Non-motoring > Our National Bird Miscellaneous
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 13:30 
 Our National Bird - Zero
We don't have one.

you vote for it here

www.votenationalbird.com

Whats your choice?

My vote goes for the Robin
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 13:48 
 Our National Bird - Dog
I've not looked at the site guvnor, too busy looking at a 5 week old black Labradoodle in Falmouth but, I've always had a preference for the Robin red breast. I seem to always have one as a permanent fixture wherever I've lived. I see the Woodpecker, Jays, Collared Doves, various Finches, and some lovely Tits on a daily basis, but yes, Mr Robin is the one for me.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:01 
 Our National Bird - Cliff Pope
Dodo? Ostrich?

I don't really see why we need a national bird. We've got other ancient national animal symbols - lion, unicorn, leopard, and some plants - rose, leek, thistle.
That's enough, isn't it?
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:05 
 Our National Bird - No FM2R
I'm with Cliff here, but if we had to have one then it'd be a cuckoo. I love the sound of them, and I don't think I've ever heard them anywhere else.

But since you can't vote for that, then the Kite.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 16 Mar 15 at 14:06
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:15 
 Our National Bird - Runfer D'Hills
Chicken. In the form of nuggets if you want to appeal to the masses.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:23 
 Our National Bird - Cliff Pope
>if we had to have one then it'd be a
>> cuckoo.
>>

Rather appropriate given our record.
We've planted our culture around the world, and left the cuckolded parents to struggle to bring it up as if it were their own.

:)
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:44 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
What's wrong with that fine old British avian the sh***hawk? He gets my vote. Wren comes second, used to be on the back of farthings.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:47 
 Our National Bird - Manatee
See lots of red kites here, but hardly a UK national bird to me - and I think the current repopulation came from Spain. And they are soft as brushes, our chicken saw one off the other day :)

I've gone for troglodytes troglodytes goo.gl/kgYAEb

I liked them on farthings.

I expect the Robin will win.

EDIT: crossed with AC. Good man.


Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 16 Mar 15 at 14:48
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 16:02 
 Our National Bird - WillDeBeest
...came from Spain.

Foreign origins seem to have done St George's reputation no harm. And given the number of ancient Britons returning from overseas retirement to the free comfort of the NHS, it might be an appropriate symbol.

Wren or mute swan for me, though - partly because either could be depicted on, say, a coin and still be recognizable; lose the colour from a robin and it's just another little brown bird.
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      1  
 Mon 16 Mar 15 18:34 
 Our National Bird - NortonES2
Thought St George came from Palestine?
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 19:57 
 Our National Bird - WillDeBeest
Is that Palestine, East Sussex? Point is, he ain't from round 'ere, boy.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 20:09 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> Is that Palestine, East Sussex? Point is, he ain't from round 'ere, boy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine,_Hampshire


As it happens, St George is the root of all the Islam Christianity agro.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 20:41 
 Our National Bird - NortonES2
Even more to the point, he is from where it is all now kicking off! Not to mention that the area continued Christians like George well before the Islamic colonial expansion in the 7th century. Upstarts.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 14:45 
 Our National Bird - bathtub tom
>>My vote goes for the Robin

Described as a pair of flying gonads, as I believe they have the largest (relative to body size) in the animal kingdom.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 15:14 
 Our National Bird - Haywain
I like the idea of the Ostrich - it suits us.

BBD will be along shortly to suggest the Shag.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 15:40 
 Our National Bird - madf
Wrens built St Pauls : hardworking birds.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 15:42 
 Our National Bird - Crankcase
Wren for me too.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 16:11 
 Our National Bird - Zero
did you know there's fourty fousand fevvers on a frush?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=np9EO2Qehxc
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 16 Mar 15 at 16:13
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 18:32 
 Our National Bird - NortonES2
Wow. How many on a Rhea?
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 18:56 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> Wow. How many on a Rhea?

Blimey we don't git birds wiv feffers on their ears dahn ear in london
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 19:07 
 Our National Bird - devonite
regrettably, I vote for my old Allotment Nemisis the Blackie. Often I could wring it's neck when i find he has "ratched out" all my newly sown seeds and bulbs, then as I set about repairing his damage and start weeding, he perches on the shed and sings his heart out. All is well in my English Country Garden.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 19:31 
 Our National Bird - MD

>> My vote goes for the Robin
>>
Joanna Lumley.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 16 Mar 15 at 21:15
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 19:45 
 Our National Bird - Bromptonaut
Another vote for troglodytes troglodytes. Lots of them trilling away on the Staffs Moorlands this weekend.

