The UAFC

A lot of kingfisher sighting down on the Lagan towpath this last few weeks. I've recorded at least 6 separate sightings along the old canal above Mickey Taylor's lock - probably the same one or a pair, as they are territorial. Usually perched on a bullrush and close enough to give you a good view if you're quiet

There's also a couple of Grey Lag geese still wintering down towards the weir and I've seen a buzzard regularly hovering over the meadow.

Kingfishers are beautiful birds. I've only seen two in my time. Once along the Minnowburn and once down here along the Bann. Buzzards are a common as muck in the sticks and big feckers to boot. I was cycling along the Newry canal tow path and one was perched on a fence post. It just watched me as I cycled past. Needless to say I watched it too just in case it decided I was a threat and fancied a go. Plenty of Herrons along the Bann as well. Merv you'd probably get more interest on this thread if you signed yourself as Kate Humble.

Trying to find the hidden message

Is Jared swimming again?

I'm fatally attracted to Kate Humble MUM, I hear that she has something in common with Sammy Wilson....... and though I'm as gay as the next man, I'd far rather chance upon Kate's ringpiece than Sammy's flabby backside.

Thon cretin Campbell thought himself funny with his curried yoghurt but the funniest thing ever said in the Semmelie was Fartin M'Guinness with, "ach Sammy, great to see you with your clothes on". Amen to that.

I'm not a dedicated twitcher, but I do love watching birds during a little "me" time.
We get some fantastic birds visit the garden, mostly the usual common types.
We have a Sparrow Hawk who's a regular, seems quite partial to the collared doves.
Last year, we had a visit, to the Mere at the bottom of our road, a Fish Eagle!
It didn't hang around for long, but you couldn't move for twitchers for days.
My favourites are Sparrows, busy little things
It must show that all the care and work done in the countryside is paying off when birds like buzzards, Hawks, herons etc appear to be thriving.
Having said that, I live in an area where you can't drive 50 yards without road kill, so plenty of food around for whatever is in to that sort of thing.



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There's a rough looking bird can be seen on lampposts in the Lisburn area
She is known locally as the common IKE

Also not a dedicated twitcher but take more than a passing interest the birds in the garden and beyond.

Love seeing gold finches in the garden and have also had a couple of sparrow hawks (again) feasting on collared doves.

Occasionally get a heron in the garden (next door has a pond) and part of our garden is a bit marshy with plenty of frogs.

Probably my most "rare" visitors were the group of Bohemian Waxwings that came into the garden a couple of winters ago and stripped every berry off every bush before quickly moving on. Unfortunately was only able to get poor quality pics through the kitchen window without disturbing them.

big mervyn wrote:A lot of kingfisher sighting down on the Lagan towpath this last few weeks. I've recorded at least 6 separate sightings along the old canal above Mickey Taylor's lock - probably the same one or a pair, as they are territorial. Usually perched on a bullrush and close enough to give you a good view if you're quiet

There's also a couple of Grey Lag geese still wintering down towards the weir and I've seen a buzzard regularly hovering over the meadow.

It's a small world - whilst walking with the family on the towpath this day last week saw what was probably the same Kingfisher at roughly the same spot - my first sighting in almost 30 years and a first for everyone else - made our day.

On the top of Cave Hill the day before (Monday 28th March) saw a single swallow - I have ever seen a swallow before late April and was amazed - I know - one swallow doesn't make a Summer, but then neither does a whole flock in this country

Rovi Snave wrote:

big mervyn wrote:A lot of kingfisher sighting down on the Lagan towpath this last few weeks. I've recorded at least 6 separate sightings along the old canal above Mickey Taylor's lock - probably the same one or a pair, as they are territorial. Usually perched on a bullrush and close enough to give you a good view if you're quiet

There's also a couple of Grey Lag geese still wintering down towards the weir and I've seen a buzzard regularly hovering over the meadow.

It's a small world - whilst walking with the family on the towpath this day last week saw what was probably the same Kingfisher at roughly the same spot - my first sighting in almost 30 years and a first for everyone else - made our day.

On the top of Cave Hill the day before (Monday 28th March) saw a single swallow - I have ever seen a swallow before late April and was amazed - I know - one swallow doesn't make a Summer, but then neither does a whole flock in this country

I believe, but could also be wrong, that the collective noun you seek is a flight,or a gulp of swallows.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Rovi Snave wrote:

big mervyn wrote:A lot of kingfisher sighting down on the Lagan towpath this last few weeks. I've recorded at least 6 separate sightings along the old canal above Mickey Taylor's lock - probably the same one or a pair, as they are territorial. Usually perched on a bullrush and close enough to give you a good view if you're quiet

There's also a couple of Grey Lag geese still wintering down towards the weir and I've seen a buzzard regularly hovering over the meadow.

It's a small world - whilst walking with the family on the towpath this day last week saw what was probably the same Kingfisher at roughly the same spot - my first sighting in almost 30 years and a first for everyone else - made our day.

On the top of Cave Hill the day before (Monday 28th March) saw a single swallow - I have ever seen a swallow before late April and was amazed - I know - one swallow doesn't make a Summer, but then neither does a whole flock in this country

I believe, but could also be wrong, that the collective noun you seek is a flight,or a gulp of swallows.

You are quite correct Grumps - I particularly like "Gulp"

This link will take you to the results of the RSPB 2016 survey.

https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjo ... /birdwatch

The most common things twitching here are the curtains of a furtive couple across the road and a bit down from me. They are part of some self-invented religious cult, and having been a "common slut" and a pervy looking policeman who sells snooping devices in his spare time, they found God, made their children throw their Pokemon cards in the bin & denounced Harry Potter as the work of Satan. Odder than blue fu@k.

However, like Sammy the Nudist, getting back to Big Merv's nature watch, rather than birds, though I too get the odd heron visiting & more sparrows than you could shake a stick at, my more interesting visitors are some tiny bats who have appeared for over a decade in late spring and on warm days are always buzzing the western edifice of Trouser Towers where the heat of the fading sun gathers insects and they go to & fro polishing off flies, midges and anything else that flies.

Adorable wee craters and by coincidence we also get bats in late evenings at our wee Spanish hovel, Mrs T is quite taken by them. We also get huge numbers of swifts and plenty of swallows, the lake in front of our hovel has a couple of varieties of duck & as Merv probably knows well, there are hundreds if not thousands of Flamingoes to be seen on the coastal salt pans.

Did Paster O'Connell not find a rare bird at the bottom of his garden…

I used to have humming birds as a regular visitor to the garden.

I like tîts

I hand reared some mammaries when I was a little boy.
Well one blue bieber to be exact as the other 7 snuffed it after the mum had abandoned the nest in our garden bird box.
I can still hear a blue mammaries call above any other bird and I have learned that it basically translated means, "hurry up and feed me before we all die you fecker."