Deeside Sparrow

It's so obvious that this a globally important scientific research facility that MUST be kept EASILY accessible to British & World botanists from EXISTING public transport networks. Surely relocating Kew Herbarium uses carbon budget humankind does not have!

@WriterHannahBT House sparrow spring liveliness at 7am in the front garden! 🤎🩶🖤 FBOMD was a male making a short flight from privet to holly, probably then flew from holly to gate post, spied a fluffy feather on the ground, gathered it & flew into the privet.

First bird of my day: a buzzard mewing while flying over the garden as I watched its striped wings glide. #firstbirdofmyday #whatsyours

@WriterHannahBT Two males and one female house sparrow on the top of the privet which is just starting spring growth.

First bird of my day: the jingle jangle call of the corn buntings as they survey the freezing dawn. #firstbirdofmyday #whatsyours

@SoSSwifts @TycjanC @WriterHannahBT That's a fantastic outcome from that nest box! 😄 I can see @TycjanC's perspective, however, that starlings are not ideal, the reading up that I've done on swifts points out conflict arising over nest cavities is dangerous for swifts esp. starling's beaks.

@Deeside_Sparrow @TycjanC @WriterHannahBT Great nest spaces for nature. One of my nest boxes had Starlings breeding first, they fledged their young out mid-May when Swifts then used the nest box. House Sparrows took over the box in September, they had 5 broods in 4 different Swift nest boxes that year

First bird of my day: starlings chortling on the roof, making all sorts of noises as the gardens across their territory are blooming and spring equinox has arrived. #firstbirdofmyday #whatsyours

@TycjanC @SoSSwifts @WriterHannahBT Ah, I'd been under the impression swifts might've been a bit later than that arriving; potentially giving house sparrows an appreciable 'local' window of opportunity if spring was early/mild to be "in" & "OUT"! I'm fairly confident the 🤞 situation was 2024.

@Deeside_Sparrow @SoSSwifts @WriterHannahBT Yes, once they did. Can’t remember if it was ‘24 or ‘25. Our swifts usually start arriving c. 9th May, but last year the first came at the end of April. I’d seen a couple in the sky & realised we needed to get cracking cleaning the nestboxes! I’d just finished when it arrived! 😺

@Yarrowman1 @WriterHannahBT I don't think any apology is required for reporting any house sparrow(s) as a #FirstBirdOfMyDay!!! 😄

@WriterHannahBT Apologies folks but the single female sparrow was #FirstBirdOfMyDay yet again☺️

@TycjanC @SoSSwifts @WriterHannahBT Fairly sure I recall you reporting that Passer domesticus bred successfully in one of your boxes in 2024. But the family had vacated before Apus apus arrived, providing timely vacant possession to intended users! 😉 What's your average swifts arrival date?

@SoSSwifts @WriterHannahBT They always check them out but rarely stay - I think we’ve only ever had one Sparrow brood in them. The problem is that we go onto the balcony every so often - not much, not even every day, but enough to scare them off. The Swifts don’t seem to care at all though.

@WriterHannahBT Chirrup-listen-chirrup & repeat male house sparrow on the hedge top, aware of the location of his gang members doing the same. A bit later, another male, with a long twig, ascended to the gable end cavity. How did he get that twig inside?! 😯👏

@WriterHannahBT Herring gull flying languidly SE in the mist; apparently neither commuting inland with purpose or patrolling over gardens for kitchen scraps.