Fact he has regional variations only makes him more suitable:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda_wren

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 Mon 16 Mar 15 20:32 
 Our National Bird - Steve
Linked suspiciously to the general election. I've racked my brain, but I can't think of a sensible reason yet. Might be something to do with Hawks and Doves.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 21:45 
 Our National Bird - MD
We had a Hoopoe in our garden last year, yes really. Stayed for just over a day.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 21:47 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
How about a gannet?
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 08:20 
 Our National Bird - Dog
>>How about a gannet?

How is the missus lately Dodger?

:}
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 11:53 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
>> >>How about a gannet?
>>
>> How is the missus lately Dodger?
>>
>> :}
She's a parakeet!
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 22:05 
 Our National Bird - Dog
>> We had a Hoopoe in our garden last year, yes really. Stayed for just over a day.

Lucky ole you! - I remember seeing a photo of a Hoopoe in a wildlife book many years ago, but I've never seen the bird on my travels, unfortunately.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe#/media/File:Botbotik.jpg
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 22:28 
 Our National Bird - WillDeBeest
My mother has reported them as occasional visitors to her South Coast garden but I've only seen them in France. Spectacular sight, though; quite unmistakable.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 22:32 
 Our National Bird - Zero
Saw a couple of them in Spain last year.
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 Mon 16 Mar 15 22:41 
 Our National Bird - Ted

We had a Hoopoe up here a few years ago when I did a spot of National Trust estate warden volunteering.

I vote for the Skylark...just to be awkward.

Memories of lying on my back in the warm grass in the field by our house as a kid trying to spot him singing away high up in the sky. Plus Ralph Vaughan-Williams' Lark Ascending !
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 08:12 
 Our National Bird - Dog
Couple of Jays around me nuts 'as we speak'. The missus calls 'em punk rockers :+)
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 10:07 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> Couple of Jays around me nuts 'as we speak'. The missus calls 'em punk rockers
>> :+)

Whatever the bird, it shouldn't be a roger type bird that roggers off to the sun then comes back to take advantage of better times or climate.

It should be a british bird that lives here all the time, all the year round, without complaining.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 11:54 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
The Puffin.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 11:55 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
Dare I say it?

The Blackbird.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 12:10 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
>> Dare I say it?

>> The Blackbird.


You have a point Rastaman, he's a top contender. Blackbird is present throughout the country and is the best singer, better in my opinion than the song-thrush.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 12:47 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> Dare I say it?
>>
>> The Blackbird.

Why on earth did you think nominating the Blackbird was in the least bit daring?
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:07 
 Our National Bird - BiggerBadderDave
Nerys Hughes
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:18 
 Our National Bird - Dog
>>Whatever the bird, it shouldn't be a roger type bird that roggers off to the sun then comes back to take advantage of better times or climate.

Jays don't roger off abroad come winter, they can be found across most of the UK. They don't like Jockland though for some strange reason.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:21 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> >>Whatever the bird, it shouldn't be a roger type bird that roggers off to the
>> sun then comes back to take advantage of better times or climate.
>>
>> Jays don't roger off abroad come winter, they can be found across most of the
>> UK. They don't like Jockland though for some strange reason.

The English national bird then. The jocks can have a grouse. Very appropriate.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 20:05 
 Our National Bird - Harleyman
>> Linked suspiciously to the general election. I've racked my brain, but I can't think of
>> a sensible reason yet. Might be something to do with Hawks and Doves.
>>

More likely AC's suggestion of a hawk species. Or a turkey.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:35 
 Our National Bird - TheManWithNoName
National bird?
What for? What's the point and what is it trying to prove?
You can't summarise the character of a whole nation by a flipping feathered creature no matter how pretty it looks and once a bird has been chosen (via social media) then what? How would the image be used and when?
Stupid idea and a waste of server space.
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      1  
 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:42 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
>> Stupid idea and a waste of server space

It's my strong impression that 'server space' is more or less monopolised by stupid ideas. One more won't make a blind bit of difference.

