Bird Watch - an update 3
Thank you for all your bird photos and descriptions - especially now that summer has officially started and the days are longer, the garden birds are becoming more daring.
Our photos sent over the last few weeks have been truely amazing so please keep sending them in and do encourage your friends to send pictures and descriptions in as well as they are lovely to share.
This initiative is part of the BirdWatch scheme we are taking part in. Garden BirdWatch is provided by the British Trust of Ornithology to help them understand how and why populations of garden birds and other wildlife are changing, and how they can assist them.
We want to see as many of these lovely pictures as possible to really capture this increased activity at the moment.
Please carry on sending in your observations and sharing with U3A via our online form.
Here are some of the most recent observations from members.
Bruce, Sudbury U3A, had a pair of long tailed tits with a nest in his hedge busy feeding their young. As he hadn’t seen them for a couple of days he assumes that the young birds have fledged. Location is Daisy Green, Groton, Suffolk.
John Bicester U3A has birds queuing for his pond who now keeping to social distancing rules.
This fantastic picture of a female kingfisher was taken at long range by Richard, Sudbury U3A. Richard also snapped this one day old cygnet on its father’s back at Great Cornard.
Macolm, Launceston and District U3A, snapped this male chaffinch feeding on spilled sunflower hearts.
Our most common garden friend - the pigeon
We all know the common garden pigeon well but what surprised us is just how many variations there are. When it comes to pigeons visiting your garden the chances are that you’ll have Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, or both! Here is a classic shot of a common pigeon that our Learning Manager, Alison May, has taken:
We would love to hear from more members about your sightings and for you to share any photographs you have managed to take of your feathered visitors.
Mary Gibbons is our Birdwatching subject adviser for the U3A movement, Mary has a lot of information on her Subject Adviser page to help with this and can help with any individual enquiries.