The acceptable face of a raptor death.
Presumably the result of a con-specific territorial dispute. At least it wasn’t the usual ‘estate’ owner/manager/gamekeeper coalition that ended the life of such a magnificent creature. Consequently, I’m ok with this, it’s the other fuckers that I’m not ok with.
You can add most farmings to that list - I live in the midst of an almost monocultural arable wasteland, yet in less than 3 years I’ve found and reported 2 buzzards, 2 barn owls and a kestrel shot (I checked for pellets as vehicle strikes take some as well sadly), as well as countless jackdaws, rooks and crows (as you know, only rooks are a minor agricultural pest), and most of them shot illegally close to roads and left on the ground to rot. There are no shooting estates, and only small numbers of pheasants set-out by small farmers for their own “abusement” - i.e. not the slightest possible justification beyond owning a gun plus a typical farming’s “instinct” to kill absolutely every living thing for miles around.
I don’t need to tell you how fucking angry this makes me, nor the police and other authorities’ utter lack of interest. At least they’ve not been rare species so far…
This demonstrates that when eagles die naturally, people find them - as one would expect. When they die near driven grouse moors they disappear without trace, even when fitted with super reliable sat tags.
Somebody here with an interest in birds should definitely buy this. It’s a great book and for only £2.45 with free delivery
Saw my first Northern Wheatear (female) of the year this afternoon. VERY early for Shetland.
Bought it, silly not to.
Good. It’s excellent in dealing with a lot of confusion species 
Perfect for me then; I’ve been using the Collins guide
Well you need that too as the Macmillan guide is not a complete field guide, but it certainly helps to know the subtle differences between say Willow/Marsh Tits, Black-tailed/Bar-tailed Godwits, Goshawk/Sparrowhawk etc. etc.
Amazing how adaptable the raptors are, thanks
First one of these spotted in our back garden over the weekend
Blackcap
Ducks are back, this pair of Mallards spent a lot of time here last Spring. Easily recognized as the male has a bad limp.
You could display the male on the lounge wall like on the cover of Courtney Marie’s new album.
Sunflower hearts are fine along with any other types of bird seed. Sweetcorn is very good as is (strangely) lettuce (tear it up into pieces)
I’m sure you know that bread is not good for them.
Quite so, much better served with roast potatoes 
Did I mention I recently made up my own mix for the ducks and swans at the local lake? Porridge oats, barley, various lentils, peanuts and some bird seed I had. They ate it all in one visit!. I’ve made up more now.