I'd forgotten that the skylark competes with the blackbird for top musician slot. When he's in the mood a lark can sing pure bebop, fabulous stuff. You have to listen, and it helps to be in the right mood yourself.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:52 
 Our National Bird - Slidingpillar
Long before I became deaf, I was cycling back home at silly o'clock in the morning. From what I remember, must have been about 4 in the morning in June. A skylark flew up, and in the utter quiet, sang its heart out. I stopped and listened for what must have been 10 minutes; twas utterly enchanting and I've never heard its like again.

But on topic, the question has to be answered with another question, why? The rich variety of birds in these islands sums up the character of the UK, not any individual species.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:54 
 Our National Bird - TheManWithNoName
Yeah, get rid of the immigrant birds and narrow the choice down a bit.
;-)
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 14:39 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
>> why? The rich variety of birds in these islands sums up the character of the UK, not any individual species.

Yes, but there's no harm in electing one as the most British bird, surely?

It should obviously be found everywhere to be a contender. The robin is aggressive, the wren tiny and cute, and there are other contenders in the small bird category including the blue tit.

Herself likes small birds and hangs food containers for them from an apple tree outside. The food costs a lot of money and I grumble when she makes me buy it. There are a lot of blue tits and coal tits, and occasional finches, green, gold and bull. The biggest usual visitor is a woodpecker - there's a pair 100 yards away. Every now and then a jay turns up.

The smaller birds don't touch the food when something bigger is eating, they wait their turn. It all happens very fast, little birds flitting in and out in half a second. They have racing metabolisms, like mice. An ornithologist could use slowed-down video to assess the patterns of dominance or cooperation, but you can't make any sense of it with the naked eye.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 16:09 
 Our National Bird - madf
>> Herself likes small birds and hangs food containers for them from an apple tree outside.
>> The food costs a lot of money and I grumble when she makes me buy
>> it.

B&M and Home Bargains sell v good bird food for not much money...
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 17:29 
 Our National Bird - Cliff Pope
>> >> The robin is aggressive, the
>> wren tiny and cute,
>>

Not so cute when pushed:

"For the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love,
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason."

Lady Macduff
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      1  
 Wed 18 Mar 15 01:22 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
>> occasional finches, green, gold and bull.

Another mistake. I am told that bullfinches are rare visitors, but chaffinches show up quite often. So that should have read 'green, gold and chaff'. Sorry.

They're all just cute little birds to me. Gotta buy another pound of peanuts for the little gannets tomorrrow.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 13:55 
 Our National Bird - Armel Coussine
I don't mind silly things like national birds. I wouldn't mind being Chilean or Mexican and having the condor for example.

Bear in mind that we have a national animal, even if moaning minnies think the lion is too good for us these days and we should have a poodle instead.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 16:05 
 Our National Bird - madf
Got to be a deceased parrot...
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 16:28 
 Our National Bird - WillDeBeest
Coincidentally, I found on Netflix the other night Monty Python: and now for something completely different and thought the Beestlings might be interested. It is - I think - a re-shooting of bits from the TV series rather than a mere compilation; either way, some they found amusing, most not. I let the parrot sketch develop without comment, curious as to whether they'd heard of it. They hadn't, and it didn't raise a titter. Pity; I'd hoped it might have dated better.

Lesley Judd is in it, though. But the episode of Black Books we finally gave it up for was much funnier.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 17 Mar 15 at 16:30
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 16:36 
 Our National Bird - No FM2R
Python has not aged well.

That and the fact that, even when it was current, it was moments of genius buried in quite a lot of dross.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 17:09 
 Our National Bird - Haywain
"That and the fact that, even when it was current, it was moments of genius buried in quite a lot of dross."

That's more or less what I commented last year in the Telegraph on the news of the reunion gigs.

"Some Monty Python stuff was very funny …………….. but a lot of it wasn't; we only tend to remember the good bits."

