Their parents raise a family every year in this nest. This crop are all but ready to leave and start life on their own.
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Many people feel that way about herons and cormorants.
The bird I really want in my garden (and it is an infrequent visitor ) is a sparrow hawk …
For the pigeons and doves.
I feed the birds everyday and for a while I’ve been wondering how on earth they manage to empty the entire feeder each morning. Earlier today, I found this squirrel (using its hindlegs to hang off a branch) and it spent the best part of a whole hour eating (whilst upside down) half of the seed from the dispenser:
Wishing everyone a lovely evening/day
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This beautiful pheasant frequents my garden almost everyday (often with his wife):
Wishing everyone a lovely evening/day
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Keep trying to discourage the pheasants. Leave a mess under the feeders and nibble new shoots of my plants !
They are such beautiful birds (living in the drainage ditch surrounding my property) and I really like seeing them roam around the garden (along with the ducks and partridges). All of them have become really friendly and will happily feed a few metres away from me.
I haven’t experienced any issues with damaged plants (the ducks are excellent at controlling the slug/snail population).
They often leave behind huge droppings which are easy to spot and I dispose of them in the flower beds (natural fertilizer).
A moorhen family has also taken up residence in my pond. They are extremely skittish at the moment (they will dart and hide as soon as they see me).
Ever since I lost my beloved Sausage, I now have about eight rats living in my garden (feeding off the seed that the great tits scatter all over the place). They are really cute but unfortunately they cannot stay because I have a feeling they are going to cause me issues in the future (I’m trying to catch them in a humane manner):
Wishing you a lovely evening
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This is not the best photo but does anyone recognise this bird? Its song sounds like tweep… tweep… tweep…
Wishing everyone a lovely evening/day
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?Bullfinch?
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That was my first thought too
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Looks like a chaffinch male but a little difficult given the pic
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Well looks like the consensus is it is a finch of some sort!
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Focusing on the head, black crown & red lower head colouration says bullfinch.
Wing bars & rump covert detail also says bullfinch.
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A handsome bird! Interesting to see birds that we would need time, luck and determination
to see in the rarities hot spots in the UK. A Mega in birding parlance. First recorded on the Scilly Isles in Sept 1970. The report might amuse you.
Thank you for the replies everyone. I found this photo of a bullfinch on Google and it would appear to be a very good match:
Wishing everyone a lovely day/evening
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Hi again, nice picture of a female bullfinch, the bird in your original pic has a more pronounced red colouring on its head indicating it’s a male.
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Thank you for the clarification and your nice picture showing both birds, however my eyes seem to be deceiving me because I perceive the male (to the right of your picture) to be ‘orange’ as opposed to being reddish. Is it possible that the bullfinch that I am seeing is a young male whose colour will develop and become more pronounced (to my eyes the breast colouring appears to be brownish with a slight red tinge)? Wishing you a lovely day
There are variations in the males tone of ‘red’, the time of year, age, virility etc. all cause an individual bird to change over time.
Add to that the variations with photography & photoshop, then the image reproduction over PC/Tablet/S.Phone, then your own personal colour perception, (Red/Green drift).
I call it red because its in the red colour group, & it’s generally called red around the birding fraternity, but is it red or pinkish red or russet or blush, apply all the above.
Finally, no its not a juvenile, these have grey heads irrespective of sex until the first moult.
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I managed to take a slightly better photo this morning (not the best quality) but from the beak and colour it would appear to be a chaffinch male?
Wishing everyone a lovely day/evening
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Yes
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