Discussion
ds. 
Mort7 said:
Red Kites are ten-a-penny here.
Agreed... they'll be back to being a pest species, soon (already are, in parts of Oxfordshire, where people putting meat out for them has led to them intimidating small children).Spring where I am is heralded by the bitterns booming, the aerial displays of the marsh harriers (we have up to 50 roosting on the edge of the village), and the return of the spoonbills.
I spotted my first spoonbill of the season a week or so ago
Equus said:
Mort7 said:
Red Kites are ten-a-penny here.
Agreed... they'll be back to being a pest species, soon (already are, in parts of Oxfordshire, where people putting meat out for them has led to them intimidating small children).Spring where I am is heralded by the bitterns booming, the aerial displays of the marsh harriers (we have up to 50 roosting on the edge of the village), and the return of the spoonbills.
I spotted my first spoonbill of the season a week or so ago
We have them sitting in the trees around our house, and on the odd occasion that we eat outside they have never been a problem. Fantastic aerial displays though!
You're lucky with the bitterns and the spoonbill. It took me years to see my first bittern. And as for white-tailed eagles, I've only ever seen one on Skye in the early 2000s, and that was from about a mile away. I understand that they're re-introducing them onto the Isle of Wight.
Still no cuckoo.
Mort7 said:
...the stories about them tend to be exaggerated.
Yeah, from what I gather, it's mainly the fact that they have lost their fear of humans, and are a big, scary bird to have hopping up to you when you're a 3-year old playing in your back garden.I don't think they've actually eaten anyone yet!
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