First bird of my day: a jackdaw walking up a roof with a stick and then diving into what is obviously its home. When I looked around, every roof had a jackdaw carrying a nesting stick and doing similar things. #firstbirdofmyday #whatsyours

@AliBake18511735 @WriterHannahBT Absolutely the same here as regards a heavy dew that I nearly mistook for frost. Handwashed shirts drying rapidly from radiant heat of the sun. Plenty of spring bird song! 🐦🎶😄

@WriterHannahBT Another beautiful morning. Heavy dew, which looks a little frosty, but feels like it's going to be warm. First birds, trilling Goldfinches and a lone Wood Pigeon #FirstBirdOfMyDay

First bird of my day: the sound of chiffchaffs in the nearest woodland. Even though it’s 3 degrees now, there is the smell of spring in the air and hope for a sunny day. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT A similar variety of birds in front of me as on Wednesday when I took the recycling out. It was the dynamism of a crow flying directly away that caught my attention being FBOMD. Then, a herring gull craning it neck to spy on me from that chimney stack! 😆

@WriterHannahBT A kaleidoscope of delightful avian species already arrayed around the road in the earlier daylight looking for 1st bird shortly after 6am! FBOMD a flypast wood pigeon which distracted me from the two herring gulls back on the chimney stack opposite. 🤔

First bird of my day: the shadow of a sparrow against the wall. Such a dreamy delicate picture, like an old film. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT Hmm, haven’t seen mine yet this year🤔 Single female sparrow #FirstBirdOfMyDay with another half dozen arriving as the tea brewed🙂

@WriterHannahBT Greenfinch garden debut, wowsers! 🙌 Mine: Aerial-perched sentry jackdaw at 7am. 😄 The previous 'sentry' FBOMD seen as long ago as 19 January. On 8 February, I stated almost reporting two jackdaws as sentries but I'd realised that the birds were not alone.

First bird of my day: a greenfinch in my garden. This is a never-before-witnessed situation. Excitement overload as I follow his churring to the willow tree and beam up at his green velveteen frame. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours

@JasperManUtd @WriterHannahBT Of course I don't mind! You are saying what bird and how you have seen the bird behaving. I definitely have no monopoly over describing a watching, lone jackdaw as a sentry. I concluded that the two sparrows on Sunday were an established breeding pair.

@Deeside_Sparrow @WriterHannahBT A promising relationship ☺️🤞 Hope you don't mind my borrowing one of your expressions this morning in using "sentry jackdaw" as that's exactly what this handsome individual was! 🐦‍⬛👀😘

First bird of my day: a peel of white doves catching the sun as they flew over a magnolia tree that is ablaze with light. #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT Two herring gulls & a wood pigeon were an unusual combination for joint FBsOMD. The gulls were padding around chimneys on the brick stack of the house opposite being vocal, the pigeon was on the highest aerial. A jackdaw arrived to monitor this situation!

First bird of my day: ‘my’ Dunnock eating seed on the front wall, the breeze ruffling his chest feathers. #firstbirdofmyday #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT Male house sparrow hanging from footholds on the pebbledash gable front below the apex cavity nest site. Clear blue sky has the gang in full-on spring mode! 😎 Pairs chasing, stroppy male 'chur-chur-r-r-r-it-it' calls, all over their range all at once! 💕

First bird of my day: yellowhammer in the sunshine with a skylark singing overhead and a corn bunting singing below. Farmland bird heaven. #firstbirdofmyday #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT Female house sparrow FBOMD was the gang member who was braving an exposed hedge top perch on a cold morning to exchange chirrups with an unseen sparrow at a distance.

First bird of my day: a blackbird skimming the ground as if a feathered stone bouncing across water. A shriek and a sharp turn saw it vanish into the hedge. #firstbirdofmyday #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT Super sparrows! Mine: Wood pigeon buffeted by a gust roof level+ and carried down the road in an uncontrolled manner. But it isn't particularly windy here ... yet! I think the house sparrows heard in the hedge should have stirred earlier to hunker down later.

First bird of my day: a gang of sparrows near the thatch, chirping to each other and preening as they survey their view. #firstbirdofmyday #WhatsYours

@WriterHannahBT A rook swooped in front of the houses opposite and seized the most prominent TV aerial perch. Though quickly concluded it was the right place but at the wrong time - no other birds about - and flew away.

First bird of my day: a dunnock singing v loudly at head height drowning out the tits. #firstbirdofmyday #WhatsYours