches to coal tits, about 14 species in all, mostly garden birds including a female sparrow hawk at the weekend.

Great spotted woodpecker - not greater. Confusing as the lesser spotted woodpecker is lesser and not less.

Only time I've seen a lesser spotted woodpecker was in S Norway - I was peeing in a wood, and it landed in a tree a few metres away!! Quite often see greaters hanging off birdfeeders in a park/forest nearby in the winter.

Lots of eiders, scoters visible on the sea from my house, but I haven't been to have a look what's mixed in

put em on Birda! sort of Strava for birds...

Not Scandinavian but there was a Great White Egret in the dyke when I walked the dogs yesterday afternoon.

Just had a male blackcap on the feeder. Really hoping that the waxwings will work their way down into England.

I am super impressed that Hoopoe make it up to Mull,they were always top of my bird spotting bingo list as a youngster,I am very jealous 😀

I think @dovebiker means a greater spotted woodpecker, they are resident on Mull, but I think a lesser spotted is only south England.

We have plenty of lessers around here, Swansea. There's a couple of nest holes that I know of right by some of our MTB tracks, and I've seen them on a piece of scrubby wasteland on my way to work. I may even have seen more LSWs than GSW in the last few years, although often hear the bigger ones.

As much as I love nature I'd love it if this thread was really just pictures of hot chicks.

And no. By "hot chicks" I don't mean baby quail in a frying pan.

Damn it, I came here expecting something else 🤣

Long Tailed Tits are my favourite at the moment. Must keep an eye out for wax wings though as that would be a new tick for the garden.

This thread is disappointing.

Tempted to report due to misleading title.

I heard a strange owl the other nIght, might have been a Short Eared chappy.

Unlikely, Short-eared owls are largely day-flying, one of the few owls that do. Barn owls are crepuscular and Little owls do fly during the day on occasion.
I’ve seen a pair of short-eared owls flying around Barbary Castle on a lovely sunny summer afternoon, a rare and beautiful sight.