Imagine the vastness of the whole world. Oceans and mountain ranges, Jungles, deserts and continents naturally divide it up. County’s, lakes, rivers, forests, national parks, roads, railways, quarries, mines and industrial areas divide that up. Then there’s property; some with and some without a yard or garden. And if you’re lucky enough to have one of your own, you could have something very valuable in it.
It’s not always the case. Unfortunately some folk concrete over the most valuable piece of real estate they’re ever going to own.
In an effort to show what can be achieved, we simply made a list. A list of every bird that came and went either through, around, over, or very near to where we live.
The garden is God’s garden.
House Martin: Call sign – Space Trek.
The House Martin comes back every spring. They’re living on our house too. That is where the nest is. Stuck to the side of the wall under the eaves.
We’d like more birds in our garden; which is partly why our garden is dedicated to nature. It needs to be a mini nature reserve. That said, as much as we do to cater for as many birds that want to visit our garden, the House Martin has a rule book all of its own.
You could say that the House Martin doesn’t rely on the trees that we have planted, the bushes and shrubs and all the flowering plants too. But they do.
The garden represents a square area of coverage and shelter – and food. The insects thrive on anything in the garden as it is the perfect environment for them.
Although the House Martin is not seen to duck and dive directly over the back garden quite so much as it is seen to swoop and fly around over the front garden. This adds up to an anomaly, in a way, as funnily enough, the front garden, although planted out to maximum coverage with all manner of plants, from trees to flowering plants to shrubs and bushes, does not seem or appear to obviously provide what is required for the House Martin in the same way as the back garden.
Unexpectedly, the flight pattern of the Hose Martin and the nature of those flight patterns tell another story. A lot of what they are looking for in feeding on the wing is directly above the front garden. And at a height that doesn’t immediately reflect to the direct association between the two gardens back and front as regards to what is planted out in them. In other words the roof of the house would be a barrier between the two.
It may be because the nest of the House Martin is on the front of the house as opposed to the back of the house. And another reason for that in itself is probably because the front of the house faces South whilst the back of the house faces North. Either way, the House martin is a welcome guest.
It won’t fly in the same manner as any other garden bird, except maybe a Swallow or a Swift. More like an aerobatic prowler. It has to be that way to be able to find the required food source, get to those nests and feed raised a young brood at the rate that they do. There is no other way.
As the House Martin feeds entirely on the wing, it only therefore has flying insects as a food of choice. For us that’s a bonus to prove that through continuous planting instead of lawn making we do our bit to ensure the House Martin continues to visit the garden.
That said, why in all its infuriating form do they nest on a neighbours’ front of house when those neighbours do exactly nothing at all for any type of wild life. I have examined this from our distance and can only surmise that the geographical positioning of that house provides Space Trek with a perfect fly-to residence and therefore the facing and angled aspect of it suits them.
It definitely isn’t because those neighbours have anything in the way of food for the birds; their front garden is concrete. An area with nothing except paver blocks.
And here’s the crunch point: The House Martins do not feed over their property frontage, they feed over ours. The birds only nest there.
The ignorance of blinkered folk is most concerning when you consider that some people will actually do all that they can to remove these birds nests from their eaves because they make a mess.
Frankly, it’s mess worth having.
So, referring to the flight characteristics and the feeding characteristics, all the more impressive then that Space Trek can fly to South Africa. That’s a distance of approximately 8200 miles.
Studies have shown a similar garden bird (Swift) to cover 6000 miles in five days. Let’s allow for other factors which could slow things down a bit – wind in the wrong direction, bad weather, etc, add some days for the extra 2000 miles to come somewhere near to 8200 miles and then total that to say seven days, plus another five for luck and that’s a flight time of twelve days.
Star Trek infers flights of fantasy. Space Trek infers true flight coverage. The House Martin becomes Space Trek.
That’s impressive distance and time. I’m betting they can do it quicker than that.
Sparrow: Call sign – Traffic Signal.
The good old Sparrow. Two types and they are both here. Everyone has the House Sparrow. It’s the boisterous one. The Tree Sparrow on the other hand – maybe not. It’s a bit shyer than the House Sparrow.
If you were to ask anyone at all –‘What garden bird, in your garden?’ Chances are most people would say the Sparrow. Even for those who do not follow garden birds.
That’s what I think anyway.
On a day in the garden, bird song would be heard at various times. If tuned into such a thing then the Sparrow’s call would be heard probably as the most prolific, even if not the most tuneful, and as far as melody is concerned, it has none.
But who cares. The call of the Sparrow signifies life in the garden. Through a series of loud and incoherent chirps and cheeps is how they run their lives on the language side of things. What with their definite and regular sound and their communal feeding behaviour in as much as they wait for a space, is enough for me to see them resemble a bit like a Traffic Signal.
New food in the feeders spikes a lot of interest, as you would expect. It doesn’t stop them however from using other feeders which appeal to other types of garden bird, so in times of hardship they may diversify their feed in order to keep themselves going. They know of course that their feeders will get topped up.
To resemble the Traffic Signal would be a case of Red, Red Amber, Green, under normal circumstances. Here though it’s more a case of stop, wait and start, go. The regularity of it equals the sequence.
They live together and they feed together. They queue, they wait, they start and go and the they stop. All in view of the feeders. They usually stick together for safety in numbers. They are Traffic Signal.
It would be an interesting survey to find out what type of bird most frequently visits folk’s garden’s, if indeed lots of folk are even interested for that matter. Is it the Sparrow?( probably the most common garden bird), I wonder.
As they are a communal bird, their gate keeping and area watch is Meer cat like, standing about on the top of the hedges. Hedgerow domineers in the best possible way. Their home is their castle and for each and every one of them they care not to be eaten by the most feared of all, the Sparrow Hawk.
Sparrow Hawk: Call sign – Sniper.
Check out this cut-throat slayer if you can. It’s fast’ it’s lean, it’s mean, it’s a killing machine.
A chance encounter with this bird is not your everyday run of the mill occurrence. With luck you can get close. Seen close up you could be forgiven for mistaking looking at a pigeon who had had a very bad night. But in doing so would wonder – why am I looking at a svelte Wood Pigeon ………. with a taller stance and .. hang on a minute, those red ringed, encircled eyes, like no other, accentuate the coloured eyes themselves and portray a very angry look to them, for want of a better way of describing the nature of the way they look. This bird is not evil though. It is just a bird of prey. And an undeniable beautiful one too. Patterned, coloured feathers which from underside form a zebra crossing; the unmistakable coloured silhouette – and talon’s. That’s because this bird is Sniper. And this guy’s not here to admire the scenery.
I’m the lucky one having looked this bird in the eye from a few feet away. Of course Sniper has to plan its day, so resting on a branch just feet away from the shed window allowed us to contemplate each other.
This bird has but one thing on its mind at that time and that is where is the next meal coming from. This garden acts well for its feeding requirements, creating a run through with a flightpath through Sparrow country.
There’s no intention to help this bird murder fellow bird life, it’s just how they live. It doesn’t matter how you try to feed Sparrows, i.e. near shelter or whatever. When a Sparrow Hawk wants to eat it will try whatever is required. Like a Sniper, it will kill with deadly accuracy.
