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Apr 2017
7:22pm, 24 Apr 2017
1,780 posts
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jacdaw
Heard my first cuckoo of the year near Keswick yesterday, as well as a willow warbler in every tree, a good few chiffchaffs and some other warblers that I might be able to ID by song by July (as every year).
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Apr 2017
4:03am, 25 Apr 2017
22,778 posts
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Derby Tup
Start with blackcap jacdaw. Beautiful blackbird, plummy notes (a bit like a warblery Shiraz) 
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Apr 2017
9:19am, 25 Apr 2017
425 posts
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J2R
DT, I tend to think of the blackcap song as more robin-like than blackbird-like. I remember reading some years ago of a way of distinguishing between the blackcap and garden warbler's songs: the blackcap sounds like a speeded-up robin and the garden warbler like a speeded-up blackbird. That has proved helpful to me. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work, as blackcaps are inconsiderate little critters and occasionally mimic other birds, one of which being the garden warbler!
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Apr 2017
9:37am, 25 Apr 2017
1,781 posts
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jacdaw
Heard a warbler this morning... in a tree in the garden, singing. I could see it clearly, and decided from the song it was a blackcap, and I could see its black cap. When I got some binoculars on it, the black cap was a shadow from some leaves. I guess that makes it a garden warbler.
Oh well, at least I can ID 3 warblers by song.
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Apr 2017
10:00am, 25 Apr 2017
426 posts
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J2R
jacdaw, you may be lucky enough to have a garden which garden warblers visit. But garden warbler is a bit of a misnomer, really, they're more birds of open woodland. Blackcaps are very much commoner and much more likely to be seen in gardens. But if you got a good view and saw no black cap, then that's a good sighting!
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Apr 2017
10:03am, 25 Apr 2017
1,623 posts
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steve45
Not "old news" LazyDaisy ! Yours was the first Cuckoo mentioned here I think. I'll be lucky to hear a Cuckoo at all...pretty uncommon in these parts now (Cardiff).
Garden Warbler a nice surprise jacdaw and yeah, their song is quite similar but more of a long warble without the staccato of the Blackcap. Song and call is my "thing" and been my main way of ticking off species since 1964!
Along my run route this morning, two Cetti's and two Redd Warblers singing, a couple of Willows, Goldcrest. Plenty of Blackcaps but no Whitethroats (where they have already been seen).
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Apr 2017
10:28am, 25 Apr 2017
17,448 posts
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KinkyS
We saw 2 cuckoos displaying/fighting yesterday And bearded tits too. 54 species in total in a casual afternoon at Wicken Fen, and it should've been more but we got too tired and cold to bother hunting for the singing willow warblers or to concentrate long enough to identify the distant waders and gulls.
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Apr 2017
10:37am, 25 Apr 2017
427 posts
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J2R
KinkyS, I must pay a visit to Wicken Fen some time, as it's not far away from me and I've never been there. Do you ever go to Lakenheath? They've had golden orioles there in recent years and I'd love to see one (or at least hear one) in the UK. Came across them in Romania a couple of years ago and thought they were magical.
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Apr 2017
11:11am, 25 Apr 2017
1,782 posts
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jacdaw
Garden might be a bit of a misnomer in my case J2R!
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Apr 2017
12:04pm, 25 Apr 2017
1,399 posts
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Surelynot
Saw a female mallard with ten fledglings when out running on Sunday. Always cheers me up to see ducklings.
They looked very small and vulnerable. It will be interesting to see how many survive.
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