Pause a minute, listen and smile

[glow worm]

with all the dreadful news and fear for the months to come, on a very cold but dry morning today, i took a moment to pause, enjoy the sun, even if it was ****** cold, and heard .. NO STARLINGS!!! and the first ChiffChaff of the year .. and my spirits soared. None of it will last! but it was a lovely moment!!

 

[Tarw Coch]

With all that’s been going on lately I hadn’t noticed but come to think of it, no starlings here for a week or so, they were getting bad here too , numbers increasing substantially in the last month or so , must have been our turn this year, usually see a few but not big numbers.
They won’t be missed.

 

[Muddyroads]

Ours have gone too. Nice sentiment in the OP, something we should all notice from time to time.

 

[wr.]

Starlings don't bother me since we stopped growing maize.
The woodpecker has started his loud knocking in the oak tree next to the house again. Always a welcomed sign that spring is on the way and the yellowhammers are helping themselves to the cattle feed.

 

[Nithsdale]

Nothing like that up here yet. But last night, walking back to my house after feeding lambs at 10pm. I stopped on the road and star gazed... beautifully clear night you could see every star in the universe


First time it struck me theres not a single aeroplane in the skies flashing away (we live below the main flightpath to Prestwick, before all planes turn to head for the USA). I can get lost looking up anyway, but in the middle of lambing I found renewed love for the sky at night

 

[deleted user 837354]

Yes, I noticed today no contrails in the air which is unusual.

 

[glow worm]

I never, ever, take the farm for granted but its all too easy to be focused 100% on the everyday work and fail to really hear and see what's all around us. I was up and about before light the other day, and its the first time this season we have had a Blackbird actually singing in the garden, in the dark. This sounds soppy but it was so beautiful. Definitely the first bird awake that morning. An hour later, dawn just breaking, he'd stopped and it was the Dunocks turn. With no Robin or Wren awake, unusual, he had central stage and was giving it his all.

 

[Working from home]

Yeah, its the no planes in the sky that I have really noticed, especially on Friday, a good clear blue sky all day and not a single trail in the sky. We also have a few closer to the ground heading up to Newcastle but there is absolutly nothing!! We might be in an industry where things can be stressfull, the weather can be a pain, sometimes you could just do with a day off but you can't, but do you know what, I wouldnt want anything else!! ?

 

[jondear]

With it finally clear and light in the morning the dawn chorus is starting to get going ! Every bird going for it !
Amazing!
Can't wait for the first swallow or House Martin.In these dark times!

 

[wr.]

With it finally clear and light in the morning the dawn chorus is starting to get going ! Every bird going for it !
Amazing!
Can't wait for the first swallow or House Martin.In these dark times!

With the lights on in the lambing shed, the sparrows are chirping most of the night. The blackbird has been going for it first and last thing lately. Spring is on the way but we could possibly have a fair bit more winter yet.

 

[nick...]

Saw a kingfisher yesterday,first of the year for me sitting on a small branch less than 12 metres away from me and I was sitting in my living room.it dived into the water but came out again without a fish.loveley sight to behold
Nick...

 

[JP1]

When I was in Lincolnshire two weeks ago the variety of birdlife up there amongst the arable fields was amazing

Down here I can hear the skylarks again and the first of the Brent and Greylag Geese flights overhead

The Riggit Galloway group have a group of 4 white egrets following them from field to field and the barn owls are out hunting when I go stock checking at either end of the day

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

I always look for the curlews at this time of year and we also get oyster catchers coming to nest. They were around last week and especially the curlew's distinctive cry always makes me feel spring is just round the corner.

 

[JP1]

I always look for the curlews at this time of year and we also get oyster catchers coming to nest. They were around last week and especially the curlew's distinctive cry always makes me feel spring is just round the corner.

Yes anyday now I'll hear the same pair of Oyster Catchers fly over and circle before nesting in the same grass field on the Fen the other side of the wood. How the clutch survives with Charlie's cows in the field I shall never know but it's an annual event

 

[Cowslip]

I love seeing the oyster catchers here too. Doing the morning rounds here at 5am in the lambing and calving sheds I here the morning chorus always puts a smile on my face, the barn owl scares me every night in the calving yard when he swoops over my head.

 

[Grandad Pig]

What a nice thread. Cheered me up. Thank you Glow worm

 

[glow worm]

Yeah, its the no planes in the sky that I have really noticed, especially on Friday, a good clear blue sky all day and not a single trail in the sky. We also have a few closer to the ground heading up to Newcastle but there is absolutly nothing!! We might be in an industry where things can be stressfull, the weather can be a pain, sometimes you could just do with a day off but you can't, but do you know what, I wouldnt want anything else!! ?

If I could, I would post multiple 'likes' to this!!

 

[Chopsy Varmint]

When I was in Lincolnshire two weeks ago the variety of birdlife up there amongst the arable fields was amazing

Down here I can hear the skylarks again and the first of the Brent and Greylag Geese flights overhead

The Riggit Galloway group have a group of 4 white egrets following them from field to field and the barn owls are out hunting when I go stock checking at either end of the day

The skylarks are very noticeable this year - maybe the mild winter meant more of them survived. There seem to be more blue tits about too.

The other day driving out of Bury I passed a field with about 15 or so lapwings and the BTO cuckoo tracking project shows that they are feeding up ready to cross the Sahara at the beginning of April. This particular bird returns to Elveden each year but must be getting on a bit now.

https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/cuckoo-tracking-project/PJ

 

[yellowbelly]

What a breath of fresh air after years of Brexit doom and gloom and now all that's recently happened .
We often don't realise how lucky we are.

This thread ought to be made 'a sticky', or at least compulsory reading, before you're allowed to 'venture' further into TFF .

 

[glow worm]

I always look for the curlews at this time of year and we also get oyster catchers coming to nest. They were around last week and especially the curlew's distinctive cry always makes me feel spring is just round the corner.

Now this has got me jealous!! More years ago than I care to remember, we used to have curlews near the farm. Curlews on an estuary come nowhere close to the outstandingly beautiful song of a curlew across moorland / rough fields. Very sadly, we haven't had them for years now and I really don't know why as none of the local habitat has changed nor local farming practices.