That said, mistakes can happen. I once saw a Sparrow Hawk go for a Sparrow whilst the Sparrow itself was stood in a bird feeder cage in our front garden. The Sparrow made a loopy and petrified reverse move around the feeder whilst the Sparrow Hawk tried in vain to grab the Sparrow whilst in an ungainly hover on the other side of the caged metal. It was awesome. The Sparrow lived to tell the tale as the Sparrow Hawk wasn’t designed to hover on the other side of a metal caged bird feeder. Far from a hundred percent deadly accuracy on this occasion, the sparrow Hawk was just trying a different approach. I also won’t forget the time I watched from the dining room window as a Sparrow Hawk tried in vain to catch a Sparrow as the Sparrow hid further and further back into the hedge itself.
Twice I have watched the Sparrow hawk miss its prey and each time was an incredibly lucky snapshot in time where I was at the right place at the right time.
I hope I never forget looking into the eyes of a Sparrow Hawk. That is one frightening bird – if you are a Sparrow.
Bullfinch: Call sign – Full Moon.
Here one day gone the next, or month for that matter. Why for several days on the trot does this highly visible, vivid coloured bird prove to be such a sporadic visitor. It happens to be a bit like a Full Moon in some ways. There at specific times, but mostly unobserved. When it is seen it is really seen.
For whatever reason it therefore is all the more appreciated that this bird chooses our garden to make that appearance. And although its choice of food could be guessed at in the natural (or even planted) garden, not so with the food in the feeders. Is this bird as fussy as much as it is the sporadic appearance?
No. I think I have the answer. Black sunflower seeds – possibly. But then the only Bullfinch I ever held in my hand was a dead one and it was under the black sunflower seed feeder. Maybe it was a coincidence.
This is one bird by itself alone that makes the heart skip a beat when seen in the garden. I love it. It’s appearance makes it all the more enjoyable to see when considering that the Autumn is probably the only time when it will be seen.
And what then is its favoured choice of naturally occurring food? For such a welcome visitor the Buddleia then seems the most oddest plant to see this bird on. A prolific plant growing more or less anywhere.
It’s a common plant for a not so common bird.
Like all finches, the Bullfinch is a strangely slow eater. Funny to watch. Savour every beak full. On a scale of one to ten and ten being the slowest, I would say the Bullfinch scores a ten for slow eating.
Similarly, like its cousin the Gold Finch, is almost of a tropical designed looking bird. Colourful, plump and much desired in the garden.
One of my most respected of garden birds.
Rook: Call sign – Helicopter Assassin.
Oh for the sounds of the Springtime. It’s great. It’s bird time for sure. With the sounds of bird song. Can the difference between one song from the other be easily distinguished? Yes I’m sure it can if you know the difference. I wish I could tell the songs apart. There’s so much song out there. I know the Sparrow and the Long Tail Tit. And I know the Helicopter Assassin’s too.
Some would say they’re too noisy, Helicopter Assassin, but no. Why should any human decide that the common Rook is too loud when all it wants to do is nest up and raise some young. Are they not allowed a conversation between each other in a group, without persecution. Over here I have known them to be shot just because some folk don’t like the sound of them in the mornings. Well, you choose to live in the countryside, I would say. I am sure the wildlife would rather humans buggered off out of it and give them some peace and quiet.
You don’t destroy church bells just because they make a noise on a Sunday morning.
I feed the Rooks, after all, they are birds. Birds need our help.
They love the scrap left over bread when we see that bread as unfit for eating ourselves.
There will always (seemingly) be one Rook who watches from somewhere when you think they have all flown for the day. They tend to fly away in the morning as though they are going to work. They tend to return in the afternoon as though they are returning from work.
That one Rook though is there waiting. If I’m out there throwing pieces of bread out for them to eat, a Rook will notice. It’s just waiting for the coast to clear, to be sure that I have returned indoors and away from their feed area before it (and all the rest of them to follow) makes its move. They watch us move away so that they can give the call to the others and then descend like a Helicopter Assassin from a great height. Their undercarriage down to aid for straight down and slightly spiralling, plummeting drops to the grass land below where the bread lies in thrown out pieces. Bread scattered on purpose in a large swathe to encourage as many Rooks as possible to find what they are looking for and make life easier for them.
They thank us in the only way they know how and make lots of noise. A sight to see on your own doorstep; why wouldn’t you want to admire the living spectacle of wild birds. OK, it’s only a Rook, but why only a Rook?
Their nests are maybe the most evident of all birdlife. They aren’t bothered about concealing their homes. Loads of twigs and assorted bird building material showing to anyone who looks upwards as to how they live in the trees.
Spare a thought for the common Rook, whose home is open to all weather. Like all birds; undisputed engineers in their own quest to just live in the trees. Nests built solidly to stay where they are built.
Not such the simple, ugly, black coloured bird then.
Check out their wings in flight. They use the most cutting edge of nature’s amazing ability to create, ensuring human technology copies to ensure lightening quick reactions in the air. See how our own aircraft have followed the curves of bird wings such as those on a Rook. Did you ever wonder why our planes have those end wing tips.
So off the Rook will go every morning looking for food. Usually in a group or as a whole lot. And that is also how they will return later.
But they won’t miss a trick. Often seen mobbing a much larger bird of Prey such as a Buzzard, they are not so much chancers of the highest degree here, they are merely protecting what is to them worth protecting. So their aim is not to kill, or steal, but to drive away. I once observed (fantastically and unbelievably, and luckily and honoured to have) three Rooks badgering a Peregrine Falcon over Portland. The Peregrine Falcon – also being a ferocious killing machine, looked hassled in the air. It was three onto one after all. But any bird that chooses to underestimate a bird of Prey will see the error of its ways. I watched that Peregrine weave and duck and dive in a lacklustre attempt to shake them off. The Peregrine Falcon was not overly bothered. The Rooks though, they will soon regret the time they chose to pick on a bird of Prey.
I watched that Peregrine Falcon perform the most unusual and incredible air trickery. I saw it fly upside down and break from its chasers with an about turn that saw the Rooks being chased by the Peregrine.
The Rook therefore may be more of a bird than it appears. It is not such a nuisance just because it is doesn’t have the attractive qualities of most other garden birds. It is as much a bird as any other.
Helicopter Assassin’s are circulating in swirls above the trees where they will nest soon. In fact, they’re so in a tiz they are landing and settling on the branches nearby to all their previous years’ nests seemingly in a state of not knowing what to do.
Long Tail Tit: Call sign – White Horses Wave.
Watch them come and watch them go. Listen out for them too. ‘Chip, chip, chip, chip.’ A real communal bird if ever there was one. The most group active of all garden birds are my top favourite. A very small round ball, like a ping pong ball with feathers and a long tail. Unlike their cousins – the Blue Tits and the Great Tits; the Long Tail Tit will look out to each other in the most warming of ways.
Can a bird be of the most hypnotic of observation purely for being black and white, and maybe a smudge of brown-ish colour.
It is the Long Tail Tit to hold that accolade. Like White Horses Waves at the seaside, they appear in a theatrical bunch, or maybe even as one only, but if as one, not for long as the scout makes the call and in they come, all together, gaining momentum. Homing in on the feeders to the excited cheeps and chirps of all of them. Soon they are there in a mass group and looking out to each other whilst on the feeder and all bunched up together in a moving mass of Long Tail Tit feathers.
Tiny little black eyes dotted onto a black and white contrast. Always looking ……happy.
No bird quite grabs the attention on a bird feeder quite like a Long tail Tit. That’s because they just are multiple bird watching in one very small area. The feeder when it has up to a dozen Long Tail Tits all together, crammed around the mesh in a squirming mass of black and white feathers is undeniably a sight to see. There’s no arguing, no pushing and shoving, just communal feeding all in good taste.
