Hen Harrier ....!!!

[stewie 3,387]

Worth the value of the cabinet, Lurker1. And, what would anyone do with such a cabinet these days? Wild birds eggs are contraband. Period. No if', but's or give me a break's. Like bits of badgers.

 

Only, ye can get away with antique badgers. I'd imagine they'd turn a blind eye to a sealed, internally labelled case too, if it happened to contain a bird, nest and eggs from a by gone era.

 

But, egg collections? Even century old ones? No way. Only thing to do is roll them with a pastry pin. Because there's simply no way ye allowed to have, pass on, sell or do f**k all else with them. And, no. Natural History Museum won't want them either. They have their own.

 

Make them disappear. Or hope to f**k you never gave a gavver in your home.

 

That's the law. I didn't make it

 

well i never knew that mate!!! what a shame tho that someones life long work (legal or not) is only worth scrap value........ some of them collections must of took a hell of alot of hours and graft to get together.........

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

When I was younger, I knew a man, Mr Rance. He had just such a Collection in a f**k off great set of drawers. He was in his sixties then. This was fifty years ago.

 

Protection of Birds Act. 1954 put paid to bird catching and egg collecting. Mr Rance genuinely had garnered his haul, perfectly legally.

 

My memories are of the fact that he always took entire clutches. Whilst we amateurs thought taking a single egg was forgivable.

 

Of course, take an egg and you kill a bird. Take the f**king lot, even destroying the nest? They'll rebuild and lay again.

 

My collection showed single trophies. 'This is a Blackbirds. This is a Starlings.' Mr Rances showed the amazing differences in sizes of actual eggs, over the years.

 

Wrens may have laid about eight eggs a clutch, each year for ten years. But the size of the Eggs could go up and down exponentially, year by year.

 

Most of all though, I remember the absolute reverence he had for his Collection, after all those years of it just sitting there, in its mahogany drawers.

 

Oh; And the Great Reed Warbler egg he'd bought, again, perfectly legally, from Watkins & Doncaster

 

[stewie 3,387]

its certainly serious business to some!!!

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/may/27/topstories3.mainsection

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7170492.stm

[johnny boy68 11,726]

lets see if anyone can find a skylarks nest either with eggs or chicks ive found plenty over the years when i was younger but fcuk me ive searched everywhere that holds a good few and just dont seem to be able to find them.i know their nesting there but i end up giving up on them as it head recking...i once new were a ring plover was nesting in a lapwing field it had plenty of little stones in it,the bird was dragging its wing on the ground when i was close to the nest it took me a week to find that nest ut what a sight and that was in kirby where news international is now built

[pip1968 2,490]

 

lets see if anyone can find a skylarks nest either with eggs or chicks ive found plenty over the years when i was younger but fcuk me ive searched everywhere that holds a good few and just dont seem to be able to find them.i know their nesting there but i end up giving up on them as it head recking...i once new were a ring plover was nesting in a lapwing field it had plenty of little stones in it,the bird was dragging its wing on the ground when i was close to the nest it took me a week to find that nest ut what a sight and that was in kirby where news international is now built

 

did you find that or have you got it off google,tell you what though thats a belter of a photo

[johnny boy68 11,726]

 

 

lets see if anyone can find a skylarks nest either with eggs or chicks ive found plenty over the years when i was younger but fcuk me ive searched everywhere that holds a good few and just dont seem to be able to find them.i know their nesting there but i end up giving up on them as it head recking...i once new were a ring plover was nesting in a lapwing field it had plenty of little stones in it,the bird was dragging its wing on the ground when i was close to the nest it took me a week to find that nest ut what a sight and that was in kirby where news international is now built

 

did you find that or have you got it off google,tell you what though thats a belter of a photo

 

Get them up behind my house pip, lots of them up there, if you go up without the dogs they're much easier to find.

[pip1968 2,490]

 

 

 

lets see if anyone can find a skylarks nest either with eggs or chicks ive found plenty over the years when i was younger but fcuk me ive searched everywhere that holds a good few and just dont seem to be able to find them.i know their nesting there but i end up giving up on them as it head recking...i once new were a ring plover was nesting in a lapwing field it had plenty of little stones in it,the bird was dragging its wing on the ground when i was close to the nest it took me a week to find that nest ut what a sight and that was in kirby where news international is now built

 

did you find that or have you got it off google,tell you what though thats a belter of a photo

 

Get them up behind my house pip, lots of them up there, if you go up without the dogs they're much easier to find.

