I NEVER NEW THAT !

[zeolite]

I saw a kingfisher tonight zipping down the wee burn where I walk the Dug. How common are they?

[Clan Ford]

I saw a kingfisher tonight zipping down the wee burn where I walk the Dug. How common are they?

Common as muck, might even be more of them round Crieff than there are Ospreys :shock:  Its sparrows that you don't see.

Norm

[tomcatin]

Its sparrows that you don't see.

...... just get to hear the bloody things, twittering away under my pantiles from first light!

[nant_fisher]

We've got a fair few Sparrows nesting in our sheds/around our house. It's great to see them flying about. I've only ever seen one kingfisher around here though.

[shanksi]

We see kingfishers when fishing the White Cart in Linn Park in Glasgow, would love to be able to photograph one but they're fast little buggers.  Usually see a heron there as well but haven't seen it so far this year.

shanksi

[nant_fisher]

Loads of herons around here.

We tend to get a lot of birds in our garden now that we have chickens. We have a resident pheasant that mills around with the chickens and shares their food.

[Pearly Invicta]

It used to be said there were no magpies north of the forth but I see them by the M90 near Dunfermline when I drive to Edinburgh. We don't have any around here (Angus). I think they're a really bonny bird. Much more graceful in flight, with its long straight tail, than any other corvid.

[pod]

Magpies once ranged all over Scotland. There are Gaelic (pioghaid) and Doric(pyots) names  for the Magpie.
Exterminated in large areas by Victorian gamies and rarely seen from Angus Northwards there are pockets in the North East , Ive certainly seen them around Aberdeen. Since the 2nd world war they have slowly spread Northwards.
As to there reputation for killing songbirds, I doubt if they do anything like the same damage as cats.
None that I know of in Argyll, but a couple of years ago one showed up at work on the shores of Loch Awe, it appeared along with road workers who were re laying tar at the power station, when the road folks left so did the Magpie, possibly it followed them round and shared there pieces.
For great info on all things Rook and Magpie I recommend "Corvus, A life with birds" by Esther Woolfson, a very well written book.
The author , living in Aberdeen, writes from first hand experience .
Cheers
Pod

[Pearly Invicta]

Esther Woolfson was on the radio (Scotland) at the weekend. Fascinating lady. Shares her house with a Raven. Note- the Raven is not a pet- it really shares her house. Comes and goes as it pleases and nests under a table in her kitchen.

[Scotaidh]

No magpies north of Loch Leven in Fife, missus and I have a "who can spot the first magpie" game on the way south.