What's buzzing or flying near you 2025 ?

I wish that our birds would come back, it's very quiet here, every year the number drop and last year was the worst

 

Goldfinches are down to 4/5 and Siskins 3/4 unfortunately always being chased of by our aggressive Robin. Sparrows and Starlings have disappeared, just the occasional one or two.

 

Greater spotted woodpecker doing as its name says on the weather vane post for over half and hour this morning very loudly.
Sparrows still here with a few long tail tits and again chaffinches back.
Loads of the crow family flying hither and there and the robins are getting aggressive with each other.

 

Garden was very busy with long tailed tits all day today.

 

Our long tails though have been very few when we can see them. However had a great time watching a green woodpecker in the orchard which has some long grass heaps so it must have found an ant nest. Beautiful colours but too far away to see if it was a male or female. Good though to see it.

 

A North American vagrant, Lesser Scaup, Longham Lakes, Dorset.


With it's closely related cousins the common Tufted Duck and Pochard..

 

Six Siskins today with a few Goldfinches.




I have never seen one go on the peanuts before but it didn't seem to like them.

 

Bullfinches again today, this time two lovely males. Though by the time I got my camera switched on and focused, one had departed. The remaining one was stuffing his face with Verbena Bonariensis seeds.

 

The pair of Mandarin Ducks seem to have settled in Poole Park.


Avocets and Wigeon in Poole Harbour.

 

@Escarpment we will look more closely now at the verbena as we have had a bullfinch at the other end of the garden but maybe it has been around the verbena which is at the total opposite end.

 

Lovely pic of The Goldfinch @Escarpment we have one recently returned and we sit and watch home pecking branches of a Forsythia which overhangs our fence which runs over our steps up to our bungalow. Noticed loads of flower buds strewn over the steps the last few weeks, umh well yesterday found our book paperback size 'Garden Birds' and OH read Bullfnches do eat 'flowerbuds' Will have to wait now and wonder how the forsythias going to perform . I do take pics using my I-phone but nothing like your close-ups they are superb keep them coming !! and @strongylodon

 

I was thinking of getting rid of the Verbena Bonariensis as it grows so tall and lanky - no chance now though, I'll have to plant more. I've got Verbena Rigida at the bottom of the garden which is much more compact and also covered in seed heads at the moment, I wonder if they like that too? Can't see that from my window!

 

Yes they're known for eating buds and I believe fruit growers can consider them quite a pest. I'm lucky in that those plants are only a few feet from a window and the bullfinches stay for quite a long time feeding so there's the opportunity to fiddle with the camera! It's a difficult border though, gets very little sun which is probably why the verb. bon. get so lanky, trying to reach it.