Beeston Birdman

En route for an appointment yesterday (19th) I walked through Nottingham University Park (Highfields) and the wildlife was a sight to behold. I took so much time clicking away with my camera that I was nearly late for my appointment. 😦 Here is a selection exclusively concerning Egyptian geese. Other species seen will form the basis of the next posting on the blog 🙂

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Meanwhile the adults concentrated on having a jolly good bathe.

Finally a shot of an unrelated bird in flight. Not something at which I excel but this is an acceptable attempt 😉

The bright sunshine offered perfect conditions yesterday for observing bird life in the garden. I cleaned out the birdbath, checked the feeders and scattered some wool fleece among the shrubs and settled down to see what turned up.

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I thought these pictures of sunlit garden birds were appropriate for the nice sunny days we are currently enjoying.

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I spotted this blackbird having a good preen on the edge of the birdbath yesterday evening. It made me think, “When you’ve got an itch, you’ve gotta scratch!” 🙂

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You may get the impression that I spend all my time monitoring the peregrine nest cam on the Nottingham Trent University building but you would be mistaken. I spend most of my time staring out of the window 😉 This morning I just happened to go onto the website at the right time to observe and record a changeover. Click on each image to see an enlarged view.

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Around lunchtime yesterday (15/04) I caught sight of a large bird with a white rump taking off from the lawn and landing initially on the fence. It moved around and also perched on the apple tree affording some more natural views. It was only after taking numerous photos that I saw that in fact there were two of these handsome jays paying us a visit.

Not being able to catch them close together I’ve highlighted them in this wide angle shot.

These may be shots of just one of the birds or both of them. I cannot see any distinguishing marks on either.

On checking the statistics I noted that the blog had been viewed in five different countries just yesterday. This prompted me to check the numbers over the last few weeks. In addition to the countries above, since 1st March, people have viewed the blog in Spain, Netherlands, Singapore, Philippines, Latvia, France, Czechia, Italy, Australia, South Korea and Canada, a total of 15. Greetings to you all! It would be great to get some foreign followers. 🙂

One of two jackdaws gathering nesting material in the garden a few days ago. I understand they are nesting in a neighbour’s chimney which could be problematic.

A pair of great crested grebe trying to build a nest around a drowned tree at ANR yesterday (14/04). I doubt if they will succeed as the water is quite deep at that point. The camera was hand held so the image is a bit wobbly.

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These are images of wildlife taken recently by my friend Dave in his garden. One of the tawny owls popped out of the nest box for just a moment and a pair of mallards have taken up residence on his garden pond. They would be wise to find a more secure location in case Mr Fox pays a visit.

Checking the NTU peregrine nest this morning (13th) I was pleased to see that the camera was zoomed in just when the brooding bird was shuffling the eggs around. Here are four of the screenshots I took in the space of a couple of minutes.

Trawling through my photo archive a few days ago I came across this image of the brood in May 2015. I doubt if we shall see such a large brood this year as two of the eggs laid by the first female were neglected until the second female turned up and laid two more.

Here is the link to the nest camera if you wish to monitor progress yourself.

Peregrine Nest Cam | Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Can you match the male birds (above) with their partners (below)?

Mute swan chasing off a rival/interloper (upper) then braking hard (lower).

There’s nothing like a good stretch!

A pied wagtail came quite close as I was finishing my coffee in the picnic area. They are often seen in paved areas scurrying about picking up minute insects.

The great crested grebes are looking resplendent in their summer plumage. I hope to see their mating display sometime soon and some ‘mint humbug’ babies in due course. I took the picture below in April 2015 in Highfields, University Park where a parent bird was giving three offspring a lift. I am finding this an increasingly rare sight. I suspect nests are being predated and in some case inundated when water levels rise.