Just like a ping pong ball they have a funny habit of flying off. Like a bouncing ball they disappear as quickly as they appeared.
They leave in fits and starts, one by one, bouncing away. Whilst at he feeders however, I look to see about ten of them in a squirming, twittering, pecking mass of loveliness. Their colours are without doubt looking more resplendent. They may not have a lot of colour, but credit where it’s due. Look closer and see they have a pleasing brown colour down their backs and it just looks like ….. nature thought a lot before creating such a delicate bird.
Great Spotted Woodpecker: Call sign – Hardass engineer.
Three types in the country, two types here. Only one however in the garden. This guy is the Great Spotted Woodpecker, as opposed to the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Our Woodpecker is the bigger of the two so we know who he is. Quite a big garden bird with powerful good colours.
Not the bully boy it would appear to be. Does it have good eyesight?, I have wondered over the years. Some birds have a problem with glass windows and the issue there is that they can’t see them. If it looks clear ahead then it must be. Just keep flying in that direction and ……..woaahh, bang, clatter, drop. Why does it seem to me to be the Great Spotted Woodpecker that comes worst off. After all, this bird has one hell of a head.
From our view this guy can be seen out back in the trees, flying to and from, and on our feeders. In the trees it’s doing what they are well known for and whilst and in-between springing its way up the trunk, sometimes is drumming into the trunk at the same time.
Evolution created a Hardass Engineer when it came to this bird. A skull and beak of extraordinary strength, fluid in adaption to avoid concussion whilst enabling it to splinter tree trunks to find food inside. Add to that a tongue that extends a lot further than the end of its beak and you’ve got an engineer of a bird that perfection as an aim is well suited to.
You can usually see this bird coming, or going. A crazy bouncing flight pattern. As much as their seeming desire is to stay hidden in the woods, on the feeders is a different matter. Happy to use those whenever it wants and in no hurry to leave until it’s had its fill.
The fat balls are decimated in no time. The Woodpecker can waste as much as it eats. We know he doesn’t do that on purpose and in fairness we have other birds that appreciate that.
This bird is welcome anytime. It won’t hang around long if clearly it is being watched. So softly, softly when this guy is on the feeders, it’s nice to see birds enjoying their food.
I picked up a Great Spotted Woodpecker off of the ground on two occasions. The first had not been so lucky. The second one had flown into one of our windows. I noted his markings close up. Thankfully it hadn’t hit the window too hard. It was knocked out. Which is strange. The beak of a Woodpecker can take an impact of 1200g’s. It’s almost not possible to knock this bird out – one would have thought. The bird made a full recovery and eventually flew away.
That same bird still returns to feed and I feel it knows we helped.
I sense it’s watching us as we are watching it.
There is a shared acknowledgement between us.
Robin: Call sign – Marzi-pan.
Shrewd, and a bit nervous sometimes. Courteous, respectful, and in deference to other birds – it would seem.
All these things not expectedly the obvious, maybe. More than most birds, this one is watching from the bird like bleachers.
Never a wild bird I have known so closely aligned with human beings. Not every human being obviously. The Robin has to like you, but it will be sure of that. We have Robins of the most likeable nature. On a hard winter’s day whilst out chopping wood for instance, the Robin will make a fly-by. No, make that lots of fly-by’s.
A close fly past is to be valued, if the Robin chooses that. How many wild birds can fly so close that its wing will brush past your face if he likes you.
None, that’s how much. The Robin is the only one.
It’s not every day you can come that close to a wild bird, leaving you feeling that you are on the same wavelength. And that is of the Robin’s choosing. He, or she is brave, but he, or she, is sure of you. That leads onto a question: does a wild bird know in its own little mind that this human is friend or foe? Well, I’m sure it does. If you have never experienced that fly past then either you don’t spend enough time in the garden with the birds, or foe is how he, or she, sees you.
I once gardened for a man who hated Robins. I don’t know why he hated them. His wife told me this. I never ran it past the man why. He was a keen gardener so one would have presumed him to be a friend of the Robin out there in the garden.
Whilst I was gardening there I made every attempt to show to the Robin that I was not the same as the man who owned that property. And I think I achieved a mutual likeness between us. The Robin at this particular garden never showed any dislike to me. It was always in close proximity to myself when I was around.
I love the Robin. I can liken the Robin to Marzi-pan in this case. You either love it or hate it. I can’t think of one single reason to hate this little bird. It is always around at all times of the year and will show company in the most solitary and uncomfortable of tasks, either in the rain or sunshine.
Out of nowhere it appears from a tree, or a hedge, and settles on a branch. Sussing out the lay of the land.
Looks at the feeders, knows what it wants. A quick flick of the wings. It’s a little irritated. It has to wait in turn. They always show respect to all other birds. Yes, definitely. Not that it has to – necessarily. It will though. It’s still a little irritated. Another flick of the wings. More birds already at the feeders than reckoned on. Hang on, there’s another Robin. A little bit of a scrap entails, and then wait again. Those Robins do like a little scrap between themselves. It’s just a territorial thing. More than prepared to announce its rightful ownership of that piece of garden with quite a long song. I guess it doesn’t sound so much like a song to the visiting Robin.
Then back to the feeders. The feeders are not aligned with its preferred way of feeding. Robins like to feed off the ground. But food is food and the Robin will adapt. It seems unsure of how to piece the puzzle together. The Robin is not thick, it has to assimilate to this ridiculous way that the humans are offering. And it will. It will have some of that food even if hovering in place is the only way to do it.
‘There is another way little Robin’, I think as it struggles to comprehend the enormity of the task. ‘I saw you use it the other day. Now you have forgotten how you did it so you hover once again’, I sometimes think to myself when I observe the Robin that has seemingly forgotten how it managed to get inside the caged feeder the day before.
I can dig or unearth anything in the garden at any time. I can guarantee that the Robin will be with me in very quick time. Some choice food is always to be found where ground gets a shaking.
It’s all the more better that because they are year-long visitors, (homemakers even), that this bird has the most tuneful and meaningful birdsong, probably the longest too. It’s worth taking the time to tune into the Robin world and listen to how it makes that song sound. It’s brilliant.
Blue Tit: Call Sign – Eye Liner.
It’s a wonder why it was never called the Yellow Tit. Seen in the garden, on this bird the colour yellow seems more predominant than the colour blue. That said, the colour blue is quite as visible as any other colour on any other bird so it’s a weird thing that to look at, it would seem more yellow than blue, but quite obviously is a Blue Tit. Either way, it’s hugely popular here and thankfully in fairly big numbers.
I wonder if they, as we observe them, recognise us in our garden. If they didn’t all look the same we may stand a chance of recognising them.
I think yes, they do know us. It’s not just the feeders that they are keeping an eye on, but the folk that fill them up.
Some Blue Tits may look scruffy, like they just had a scrap. It’s possible I guess. More likely though that they weren’t involved in a scrap. Those particular ones lack the definite colour, (albeit a bit of a pastel shade), of others, purely because they are the females. As in all bird varieties, the male has the most colour.
It’s a bit of a joker, in my mind. There’s Laurel and Hardy as comedians, and then there’s the Blue Tit in the bird world. A little tufty blue cap on the top of the head gives it away. But not to be mistaken for a bird without a personality. I watch as the Blue Tit feeds and then there’s a very officious one amongst them. Its wings are slightly spread every time another bird comes remotely close to it on the feeder, the wings spreading without the bird even moving its head to see, more having seen another bird from its own peripheral vision. Then its tail feathers spread too. It’s really funny. The others that approach get the message.
