What's buzzing or flying near you 2025 ?

Something else to worry about…

Pet fur found in songbird nests contains high levels of pesticides, study finds

 

A green woodpecker in the long grass areas in the orchard for a long time. Male great spotted on one of the feeders. They are so nervous and fly away if we move in the kitchen.

 

Lucky you. Since all the ash tress round here died of ash dieback I haven’t seen a single woodpecker of any kind. We used to have both the green and the greater spotted.

 

Thanks for posting this @Tidemark. We've been collecting fur from our cat and hanging it outside during nest-building time. Looks like we'll have to go back to using fluff from the tumble-drier.

I'm guessing there might also be potential dangers with the birds using sheep's wool. There's plenty of that lying around up here.

 

Yes, I’ve been a cat brush fluff collector too. The things you don’t think about.

 

Last year the great tits had a nest in one of my boxes and were busy bringing in food. Then it suddenly all stopped, much too soon. I'm pretty sure nothing fledged.
When I cleaned out the box in the autumn I found the bottom half of the nest was moss and the top half dog hair. I don't have any cats or dogs so I have no control over this.

 

Oh dear, how sad.

 

Coal Tit, more visible than the Goldcrest, nice to see both in the garden again.

 

Never seen a goldcrest on a feeder before! I get them but they dart around at the tops of the trees. I get plenty of coal tits, they are obsessed with black sunflower seeds and stash them all over the place. Here's a result of this - making a valiant attempt for life on the 15th Jan!