Another contributor congratulated me on summarising the whole of human existence in one sentence......
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 17:32 
 Our National Bird - Cliff Pope
>> I let the parrot sketch develop without comment, curious as
>> to whether they'd heard of it. They hadn't,
>>

Dead parrot has passed into the language - probably most people don't know where it came from.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 20:32 
 Our National Bird - Zero
They finally managed to put all the good bits together with " life of Brian" tho made a good attempt with "holy grail"

With the TV shows if you got one genius piece in each show you were lucky

I say you were lucky


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 Tue 17 Mar 15 21:20 
 Our National Bird - Dutchie
Nice little bird the red Robin.You don't often see them in my garden but when I have it makes my day.

I'm easily pleased.
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 22:05 
 Our National Bird - swiss tony
Carol Vorderman gets my vote....
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 22:44 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
White Dee from "Benefits Street".
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 Tue 17 Mar 15 23:41 
 Our National Bird - Ted

I like Great Tits....just saying.
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 Wed 18 Mar 15 00:26 
 Our National Bird - No FM2R

>> I like Great Tits....just saying.

And Doug speaks highly of you, also.









(Using Doug's name because he can take it).
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 Wed 18 Mar 15 00:30 
 Our National Bird - Roger.
......or,of course, the "Oomygooley" bird
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 Wed 18 Mar 15 08:25 
 Our National Bird - Dog
>> (Using Doug's name because he can take it).

It may surprise you to learn I can be a bit of a tit myself occasionally.

(.)(.) Thanks Doc!

PS frownie not mine btw!
Last edited by: Dog on Wed 18 Mar 15 at 08:26
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 Wed 18 Mar 15 08:34 
 Our National Bird - Dog
I'm falling in love for the first time, this time I think it's for real

www.saradamergi.com/
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 16:18 
 Our National Bird - Manatee
It's the Robin.

theurbanbirder.com/#nationalbird
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:00 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> It's the Robin.
>>
>> theurbanbirder.com/#nationalbird

Good to see the Kite came 5th. What a marvellous story that has been. More or less extinct in the uk, and now spreading everywhere. We now have a pair breeding near us on Horsell Common, and one is now seen regularly over palace Zero. They don't appear yet to have made it to the Surrey Hills, North Downs or the South Downs, but they will and once in that locale they will rapidly expand - ideal country for them.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:07 
 Our National Bird - Bromptonaut
>> Good to see the Kite came 5th.

We're about halfway between the Chiltern and Rockingham reintroduction zones. Still unusual enough locally to be commented on but no longer exceptional. Another five years perhaps and they'll be as common as Buzzards - themselves a rarity when we moved here 25yrs ago.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:14 
 Our National Bird - sooty123
What do Kites eat?
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:18 
 Our National Bird - CGNorwich
>> What do Kites eat?
>>

UKIP supporters mainly
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:21 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> >> What do Kites eat?
>> >>
>>
>> UKIP supporters mainly

A kite will most certainly gobble up a kipper.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:20 
 Our National Bird - Zero
Mostly small mammals, or any form of road kill or carcasses. They will take small birds, and raid nests. They also scavenge, seen them brazenly raiding the waste bins at Princess Risborough station, they are really quite large at close quarters.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:24 
 Our National Bird - Bromptonaut

>> they are really quite large at close quarters.

Indeedy. I disturbed one feeding by the road while cycling in the Tring area a couple of years ago. Difficult to compare exactly but I'd say it was size of Black Back Gull.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:21 
 Our National Bird - Bromptonaut
>> What do Kites eat?

Per RSPB:

Mainly carrion and worms, but opportunistic and will occasionally take small mammals.

Daughter and her chap saw them being fed at the Kite Centre in mid Wales butcher's waste.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 11 Jun 15 at 17:22
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:28 
 Our National Bird - sooty123
Just curious as to what impact it would should they increase to large numbers.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:37 
 Our National Bird - Bromptonaut
>> Just curious as to what impact it would should they increase to large numbers.

If they spread around the country then fine, though if they take small birds they're going to fall foul of (a) gamekeepers and (b) those who blame wild predators for decline in song birds.

Zero's account of them scavenging from bins though is worrying. If they get too bold at hat sort of thing they become a nuisance and, like gulls, a danger to public health.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 11 Jun 15 at 17:40
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 18:09 
 Our National Bird - sooty123
>> If they spread around the country then fine, though if they take small birds they're
>> going to fall foul of (a) gamekeepers and (b) those who blame wild predators for
>> decline in song birds.
>>

As there is always a knock from one species increasing, just wondered what it is. How small is small though, unless it's small gamebirds like the chicks I don't think they'd be too bothered. Some round here buy them in anyway, by then they are too big I would think to get eaten by them. Although obvioiusly not all work that way.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:38 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> Just curious as to what impact it would should they increase to large numbers.

