Firstly , news , or lack of it , of the Racing Pigeon . Having found it close to death , a night in a new loft , the cat's basket out in the garage , it looked in much better health in the morning . It should have looked better , given the amount of food it had eaten , and the amount of droppings it had passed . On reporting it to the Racing Pigeon Club , I recieved back a computer generated message to the effect that they would contact the owner , and I would be contacted by email or phone regarding collection . I hadn't had a phone call , so checked the emails , of which there were none . Having cleaned out the 'loft' and replenished food and water , I thought I must hear something yesterday . Nothing transpired , so the Pigeon spent another night in the garage . By this morning it looked as fit as a fiddle and cooing happily . I waited till mid morning and not recieving any message , decided the best thing to do would be to release the bird . I did not want to release it in the garden , as it would probably just stay and feed on the path , as it had obviously now got a taste for the birdfood put down . So I took it back close to where I found it , opened the front of the basket , and nothing happened , it was quite happy sitting at the back of the basket . A bit of encouragement , tipping the basket above an adjacent fence post got the bird out , but it just sat on the post preening itself . Eventually , I clapped my hands and it flew into the adjacent hedgerow . With warmer conditions and a full stomach , I left it to reorientate itself , and hopefully get back to it's own loft and food .
Bit worrying that people involved apparently couldn't give a monkey's about the bird .
On the way back , I stopped at a very frozen Keston Ponds . All three are almost totally frozen over , but because they are spring fed , flowing from one to the next , small areas of open water exist on all three ponds . There was no sign of the Canada Geese , Mandarins , Ringed Teal or the dark duck with white breast . Mallard , Coot , Moorhen , Aylesbury type and Muscovy type remain .
Amazingly , with warning notices all around the ponds , the snow lying on top of the ice shows that some people have foolishly ventured into the middle of the middle pond , some 15/20mtrs. from the bank . 'Haven't got the brains they were born with' comes to mind .
I also stopped at the Common to check the fire we left yesterday after our workday . Even after nearly 24 hours , just removing the ash from the top produced a temperature which made you take a step back . Having a walk around the area I could hear Bullfinch , and after a while searching , found two females feeding together on Silver Birch seeds . As I was watching them , a movement on my right caught my attention and it turned out to be a Goldcrest . I have spent ages recently attempting to get some decent shots , today , because the camera is in for repair , the Goldcrest was the most confiding I have ever seen , and came within a few feet of me and occassionally posed motionless . I believe it's called 'Sod's Law' .
On the way back to the car , I stopped at a Glade that we worked on before Christmas . I had seen Deer prints in the snow in several parts of the Common , but here there were so many prints . As I walked towards a line of lanky Gorse , a Roe buck exploded out of cover and headed off to cover in another bunch of Gorse . Looking back at the prints in the snow , there were also Fox and Badger prints as well .
If that wasn't bad enough , when I got home , Carol informed me that shortly after I left , she had a male Brambling in the garden , and watched it through binoculars for 2/3 minutes . I put some fresh food down and sat at the back bedroom window for just over an hour .
During that time I had ; Gt.Spotted Woodpecker ,Redwing (2) , Chaffinch (20+) , Goldfinch (7) , Greenfinch (10+) , Rose Ringed Parakeet (3) , Dunnock (2) , Starling (4) , Blackbird (2) , Song Thrush , Collared Dove (3 incl. male displaying ) , Jackdaw (2) , Woodpigeon (3) , Robin , Magpie (2) , Blue Tit , Coal Tit and a fly over Common Gull , but no sign of the Brambling .
6 hours ago
4 comments:
Ha Ha! Greenie, some days just take the P*ss. I know the feeling.
I found a racing pigeon once, I reported it, and was told that the owner wouldn't want it back because the bird must be no good. IE. it couldn't find it's own way home !
Hi Greenie, sounds like a dangerous area with exploding roe deer :-) Good on yer for looking after the pigeon.
Certainly a day for wildlife Greenie. If I ever need a tracker I know where to come. Glad you had great views of the Goldcrest.
hello greenie, we had a racer at workin the mill,we thought it just resting but after four days it was still there, so we tracked down the owner phone number on ring,and he told us he couldnt be bothered with it and asked if we could ring its neck needless to say we didnt and eventually it flew away.
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