Nature quiz.

Sally

Is it a Goldcrest? Looks too colourful for a Wren...

Correct ccu it's a Goldcrest, Britains smallest bird ( many think the Wren is)

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I spent a weekend in Cornwall last year and saw lots of them.

Tit.

Goldcrest - however I believe that the Firecrest is smaller folks.

Had one crawl all over the apple tree a few times so I had a good chance to observe it.

Adam Campbell

Yea firecrest is smaller however that's a visitor the goldcrest is resident

Nice spot btw lovely little bird only ever seen a couple myself

Yea firecrest is smaller however that's a visitor the goldcrest is resident

Nice spot btw lovely little bird only ever seen a couple myself

Being a sad twitcher myself I have sat around in bird hides for hours in the past looking for rare birds.

You don't see too may Jays about anymore, my favourite bird is the Bullfinch - the red and black is striking on the male with a touch of white, beautiful.

That's why our garden is a haven of berries and items that would attract any hungry birds - the list I have of visitors that have actually landed in the garden is pretty impressive and includes the Goldcrest, my photos I took however at the time were on my phone and you couldn't even see it.

It looked like I had taken a photo of the ultra rare Hoodwink

Well munchy we agree on one thing at least lol...bullies are my favourite bird always have been used to get dozens in back garden as kid used to come after fruit buds on our Apple and pear trees we used to have a massive netted area for raspberries and I can't tell you how many got in and I had to let out

Get a pair of jays come in my garden for only a couple weeks a year late summer use bird bath and hang around then bugger off till next year something must attract them but I don't know what

Fantastic, a twitcher thread!! I've loved birdwatching since I was a kid, not been greatly active for some years but still enjoy looking out for rarer species. Favourite bird? Hmmm? Bit of an owl fan but, we used to get Waxwings in the back garden years ago. Rarest I've ever seen, a rare visitor to these shores, Great grey shrike. Me and my mate couldn't believe it, watched it in a copse of birch for about half an hour before it got dark. My god! That was at least forty years ago!!

My ex of about twenty five years ago lives up the road and I still refer to her as Baby Magpie behind her back as she worked at Burger King off London Road and there was loads of Pied Wagtails hopping around and she said 'ooh look baby Magpies' and it still makes me chortle to this day (probably only a birdwatcher would get the joke).

We still talk and it was ace as I used to go into the shop and buy the cheapest item and end up with one or two bags of goodies that would last about three days, she used to dive round to mine afterwards to tuck in.

Thing was that after three days I didn't want to look at another Burger King item in my life, took at least three months till I could look at them again.

Fantastic, a twitcher thread!! I've loved birdwatching since I was a kid, not been greatly active for some years but still enjoy looking out for rarer species. Favourite bird? Hmmm? Bit of an owl fan but, we used to get Waxwings in the back garden years ago. Rarest I've ever seen, a rare visitor to these shores, Great grey shrike. Me and my mate couldn't believe it, watched it in a copse of birch for about half an hour before it got dark. My god! That was at least forty years ago!!

Being a birdwatcher you look for shapes in the sky at times and I once spotted a Hobby - I was outside on the phone at work and it flew over low, like a massive Swift it was.

Swifts are a pretty damn awesome bird! I love watching them on a summers evening.

It's cool seeing the odd rarity however over as much pleasure seeing a hedge full of spoggies or hearing a blackie belting his lungs out at 4 in morning

Deffinatly a goldcrest seen quite a few around wreay and southwaite

Back in the day this was normally a trick question, unless you knew of course as of what is the smallest bird as man assume it is the Wren.

The Wren is a lovely friendly bird that often visits here as is the Robin.

I do like a goldcrest although I haven’t seen many.
Almost a year since I moved house and now have a small area of woodland to one side of us, great for a bit of bird-spotting.
So far:
Blue tit, coal tit, great tit, robin, magpie, chaffinch, bullfinch, goldfinch, tawny owl, greenfinch, collared dove, greater spotted woodpecker, goldcrest, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, jay, rook, wood pigeon, thrush, sparrowhawk, long tailed tit and tree sparrow.
Real privilege to have them living “next door”!

Lucky you Alan, I've only seen one in my garden once and it was a few years ago. I took a photo of it (which I can't find right now) that was very surreal. My late husband grew bonsai trees and the goldcrest was sitting on one, giving a novel prospective on the garden. They like pines and that sort of tree best it seems.

I've only got a tiny garden but usually have plenty of different species, not so much at the moment though. Too many visits by this chap.

Swallows and swifts for me.
Life can be bleak and hard at times but their reappearance each year gives me a lift.
Swooping and sweeping low over fields and hedgerows on Summer evenings can make your heart sing.

NCF you wouldn't be so keen on swifts if they a built a nest under your eaves. Damn noisy birds but I can imagine something worse moving in - green parakeets which have colonised the whole of North London.

Yes, where I grew up in Lincolnshire we had house martins and swifts nesting under our eaves.
That was in the 70s though and my mum and dad loved them despite the mess!
Maybe times have changed a bit as most people I know now who have them around tend to put large plastic owls or shopping bags on the windows to scare them away.

I always think we do quite well for birds living fairly close to the centre of Huddersfield, although it is a town with a lot of woods and trees.

Seen a sparrowhawk, jay, goldfinches and an owl in the garden as well as the more familiar visitors including a large local population of magpies and collared doves, the latter often calling down the chimney.

Growing up in Cumbria my grandparents were keen birdwatchers and had an elaborate home made bird table arrangement in their garden which was on the edge of Kirkoswald next to open fields and woods. They also used to open a back window and feed some tamer birds on the sill.

They used to get very excited if they saw a goldfinch (rather than a goldcrest) but they seem to be more common garden visitors these days.

On the other hand "those great dirty doves" were the bane of my grandmother's life as she blamed them for copiously crapping all over the windows.

https://youtu.be/zqtS9xyl0f4

Swallows and swifts for me.
Life can be bleak and hard at times but their reappearance each year gives me a lift.
Swooping and sweeping low over fields and hedgerows on Summer evenings can make your heart sing.

I like swallows for the same reasons ncf. My dad was a farmer but also a naturlist and he used to ring birds for the BTO. One swallow he rang as a chick at the farm, it came back every year (found out by checking the number on the ring on it's leg), to the same building at the farm for 10 years. I find it totally incredible that it journeyed between Cumbria and South Africa twice a year for so long, wonderful creatures.

I' not going to get my favourite bird in the garden, I've got to go to them. I just love puffins. Fabulous faces, rediculous calls (if you haven't heard one look it up). Such a determined little bird who seem so clumsy on land but so effective underwater.