In very large numbers they can be a pest, tho in the middle ages they were useful "cleaner uppers"
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 19:55 
 Our National Bird - CGNorwich
They still perform that function in many Indian cities. Shakespeare described London as a city of kites and crowes in Corialanus.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:17 
 Our National Bird - CGNorwich
Most of our birds of prey have made a comeback after the disastrous years of the seventies although some are still persecuted by gamekeepers living in the past.

I regularly see Marsh Harriers on the Broads and spent a while watching Hobbies chasing dragonflies at Upton Broad earlier this week. Buzzards not as common as further west. A number of Red Kites have been sighted as was an Osprey at Ranworth earlier this year. Good to see that the kestrel has made a bit of a comeback too after a few poor years and of course there's always the Peregrine on the cathedral!
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:29 
 Our National Bird - Manatee
Saw a red kite just north of Basingstoke yesterday. Perhaps not unusual, but more used to seeing them in the Chilterns.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 17:49 
 Our National Bird - Alanovich
>> Horsell Common

Was in the Cricketers pub there a few days ago having a cooling drink after a day's hard graft. If you take a stroll along the bank of the Basingstoke canal in the direction of Basingstoke from St Johns Lye, you'll see some canal bank repairs I helped carry out.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 18:46 
 Our National Bird - Zero
>> >> Horsell Common
>>
>> Was in the Cricketers pub there a few days ago having a cooling drink after
>> a day's hard graft. If you take a stroll along the bank of the Basingstoke
>> canal in the direction of Basingstoke from St Johns Lye, you'll see some canal bank
>> repairs I helped carry out.

And some say sentencing doesn't work- Good old community service.

(not sure the hang em high brigade will approve of being allowed to have booze tho)
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 11 Jun 15 at 18:47
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 19:14 
 Our National Bird - Alanovich
It's OK. No booze. I had lemonade and lime, paid for it myself. And the burger it washed down. Had to drive the rest of the orange boiler-suited rapscallions back through the checkpoints to the People's Republic of Berkshire, see.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 19:18 
 Our National Bird - Zero
Ah right - sorry. Didn't realise you were the screw.
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 Thu 11 Jun 15 18:59 
 Our National Bird - Focusless
>> Good to see the Kite came 5th.
>> We now have a pair breeding near us on Horsell Common,
>> and one is now seen regularly over palace Zero.

There were 10 circling over the playing field and surrounding houses where I was walking the dog last Saturday (in Reading), and that's not unusual - I've seen up to 20 together. I wouldn't be surprised if they're reaching saturation point in the area.
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 11 Jun 15 at 19:00
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 Sat 27 Jun 15 14:06 
 flock of kites - Focusless
>> There were 10 circling over the playing field and surrounding houses where I was walking
>> the dog last Saturday

About 15 today over someone's garden earlier down Loddon Bridge Road in Woodley; you can just about make out 13 or 14:
i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae173/focushj/20150627_103428_zpsz6vvm4ei.jpg

EDIT: BTW phone camera's wide angle lens makes them appear much further away than they actually were
Last edited by: Focusless on Sat 27 Jun 15 at 14:10
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 Sat 27 Jun 15 14:13 
 flock of kites - Bromptonaut
Brief sighting of a single example this morning, idling around over farmland between here and M1.
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Motoring Discussion
by zippy
BYD - Chinese cars and spying
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/don-t-plug-phones-into-chinese-electric-cars-defence-firms-warn/ar-AA1DMXFl
Tue, 29 Apr 2025 02:13
Motoring Discussion
by zippy
Anybody want a Fisker?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14622205/fisker-ocean-ev-stuck-company-bust.html I couldn't see if she bought the car on ...
Tue, 29 Apr 2025 01:27
Non-motoring
by zippy
NHS
>> >> ...and turn us all into Elon Musk...? >> ...
Tue, 29 Apr 2025 01:11
Non-motoring
by zippy
NHS
>> ...and turn us all into Elon Musk...? >> I ...