The more you watch the more Blue in colour the Blue Tits appear. It becomes like a blue surrounding as opposed to a definitive blue colour.
Not being afraid to try a new feeder, especially a jar, carries big favour here because that in itself populates those feeders with other birds not so brave enough to try – until they know for sure.
It’s funny how arguably amongst and one of the most popular birds in the garden, may well not come out better off in the popularity stakes, just/and because it is likely to be one of the most common ones there, or closely equal to the Sparrow in its common-ness. Spare some time to have a closer look and this guy’s as much a beauty as any other. As with all birds here I have aligned them with a call sign I liken to them. Eye Liner seems more than apt to apply due to its war paint on the face.
But heh, you can’t judge a book by the cover – as the saying goes. I see it as a friendly bird to birds and us. The more we can encourage to breed here the better, as they don’t move on like some birds. They stay where they are brought up.
To create a home for them and any other bird that was interested, I placed a bird box in the garden. I never saw it used initially. That said, I did put it out of view of the window. I checked it after a few months and noticed a worrying aspect to the appearance of the box. Another bird (and it wouldn’t have been the Blue Tit) had been chipping away at the sides of the entry hole. I was a bit miffed – initially. The original hole was still intact at its original size, but now there was a chamfered edge all the way around it. Whichever bird was the culprit to this home adaption (even though it was clearly unfinished) was trying to muscle in on it when it wouldn’t fit through the hole. Then I had a thought. ‘This is the sign of the Great Tit. He just wants a home like this too’.
The Blue Tit may be generally unafraid, it is keen however to stay out of the way of the Great Tit.
The poor little Blue Tit, it only needs a home entrance hole the size of a two pound coin.
So I put another bird box out there, this time in view of the window.
And hoorah for the Blue Tit, it has seen the box. There’s many aspects of home procuring in the bird world to watch out for. You have to be patient though, to watch the Blue Tit eyeing up a future home. And that is exactly what this guy did. That bird will typically (and did) stand on a branch close by and just watch that bird house. Has to make sure there’s nothing already there. Slowly (it could take several flights away and back again and several days too) it makes its way closer, branch by branch, until it is close enough and sure enough to make a move.
Once in, the nest making goes full tilt gallop. And our very own Blue Tits have made it into a home.
Blackbird: Call sign – Drill Bit.
Is this the most known of all garden birds? I’m not sure. It’s jet black so features like multi colours don’t stand it out as …….. well, being in the same league perhaps. Maybe folk see garden birds in different ways. Is it possible to ignore the black bird as a garden bird purely because it is only black. His missus is only a very, very dark shade of grey or brown.
For me, no. I love Drill bit as much as all others. It is blessed with one other feature which sets it aside from all the others. Its beak is orange. But that doesn’t apply to the beak on Mrs Blackbird. So the male Blackbird will get the most observation in that respect.
In the garden we have found the Black Bird to be another most respectful of birds. It’s very unfortunate that until I can devise a unique way to be able to feed the Blackbird especially, it has to make do with all that is on the ground. All said and done, it is a ground feeder. It’s a compromise between ensuring and watching and happy with it to clear up behind the others, or specifically cater for it with its own feeder. I will tough. I will devise a feeder for it, to share with the Robin.
Similarly to the robin, the Blackbird is keen to be seen and frequently (I’m talking daily) will stand on the hedgerow in view from the living room in order that we can have a watch. I see it as a language that bridges the gap between it and us. Understanding its mind a bit. And its song, that song of which we will never understand. Mind you, when Drill Bit is in a fluster it is easy to detect through the Blackbird talk.
As a ground feeder the Blackbird is well adapted to finding worms at all opportunities. Just stand in the same position until it can detect the underground rumblings of a worm in motion. Align to the exact place and drill down into the ground. The Blackbird is Drill Bit.
I don’t expect that worm ever gets the opportunity to see that orange beak slamming down through the turf.
All said and done, and although the Blackbird is a ground feeder, there’s a lot of watching to be done in the winter months with this bird, as it loves to eat the Ivy berries. So it is not only a ground feeder, it is also an in the tree feeder – at least here it is because we have massive Ivy. In fact more than one whole tree is Ivy covered. Ivy is not the garden green monster that folk may see it as, it provides food too. Just to watch the Blackbird hopping from branch to branch until it has spotted some nice bunches of berries on the Ivy is worth the effort.
Watch as the Blackbird makes a right old fuss if there is a predator around – especially a house cat. The Black Bird will be the first to alert everything in listening distance that some prowler is too close for comfort. Wings flicking, and chirping in an alarm fashion. A fly by may well be required to deter the prowler from getting any closer. How brave is that? We’ve seen it on many occasions whereby the Blackbird will fly close to a cat in order to scare it off.
I once gardened for a couple in a nearby town. They lived in the suburbs. There was plenty of bird life there. The couple even fed the birds, or he did at any rate. She didn’t.
There was this one Blackbird who lived there. I knew I was looking at the same one every time I saw him. He was different from other Blackbirds. He had a white marking across the top of his head. Every time I turned up to garden, the Blackbird would be there. He wasn’t stupid. He knew there was a good chance I would disturb some ground for him to peck around in. It didn’t matter whether it was a summer’s day or a winter’s day, he was always there.
Wood Pigeon: Call sign – Slapstick Clown.
The Pigeon knows where to find easy food. Always on the feeders, scoffing until full. That was until we came up with a method to stop it. We would have loved to keep providing food in that manner for the pigeon, except he really is a greedy bugger. No other bird will visit the feeder if the pigeon was on it, they would simply wait in turn somewhere close.
Watch the pigeon slowly wade its way through as much as it could. Clumsily too. All that weight requires a good old shove to get moving and the feeder would be left swaying. Not to mention quite a bit emptier. Which is no problem, after all, that is what the food is there for. Just not for the pigeon. And that’s in the nicest possible way. This guy is also a ground feeder so it is welcome to hoover up behind the others. And we would welcome that.
So it does now – a bit. Not as much as one would have expected. It usually wonders through in the morning so it’s possible it has had its fill.
A bit of an ungainly looking bird really. Big, clumsy, un-sleek and lumpy. Who would have thought it was listed as one of the fastest birds in the world. There’s other birds that are faster it’s true. Those however are mostly birds of prey.
So the reliable and good old Wood Pigeon is quite the unexpected. Likeable and funny. Slapstick Clown for sure.
They fundamentally have no scruples when it comes to how to live. Always hopping and striding across the power lines that traverse through the garden. Playing the mating game and showing off with its tail in the air. It’s as good as the bird can do really. The colours have to be shown off to attract, if it had any colours that weren’t grey or white. So maybe then that is why then the tail goes in the air. Funny how it’s always in the same place on the power lines. The one that stretches across the road out front attracts the pigeons in the same way, but the most.
They’re a picture in the rain for sure. They’re too big to get what they really, really want from a bath in the bird baths although they do walk into them from time to time. Pigeons like a bath as much as the next bird. Those power lines are perfect for them to stand on in the pouring rain with each wing stretched out individually to catch as much fresh water as possible under the feathers. And then they are off, into the trees. Flying away in their own fashion. Go Ballistic quick and then drop down after the airborne rise loses the momentum. Repeat it all over again until they reach the trees. A strange flight characteristic for a bird that in a straight line can out fly a Peregrine Falcon.
