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By way of distraction from the football, wanted to share this with you. Was by the back door on Sunday morning, when all the birds in the garden started screeching. Looked round to a cloud of feathers and what looked like a sparrow hawk on steroids standing over a pigeon with it's foot on its throat. On looking it up, turns out it was a Peregrine Falcon and that we have actually got a breeding project for them here in Woking. Who knew ? The website link below gives details, history, videos and 4 live webcams including 1 of the breeding box which will hopefully get busy in about a months time. https://www.wokingperegrines.com/ This has become a bit like that big plane website during a storm for me, and I'm getting nothing done !
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 11:10 - Feb 13 with 6077 views
For the first time the other day I saw hundreds skylarks making that Swirley pattern to ward off predators, I was transfixed, possibly one of the best things I’ve ever seen.
favourite cheese mature Cheddar. FFS there is no such thing as the EPL
We've got a hawk that visits our garden and occasionally jacks up a pigeon and leaves it in a pile of feathers on our lawn. I think that fking hawk c*nt killed the squirrel too. Flying assmaster.
Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore.
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 11:56 - Feb 13 with 5970 views
That's fantastic, WokingR. I don't think I've ever seen a Peregrine Falcon in the wild. When hunting they're one of the fasted birds reaching over 200mph!
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 12:27 - Feb 13 with 5909 views
What I really miss is the sight of Kestrels hovering. Because of the success of the re-introduction programme red kites are now common as muck in the Hillingdon area which is all very well but I haven’t seen a Kestrel round here for years and it’s hard to believe the two aren’t causally connected. Possibly the law of unintended consequences in action.
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 13:55 - Feb 13 with 5810 views
We have a group of Red Kites that hover over our garden and also on the golf course I play on. It is so lovely to see them in flight not a wing movement just gliding around . Fabulous
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 13:59 - Feb 13 with 5786 views
Red kites are not known for killing, they normally eat road kill and just float about in sky looking around and basically just sort of being a bit of a hippy type hanging out bird thing.
We built Red Kite House In Wallingford for the Department for Environment and I got to know a few of the Scientists there after we handed It over, some the Scientists had beards and drove Volvo estates.
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 15:58 - Feb 13 with 5580 views
I'm in SE London, and we have a couple of Peregrine falcons (or did a year or so ago) that could be found daily on a local Church Spire. They are their food there apparently, but bred somewhere else.
Had Kestrels over the allotment, and you can get really close to them when they are hunting, sadly the magpies chase them off most times.
Most amazingly for me were the fact we had Kingfishers in Lewisham, that you could see regularly with a bit of patience.
A bit off topic, but on the general theme of nature being amazing, the Electric Blue Hap (Sciaenochromis) , a fish native to Lake Malawi in Eastern Africa, actually has blue and white hoops - provided you define hoops as going round the body rather than along it.
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 17:00 - Feb 13 with 5469 views
We have a Kingfisher in our garden in Surrey using the bird feeders.Never seen one before so very suprised also a Woodpecker doing the same.I see birds of prey most days now but not sure which ones they are as they are to far away to identify.
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 20:48 - Feb 13 with 5363 views
Speaking as someone who has an aviary in their garden, I frigging hate Sparrowhawks, the Chelsea of the Birdwood. Always causing aggro in the garden in the Summer, unless the cat is about....
A Kingfisher using a bird feeder? Never hear of that before, I guess all animals adapt to what is around them. Have you started leaving some sardines out!? Woodpeckers seem to do it a lot, they seem to like the peanut ones, that I've seen anyway.
I don't know much about these things, but I guess a good second hand pair of binoculars and a bird book could help you find out what they are.
I don't think the fall in the number of kestrels is down to the resurgence of red kites; as Ted said, red kites are mainly scavengers. In Oxfordshire, they have been known to swoop down on playgrounds to try to nick kids' packed lunches! Hang on to that Peperami!
Here's some further insight from the Woodland Trust. The removal of hedges, the lack of rough field margins and the fall in the number of traditional hay meadows have taken away the habitat of many of the creatures they eat. Luckily, many farmers are now deliberately creating field margins of wild grasses and wildflowers, to help threatened species and to also attract pollinators (good for their crops amongst other things) and wildlife which feed on pests.
"The UK’s kestrel population has fallen by half since 1970. It is not known exactly why the species is declining, but a number of factors have been suggested. Agricultural intensification may have reduced field vole numbers. Meanwhile, kestrels are suffering secondary poisoning by eating voles and mice that have eaten poison meant for rats. Loss of nesting sites, such as old trees with cavities, is also a possible factor".
Actually, I just remembered that I read somewhere that those ring-necked parakeets you often see nowadays nest in holes in trees and that they have therefore been taking nest sites which native birds, like the kestrel, would normally use.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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Nature is Bloody Amazing on 14:58 - Feb 14 with 4896 views
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