Those little moments.

[Monkeylegend]

Just had a pigeon fly into my lounge through the open patio doors, up into one of the skylights at the other end of the lounge and back out of the patio doors. Didn't even leave a poo or a feather behind.

Reminds me of the time I was following a guy in a white transit coming off a roundabout and a pigeon flew full pelt into his open drivers side window but didn't come put the other side. He managed to pull over safely to a stop as I drove past.

[surveyor]

I opened my car door as a bird shaft everywhere on Wednesday. Major clean up operation required, although did miss me.

[vixen1700]

Had one last night that made me chuckle.

We have six resident fox cubs in the small communal garden who pop up at various times of the day, but last night all six were together, jumping and running about, then from behind a bush one came running as fast as it could with a full-size leather football in its mouth which it then let go and the others then took turns picking it up and running with.

Love foxes.

[Fluid]

vixen1700 said:

Had one last night that made me chuckle.

We have six resident fox cubs in the small communal garden who pop up at various times of the day, but last night all six were together, jumping and running about, then from behind a bush one came running as fast as it could with a full-size leather football in its mouth which it then let go and the others then took turns picking it up and running with.

Love foxes.

User name checks out.

[Monkeylegend]

Neighbours at the back of us had a resident badger and it's young brood under their woodpile.

Not sure if it is still there but I am not going to check.

[slopes]

Sat on our balcony watching a Red Kite with about a 6 foot wingspan circle over head yesterday, even the crows left it alone for once.
I can remember them being a rarity back in the day and now they are back with a vengeance and i do like seeing birds of prey over urban areas.

Mind you, i was debating if it had it's eye on our Shi Tzu

[Jimmy No Hands]

slopes said:

Sat on our balcony watching a Red Kite with about a 6 foot wingspan circle over head yesterday, even the crows left it alone for once.
I can remember them being a rarity back in the day and now they are back with a vengeance and i do like seeing birds of prey over urban areas.

Mind you, i was debating if it had it's eye on our Shi Tzu

A few years ago Red Kites were reintroduced back into our area of Yorkshire. I now see probably 7 or 8 per day and they are constantly making their lovely whistle. Until we moved here I had never seen one, but they are so abundant now and spend a lot of time hunting in the nearby farmers fields. I've seen them fight with crows several times, even though they are much bigger, the crows can hold their own!

We have a small Yorkshire Terrier and they will circle her now and again!

[hammo19]

We had a juvenile starling staring out from the glass in our wood burner last summer. Obviously fell down the chimney, have had it close off now. We opened the patio doors and the door to the burner and it flew out unharmed.

[NDA]

slopes said:

Sat on our balcony watching a Red Kite with about a 6 foot wingspan circle over head yesterday, even the crows left it alone for once.
I can remember them being a rarity back in the day and now they are back with a vengeance and i do like seeing birds of prey over urban areas.

Mind you, i was debating if it had it's eye on our Shi Tzu

Where I am, in Hampshire, the crows will have a go at buzzards, but not red kites.... I live in a very rural spot and I see many birds of prey every day. Lucky me.

[Dr Jekyll]

slopes said:

Sat on our balcony watching a Red Kite with about a 6 foot wingspan circle over head yesterday, even the crows left it alone for once.
I can remember them being a rarity back in the day and now they are back with a vengeance and i do like seeing birds of prey over urban areas.

Mind you, i was debating if it had it's eye on our Shi Tzu

Very common in South Bucks/Oxfordshire. Glimpsed a bit of roadkill while riding down the Marlow to Henley road yesterday and next thing I saw was a huge Kite, altitude 6 feet, constant bearing decreasing range

I actually had to duck and still thought I was going to hit it.

They are vultures with better PR. Reintroduction to the Chilterns has been a success in terms of numbers but they haven't spread out as much as hoped. Partly because of people feeding them, which means that in places like Stokenchurch and High Wycombe they are in danger of becoming a pest through numbers and losing their fear of people.

[LargeRed]

I live in a recent barn conversion, where swifts would nest in years gone by.

I still get the odd swift fly in through the open front stable door. They make a mess as they sit (and spelt with a H) on the oak beams.

Have now installed a net covering that door.

[vixen1700]

On the subject of birds, the garden is on the flightpath of hundreds of parakeets each evening and if it's a sunny one you get to see a wave of bright green as they go past the window squawking.

[wolfracesonic]

Monkeylegend said:

Neighbours at the back of us had a resident badger and it's young brood under their woodpile.

Not sure if it is still there but I am not going to check.

Do you think you could beat one in a fight if needs be?

[austinsmirk]

We have a pheasant that visits our garden each year for some months. Quite tame now and we leave it food. Lovely thing. Beautiful plumage.


Had a bird stuck in one of the chimneys. Emptied the dining room. Sheeted up. Awaiting free lad bird to bounce off every thing in spot.

Opened patio doors: opened chimney up , it few straight out of the doors not making a mark !!

[popeyewhite]

I had a pigeon hit the front light cluster (£1200) of my Rangie two years ago, at quite low speed. More recently another hit the grille at a similar speed ("Noooooo..."), and bounced off with no damage to itself or the Rangie.

[Magooagain]

I was lucky enough early this morning to witness two Kingfisher's drag racing up and down a river this morning.

[Roofless Toothless]

I was driving my Caterham through Chelmsford some years back when a starling/blackbird sized bird shot out of a front garden right into my path. I think it must have been reckoning on there being a bit of a bow wave to help it flip up and over the car, but this being a Caterham, which aerodynamically passes through the air in the same way that a brick does, it’s calculations were wrong.

It hit me in the middle of my forehead, which was protected only by a woollen beanie. Quite a surprising thump as well. I looked in my mirror and saw behind me a circular puff ball of feathers hanging in the air just where the coming together had occurred, and the chap in the car behind laughing like a drain.

[Monkeylegend]

wolfracesonic said:

Monkeylegend said:

Neighbours at the back of us had a resident badger and it's young brood under their woodpile.

Not sure if it is still there but I am not going to check.

Do you think you could beat one in a fight if needs be?

Easy, I ticked yes to the complete list so a badger is no problem. In fact I think I could take the badger and pigeon simultaneously.

[slopes]

Jimmy No Hands said:

slopes said:

Sat on our balcony watching a Red Kite with about a 6 foot wingspan circle over head yesterday, even the crows left it alone for once.
I can remember them being a rarity back in the day and now they are back with a vengeance and i do like seeing birds of prey over urban areas.

Mind you, i was debating if it had it's eye on our Shi Tzu

A few years ago Red Kites were reintroduced back into our area of Yorkshire. I now see probably 7 or 8 per day and they are constantly making their lovely whistle. Until we moved here I had never seen one, but they are so abundant now and spend a lot of time hunting in the nearby farmers fields. I've seen them fight with crows several times, even though they are much bigger, the crows can hold their own!

We have a small Yorkshire Terrier and they will circle her now and again!

This one definitely had it's eye on our Shi Tzu and he is big for his breed but this thing was eyeing him up. Lady Slopes and i went out to our local Asda one weekend and on the way back, i looked back as she was a little bit behind me and there must have been 8 of them circling over the residential area and not another bird in the sky.

One flew past the vernada out the back and was at head height and i swear blind it was debating whether it could take me on or not and that one had a collosal wing span too. Just for reference, if it decided it wanted to have a go, i'd have legged it and got indoors sharpish.

[Sterillium]

I remember being out on the beers when younger, down in Newquay, and a seagull managed to st directly into my mate's open mouth. It still makes me chuckle now, thinking about it.