Back garden - outskirts of Milton Keynes

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Blackbird
(a pair or more, lovely cheerful songs, heard them calling newly fledged chicks quite recently, they often just chill out on the fence.)

Sparrows
(house and tree, very many families, insane chattering and chirping, lots of tag or chase games, lots of fun, all the time)

Thrush
(yet to figure out which type, beautiful songs though! Very tidy looking item this one, seeing it always takes my breath away so I have always forgotten to look out for exact features for identification!)

Dunnock
(a pair or more, one of my favourites, very chipper little birds, fun and slightly demented sounding songs from these)

Blue Tits
(not as often as I'd like, visits seemed to be increasing for a while, but not seen for some days lately, one pair brought their little ones for a visit on 26th May in the evening, must have had lots of babies those two, lost count after 8 birds, they're far too quick for me to figure out the real number!)

Great Tits
(not seen often enough, 2 or 3 probably)

Coal Tits
(ditto and awaiting full confirmation, too rarely seen to be fully certain)

Wren
(funny little item that one is, not seen in good light yet though, amazing how they get so much noise into such a small space! You'd think they were designed by Apple?)

Robins
(at least one pair so far, could well be more, not as frequent as I would like, but it seems that can change through the year apparently)

Magpies
(loads and loads of those, counted 17 at one time once; that blew the old rhyme clean out of the window!)

Crows
(not short of them at all, sadly they do raid rather a lot of nests, seen with egg in bill, so it's not just a guess!)

The Mystery partial albino bird(s?) which we still can't quite figure out.

Green finch
(perhaps, seen somthing like one passing though once, so far.)

Starling
(plenty of them at times, comical little guys, with some wonderfully whacky songs, and beautiful plummage, males and females seen and identified)

Wood Pigeons
(6 or 8 or so , which is more than enough if they all decide to start bickering and sizing each other up, sometimes they seem to sunbathe on the fence)

Collared Doves
(two pairs as far as I can figure out, they are rather intermittent visitors) (these and the woodies like to do unspeakable things on our fence for some reason!)

Something with claws and a curved beak, spotty/flecked front, darkish head, particularly around the eyes, big eyes, yellowy legs, mostly a deep golden brown and pale creamish underisde, about the size of a wood pigeon, but very much sleeker. Seen before dawn sitting on the fence at end of our garden, I got two fumbled, fuzzy blob, images at ISO 1600, handheld, through glass, no flash, drat! Have yet to really forgive myself for that one, but I guess I was in something next door to shock, with way too much adrenalin running around in my plumbing at the time! I'd just run up and down our stairs twice too, once for the camera and second for forgetting the monopod! at which point it'd had quite enough of my amateur antics and flounced off in a huff, with something that looked not too unlike total distain for my Norman Wisdom impression! It had just sat there with a look that said, "my patch; who on earth are you, and what are you doing in it!!"

Quite a lot of others heard but not sure what they are yet. Might even be a linnet and or a nightingale out there somewhere, I'm not really experienced enough to be certain with just songs yet.

[PiratesAhoy!]

The something could have been a sparrowhawk, possibly?

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I'd imagine it could well be.

Just remembered, I think it had dark (maybe even black) bars on the underside of the tail, so they joined together like stripes running from right to left, rather than front to back. Not sure if that helps or not.

Fantastic sight to see, but a truly dreadful camera fumble though.:rolleyes:

[barn owl]

good full discription, im with pirates on the sparrow hawk, and my friend had one in his garden eating a sparrow they seem to be getting more used to towns by the day,

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It was back this evening, and like a bolt from the blue too; there must have easily been a dozen sparrows and two baby robins, on or about a feeder in one corner of the garden. It did not even try to put the brakes on until it was 3 feet or less from piling, vertically into the ground, and at some speed. So very quick it was, but not quite as quick as the sparrows though, they all made it into the one shrub nearby! Boy did that bush rock and then wiggle a bit! There was then an abrubt silence and no movement of any kind anywhere as nothing, including me, dared to even breathe! It regained it's composure, sat on the edge of a large terracotta flower pot for a few seconds, and then just leapt straight up into the air and - gone!

So, it did not get lucky, and I think the sparrows got over it far quicker than I did. I was really quite shocked! Over the last few weeks me and sparrows have sort of become something like good mates, and my thoughts on seeing this tonight were quite a bit different to the last time. I know I wanted to see it again, but not quite like this!

OK, it's how it works and it's bound to happen one day, but it was seriously sobering just how quickly it was, suddenly, just, there. I looked at it harder this time, trying to drink in as much detail as I could for ID later, and yet I seem to remember less about what it was like this time than last!

I'm pretty sure it's a sparrow hawk now though. In more decent light I noted how it was really more a mid grey, an almost wood pigeon like, colour on it's back and the upper wing surfaces. It was more side on to me this time too, that made it's flecky/stripey waistcoat stand out. No red or pink around the head or neck or shoulders so, from pictures I've seen when searching, it is most likely a female.

Amazed every time I see this bird, it just takes my breath away. Quite literally a stunning presence.

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Well given the photos I posted last night I reckon the something surely must be a sparrow hawk!:)

I'm really struck by what improbably long legs it has!

[Morgannon]

Aye, Sparrowhawks seem to be all over now. Ours gave up with the Sparrows and has been eating the Collared Doves and Feral Pidgeons(I love birds but those Pidgeons I can really do without, they're a nuisance).
It also put a lovely big clawmark down our Living Room window when it tried(and failed) to dive at a bird on the window feeder.
I'm still shocked at that, those are really tough windows!

[Jenny]

Yep, my sparrowhawk will go for collared doves and feral pigeons. She's got the doves down to three and is having a field day with the pigeons. She seems to ignore the sparrows though is partial to the occasional chaffinch on a bad day!

[peanut]

The only problem with the female sparrowhawk in our area is that she was taking the neighbour's racers...and plucking them on my bird table.

Apart from that, she's lovely.

There's a male too, who's smaller and patrols the feeders for the little birds

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OK, bit of an update - reason I've not been around is that I have for the last 6-7 months been trying to get going moving house. It's been really complicated, but it's all but done now, a couple of weeks should see me there full time.

Last weekend I put up new feeder to see if I could get some punters to arrive to have their pictures taken. I was curious to see what the new place might have in store for me. Had no great expectations after just a week.

Went there this morning to do some chores and had not even had first cuppa of the day when I arrived, so that was job number one, sat there with fresh cup, took first sip, turned head and looked idly out of the window for no particular reason, eye fell on feeder, and a bundle of blue tits sat on it feeding away merrily! They were fairly scarce at old place, and my faves, so happy to see that.

Then an hour or so later a greenfinch arrived, these too had been quite a bit less than common in the past. Again feeling quite happy with the way this had gone.

A little later still and I felt I had to be dreaming or something; 3 long tail tits! Never seen one before that (had to look them up!); they have now stolen my heart! Adorable little things they are!

I've moved just less than 4 miles! What a difference that made, I was knee deep in sparrows before, now I got colour all over the place! I shall still miss the sparrows though, particularly the partial albino, not seen a sparrow at all at new place. So, in a few more weeks expect some pics from me again.

In the afternoon, I spotted between 9 and a bakers dozen blue tits prospecting assorted sites in my front hedge! Not sure but it looks like I got 3 blackbirds shacked up in a large shrubby thing in corner of back garden too.

This lot look set to keep me really busy! :)

It's a bit late in the day really, but I think I may try 2-3 new nest boxes tomorrow, as it looks like this bunch could probably use a hand, so they may not mind them being a bit new too badly, and if they do, then they will be well weathered for next time.;)