Wot no Bird Forum???

[GDW]

Earlier this year I was disappointed to find that for the fourth year running, no House Martins had used the specialist nestboxes I provided. I kept checking, and nothing. Then suddenly one morning I was in the garden and saw a Blue Tit emerging from it! I had seen a few curious birds go up to it, but then fly off.
I continued to watch every day and some very health babies were hatched. They left early in June and are regular visitors to my bird table.

Has anyone else found birds nesting in unusual places?

 

[Whipped]

Has anyone else found birds nesting in unusual places?

That question is so open to abuse I don't think I'll bother with a response.

Well, other than this one.

Balls!

 

[Gurnox]

The eaves of my house seem to be host to some sort of beastie each year. Last year, it was wasps. This was not so pleasant..........

However, this year, the eaves have been host to a nest of sparrows. A vast improvement.

Oh, and to get the obvious joke out of the way....... No actually, I won't bother.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

What I want to know is what happened to the sparrows and starlings.

We used to see thousands daily, I can't even recall the last time I saw any of them.

 

[Gray]

We had this bird visit we've never ever seen before.. It was a Shebby (sp?) but was Albino white.

Theyre always like a black colour but this was first one i seen which was a different colour

 

[fatbusinessman]

VULTURE!

 

[anattic]

Earlier in the year, a family of Great Tits (waits...) took up residence in the ashtray-box-thingy (like this one) outside our office, which greatly irritated the smokers.

Cheep! Cheep! *cough*....

 

[throdgrain]

What I want to know is what happened to the sparrows and starlings.

We used to see thousands daily, I can't even recall the last time I saw any of them.

Very true actually. They are still classed as vermin by the law, making shooting of them legal, because of their (previous) huge numbers, yet now they have all gone
Where I live , a 50 year old council estate you still see quite a few of em, but nothing like the numbers from even 10 years ago .

 

[Gurnox]

Very true actually. They are still classed as vermin by the law, making shooting of them legal, because of their (previous) huge numbers, yet now they have all gone
Where I live , a 50 year old council estate you still see quite a few of em, but nothing like the numbers from even 10 years ago .

It's my theory that the masses of pigeons that seem to have arisen everywhere are out-competing them for food. Mangy bastards that they are.

Of course, this could be complete twaddle.....

 

[TdC]

I gave a pidgon a crumb today. poor thing looked like a half-burnt, half-drowned rat tbh.

 

[Deebs]

I gave a pidgon a crumb today. poor thing looked like a half-burnt, half-drowned rat tbh.

bastard!!!

Pigeons are rats with wings and only deserve to be fed monkey nuts containing bicarbonate soda or whatever it is.

 

[Tom]

What I want to know is what happened to the sparrows and starlings.

We used to see thousands daily, I can't even recall the last time I saw any of them.

Probably a combination of cats, and fewer people bothering to feed them.

 

[Wij]

Join the caravan of love !




Deebs: Couldn't agree more. My wife thinks I'm horrid cos I always make an effort to splat pigeons if I have the opportunity in my car. If I ever take up an outside hobby it will be real pigeon shooting.

 

[throdgrain]

No Tom ,its far more serious than that, there used to be gazillions of them, but far far fewer now.
Also worth noting that there are various sorts of pigeons, and whilst feral pigeons are considered rats with wings - for no reason ive ever been aware of- regular wood pigeons are nothing of the sort, although with make a bloody good pie I believe.
Ive recently returned to shooting after a long break, and it amazes me how some of these idiots behave. They have a list of creatures that are considered "fair game" by the government, and then shoot them as much as they can. Ring doves are on the list as vermin, but what possible harm could they do to anything? There arnt enough of them for a start. Same for Jays, fair game apparently, though , although they are carrion birds they are far too shy and scarce to make any difference to anything.
Wood pigeons ARE a menace to farmers fields, and seem invunerable to any form of control, and so would be ok to shoot in my opinon, as well as making a tasty pie too
Starlings and sparrows? Yes they are on the list, but I certainly wouldnt want to harm them. In fact , Ive stuck soley to targets since my return to shooting, as Ive seen no reason to do otherwise.

 

[Tom]

How long have the populations of these birds been monitored? It might be the case that the population of the Sparrow boomed with the introduction of large-scale agriculture in Europe, and now the population is falling back to levels that predate this.

