Fetch Birdwatchers
5 lurkers |
165 watchers
29 Jan
10:51am, 29 Jan 2024
5,011 posts
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J2R
Definitely birdsong is starting to ramp up again, even though spring is still some way off. Very vocal great tits and song thrushes have been added to the robins.
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29 Jan
10:59am, 29 Jan 2024
6,178 posts
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TheScribbler
Lovely spot Red Squirrel. My only sighting of a goldcrest was in a local park where it was hopping around in a very dim area, so no chance of a photo there either. My garden birds all seem to go somewhere else at the weekend, so my RSPB birdwatch count is a bit thin: 1 starling 1 wood pigeon 5 sparrows No sign of the blackbird or the robin that we've spotted regularly. Hopefully a few more to see as spring arrives. |
29 Jan
11:10am, 29 Jan 2024
64,091 posts
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Derby Tup
Listen out now for nuthatch 'singing' basically anywhere there are trees and dippers on clean running water. Great tit teacher teachering everywhere here
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29 Jan
11:29am, 29 Jan 2024
4,258 posts
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jacdaw
Yes, J2R and they are probably conservative estimates. The chaffinch hang around under the bird feeder, but are also flying from the hedge to the feeder. The greenfinch are on the other feeder, in the (other) hedge, and lurk, waiting for their turn on the feeder. Are these unusual numbers? Greenfinch are bouncing back at the moment, but there used to be far more. |
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29 Jan
12:43pm, 29 Jan 2024
5,012 posts
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J2R
As I've mentioned before, chaffinch have become puzzlingly rare on our feeders in the last year or so and I have no idea why. Conversely, we're seeing more greenfinches than we have for years, which is always a delight. I would say overall numbers are a little down, though, and we've had none of the birds which often used to show up in winter here, bramblings, siskins and redpolls.
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29 Jan
1:00pm, 29 Jan 2024
4,259 posts
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jacdaw
I think there has been a good crop of wild seed this year, especially alder, and maybe birch, and that has kept the siskin and redpoll away from my feeders. I still see big flocks near the house, but feeding in the trees and not on my niger seed. Similarly the goldfinches are just starting to come back into the garden. Bramblings have always been a one or two birds every 3 or 4 years sort of bird for me. I think that is dependent on conditions across the north sea, not locally. |
29 Jan
1:14pm, 29 Jan 2024
4,609 posts
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Curly45
We also have seen less siskins on the feeders and the goldfinches seem to hang around but rarely stay on there for hours. We have 4 chaffinches that live in the bush but only one comes on the feeders. |
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29 Jan
2:23pm, 29 Jan 2024
5,013 posts
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J2R
We're certainly well kitted out with goldfinches. Greenfinches, great tits and blue tits are the main other species we get on the sunflower hearts, although we often get long-tailed tits and coal tits as well. But robins are regulars, too, as are jays and collared doves (very awkward perching!), and even dunnocks. Birds which a) don't use hanging feeders and b) don't eat seeds still seem remarkably happy to do so.
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29 Jan
2:26pm, 29 Jan 2024
5,014 posts
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J2R
PS jacdaw, your explanation about siskin and redpoll make good sense. In fact, we have often not really had siskin on the feeders until March, when presumably the alder seed in the wild has run out (lots of alders round here), at which point they move into gardens. One March siskins were, somewhat surprisingly, the most common bird on our feeders.
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29 Jan
5:58pm, 29 Jan 2024
2,344 posts
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Heinzster
Tree creeper in the park last week, and yesterday I was on a road which skirts the hill on the south-west side of Belfast. I was so high up I was able to look down on a soaring buzzard getting mobbed by crows.
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