Quiet skies.

[Wild-Woman]

No swifts, no swallows, no crows, no gulls, no starlings. I've been in the garden quite a bit today but the skies have been deserted! Never known it so quiet. Usually we get an early morning flock of gulls travelling inland from the marshes but not today. We've had very low cloud cover and humid greyness.Whats going on?

[ellen h]

I don't know but its mighty quiet here too.....very stormy feel though!

[Wild-Woman]

Makes you think they know when to stay indoors as such.

[KentYeti]

Hasn't stopped my sparrows here in mid Kent. Been attacking their own seed feeder like there is no tomorrow. As usual!

Went and had a very brief look at the Vinters Valley Reserve near Maidstone and the feeders had lots of Great Tits on and around them.

Cheers,

Bryan

[Deb London]

The swallows were still very vocal here yesterday. And an added bonus was a small flock of House Martins. A bittersweet sight because they were obviously fueling up ready for the off, and they may not be here today even.

Having said that, quieter skies will mean very interesting skies. The movements of birds is fascinating, and new ones are seen and heard almost every day now. It frustrates me that I don't know what everything is. A nice kind of frustration though.

[Stinky Bob]

Harvesting is happening at the moment, the fields are full off crows, rooks and gulls, we still have swallows feeding their young in our potting shed and the same for the house martins under the eaves on the house, the swifts decamped about 2 weeks ago, and the sparrows are wrecking my veg beds with their dust bathing, the blackbirds are pinching my strawberries and raspberries, however the robin that used to come into the office every day for his suet has stopped so I reckon he has met his maker. Was surprised to see a fledgling cuckoo a week ago still chirping for feed, thought this was a bit late in the season as cuckoo have already been recorded as making it back to Africa.

[Wild-Woman]

All seems to be speeding past this year with the spring migrants already moving out. Still, at least we've got the inbound migrants to look forward to. Just wish the breaks were applied in nature a bit.......or is it me getting older!

[~T~]

It's actually started to get busy again round my way. Loads of gulls and corvids, starlings are back making a racket and eating me out of house and home, tons of house sparras and even some swallows/martins wheeling about above and I don't usually get them round mine.

[artdemole]

There are fields and valley next to my bungalow.Lots of activity around the fields with the harvest being cut and gathered in.In the front on lawns,open plan sheltered housing birds are still around.Jackdaws,blackbirds everyday.In the willow tree the blue tits are seeking out the insect with an occasional trip to the seed feeder.Collared doves and wood pigeons are around also.Gulls are on the roof just waiting for people to feed them.On the telephone wire daily seen are up to 6 goldfinches.Green wood pecker has put in an appearance this week.The swallows are still skimming the fields.Rooks are on top the tree tops.Sparrows can be seen feeding along the field hedge.So plenty of bird life here ....aDm...

[IOW_Birder]

Very quiet here too on the Isle of Wight, went for a ramble with a mate yesterday, hardly saw any "common" birds at all, no sparrows, blackbirds, etc,
lots of jackdaws, and gulls though. On a nearby lake we spotted 15 (yes, 15!!) little egrets with a grey heron, one local when told of our sighting said, "Thats nothing, Ive seen 35 roosting over yonder last september"!! Needless to say I will return in september

IOW Birder Check out my Isle of Wight nature blog!!