And that’s a fact. A 50 mph bird in a straight line is enough to outfly most birds. The birds of prey can fly quicker it’s true, mostly not though in a straight line, as it happens. Although the Peregrine Falcon can top over 200 mph, you would then have to wonder why it can’t fly faster than a pigeon.
That’s because at that speed the good old Peregrine Falcon is in a nosedive with wings swept back and gravity in play.
The pigeon on the other hand can sustain a 50 mph plus flight and live to tell the tale if at that time it was being chased by a Falcon.
I love the Pigeon too. That bird makes me smile – always.
Nuthatch: Call Sign – Prism.
I wonder why the nuthatch is such an unknown little bird. To me it’s not. I note the Nuthatch every time it comes into our garden. I think some people think they are looking at a bird which shouldn’t be in the garden, like they would suspect a Woodpecker to be a lost stray. But this guy isn’t a Woodpecker and some people I have spoken with label it a small Woodpecker. Odd!
Not all folk I speak to have any idea what one is. It loves the peanuts in the back garden. Always appears when the feeder has some in it. Gets through holes that the Robin has trouble with, yet it’s a bigger bird as it appears. Maybe when its feathers and wings are compressed it is actually smaller. I don’t know.
They apparently have a preference for a smaller openings. If they take over a nest from another bird who is bigger, they will plaster the opening down a bit with mud and stuff to make it smaller.
With an arrow like beak, it never has any trouble extracting what it wants from those feeders, all seemingly at quite a frenetic pace. And its colours have an almost streaky appearance – like it lives its life in top gear, at speed, or because of the stripe on its face – like a bandit even. It certainly has all the attributes of a bandit when it wants to feed up a bit.
It’s not afraid of birds its own size. Perfectly willing to appear from nowhere and muscle in onto a perch, or just cling on anywhere. Luckily for us, these Nuthatch birds don’t venture far. If they are brought up somewhere they are likely to stay there. And that’s good for us.
I’m not sure if they nest in our garden or not. There are only some birds we know for absolute sure that they do.
It’s always good to see the Nuthatch turn up. Scything in from the unknown and clutching to, hopping around as though it is on springs and dangling from the caged feeders. It has all the attributes of a shape with angular lines and although far from see through, maybe to some is. A Prism even.
A colleague once said to me whilst looking at a calendar photograph from a certain month of the year, hanging on the wall of his work place, ‘What is that bird then?’ I’d called the tune with some unintended and relevant remark, something to do with birds.
I looked at the calendar and replied straight away without hesitation. ‘That’s a Nuthatch’.
‘I would never have known that’, he says back to me, ‘I don’t really know much about birds. I wouldn’t have even said it was English’.
So there you have it. Some folk wouldn’t recognise a Nuthatch if they had one in front of them.
Buzzard: Call sign – Stealth Glider.
You may hear it before you see it. A sort of a ‘wheeeee – eee’ sound from way up there in the air. High notes, dropping octaves in the middle, followed by another high rise to finish. Almost like a call to attention.
It’s gonna blow you away the minute you see one close up. They are forever flying right over our garden, and calling too. And that is special. Get one of these flying right over your garden and that is a true privilege. I don’t know what they see from up there in the air over our garden. To be honest it might just be us. They are always calling directly above us so why not. Birds I am convinced are able to tell the difference between a bird friendly person and a non-bird friendly person.
This guy just rides the thermals letting the atmosphere do the work for it. Massive wings grabbing high pressure by the bucket load. We have some living really close. I watch them take off sometimes from a nearby tree. A bit of a jump and a couple of flaps later and this guy’s there already, silently gliding – the Stealth Glider.
Easy to mix up with another local bird of prey, because they look the same don’t they – the Buzzard and the Red Kite?
No, actually. They’re both big, granted. They both have similar flight characteristics. But they both don’t look the same.
Looking at the Buzzard we have a big pale underbelly, some pale white colours on the wings, and if none of those seem obvious there’s a big fan tail, but stubby at the same time. That’s the most telling of all the visual aspects.
Watch them in flight and experience the thrill of observing them change direction as they wonder around in the sky.
OK, never saw that before? It’s worth the effort to make.
Never mind. It is good to watch and get into the frame of mind of the bird itself. This guy wants to go that way and the tail reacts. You wouldn’t see that on a small garden bird unless it was filmed in slow-motion, and even then it would be in play back.
It’s not as obvious as the Red Kite because the big fan tail on the Buzzard is just one big fan.
We had a dead mole in our back garden one day. We also had a dead ferret (it was grey so it must have been.) Could either of them have been dropped by a Buzzard? I don’t know. Unlikely a mole was caught by a Buzzard I should think.
Anyway, they like it here and we like them here.
The first time I noticed a Buzzard it was a monstrous thing stood on a branch at ground level in a local forest.
I once had a lady ask me (whilst out walking at a place known as Chapmans Pool) if I had ever seen a Buzzard. A strange question to ask someone out of the blue like that.
My reply was an enthusiastic yes to affirm my interest in the question at hand. So I had to ask ‘why the curiosity.’
Her reply was that she came from London and had never seen one before.
It is easy to be spoilt by relatively easy sightings of this brilliant bird of prey. They use the same flight characteristics as the Red Kite because of the way they rely on air pressures. Here, and interestingly, a circular pattern displays their habitual desire to search below whilst moving in circles that then themselves move in bigger circles.
Often the Buzzard is hassled by Crows, or even a single Crow, or Rooks. The Crows don’t like it when they feel they have something at stake to loose and if the Buzzard is too close for comfort then it is going to get mobbed. Stealth Glider is seldom too bothered if it is mobbed. Like an annoying insect getting on its nerves. But the mobbing will probably achieve its intended purpose which is to drive away the threat.
Pheasant: Call sign – Velocir’actor.
Who doesn’t love the Pheasant. An imported guest from China is a fairly obvious assumption when observing the colourful appearance of the male. He just looks so …… from China.
They’re here in their droves and the countryside is a better place for them if you ask me. They may have come from China originally, but they colour up our countryside beautifully. Unlike other introduced’ species, they don’t bring a bag full of trouble with them.
I get annoyed though. I love these birds the same as all of them. I just wish the English weren’t so up themselves when it comes to shooting. Why is it that the Pheasant has to take the brunt of the hoity toity fraternities’ wish for bloodlust sport.
If it’s lucky it will get to breed naturally, another day, but frankly the odds are against that.
Seen in my view as a wonderer in the fields and on the verges; early morning is when they really come out. Granted, they could be about at any time, expect more at these times.
I once was at the tropical gardens of Abbotsbury on a night walk. Excuse my ignorance for not realising exactly how and where the Pheasant likes to have a sleepduring over night. As it’s a ground feeder, and for all intense and purposes appears reluctant to take flight due to the drama involved in actually getting airborne, I always assumed the Pheasant slept in ………… ugh, well that’s where it all goes pear shaped. I never even considered fully, assuming it to just have a sleep in a nest somewhere near to or on the ground. My thinking was that a ground feeder was therefore likely to hang around on the ground.
Walking around Abbotsbury taught me a lesson for sure. The walk starts off in the daylight, which then quickly turns to dusk, and then follows by turning dark – into night time. If you’ve never experienced this before it’s well worth the effort, as here the place has a proud achievement in keeping bird wildlife free and at home at the same time.
Come dusk, the place comes alive – if it wasn’t already. Chatter (and lots of it) from the woods area. The unmistakable chatter of dozens of Pheasants taking off into flight from ground level. That’s when it becomes apparent, or it dawns on me that the Pheasant doesn’t sleep in a nest behind a bush, it roosts in the trees.
