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Why cannot more #arablefarmland look this way? If it did, we certainly wouldn't face a #farmland #biodiversity crisis. Seen near Arundel, West Sussex, England.
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Francis Buner
4.2K posts
Francis Buner
@fbuner
Conservation Scientist, PhD | Wildlife recovery & farmland biodiversity | fact driven | he/him *views & mistakes my own*
England, United Kingdom Katılım Nisan 2012
925 Takip Edilen1.5K Takipçiler
We are in the middle of our #kestrel monitoring pilot project with most broods still incubating, some almost completely hatched and two already two weeks old. In any case it's a great year for them in East Hampshire, England this year with rodents being very abundant.
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@kulervo I honestly don't know, also because whitethroats are still common.
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@fbuner This species does live in our garden here, in Latvia. Why is it so rare in England?
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This #lesserwhitethroat is singing in what looks to me a random bush right in the Centre of Vienna, while in England, with all the nice hedges we've got there - I know not all are equally nice - we rarely get to hear one. Isn't that fascinating?
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Francis Buner retweetledi
A shame to learn this Kestrel nest I was watching failed at egg stage. It’s not a surprise considering how exposed it was & the number of gulls / corvids seen. Still — had held out some hope.
Fingers crossed a nest box will be accepted by the birds & the building owners.
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Watching a wild #hamster go along their business is a real delight and privilege. They are very rare across much of Europe these days after all.
In Meindling cemetery in the Centre of Vienna, they found a safe refuge where, with a little bit of patience, one can easily see them.
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Tbh, this is the reason I'd go to Vienna! Forget the architecture and music...
Francis Buner@fbuner
Watching a wild #hamster go along their business is a real delight and privilege. They are very rare across much of Europe these days after all. In Meindling cemetery in the Centre of Vienna, they found a safe refuge where, with a little bit of patience, one can easily see them.
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I'm giving a block course on farmland wildlife conservation at the BOKU University of Vienna this week. One aspect I cover is rare #arableflora. So I was delighted to find a patch dedicated to some of these ultra rare plants in the Botanical garden: this is Shepherd's needle.
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Why don't more landowners along rivers have them? It should be quite easy to reinvest some of the angling money into effective conservation like these sand martin walls. @davaj_ca
Sand Martin Wall@SandMartinWall
The Sand Martin are very active here at the minute. A wave of new arrivals showed up in recent days with huge demand for available tunnels.
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@kulervo @_BTO @NFFNUK @HOSbirding How fascinating. Again thanks for sharing your detailed insight into Latvian starling ecology which even connects our two countries.
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@fbuner @_BTO @NFFNUK @HOSbirding Sure - most of our Starlings winter in British Isles (by now we have even more data):
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
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#Starlings are ready to fledge in East Hants already. They take only around 21 days from hatching to fledging with females coordinating the start of incubation within their colonies. This results in all young leaving pretty much on the same day. @_BTO
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@kulervo @_BTO @NFFNUK @HOSbirding Thanks for sharing your long-term knowledge. They are certainly very early here too. Interestingly, some wintering flocks left here quite late. I can only guess they went to breed your way.
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@fbuner @_BTO @NFFNUK @HOSbirding Here in the North of Europe, first Starlings will hatch tomorrow (only a few clutches out of sample of about ~300) and this year is in some sample plots the earliest in comparison to last 7 years.
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@GrahamDenny9 @AdeysAlthorp I heard what sounded like a nightingale last year but felt it was somewhat unusual. Merlin's first suggestion was indeed a nightingale but then swang towards a blackcap. I saw the culprit a little later imitate elements of the much more accomplished singer.
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@fbuner @AdeysAlthorp Yes Francis good in many respects but as we were saying sometimes you can’t just believe your ears 👂
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@GrahamDenny9 @AdeysAlthorp The app is just for support, not to replace real skill.
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@AdeysAlthorp Not a definite till eyes on if your using Merlin app ! I’ve got a lorry reversing in a hedge that is more likely my ever vocal local song thrush !😂😂black cap , jay , starling all good mimics .
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@Sarahseeksbirds @HOSbirding Exactly, think blackcap imitating a blackbird and you'll get it.
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@fbuner @HOSbirding Thank you so much for posting this! Garden warbler I think sounds like blackcap and blackbird mixed. I haven’t been able to separate them before this year but I’m practising and hoping to prove I can do it in the field.
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Not often I hear #gardenwarbler and #blackcap sing an apparent duet. They sound so similar but couldn't be more different. While the former is a long-distance migrant wintering in sub-saharan Africa, the latter increasingly spends the winter in England.
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Great camera footage from a #Housesparrow nest box.
Every birder should have one on their house.
Tom Lane.@TomLaneUK
There’s been a lot of activity here at ‘Fife Tree Sparrow HQ’ and nesting material is coming in thick and fast! This is one of five pairs in no more than a twenty metre square area that have readily taken to the boxes specifically sited for this species over the last few years!
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@george_sell @OakbankGame They are nice wheatears, yes, but they are a very different Genus from stonechats. The whinchat is of the same Genus as the stonechat.
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@fbuner @JLewisStempel @OakbankGame @Gameandwildlife @HOSbirding @FWAGSouthEast @MeganRural Also just seen a wheatear on a heathland dog walk this evening, a first for me. A relative of the stonechat I think.
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When I moved on a farm in East Hants 20 years ago, there were no #stonechats anywhere. I recorded the first pair in one of my @OakbankGame #PARTRIDGEmixes in 2020. Now, they are nesting in the bramble along the driveway to our cottage. Nice to see a bird increase for a change.
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