I donated an old reptile house that my pet corn snake has grown out of to the garden's wildlife corner. A frog has now adopted it, and I couldn't be more thrilled!
Sorry, my last post is rather out of date! Just got to the query about the coastal birds, hadn’t seen the subsequent replies. This is what comes of checking the forum when I wake up in the middle of the night.
I am wondering if its been a good year for raptors, or if prey is becoming scarce. In summer for the first time we saw a buzzard circling over our garden ( we know they surround our village but hadn't overflown it) or at least we thought it was. Yesterday coming home we saw a bird of prey on carrion on the road, and to be sure looked it up when home. According to the RSPB book it was a buzzard. The choices were that or red kite, but the tail was the deciding factor, buzzard tail ) and red kite ( Today spotted a raptor circling over the garden and took notice of the tail, definitely a red kite. Wouldn't have known if we hadn't looked it up yesterday.😁
There's been less cars on the road this year so I guess that means less road kill. Also pheasant shoots have reportedly released less birds this year so there's less of them to get squashed on the roads. I don't know if this also means gamekeepers have done less illegal raptor killing this year but you never know. Either way I bet they're having to roam further afield to find food right now.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
With the change in the weather it wouldn't surprise me @wild edges All the migrating birds have gone, and its wet and cold for small mammals to be out long, so little food about. The red kites have only just made it into this area, as they have been moving north towards us from Rutland over the last couple of years.
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Lovely isn't it - when they 'adopt' us. Hope you're charging a decent rent for that smart accommodation
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
In summer for the first time we saw a buzzard circling over our garden ( we know they surround our village but hadn't overflown it) or at least we thought it was.
Yesterday coming home we saw a bird of prey on carrion on the road, and to be sure looked it up when home. According to the RSPB book it was a buzzard. The choices were that or red kite, but the tail was the deciding factor, buzzard tail ) and red kite (
Today spotted a raptor circling over the garden and took notice of the tail, definitely a red kite. Wouldn't have known if we hadn't looked it up yesterday.😁
We have a very famous site for red kites, at Argaty, which is in central Scotland
https://argatyredkites.co.uk/
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...