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Haven’t seen a greenfinch or bullfinch for years, even at the feeders, which draw flocks of goldfinches. I know greenfinch numbers were seriously affected by an outbreak of trichomonosis and still haven’t recovered.
I hadn’t seen a bullfinch for a long time either, which made today’s sight all the more pleasing. Plenty of chaffinches and goldfinches about, no greenfinches
Cold weather does seem to make birds less timid. A massing of hungry blue tits, great tits and dunnocks hogging refilled feeders with a robin bullying them gave me a fine show from my chair a mere 5 yards or so away
Simple pleasures
If Trumps idea is to dish the land out as things stand then Ukraine will want a foothold in Russia so Putin doesn’t get it all his own way ….
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Cocooning myself in gardening, nature and midweek NH Racing at the gaffes does bring solace. Selfish or sensible I’m not sure; both probably
Sensible more than anything Drone. Whilst we shouldn’t ignore the various dreadful things going on in the world, equally we shouldn’t spend too much time and energy worrying about things over which we have no control. I try to practice what I preach but don’t always find it easy.
Just noticed I made a gaffe there, should be gaff. Duly edited
-6C this morning, poor little tweeters. Better go and refill the feeders
“C’mon the Sandgrounders”.
It occurred to me last night that the epic encounter between Southport and Nelson was in fact a clash between two former football league teams.
Nelson, now playing in the sixth tier of the non league, held football league status for a decade and even won the old Third Division North in 1923. They lost their league status in 1931, when they were voted out in favour of Chester City in the murky and dubious re-election process which existed before promotion and relegation from the non league was introduced in 1986.
Southport were the last club to fall victim to this process, when they were voted out in favour of Wigan Athletic in 1978. Southport fans have loathed Wigan ever since.
The process did seem to discriminate against clubs from the north of England. The last five clubs to be voted out were Gateshead, Bradford Park Avenue, Barrow, Workington Town and Southport. All were replaced by clubs further to the south (although not much further in Southport’s case). Having said that, Hartlepool United lived a charmed life in facing re-election 14 times and never being voted out.
The current Premier League teams Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton and Crystal Palace all survived re-election at some point.
Anyway, back to the impending nuclear winter…
-6C this morning, poor little tweeters
I hear a lot of Tweeters prefer the Blue Sky these days…
CAS:
Southport were the last club to fall victim to this process, when they were voted out in favour of Wigan Athletic in 1978. Southport fans have loathed Wigan ever since.That made me smile, its good to, have these. Your lot need to draw them in the FA Cup one year, revenge!!
Put some old bread out for the birds today. The magpies had it but never noticed before that they buried the bits they didn’t want in the snow and came back later for them. Took one a while to find it though.
I put some fat/seed balls in a feeder about a fortnight ago. The magpies went crazy about them and polished them off in a day or two.
There do seem to be a lot of magpies around at the moment. Everywhere I go I see dozens of them. They must have had a good breeding season.
I used to see more jackdaws in my neighbourhood but not so many this year. They used to nest in the chimneys of the old houses. A lot of those houses had scaffolding around them in the spring and I think it scared away the jackdaws. They might come back next year.
My feeders are enclosed in a Heath Robinson chicken wire cage which allows entry for sweet lil’ songbirds but keeps out notorious large gobblers such as magpies, crows, jackdaws, wood pigeons and squirrels. They do alright though as there’s plenty of spill on the ground for them to hoover-up, providing they get there before the rats, of which there’s something of a plague this autumn
Live, and let live
Nature red in tooth and clawMagpies do seem to have increased in numbers over recent years
I quite like corvids but they can be a bit odd, even a little disturbing sometimes. It is no surprise there is so much folklore associated with them.
I once saw a few crows viciously attacking another crow in my garden. I am not sure what he had done to anger them so much but the attack was furious.
Corvids can also be useful for birdwatchers. If they become agitated it is often an indication that a bird of prey is around. Crows particularly dislike buzzards and will try to mob one as soon as they see it. I often see that sight above the local fields.
Better still was when I watched a falconry display at the Southport Flower Show. The fellow released a gyrfalcon and let it fly around the vicinity. The local seagulls had a meltdown and were constantly harassing the intruder. The gyrfalcon was completely indifferent to their presence.
We stuck some black metal silhouette ducks in our lawn and not by intention it actually scared the magpies off. I threw some seed on the ground near them and the magpies looked from the nearby fence but wouldn’t approach the seed, not the jackdaws thought not much stops them.
The more I know the less I understand.
When my daughter had a tiny Schnauzer puppy and I had a whippet puppy we were both worried that we suddenly seemed to have buzzards around our gardens, even though they are scavengers more than predators. I hung lots of cd’s in the trees round my house but her house is quite exposed. However, the corvids chased her buzzards away. When I put food out in Mikes garden in Northumberland I always shout ‘hey crows’ and the rooks appear as if by magic and I love watching the pecking order with the rooks, jackdaws, magpies and gulls. I’m currently hiding from the news; this is the least political I have been in the whole of my adult life. I just listen to podcasts, watch box sets, old movies and will soon be starting on The Children of Green Knowe and The Box of Delights, the latter of which is going to be shown on BBC4 as it is it’s 40th anniversary. The wolves are running…
I have a wide grill feeder for fat balls which sparrows and tits can access but keeps out the corvids; robins arent as good at perching, so also attached a heavy padlock to the bottom of the feeder which makes it easier for them. For the finches I use an ordinary feeder for sunflower hearts; goldfinches are messy and plenty of hearts fall for chaffinches and dunnocks. Also have a groundfeeder cage for crumbled up fat balls and sunflower hearts; put some puppy food in at night for the hedgehogs, as the hogs can dig under the cage but cats can’t.
Tho I haven’t seen the hedgehogs since September so suspect they are deadAre you surprised your surprised Ginge , Trump is going to let Putin save face and no doubt hand over land , yeah has even taken over the Gaza strip and has eyes on Greenland …. Trump unlike his last term seems to be in the mood to manage the world …God help us
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
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