TJ: I'm thinking of taking up clay pigeon shooting Throddy. I had a go a couple of weeks back, and hit 8/10 from a couple of hundred yards, on my first attempt. The guy at the place I went to said it was £40 for lessons, and then after that you pay for the number of clays you use. Apparently you can turn up on certain days, pay a flat fee, and blow the smithereens out of ceramic frisbees.

A friend's dad also goes shooting rabbits and foxes and stuff with a shotgun (from farmland I think). Is that any good?

 

[throdgrain]

If you like that sort of thing. Ive always preferred rifles myself. At the moment I have one of these pre-charged pneamatic air rifles, it shoots 80 shots from a single charge of air from a divers bottle, is an 8-shot bolt action and has no recoil. I do like it. Funnily enough, good air rifles can be more expensive than small bore rifles, probably because of the technology involved, I dunno. However , I think ive just got permission to shoot on a mates farm of 500 acres, meaning I could probably get a small bore live ammo licence now, so maybe I will, Im undecided.This is like my gun, only mine has a silencer on the end of it

edit Oh I forgot to say, yeah that looks like a good score Tom , i have done some 12 bore shooting years ago, but theres not a lot of finnesse to it to me, a bit like a blunderbuss you know

 

[TdC]

bastard!!!

Pigeons are rats with wings and only deserve to be fed monkey nuts containing bicarbonate soda or whatever it is.

but it looked like someone had tried to burn and drown it at the same time! oh, I know. it's my big heart. it gets me into heaps of trouble :/

 

[Mazling]

I know someone who had a pet rabbit once.
It died and got made into pie.

 

[Gengi]

What is that cut out thing on the 'stock ?' some sort of chin gaurd or is it for sighting purposes ? I have never seen something of that ilk before.

later

 

[Munkey]

Its there to reduce weight i think, or balance.

Correct me if i'm wrong

 

[throdgrain]

The raised pad on the stock ? Its to put your cheek when you shoot .

 

[Gurnox]

Where's a decent place to buy an air-rifle and how much does a good one cost? I've been looking for ages and only seem to be able to find horrible, plastic-made ones that feel more like childrens toys.

Any recommendations on make/model would be appreciated. And, last question, is it best to get one which you have to fit a compressed air cannister to, or one that you need to 'crack'?

Thanks in advance!

Conservationists have been warning anyone who will listen about declining sparrow numbers for around five years now. It's unbelievable that it is still legal to shoot them.

 

[Mazling]

Looks like the cut-out is where your thumbs goes ... imagine holding it like a pistol first ...

 

[Gengi]

The raised pad on the stock ? Its to put your cheek when you shoot .

Thanks for the answer.
I thought it may have been something like that but it looked a bit big ? and sticking up over the top of the stock it looked like it may interfere with the sight line.

Ah well you live and learn.


Later

 

[throdgrain]

No problem Gengi
My gun will set you back about £600 all told I suppose. A good place to look is www.uttings.com , though Id recommend going to a shop and trying some rather than just buying blind. PCP air rifles like mine (unfortunate acronym) are the most expensive, but you can buy a decent spring powered one for a couple of hundred quid, or indeed a BSA Meteor for £125 brand new. Ive still got one of these guns , its a good 25 years old and still works perfectly, and they still make em for gods sake
Definately avoid co2 powered guns unless you want some kind of low powered replica thing. Oh and ignore what they say in the magazines, as they appear to think everything is the best thing since sliced bread. When nothing is bad, how can everything be good ?
Oh, in case anybody has any doubts, please let me re-state, Im NOT one of rthem wankers who goes around shooting anything that moves, I loathe them people and want nothing to do with them. Even people shooting at rabbits , who live on farms and have the need to do so give me pangs of consience
I suppose its far better to shoot such things than poisoning and ferretting etc, and certainly shooting foxes (more reserved to shotguns by the way) has got to be better than chaseing them on horses with dogs (red coated wankers) , but Im still not keen on it.
Big woose I suppose really

 

[Trem]

Oh, in case anybody has any doubts, please let me re-state, Im NOT one of rthem wankers who goes around shooting anything that moves, I loathe them people and want nothing to do with them.

SHOOT THEM!

 

[TdC]

http://www.feinwerkbau.de/ceasy.html


tbh.

 

[throdgrain]

Pah www.falcon-airguns.com



tbh !

 

[Trem]

http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg29-e.htm

TBFH!

 

[throdgrain]

http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg29-e.htm

TBFH!

OWNED !


Shamone muthafucker!!!