Garden Wildlife UK

Linda257 wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:43 am It was a rainy start to the day yesterday but that didn't stop the birds, seemed to bring them all out, even all the Blackbirds that's been hiding. At one point I counted 10 and they all at different stages of moult

Great to have so many blackbirds Linda (PB will be blaming you for a national shortage ). A very nice colourful siskin with a ring posing for you.

SnappyMac wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 8:04 am Great to have so many blackbirds Linda (PB will be blaming you for a national shortage ). A very nice colourful siskin with a ring posing for you.

Thanks SM....och PB will be too busy trying to inflate his dingy to go cruising doon the river and imagining he's elsewhere

Ohh, naff off Super stuff Linda.. I'm still at work, so no dinghy inflating til Saturday lol

Great photos indeed Lin!
The blackbirds are all darling but all the rest are just as cute therefore I shall not praise one over the others.

Regrettably I have only seen one single blackbird here in my town in Schlewswig - Holstein this year.
The dreadful Usutu Virus hit them all last October.

PimperneBloke wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 9:09 am Ohh, naff off Super stuff Linda.. I'm still at work, so no dinghy inflating til Saturday lol

Charles B wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 9:17 am Great photos indeed Lin!
The blackbirds are all darling but all the rest are just as cute therefore I shall not praise one over the others.

Regrettably I have only seen one single blackbird here in my town in Schlewswig - Holstein this year.
The dreadful Usutu Virus hit them all last October.

Thanks Charles

I think England has seen the virus impact the Blackbirds, but not here in Scotland yet that I am aware of

Since January I have only seen one Blackbird here where I live and only two sparrows. (But I think I counted the same one sparrow twice. ) Yes it is indeed sad because my garden was always full of blackbirds in years gone by und usually one dominate male 'ruled over' my balcony and garden.

And in this mornings news, NDR reported the 'Bird Plauge' now hitting chickens, geese and ducks in Schleswig - Holstein again. It is a subtype of the H5N1 which was first reported on the 20th of January this year. It effects the Steinburg County all the way up to the Danish boarder. Luckily I am south of this region.

Prehaps I need to 'pen in' my flock of Great Tits and Blue Tits?

I do hope the blackbirds can build a resistance to the Usutu Virus and the chickens to this H5N1.
From my work in a hospital before retiring, I think the N1 in this number means 'non resistant to antibiotics'

Linda257 wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:43 am It was a rainy start to the day yesterday but that didn't stop the birds, seemed to bring them all out, even all the Blackbirds that's been hiding. At one point I counted 10 and they all at different stages of moult

ten blackbirds? Wow…we had seven blackbird juveniles on our small lawn the other day. I have never seen more than three on one go before, but they were hilarious. All of them looking as though they should be doing something, but not quite sure what

Good morning Linda,
In your photos 15, 16 and 22, are my eys decieving me or are those darling blackbirds really nesting in that wee hole in your lawn? They certainly feel safe in the open there!

Charles B wrote: Sat Sep 06, 2025 8:39 am Good morning Linda,
In your photos 15, 16 and 22, are my eys decieving me or are those darling blackbirds really nesting in that wee hole in your lawn? They certainly feel safe in the open there!

Hi Charles, it's a sunken birdbath they are in....a don't think they will feel that safe when the sparrowhawk returns