It’s as obvious as day and night the more you think about it.
I’d find it hard to believe that anyone wasn’t pleased to see a Pheasant no matter where or what was going on at the time. The female of course isn’t blessed with all those magnificent colours of the male. Those colours which the closer you get to the more three dimensional they appear. And they are magnificent. Beautiful full on colours of the most exotic shades. It’s no wonder the female of the species is attracted to them.
We had a male Pheasant in the garden who was unexpectedly very friendly. As we sat on a garden bench with a handful of bird food, this Pheasant would come right up to us and feed out of our hands.
Prepare to be mesmerised by colours that are not only glittering, but moving as well.
The Pheasants are always wondering through the garden. Usually (with exceptions) not the female though. She of course has a busy time of it, what with raising all her young.
An ammusing creature is the female Pheasant. Strange how when disturbed she runs for it; which is not completely un-bird like I suppose. She does have all the appearance of a dinosaur, specifically a Velociraptor. A dinosaur she isn’t though, so why should I not see the Pheasant then as Velocir’actor. The Pheasant certainly does act the part in a full gallop. On the Jurassic coast here with a Pheasant in full run it would not be too difficult to imagine the sight of this scaled up in size.
The Pheasant makes the English countryside English.
Dunnock: Call sign – Morph.
Spot it if you can.
A Dunnock? What is a Dunnock then? That was my first reaction when learning of this bird. It’s hard to find. Or maybe not, just easy to miss.
Check out the amazing eyes and the pattern around them. Due to the natural feathering, make it appear as though it’s just been for an incredibly fast ride without goggles on. And they’re brown, those eyes. Not like the small black dots of a Long Tail Tit.
I wanted to see a Dunnock more often once I had learnt what it was. That then is the time to learn where to find it.
I’m looking out of the window checking out the feeding birds. There’s Blue Tits, Long Tail Tits, great Tits, Robin and Sparrows. I’m not looking particularly attentively when I notice a Sparrow standing about on a branch. I notice it’s not a House Sparrow but a Tree Sparrow. And then there’s a House Sparrow. There’s lots of Sparrows around this tree as we have left this tree to be overrun with Ivy on purpose. The Ivy will provide a sheltered habitat for any bird that wants to make it a home. Plus there will be natural food there.
Then from nowhere there’s Morph. The Dunnock doesn’t have the white flashes around the cheeks and neck. It’s altogether a more grey colour with brownish wings.
My interest is spiked. I focus my attention on Morph and check out whether its known habits are indeed as listed. It’s perched on a branch in a ground hugging bush, close to the feeders, but doesn’t show the interest in the feeders in the same way as all the other birds there at the time. It’s head is flitting about all ways, just like most birds would do. It’s an innocent looking bird, for instance in the same way as a Jackdaw isn’t.
I closely watch it and note how easy it is to mistake it amongst other birds. Or maybe it was more because the feeders didn’t attract the Dunnock at the higher level and where they had been placed. The Dunnock likes to hang around low to the ground.
It hopped from one branch to another in small flights. A quick flap over to there and another quick flap over to somewhere else. Makes a circle around the feeders. Doesn’t make any attempt to fly up to and get on any of those feeders. Happy with whatever it can find lying around that takes its fancy on ground level.
A casual watch may see it morph into another garden bird due to its unassuming appearance that is Sparrow like, hence my call sign Morph. That said, once familiarised with it the difference is fairly obvious.
Now I know the Dunnock. I think we have plenty of food for it. The left over’s from the feeders are plentiful. I will be more observant from now on and notice the Dunnock.
Thrush:
Mistle thrush: Call sign – Stormcock.
Song thrush: Call sign – Polka Dot Blousy.
I think – most folk could count on one hand how many times they have seen a Thrush – maybe. I’m thinking aloud here. I think also – most people wouldn’t be able to say they’d ever heard a Thrush sing. Wouldn’t know one if they heard it.
I’m sure loads would say ‘yeah, I seen a thrush recently.’ And not to be disputed. The Thrush does like a nice worm from out of the lawn so it spends time stood around in the open a lot.
Which Thrush though? As there’s more than one to choose from.
I wasn’t even sure myself. We have the Thrush right here in the garden and it has nested for several years on the trot in one of our shrubs I call the Ball Bush. It’s not really known as a Ball Bush in reality. If you said that to someone they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. I call it that because every year I cut it into a ball shape – a big ball. It stands about seven feet high with a roughly seven feet diameter. It’s also ever-green.
The Thrush likes it there and with all the bird food placed around the garden there’s plenty for it to find on the ground. Generally speaking it usually does to choose to visit these particular areas under the feeders from when I’ve been watching. Not to forget of course the open ground, where it stands around waiting for the rumblings of an earth worm. It manages well enough from what it can find around the garden at ground level. Snails seem to figure highly as a food of choice with the Thrush and the Blackbird here, judging by the amount of empty shells.
After completing some paving in the garden (some steps), later were we to find out that those slabs were the desired kitchen area for either of these birds whereby they would pick up the snail and smash it onto the paving slabs.
We deliberately leave some of the fruiting tree, bush and shrubs to grow their berries at the right time of the year, as tempting as it may be to cut back and prune slightly at those times. These birds make the most of all the berries when they are their ripest.
And that goes for the fruit bushes too. Gooseberries and Redcurrants grow in a patch and I just don’t bother picking them because I would rather the bird life had them. I tried leaving the berries one year, a long time ago, so that I could pick them the following weekend. I judged them to require just a little bit longer on the bush.
The birds knew better than me and had them at their ripest – just before the weekend. Since then I leave them. There’s more pleasure to be had in allowing the birds to take their pick. And they will eat them all.
So I know we have the Thrush right here in the back garden. It’s not like it’s a shy bird, much as to say that if you were to think ‘I’m not sure, maybe it’s one of those birds that just doesn’t get seen that much’; it is probably more obvious than given credit for.
Flying in and out of its nest is about as close as it gets for us doing the watching. I don’t think they are that shy. I think you just need to have the right environment for them. They’re more than happy to use our bird baths in front of the kitchen window.
The real question is: which Thrush? If you were to assume that there were two to choose from i.e. the Mistle thrush being Stormcock, or the Song Thrush being Polka Dot Blousy; which one of the two is it that resides in that ball bush in the back garden?
I had to do some research myself just to be sure. They are too easily and often mixed up and mistaken for the other. I think the easiest way to identify one from the other is to apportion temperature to the appearance. Deeper, orangey brown colour, as warm, is the Song Thrush, and shallow, paler brown, as cold, is the Mistle Thrush.
When it comes to the breast pattern, the Song Thrush has splodgy shaped dots in a random pattern, whereas the Mistle Thrush has arrow shaped dots in a more defined and uniform pattern. That’s the difference between the two.
Here though, the marked differentiators (by name) as I have them listed seem to in some ways, and unwittingly, label them in a way that is not intentionally aligned necessarily to their character.
You see, if you were to hear a Thrush in full song, the chances are that it would be a Mistle Thrush. And there is very good reason for this – the fact that you would be listening to a Mistle Thrush.
I should know, I have witnessed it first-hand and it is one of nature’s wonders. The Mistle Thrush is otherwise known as Stormcock. Hence the call sign Stormcock. I didn’t make this one up, it is a known. That name is derived from the fact that it does exactly that, it stands at the top of trees and sings.
