What's buzzing or flying near you 2025 ?

Visitor on a rogue Teazel growing just outside our front door

 

I've just been stung. The blackberries are starting to ripen at the bottom of my garden, and I reached under a leaf to investigate what looked like a nice ripe fruit hiding there. But it was a dozing bumble bee! Ouch - and presumably even more ouch for the poor bee. That's taught me a lesson.

 

Oh dear. Just as well it was only your fingers and not your lips!

The bumblebee will live to fight another day.

 

Another influx of young tits today. There was a lot of activity around the nest box. The adult great tits were going in and out, and the young blue tits were investigating and being chased away.

 

Tootie had some pals on Monday, although I don't think he was too pleased about it!

3 chaffinches were in earlier today, and one was being fed, so that's a good sign. They used to be our most regular visitor when we lived round the corner from here.

 

Fantastic to see so many bees and hoverflies in the garden this morning. The honey bees have a definite preference for the drumstick alliums.

 

@Escarpment brilliant photos. Many thanks.

 

Thank you. Took delivery of a new camera yesterday so I'm going a bit nuts trying it out. It's a Canon EOS R7 and so far I'm really impressed with it.

 

For the past 4 days at tea time a racing pigeon has turned up. It brings with it a friend that looks like a juvenile. The racing pigeon has a white band on left leg and blue on the right and I have noted down the number on the white one. The youngster has no bands.

I have fed them bird seed and they have just turned up again right by my doorstep. Sat waiting by my legs for food.

Hubby thinks I should report it as the owner will be wondering where it is. But what would happen to the youngster?

Perhaps if I stop feeding them they will move on. Not sure I could pick them up yet as they are still a bit nervous, but getting tamer each day. I think they expect you to box them up before making contact.

Undecided right now.

 

My brother has kept and bred racing pigeons for many years @cactus_girl.

If the birds are on a long (racing) flight, the not so strong or first time racers, often stop off for a few days to regain their strength and search for food before carrying on their flight. If you're happy to feed them, then chick peas, uncooked rice or pulses would be more welcome in preference to bird seed. Don't forget they will want water too.

On the other hand young racers, or first time racers, can often go astray and lose the ability to find their way home. The youngster you have there is not a registered bird (having no rings) and may have just tagged along for company. It would not have been released to race but could be an escapee from someone's pigeon loft.

It may be wise to contact the Racing Pigeon Authority with the ring number/s and they will make contact with either the owner or the particular region the bird has come from.

Pigeon Racing UK & Ireland | Lost Birds

 

Thank you @Sheal for the info. I have plenty of uncooked rice and I think crushed cornflakes are good too. And plenty of water too, although they do not drink at all.

The number on the ring starts GB so it's associated with the RPRA. And it's dated 2020 so 4 or 5 years old.

I'll fill in the online form tomorrow maybe if it turns up again. But I wouldn't want the youngster left on its own. I have a large cat basket, but I can't imagine getting both in it without a lot of flapping.

Many years ago we had one turn up with its tail feathers missing. We fed it and I had it on my finger after a while. Then one day it did not come. It must have been with us a while as the tail feathers had started to grow.

At least I maybe able to find it's owner. They could live miles from here.

 

That sounds like the bird's registration ring @cactus_girl. Can you tell if it's a completely closed ring? I expect the other ring (blue) is it's racing ring and should be open, which allows it to be removed at the end of the race. Please don't attempt to remove it as it has to remain with the bird for recording details and flight time when/if it arrives home.

Please fill in the form whether the bird turns up again or not. Most owners like to know the whereabouts of their birds. I doubt whether the youngster is anything to do with the older bird and will probably be rejected by the owner. That's assuming of course that he/she wants the pigeon back. If it's a valuable bird then the person will. There are some that reach six figure numbers.

 

Talking of pigeons - I rescued this recently-fledged woody last week. It was trapped in a 4-inch gap between my old wooden compost bays and the fence behind them. His wings seemed ok so I put him on top of a bush where he sat for an hour or so getting himself together. I'm assuming he flew off eventually.

 

Both rings look closed @Sheal. It won't let me get too close just yet, but I'm working on that. I did read that they can have the owner's address stamped on the wing feathers, but I'm not confident on opening wings even if it would allow me to.

 

Update on my pigeon - I contacted the RPRA via text with the bird number and got an instant reply with details of the owner's email address and phone number.

I phoned the chap and he had to come back to me later as he had to go through his old records. The pigeon was released on 5th June 2021 from Cheltenham and was due to return to Warrington, but never arrived. So that's 4 years he's been living feral. Poor pigeon.

So it was decided that he should be left to live a feral life, with his friend. Today it was nibbling his friend so he is quite happy.

The chap said he would update his records and tell his mates at the club. I think he was quite pleased to hear about his bird.

He said 2 weeks after that release they lost all their birds in another race and this was a nationwide problem. It was in the papers as it was so bad.

I might buy some pigeon food tomorrow at the local Pets and Gardens to give him a treat.