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Birds

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Started 9 years ago by brenda midgley
Latest reply from Barbara Stone

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brenda midgley
Member

Have spent some lovely time in the garden the last couple of days with two friends - bag of compost and trowel! How joyous to be able to be outside - especially first thing in the morning when the fragrance from everything just knocks your socks off.

At last too I have discovered the reason behind the absence of House Martins, Swallows and Swifts in the 'airspace' above our garden. I have been puzzling for weeks as to why there's not been a sight of anything - and those who watch out for these birds will be aware they are usually back in the country from about the second week in April. I was in the throes of puting a note in the forum last week to ask what the rest of you may or may not have seen; but didn't get round to it.

This week, however, I picked up a Daily Mail whilst doing the Asda shop on Wednesday morning and in there was a letter from a lady who referred to an article some days previously concerning this very subject. Apparently they are shooting these birds as they fly over Malta for 'sport'. How very very sad and I feel so angry with my fellow man that they can do this to such harmless little creatures in the name of pleasure. I would still be interested to know though if there are those of you round the country who have noticed a similar absence. Barbara I know is a 'birdy' lady and will have something to say I should think.

Going onto a lighter subject - I stopped the gardening for 10 minutes earlier on as I noticed there was a film on BBC2 of Pride and Prejudice - from the days of Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson (goodness only knows what year that was filmed in). I set the recorder to do it as I shall be interested to see how it differs from the one we all know with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. I did catch the first five minutes and it was a hoot! - the ladies were in crinoline dresses so huge that when they sat down, it could surely only be that the dress would rise up at the front and show their knickers off! and their hats - goodness! I shall enjoy watching that and it will be intriguing to see how much (or not) they stick to the storyline of the book.

Ah well, I'm off. Promised myself a little stitching session now and the sun has probably moved on from where it lay across the seat I wish to sit in.

Our girls should be coming back from Williamsburg today (at least I think it's today). No doubt they have had a brilliant time.

Posted 9 years ago #
Ann S
Member

Ours (house martins, that is) are here. There are two nests under the eaves of the house opposite and, this year, both are occupied which is an improvement on the last couple of years. It is such a delight to watch these attractive birds flying in and out, especially in the morning.

Posted 9 years ago #
brenda midgley
Member

Hello Ann - how brilliant that you have some wherever it is that you are. Our sky just looks so desolate and empty.

Geoff and I are at the Severn Valley Railway next weekend (Bridgnorth end of the line - Shropshire) so I shall definitely keep my eyes peeled to watch what is there.

Lovely day here again so I shall once again be pottering outside - the inside can just wait for a rainy day!

Posted 9 years ago #
Jean Strange
Member

Hi Brenda
We don't have those birds here but do have a family of Blue Tits in the nesting box. Unfortunately we also have lots of Magpies. Saw one take a baby Blue Tit out of nesting box the other day. We also for the first time in a few years have starlings nesting in the guttering at the back of the house. As we have a wooded area at the back of our house we get lots of feathered visitors besides these. In the last couple of weeks I have seen Jays, Black Birds, Sparrows (these seem to be coming back to our area having been absent for some years) a Wood Pecker, Thrush, Wood Pigeons, Robin and Bullfinch.
On the subject of Malta Chris Packham (BBC Spring Watch etc) got arrested for protesting against these shoots in Malta. He was arrested and questioned by the Maltese police.

Posted 9 years ago #
Barbara Stone
Member

Hi all, yes as you know I'm a birdy lady, so we've been keeping an eye on what's been happening lately. We've had swallows since the beginning of April, the swifts were perhaps a fortnight later, and we finally saw a house Martin, which we don't normally get round here for some unknown reason, two weeks ago. We too, are getting more sparrows lately, great, cos they've been put on the red list as endangered birds, and we,ve been busy watching the blue tits building their nest in the box at the end of the garden, but after the cold spell at the end of last week, they've slowed down.
Bob and I were offered a trip to Malta a few years ago, and we turned it down in protest at the shooting that is allowed. No wonder Turtle Doves, Swallows and Martins are so endangered now, because some horrible little men like to blast of at any little bird that likes to cross the sky in front of them. There are petitions going around organised by the RSPB, so can I please ask you all to sign them if you see them, to protest to the Maltese government, and we might be able to get things like this stopped. Okay I'll get down off my soapbox now.!

Posted 9 years ago #
Ann S
Member

Hi Brenda. (and the other contributors to this thread)
I'm just in Kent with the Kent/Sussex border running through the the edge of the nearby town of Tunbridge Wells.
We are a little concerned about the house martins because the newish neighbours in the house opposite are having a lot of work done inside and out and have scaffolding on the side and rear of the house; the rendering on the side of the house has been removed and then replaced and we don't know what their intentions are for the front (and don't know the owners well enough to ask!