I used to garden at a place near to the coast. The driveway consisted of a downhill slope lined with very high trees in a woods configuration on the other side of the hedge. The Mistle Thrush used to sit on top of the highest tree and sing. I was drawn to that detail by the lady of the house whose knowledge on garden bird matters certainly exceeded that of my own. To this day, the Mistle Thrush as it stood on the top of that tree singing away, is a standout memory for me. And one that can very much from listening to its song go a long way to convince, if ever it were necessary, and to clarify what an unsung hero of bird life the Thrush is.
It doesn’t matter whether you have the Mistle Thrush or the Song Thrush, the amazing coincidence is that the two are quite different and quite the same.
Another question remains unanswered: why is the Song Thrush known as just that when it is the Mistle Thrush that sings from the top of trees? For that reason I refer to the Song Thrush as Polka Dot Blousy.
Ring Neck Dove: Call Sign – Angel Wings.
A more gracious bird you could not wish to meet. Oh yes, it‘s a simple bird, or is it? Just because it looks like a Pigeon. But then maybe the Pigeon isn’t the most simple of birds, it’s certainly one of the fastest.
The Ring Neck Dove is pretty fast too, over 30 mph. And you can tame a Ring Neck Dove without too much trouble.
We have them here. They love the feeders which we fill with bird food. The feeder used to have a saucer fitted to the bottom of it. The Dove would stand on the saucer and gobble its way through the food quite happily without being bothered by passers-by.
It’s a bit unfortunate that in removing the ability for the Pigeon to use the feeders, at the same time we removed the ability for the Ring Neck Dove to use the feeders too.
Personally I wish there was a feeder out there designed especially for those two types of bird. It would be hard, as to regulate the amount of food delivered would be a necessary requirement, otherwise, just like the pigeon, it simply wouldn’t know when to stop.
And that’s not being unkind. I love the Ring Neck Dove just the same as all the others. There’s something about it that stands it out as being – to me at any rate; angelic. It’s a very cute bird whose good natured personality allows us the most closest of interaction without actually touching the bird itself. It trusts us.
I see it as having a kind of aurora around it, for want of a better way of explaining it. It’s a weird fusion of that and a pale glow – almost. The pale shade due to the pinkie, grey, white plumage together with when it spreads its wings to fly, so the feathers create that image. Its all of that plus an extra timid personality and super friendly approach which all added together is why I see it as Angel Wings.
It was hard to beat as a form of entertainment when returning from work to be able to sit in the dining room and watch as the Ring Neck Dove did feed on the feeder. There were usually two together as a pair, so one would wait its turn.
Best of all was if the feeder was empty, or nearly empty, we could go to that feeder without the bird flying away and stand side by side. Talk to it and smile, as it was going nowhere. It was happy to be in our company.
As the feeder itself stood on a pole, we could then raise that feeder from the pole with the Ring Neck Dove stood on the top of the feeder and it would still not fly away. I could carry that feeder anywhere and the bird would go with me. This is a wild bird and that is as close an interaction as you could get in a bird expectant way as opposed to Marzi-pan in a ‘want to be friendly’ way.
With Angel Wings I felt the same wavelength of understanding as it obviously felt with us.
What a bird.
Coal Tit: Call sign – Two Tone.
Zoom in, or onto. No matter what is about. Two Tone will get in there. What’s to be bothered about, food is food.
Just like Shackleton, the original explorer even. Brave enough to get in there first.
I’ve been watching the feeders and there’s a little guy in there ahead of the others. Could be I put a new jar out there with something a bit different inside. Who’s the first to try? It’s the Coal Tit.
Unmistakably like a Badger from the animal kingdom for colouring. Two sharply defined snow white cheeks with jet black splashes above them and a snow white slash running down the middle of its head, hence the call sign Two Tone.
More intent in its actions than some others, (and bigger birds too), whose own curiosity is intermingled with constant nervous watching all at the same time as trying to eat. The mere act of which (eating on the feeders) denies that bird the comfort of eating in peace and quiet. After all, it’s a jungle out there.
The Coal Tit though isn’t bothered. Not bothered by other birds either. This little guy happily eats with other birds – in his own little world. Yes, its head is about all ways, checking for trouble, but no, it likes to eat without the nervous issues of other birds.
Actually, I’m sure it is bothered. It does look around a lot. It’s act of being the lookout though doesn’t surface as the greatest chore in the world, it would appear.
Quite the remarkable little bird. Took me ages to get to know and recognise apart from the others; clearly defined markings or not. You see, if this little guy is amongst – say for instance some Great Tits in the same feeders, then the mind can play tricks and mix this guy up with those bigger Great Tits. They have markings with some similarities, even though they are not the same at all.
One of the best things about the Coal Tit is that no matter what food we put in the feeders, the Coal Tit is happy.
Jackdaw: Call sign – Mad Wings Max.
Big, black and oversize. It’s basically a Crow, but it’s a Jackdaw. As with any bird life it’s nice to have them around here. Not your typically garden friendly visiting bird it’s true, a bird none-the-less, whose only crime is to look wrong.
And maybe some folk don’t like the noise they make. There’s definitely people around here with that frame of mind. Hang on a minute though, who are those people to make that assumption (I think to myself.) I mean, look at the noise we make. We have a far more threatening impact on their environment than they do on ours. Chain saws, hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, cars, trucks, dogs, noisy tools and so on. Loud music too.
Not that the Jackdaw has any musical ability, but that’s irrelevant. It doesn’t have bird song as such, just a loud call. And that’s what folk don’t like.
I say: ‘tough’ – that’s nature. Learn to appreciate it.
Unlike the Dunnock whose little brown eyes are a likeable and comical fixture, the Jackdaw on the other hand has pale and light greenish eyes that – stuck onto a black head which has a silver back to it, resemble a strange and sort of threatening like appearance.
Try to imagine the bird in the form of a silver back Gorilla. With pale green eyes and a black dot in the middle. A beak that looks like an extension of its head, almost like a head-beak as one combination without a break, and that’s the Jackdaw. Because it stands out as a bit of a crazy is why I see it as Mad Wings Max.
This guy’s a clever bird too. The feeders don’t pose too much of a problem even though they are meant for smaller birds. Being brutal doesn’t mean it’s a thug of a bird. It only has a way to get feed out of a feeder not meant for it, and that’s pretty clever. The human race is clever to be able to develop technology in the same way that the Jackdaw is clever to be able to get by in its own way. Simple as.
The Jackdaw has a known tenancy to nest in holes here and about. For us in the countryside here, that includes chimney pots.
Some neighbours, they are so unattached to nature they don’t even know. There are birds nesting in their chimney pots and they have no idea. I might be biased to folk who do care, but frankly the countryside is wasted on the type of neighbours who don’t. That makes it funny then that the Jackdaws aren’t as stupid. They know an unnoticed empty chimney pot when they see one. Twelve years living in the same house with the same neighbours and twelve years the Jackdaws have been nesting in that chimney pot.
I care about the Jackdaws like I care about all the birds and because of that they get fed in the same way as the Rooks, and that suits them. A loaf of bread that went out of date is nothing in the grand scheme of things, to be able to feed to the bigger birds. And I’m happy to listen to the Jackdaws calling no matter what time of day.
Guinee Fowl: Call sign – Groigny Goblin.
Is it a bird, is it a …… Well, yes it is a bird. It’s certainly big. At first glance it appears to be a Turkey. It’s got a colourful head whilst the rest of it is a greyish, blueish plumage. But it’s not a Turkey. I did some research only to find that there is a vulture variant. I feel like saying ‘how cool is that?’ A Vulture variant of this creature is quite the unexpected.