 

johnny i only have to walk 5 mins and im in open fields,but i just dont seem to have the nack or the patience to find them,ive even sat there when one has got up a good distance away and watch it go back and still cant find the fcuker

[johnny boy68 11,726]

 

 

 

 

lets see if anyone can find a skylarks nest either with eggs or chicks ive found plenty over the years when i was younger but fcuk me ive searched everywhere that holds a good few and just dont seem to be able to find them.i know their nesting there but i end up giving up on them as it head recking...i once new were a ring plover was nesting in a lapwing field it had plenty of little stones in it,the bird was dragging its wing on the ground when i was close to the nest it took me a week to find that nest ut what a sight and that was in kirby where news international is now built

 

did you find that or have you got it off google,tell you what though thats a belter of a photo

 

Get them up behind my house pip, lots of them up there, if you go up without the dogs they're much easier to find.

 

johnny i only have to walk 5 mins and im in open fields,but i just dont seem to have the nack or the patience to find them,ive even sat there when one has got up a good distance away and watch it go back and still cant find the fcuker

 

They are quite hard pip, they do this flying and landing to confuse you where the nest is, they like to nest in the big tufts and usually if theres a nest they'll come out of the side rather than straight up.

[bell 3,602]

Bell; What I wouldn't give to get into your garden, with my ringing kit, mate! I'd have a field day!

 

My own garden list would normally figure something very much like; Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Swallow, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Starling, Spotted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler.

 

This year's been a total disaster. Rung, so far ....? One, small box of Great Tits.

 

Armageddon

Forgot to mention 2 pair of swallows and a wren in one of the stables aswell ! Found many a ringed plover on the west coast islands and common and arctic terns many years ago.......stunning birds.

A ringer eh Pete ? im a fecker for stopping and picking up any rta Barn owl i come across. Must pick up 30 to 40 a year and usuallu 5 to 10 are ringed. im in North Yorkshire, the furthest travelled so far came from the far side of the Lake district. Also picked up ringed Kestrel, little owl, shag and a long tailed tit !

 

Regards

 

Bell

 

[Ratreeper 441]

I don't keep track of anything but do love seeing different species of birds, I need to learn more as I am always seeing birds I could swear I have never seen before.

My favourites are generally owls and other raptors, but I do have a soft spot for goldcrests and love seeing them.

 

Can anyone help me identify a bird I saw the other day? I watched it for about 10 mins in the woods, it hung to trees like a treecrawler but it caught my attention as it was pecking a hole in a branch, with considerable determination but nothing as efficient as a woodpecker (like a crow type jabbing). It was about starling/blackbird size but it looked gray in colour and the smooth look of a waxwing, also quite slender.

 

Not sure if that description helps at all but I don't know what it was, this was in Dorset a couple of weeks ago.

[Ratreeper 441]

Oh and the best place I know of to see hen harriers is around Wisbech on the flat marshy land and I would see them every time I was in the area.

 

Red kites are pretty common in a lot of areas and I tend to see barn owls everywhere I have lived, but the best place was Lincolnshire and I would see a half dozen every day. But I barely ever see goldcrests...

[Paid 935]

nut hatch ?

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

Absolutely definitely a Nuthatch. Lovely birds that we don't get here.

 

 

Bell; It's people like you, stopping to take a look and then Reporting rings, that makes it all worthwhile. Thanks for doing what you do

 

Ever thought of looking into Training yourself? It's absolutely brilliant craic. And, just spending time around an A Ringer, you'll learn amazing stuff.

[Ratreeper 441]

nut hatch ?

 

Yes that's the one couldn't remember what it was called for the life of me then. I will try and pay more attention to what I see and start a bird ID thread

[pip1968 2,490]

nut hatch ?

found a few nuthatch nests all local to me and they usually return each year and mud up the entrance to the hollow theyve chosen cracking birds to look at and easily recognised by their call