Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[millidonk]

Riiiiight. You asked for it! Some of them aren't the best quality as they are taken through my patio doors. I have literally hundreds of snaps now. But i have tried to do some sort of quality control.

Take a deep breath..

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Here are my horrific attempts at taking action shots. Varying shutter speeds, apertures but my actual ability to take a shot is probably what hinders me the most, guess the birds:

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This one happens to have a bird in the background but i was just trying to get a shot of the rain falling.

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Think there are 9 varities of bird that frequent my garden now, so its quite good.

[rex008]

In a similar vein, walking this has just been added to my bucket list.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15482233

In my youth, when I was vaguely fit, I walked most of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path with 3 friends. We were all 16. Some great scenery, but I have to say the walking was rather monotonous; it was mostly flat on top of cliffs, but every so often there would be a stream/river valley to descend into, then climb out the other side. Not sure I'd want to do the whole coast, to be honest.

Was the first time I'd bought beer in a pub. First time I had bitter as well - one night we went to the pub, but I'd stopped at a phone box (remember them) to ring my parents. When I got to the pub the other three were sitting at a table, looking downhearted, nursing a coke each. I studiously ignored them, and in an effort to appear more mature I asked for a pint of bitter rather than lager. Think the landlord knew exactly what was what, but I got served. Early fist-pump moment in my life .

Drank bitter or real beer ever since. Mostly.

[kinboshi]

and an excuse to post this:

I didn't know you were a rugby fan Boshi.

Big rugby league fan (having spent some of my early years in Wigan, and having a dad who is a big league fan, his team's Leeds, it was inevitable), and much prefer watching rugby league to football on the whole. Not particularly interested in rugby union though.

Think we've had the discussion about the two on this very thread in the past.

[Junior Senior]

Nice pics Milligan. I love birds and now I live out in the sticks we get loads. We also have two cats and they have just reached hunting age. I hoped they would grow up not being interested in birds but sadly not to be. Just seperated one of them from an already injured baby sparrow which then got upstairs into the study and took about ten minutes to catch. Managed to get it in some Tupperware and release out the front. Really quite traumatic for me but about 1000 times more for the poor little sparrow

[RED-DOG]

The bird shots are coming on leaps and bounds now Milly, and I especially like the rain pic.

Can I suggest you take the nylon off the fat balls?

[RED-DOG]

Nice pics Milligan. I love birds and now I live out in the sticks we get loads. We also have two cats and they have just reached hunting age. I hoped they would grow up not being interested in birds but sadly not to be. Just seperated one of them from an already injured baby sparrow which then got upstairs into the study and took about ten minutes to catch. Managed to get it in some Tupperware and release out the front. Really quite traumatic for me but about 1000 times more for the poor little sparrow

I was looking at estimates of the number of birds killed by cats each year and I came across this, which I thing is interesting.



Originally Posted by Ragtime View Post

In the recent Birds Britannica show (week 1) the presenter said that cats are responsible for killing 50 million birds a year. I think I have remembered that correctly, yet even a casual flick through the RSPB guide totalling up the number of garden/woodland birds in Britain makes this almost impossible to believe.

Did I mishear? If not surely that number is incorrect? After all we have a dozen other reasons for birds dying as well to add to this number.

Any thoughts?


Without getting into the pros and cons of keeping cats, you may be surprised at the number of birds that do die each year (all reasons, not just cats).

Generally, for most passerines only 2 birds per pair are expected to survive until the next breeding season, so if we look at a few figures:

Blackbird: 4 million pairs, each producing two broods of three = 24 million that don't survive until the next year.
Blue Tit: 3 million pairs, each producing a brood of six = 18 million that die.
Chaffinch: 5 million pairs, each producing a brood of three = 15 million lost
Robin: 5 million pairs, each producing two broods of three = 15 million dead.

So, despite the fact that I have only looked at four common species (and I have deliberated reduced the estimated breeding population, the number per brood, and (to some extent) the number of broods, we are already at 72 Million! (and for these four species it's probably really nearly double that)
If I continued to total up the number of young produced by all of the UK's bird species that might be taken by cats, 50 million would end up as a fairly small percentage.

If you also look at the number of cats in UK ownership (estimated at 10 million, based on government figures), then for 50 million to be killed by cats they only have to take 5 birds a year on average - easily below a believable level, even if you take into account the fact that many will kill none.


