Birds in our Gardens

[Daisy]

Nana's comment on the February thread about a pair of robins and a very handsome blackbird has made me wonder about the birds in other grannies' gardens.

What do you see regularly? Are they all lovely or do you get some thugs? Do you get any unusual visitors?

[Plantaholic]

We have a very open garden joining woodland so the birds just nip in and out. I am getting excited that there are some blue tits looking into my relatively new bird box, it is a bit close to my sitting room window so I hope they will not be put off. We get the occasional woodpecker, we have had some Field Fares and Red Wings in flocks feeding on the fallen apples this year that we leave for the deer. Tree creepers visit and little Jenny Wren. The sparrows are in the hedges, we can hear them but they stay there. When I was driving through the lanes yesterday I saw a Buzzard (that was on my wish list) but the birds we see in the sky the most are the Red Kites, they were introduced to the Chilterns some years ago very successfully but they are becoming a bit of a pest as people have been feeding them (they are quite a sight coming into land) they are really carrion feeders. there are claims that they are taking small animals and we feared for our kitten when he was in the garden, they were certainly circling overhead, they make a high pitched call.

[Nanto2girls]

Robins,blackbirds,dunnocks and blue tits are among our regular visitors.
Also get collared doves and villains of the bird world magpies.
Afew weeks ago, i said to hubby, i can't remember the last time i heard a cuckoo.

[Nana]

Plant how special. The variety of birds you get is amazing! I hope the blue tits nest as that would be a fantastic thing to follow. I've never seen a red kite up close but in the sky, so it's difficult to tell how big they are.

I've never heard of some of the birds you have. Might have to look them up. I haven't heard of a dunnock either Nan2. Neither have I heard a cuckoo's song.

I can't remember if I said on here but I've always wanted to see a murmory, (bound to have got that spelling wrong ...murmmery?). It's when hundreds of sterlings flock & dance in formation in the sky before they roost. Came upon it by accident & Wow, it was breathtaking😍 Really spiritual somehow.

[Daisy]

Nana - I'm not very good at identifying birds, especially when they're up in the sky! I think that's why I like seeing them in the garden - you can get a better look, especially if they're pre-occupied on the feeders.

Dunnocks are very similar to house sparrows - I can't tell them apart unless they're close up!

There are a couple of good sites for helping identify a bird:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...entify-a-bird/

and this is good for the ones you're most likely to see in your garden:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved...-look-out-for/

We hear the cuckoos from April onwards. I'm torn between being pleased it's Spring and picturing their thuggish babies tipping other fledglings out of their nests.



I asked about unusual visitors because last week I saw a Jay in the garden. It's only the second one I've ever seen, and on the same day I saw another small bird (about the same size as a Robin) which I couldn't identify.


Plant - some years ago a member ofa photographic forum I'm on live streamed footage from a blue tit family in his nesting box. It was mesmerising! We nicknamed the mother bird Mrs Fidget because she never sat still for more than about 3 seconds, constantly tending to first the eggs then the chicks. And when the chicks finally fledged I don't think there was a dry eye on the forum.

[Grauntie Mag]

Green woodpecker this morning. Apart from that, the pigeons seem to rule the roost and scare the smaller birds away. I have two feeding stations, so ever hopeful.

[Daisy]

Grauntie - green woodpeckers are lovely! I see them just down the road from us, but they hardly ever come in our garden, although greater spotted woodies do.

[Grauntie Mag]

I’d be very happy to see a greater spotted WP Daisy, but never seen one here.

[Gemini]

With three cats in our house (Although all long past their bird bothering days!) and 2 on either side, birds are not so frequent in or garden. We do see some as we have feeders, high up. Mostly we get fat pigeons though!

[Daisy]

Gem, we get the pigeons as well. They sit on the fence at the bottom of the garden just waiting for their chance but the jackdaws are the real thugs. They seem to send one scout in advance and then descend en masse, swinging on the feeders to tip them up, woolfing up all the seed on the table and scaring off every other feathered creature.

I don't mind the pigeons though. They don't take liberties and are quite happy to peck around on the ground for whatever has fallen out of the feeders. The collared doves are sweet and sit cuddling up in the apple tree.

Grauntie - I'll send the next greater spotted woodpecker I see along to say 'hello'.

Some birds seem to come and go. This winter I've been seeing pied wagtails in the garden for the first time. We used to get them in the previous house, just 5 minutes walk away, so there can't be much difference in habitat for them. At one time there were loads of thrushes, but not now, but starlings have reappeared after disappearing some years ago.