I've never been to Malta but go to Italy at least once a year; the Italians are famous/infamous for shooting small birds so perhaps it is a Mediterranean habit. However, I remember seeing scores of swifts screaming through a ravine behind our hotel in Assisi and there is at least one huge murmuration of starlings in Rome. We had a year round gathering of starlings in our small back garden for a very long time until this year: the bird table was blown over and broken in the storms in the winter and it took us a few weeks to restore it by which time the starlings disappeared and have not returned. Our house sparrows also went a while ago but we do have regular visits to the feeders from goldfinches, blue tits and great tits. We also have blackbirds who seem so used to us that they'll come very close when we are out there.

Posted 9 years ago #
Barbara Stone
Member

Ann, just read your comment about the Italians, and we were in Rome a week ago, and all you could hear above the noise of the tourists, was the screaming of the Swifts as they flew overhead, and then the screech of the parakeets as they colonised every available tree in any parkland. I think we spent more time looking at the birds, or the lizards and Geckos we found in the ruins, than we did looking at the actual ruins.

Posted 9 years ago #
brenda midgley
Member

Oh this is all just fascinating stuff to those of us who love our feathered friends. I envy some of you for the variety of birds you are seeing. In terms of sparrows though, we've never lost those, so Aunty Brenda must be putting out some din-dins every day that appeals to them, so they keep coming back.

Jean - yes, Chris Packham - how interesting is that! Originally it was a report of his in the Daily Mail about Malta that prompted the lady, whose letter I read, to respond to it. Well, all I can say is good for Chris - I admire him for doing his bit and - Barbara - if I see a petition I shall certainly sign it.

Lovely to know there are people who care about these things - after all we are all part of the chain of life, whether we are humans, birds, fish - right down to the smallest of insects - we are part of a whole.

Posted 9 years ago #
Andrea Thompson
Moderator

Hi Brenda
I'm afraid I don't know anything about birds. But... I also spotted that there was a Laurence Olliver version of P & P on bbc 2 yesterday afternoon, and I recorded it too.
Just tried watching it now and ended up stopping it and deleting it about 30mins in after a scene where Lizzie Bennett starts crying when Caroline Bingley makes a comment about Mr. Wickham, Darcy goes to comfort her.
There are trying to do what they could with the story. It is a hard story to condense into 90 minutes, and they way they had written it there really hadn't been much interaction between Darcy and Lizzie at all. So clearly they needed a scene which showed his more tender side. But they hadn't yet managed to show his pride or her prejudice. Wickham had only been in it for one 3 minute scene.
Don't get me started on the costumes OR the ball being a huge garden party! And when Lady Lucas telling her gorgeous hollywood starlet daughter that she was too plain (LOL) so it had to go. Gone, deleted.
I think the 1995 BBC version has now spoilt all other versions!

Posted 9 years ago #
Barbara Stone
Member

Oh I am so glad that somebody else thinks that the BBC version with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth is the best version. I've watched other ones and in fact I didn't originally watch the BBC version, cos it didn't appeal in any way, and although I love the book, I didn't feel that anybody could adapt it for television very well, but since then, Ive watched it again and again.
Went out for a walk this afternoon to do a bit of bird watching and saw some lovely ones. Thank goodness we've still got some birds that have survived the trip across the Med.

Posted 9 years ago #
brenda midgley
Member

Hello Andrea!

Pride and Prejudice - yes, a bit different but I did watch it until the end. Had to laugh though as I certainly don't recall a scene where Lizzie was showing off with her archery skills to Mr. Darcy - in either the tv series or the book! Also as we got nearer to the end and we saw more of Lady Catherine de Burgh - in the tv series she was a bit of a dragon whereas the film showed her as quite a kindly old lady, so all in all I felt it was a very different presentation!

Sun shining gloriously here (despite the weather girl last night saying we might have rain first thing). I've whizzed round like a mad thing mowing the front lawn just in case it sets to rain later on. A bit of the wet stuff and a bit of the sunny thing seems to make it grow a foot overnight, so it needed the top taking off. I then reaped my reward by sitting and having a little bit of a stitching session. I'm now a happy bunny.

Posted 9 years ago #
Rachel H
Member

1. We have swifty birdy things under the eaves of the houses opposite. They swoop and dive round every evening.

2. Olivier Rules OK!

3. Done my one day gardening with compost, trowel and planty things. They grows or they goes now!!

Happy birding, gardening and stitching (not necessarily in that order ...)

Posted 9 years ago #
Barbara Stone
Member

After being stuck indoors filling boxes, vac-sacs, etc., and becoming completely stir crazy, Bob and I went to Slimbridge on Friday to see what was about, and spent a few hours looking at birds. Saw some lovely rarities, including a red-necked Phalarope, which was a lifetime tick for us, and the storks which were released onto the Somerset Levels, but which have now bred at Slimbridge this year. Yesterday, went to Ham Wall for a quick walk, and saw the Bittern in flight, and a Kingfisher, doing what its meant to do, fishing. Had a great view of it, as it sat on a branch, then dived into the water, before going back to its branch. So now I feel rested and relaxed, and I can get back to my boxes and think longingly of going to Leeds, which I won't be doing, and Leicester, which I won't be doing either, cos I'm going to Germany, so I've at least got that to look forward to. Oh well, back to the packing up.

Posted 9 years ago #

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