So no, you probably didn't mis-hear. It is easily possible (and if there were no other threats to birds it would probably be easily sustainable - especially as the numbers of natural predators in many parts of Britain are still below natural levels because humans killed most of them).


Surveys have confirmed the figures of around 50 million birds killed, eg. this one (and even the cat protection league apparently give the same figure).

[millidonk]

Cheers Red. Yes I destring all the balls now. That was one of the the older shots.

Not looking forward to finding my first casualty. Had a starling on yesterday and a ginger tomcat was in my garden in hunter mode about to pounce until I banged the window and scared them both off. The birds have an allie in my yard. Apparently cats don't like orange peel so I am gonna put some of that down.

[Tractor]

Im hoping to have a go at some bird pics, once i get a feeder set in a decent position, any good tips?

[RED-DOG]

Im hoping to have a go at some bird pics, once i get a feeder set in a decent position, any good tips?

Lol yes. Patience.

Good variety of food in the correct feeders.

Niger seed.

Sunflower hearts.

Wild bird - finch mixture.

Suet balls.


I'm going to position some twig - log type perches etc near to the feeders so that I can photograph the birds in a more natural looking setting. I think the feeders spoil the pictures.

[sovietsong]

When Billie was about 18 months old I was visiting family in Eastleigh (near Southampton). I had found a beautiful walk that was very close to where we were staying, we walked though housing estate and down a guinel (ally for the cockneys) which led to a wide green clearing. I used to take billie off the lead at the entrance but make her walk behind me to the end at which point she would run out and get a stick or sniff about etc.

Early one Saturday morning with sleep in my eyes and a sore head we started out on our usual walk. at the end of the guinel an early bird was out catching worms. Before I'd even noticed billie chased the bird and plucked it out of mid air. being a city type didn't know what to do, luckily it was dead straight away so I didn't have to step up and do the right thing. Ever since that day billie has tried to catch ever bird we see but has always failed. I think the first kill must have given her a thirst for it but as she is so big and clumsy the birds always get the better of her.

So would have been 49,999,999 in 2009 due to my German Shepard.

[pokerfan]

If you get chance Mr Dog, my life as a turkey on bbc iplayer, sounds daft but was really good.

[RED-DOG]

When Billie was about 18 months old I was visiting family in Eastleigh (near Southampton). I had found a beautiful walk that was very close to where we were staying, we walked though housing estate and down a guinel (ally for the cockneys) which led to a wide green clearing. I used to take billie off the lead at the entrance but make her walk behind me to the end at which point she would run out and get a stick or sniff about etc.

Early one Saturday morning with sleep in my eyes and a sore head we started out on our usual walk. at the end of the guinel an early bird was out catching worms. Before I'd even noticed billie chased the bird and plucked it out of mid air. being a city type didn't know what to do, luckily it was dead straight away so I didn't have to step up and do the right thing. Ever since that day billie has tried to catch ever bird we see but has always failed. I think the first kill must have given her a thirst for it but as she is so big and clumsy the birds always get the better of her.

So would have been 49,999,999 in 2009 due to my German Shepard.

I had an Alsation once that perfected a technique for jumping up and snatching pheasants out if the air. (Which was fine because we eat them) he would stalk as close as he could and then when they started their take off run he would begin his charge.

Most of them would have got away, but they seemed to assume that just because they were airborne, they were out of reach.

10ft would have been out of reach. 9ft and under, not so much. 

[RED-DOG]

He once killed a hare in a pea field. the hare couldn't get going and he just ran it down.

He never ever caught another, but he never stopped trying.

[sovietsong]

He once killed a hare in a pea field. the hare couldn't get going and he just ran it down.

He never ever caught another, but he never stopped trying.

Thats what I find so interesting about it, the bird flew quite low and billie had a head start, she didnt bother with birds upto that day (then again this may have just been due to her age) but after she chases every bird she sees, normally from a long way away and they see her coming.

[Rod Paradise]

Saw a jay yesterday, only the second I've ever seen in this area. It caused much consternation to my passenger as I 1st braked heavilly to make sure I'd identified the bird in the bushes at the roadside correctly, then turned and raced back to see if I could get a pic - they're beautiful birds with a strident voice - much like the passenger after my sudden (to her) plunge into bird-spotter geekdom.