"Odds & Sods" (old version) - please add to the new thread 2020 instead !

LOL, Hazel! Sorry you couldn't sleep. I'm with you in that the main way I can be up that early is not to go to bed! But this is making me tired--so I'll be off to bed soon! Night, night!

Unknown said:

Thanks Nige and Alan,

Nigel O said:

I don't think I've seen one all summer. 

to be honest Nige (and Alan),  it's the first time I'd seen a   Great Egret *  since around February time and it was like a bus …… wait for ages and then 3 turn up at once   lol      

* I refuse to refer to them as Great White as it sounds too much like a shark  !!!    this was eating fish too although not enough to fill it up   lol

Complete with lunch in mouth....

If it's any consolation, I too feel calling them a Great White for short, makes it seem like you're referring to sharks....

PimperneBloke said:

Scarey Starey Cormorant!

Brilliant photo PB, you certainly managed to get nice and close.

A couple of photos from two days ago;    I'm making the most of photographing the swallows outside our residence before they disappear off to Africa - I sure will miss them.   

Yesterday there were 22 of them on the telecommunications wire;       do they normally gather in larger groups and join other flocks before they fly off ?   

First here's the adult Swallow

getting those wing stretches in, limbering up before that long perilous flight ......

and next one of the juveniles ..........

"I'm watching you Mrs"    .............

narrowing it's eyes at me and the camera - or just nodding off ?     lol

perhaps it was thinking   "she's got those camera settings all wrong"    !!

what little beauties these youngsters are ......... yet to grow their long streamers

copying Mum or Dad doing those stretches !

Nice to see ... especially the youngsters critiquing your technique!

Unknown said:

do they normally gather in larger groups and join other flocks before they fly off ?  

I must admit I haven't seen it much over recent years, but when I was a youngster, just as swallows arriving was the sign of summer, I remember that dozens of swallows lining up on the power or telephone lines in the evening was a sign of their imminent departure and that summer was over. Back to the present and just this past week, I've started to see a flock of 50+ over the moors, so the families would certainly seem to be coming together.

Thanks PB and Nige,
@ Nige, after seeing a dozen on average numbers seem to have increased slightly here to around 25 so I guess they will choose a bright sunny day to depart. House Martins will also be leaving; it made us chuckle on Saturday evening when we returned home after dark and on entering the courtyard we could hear them chattering away in the nest above our front door and eaves ! I know the Martins make a bit of a poopy mess and you have to be careful entering/exiting the property, I'd rather have them nesting there knowing they have had a successful season and will hopefully return next year. I think our landlord was thinking whether to board off the area above the courtyard to discourage them nesting there in future but if I can at try at least to convince him to limit the work to only the part directly above the front door then my job is done ! Unfortunately, I am not sure we will still be in residence for the HM's return but whilst I am here I'll protect the area from any major work ! He is a very understanding and nice landlord who also appreciates nature and knows about nesting birds and the law so I'm sure he won't do anything too radical. .

Over the summer, I've seen loads of Swifts, Sand Martins and eventually Swallows, but only a few House Martins, so hopefully you can teach your landlord not to do anything to limit their success in future years.

Hazel and Nigel, I agree. Hazel, I, too, hope you can persuade your landlord not to block House Martins from nesting. You probably know that you can buy little transparent canopies which can be fixed over a doorway. They are not particularly attractive and do not fit in with certain house styles but they do protect people from receiving little unwelcome deposits from sweetly chattering, charming little Hirundines when arriving or leaving! I suppose they could be removed for the winter and put up again in the early spring.
As for flocks, we saw large flocks of Sand Martins on the sand islands at Frampton Marsh nearly 2 weeks ago, guesstimated something like several hundred, possibly more. Every now and then they would all take off and circle around, finally landing again on the same place. Never did see any birds of prey so do not know what set them off. Perhaps they were simply rehearsing, building up their strength for the big trip to come.

@ Nige and Ann, We'll be here till mid March (Apt. is said to be completed just before end of 2019 or early new year but looking at the build progress I doubt it will be Dec/Jan which they are stating at the moment ! and we wouldn't move in straight away as we would want to get all the necessary installed and the items out of storage, etc. ) Nothing more has been mentioned about sealing off the under-eaves but I think because these are private long term rental properties that it is the rentees that complain about the poopy mess.  Of course, a lot of folk are neither interested or clued up about birds and hence don't understand the importance of welcoming these precious birds but our landlord is fully aware and I will press the importance even further when I speak with him should it be mentioned again; there are lots of outbuildings/farm buildings around here so should the worst happen there should not be a shortage of places for the HM's to rebuild and nest although I know they tend to return to the same nesting site each year. Early days but the HM's have us fighting their corner whilst we are here !

@ Ann,  must have been lovely watching the SMs in such good numbers.    The Swallows are doing exactly the same here, grouping together on the overhead cables, flying around to feed on insects and gathering again.   Hopefully we get a decent prolonged spell of settled weather so they can get a good start on their long journey southwards;   you can't help thinking about the miles they and the other migrants fly and across the vast Sahara desert;  it never fails to impress me how the first time juveniles (even with their genetic imprinting) find their way to a new destination (for them) so very far away.    Making the most of them at the moment and crossing my fingers for a safe journey.