On 26/2/07 16:39, in article , "Bob
Hobden" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in reply "Bob
Hobden" who twittered on after
"Josie" wrote ..
This winter wasn't good for garden birds in SW London. Greenfinch and
Goldfinch numbers were down, no siskins, no sparrows, starlings became
rare and we hardly saw any chaffinches.

I wonder whether other gardeners in the area had the same experience.

Plenty of Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Blue/Coal/Great tits, Wrens,
Dunnocks,
a few sparrows, noticed the lack of Starlings especially as I still have
fruit on one of the Cabbage/Cornish palms (Cordyline australis) which
they
normally go mad for, no Blackcap either which has visited for the last
few
winters. Plenty of Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves too.

Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Wrens, Thrushes, Sparrows, Rooks, Blackbirds,
Robins, Woodpecker, and the owls which I think you told us are Tawnies,
Bob.
They, in particular, are calling a LOT at the moment. Normally we hear the
classic 'hoo, hoohoo' call but the other night they seemed to be calling
on
one long note. Does that sound Tawny to you or have we got something else
around? We've also got wood pigeons and collared doves and a pheasant is
roosting either in our garden or in the churchyard. We hear the call as
he
goes to bed each night.

Take a look at the following link where there are some short (very short
unfortunately!) call sounds for all the Owls, click on the bird you are
interested in and then the song/call. You can choose QuickTime or MP3.
Let us know if any are what you describe.
http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birdindex.htm

Hearing this and reading the info on Little Owls and Tawny Owls makes me
wonder if we've got both! Certainly, we hear the hooo, hooo, oooo call
during the day time, sometimes around 2pm and on into the night. I'm very
confused!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)