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Jan 2023
4:20pm, 28 Jan 2023
4,552 posts
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J2R
Cannot be certain, as didn't have my bins with me, but I think I might have seen my first ever goshawk on Thursday! I was running along a little hill ridge in south Wiltshire when a large raptor flew out of the trees and soared over the grassland to my right, slightly below me. It was brown and sparrowhawk-like, but big, much bulkier looking. I'm thinking female goshawk! It flew off before I could get a much clearer view. But I definitely got the sense it wasn't something I was at all used to seeing.
My initial thoughts were that it couldn't be a goshawk because they're woodland birds and this bird was soaring over the short cropped grass of the hillside, and it was in Wiltshire and I didn't know that they occurred there. But I read that they come out from woodland to hunt, and that, though still rare in Wiltshire, there have been reintroductions there and they are seen from time to time.
So I'm inclined to call it a tick!
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Jan 2023
4:23pm, 28 Jan 2023
4,553 posts
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J2R
Oh, and it was very near this place -https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/mackintosh-davidson-wood/ - which strikes me as very suitable goshawk habitat.
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Jan 2023
4:32pm, 28 Jan 2023
2,266 posts
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paulcook
Anyone else seeing (or in many cases this week, hearing) what seems huge amounts of starlings?
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Jan 2023
5:16pm, 28 Jan 2023
58,185 posts
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Derby Tup
J2R that’s a great sighting. Goshawk not a common or garden bird, but something really special
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Jan 2023
5:37pm, 28 Jan 2023
2,340 posts
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MudMeanderer
PC: Rather unusually, I saw a single starling on the bird table yesterday. Normally they hang around the trees, descend down on mass and then squabble noisily. Yesterday, just one, peacefully enjoying the fat balls.
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Jan 2023
5:44pm, 28 Jan 2023
98,741 posts
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Hanneke
Lots of birds in the garden this afternoon. Lots of Bull Finches which is unusual. Usually just get the odd one. And the usual suspects: wren, robin etc
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Jan 2023
6:00pm, 28 Jan 2023
4,554 posts
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J2R
paulcook, not seeing notably more starlings, but one did a poo on my jacket sleeve earlier.
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Jan 2023
7:37pm, 28 Jan 2023
18,109 posts
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KinkyS
Starlings are quite unusual just here - I can honestly say I see more dippers, kingfishers and goosander than I do starlings. There's a flock up on the moor but it's very mobile and wide-ranging so I don't see it that often.
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Jan 2023
7:51pm, 28 Jan 2023
58,186 posts
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Derby Tup
Not huge amount our side of the hill either
Blackbird singing in Cliffe Castle park Keighley this morning
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Jan 2023
7:54pm, 28 Jan 2023
18,110 posts
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KinkyS
Oh, I forgot to mention - not one, not two, but THREE drumming GSW on the Hebden 22 route today 
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