We had one of these Guinea Fowl in the back garden once. We never found out where it came from, or where it went to – eventually. It was a treat however to have one in the garden.
I wonder how many people can say they have seen one of these birds, or, I wonder even more how many people can say they had one on their own garden. And not just in the garden as a passer-by, but here to stay. Ours did! For days on end.
Not being sure how to approach such a big bird, we stayed a bit clear for a while; based on previous encounters with large birds. I remember going to an Iron Age settlement near Dorchester once, where they kept Turkey’s. As a keen wildlife lover I was happy to show friendliness to the Turkey behind the wire. So I nosed up to this Turkey’s head (just like you would do with for instance a cow, as this is the known way to appear friend as opposed to foe.) It’s not a good idea to approach anything that has a beak, with your face as the nearest thing within pecking distance. I did.
I won’t do that again.
I guess I was lucky that day. The wire got in the way.
Gave me a fright it did. On the other hand, I was at Longleat once upon a time and there was this Peacock stood on a dwarf wall. I wanted to take a picture with my instamatic camera (in 1978) and so with the viewfinder in place I – with the other hand, prodded out to assess the distance and ended up poking the Peacock in the face. The Peacock was a lot less threatening than the turkey and took it in good faith – I think. It sort of fell backwards a step or two before recommencing its apparently usual standing routine.
The Guinea Fowl was definitely friend. It came from nowhere. I’m guessing it wasn’t difficult for it to assume our garden to be worth a visit, after all, we do try to create a sort of a planted out oasis for wildlife.
So the Guinea Fowl is here, wondering around in the back garden. Upon gingerly approaching it we were to soon find out it had no qualms at all with human interaction. The bird was friendly. It was so friendly it was hard to go indoors and feel like we were leaving it out there.
It was an oddity for sure. Neighbour’s knew nothing about that one, although through the grapevine it became apparent that this type of bird had been kept somewhere locally before. It was known as Groigny, for some reason. I see it as Groigny Goblin.
But who cares, we were happy to have it in the garden. That is where it stayed for at least a week.
I later learnt that these birds are insect eaters and don’t care much for food that came from bird feeders. Unbelievably they are also rodent killers and eaters.
This bird firmly fits into the old saying – ‘never judge a book by the cover.’ Apparently, sometimes they are kept as flocks by some folk who have other animals because they are a good deterrent to predators. Not because they are vicious, but because they are really noisy when they feel like being.
Siskin: Call sign – I.F.O. (Identified Flying Object.)
It’s a bit like a flash of luminous colour if you see this thing move in a hurry. We were walking alongside the river recently and I saw it. Ok, it wasn’t a proper river, it was more an overfull stream running at full pelt. The weather was cloudy, and damp. Conifer trees were nearby.
I was glad that I was there at the time to see it. Literally like a high coloured greeny yellow dart taking to the air and rocketing out of view in an instant.
I checked out some information about it (mostly to learn more), only to find out that they do love a Conifer and Birch tree. And there were a few down by the Stream.
We have some of those trees too. We have something they like because they do come here from time to time. And I don’t mis-match them with similar bird Green Finch. Even though they look the same, or thereabouts, it’s only the colour definition that tells them apart – from an amateurs point of view. I know they’re not the same, despite their close family tie.
And then there’s the Goldfinch which also looks very similar.
And yes, the Siskin bird is a Finch too. Funnily enough.
You’d know if you had one in the garden. Whilst he Goldfinch is unmistakable in its colours, against the Green Finch which is a smokey green hue colour, the Siskin is a luminous green yellow.
So there it is. They aren’t known to make visits to bird feeders very often; which is probably why it’s not the most likely bird you’d get in your garden, as they prefer woods – apparently.
Here’s a fact related to Siskin sightings – they like Conifer trees because they feed on the seeds from within the cones on the tree. On a wet day, or multiple wet days, the cones on a Conifer tend not to open, therefore the seeds aren’t readily removable by the Siskin.
When the weather is dry the cones on the Conifer tree will open and the Siskin can remove the seeds. As a consequence the Siskin is more likely to be seen in or near a garden in order to find food, during wet weather. This doesn’t go any way to explaining why we happened to see the Siskin down by the overfull stream that day. It must have found something it liked.
The Siskin’s choice of food (I am happy to have learnt) if he were to visit a garden feeder is exactly the same as that of his cousin the Goldfinch; its favourite of which we all know is the Niger seed.
This goes a long way to explain why we haven’t had too much sightings in our garden, and when we have had sightings we had Niger Seed in a feeder.
So the answer to this is we need to place more in the way of Niger seed in the garden. My next project.
I therefore rate the sighting of a Siskin as not normal, certainly not in the garden. Therefore I am lucky to see this bird in our garden sometimes. And by the stream in the village. And hopefully a lot more to come after I have fulfilled the requirement of food of choice.
It will work I am sure. If you put Niger seed in a feeder, just watch what type of bird is the first to find it. What’s more, only certain types of bird will find it. My money goes on the Goldfinch first, followed by the Green Finch and Siskin.
Little Owl: Call sign – Mr Potato Head.
Barn Owl: Call sign – Vulcan.
Short, dark, and Gate Keeper. That’s the Little Owl.
Isn’t that the description of most Owls?
Absolutely not. In the meaning short, this guy is short. That however doesn’t make it a dwarf. It’s just a small Owl. The little Owl reminds me of Mr Potato Head.
It’s every bit as proficient in hunting as its bigger cousins. The Little Owl comes in as brown speckled all over on a base of white feathers.
Apparently readily seen in daylight, and to which I can testify having seen it in the day – on a nearby barn. So based on that it could be argued that it actually isn’t in our garden at all . That’s not a bother though because this is about not only what’s in our garden, but what can be seen from our garden, or/and what can be heard from our garden. And that said, at night the surroundings come alive with owl talk all around our house. Yes, there is a woods out back and yes, there are trees in all directions.
Sounds in the suburbs:
I know for a fact that we have the Tawny Owl nearby. We can hear that one at night no problem:
Mrs Tawny Owl – ‘kee-wick’. I’ve heard that loads of times.
Mr Tawny Owl – ‘hoohoo.’ Heard that loads of times too. I can’t say with assurance that I have seen it. Here’s an interesting fact about the Tawny Owl call: If you here the ‘kee-wick’ sound (female), it will be (if) followed by the ‘hoohoo’ sound; is (which would be) the male bird answering back.
I know also we have the Barn Owl. We see that one often. Can be seen either standing around on posts of all sorts, and flying – at dawn or dusk, or at night in the headlights whilst driving. I had one the other day swoop right across my windscreen before morning light. Amazing! Easy to identify with large pale (white) underside and huge wingspan.
It’s an awesome sight anytime, just like Vulcan bomber, except this thing is deadly silent in flight.
Mrs & Mr Barn Owl – ‘agonising shrill screech.’ I’ve heard that loads of times.
Long eared Owl. That’s an unknown is that one. I’m pretty sure their out back though.
Mrs Long Eared Owl – ‘hoo hoo hoo’. Heard that loads of times.
Mr Long Eared Owl – (higher pitched) ‘hoo’. Heard that loads of times too.
Mrs Short Eared Owl – ‘hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo’. Heard it amongst all the other twit twoo noises going on.
Mr Short Eared Owl – (harsh bark.) Heard that one for sure..
Mrs & Mr Little Owl – ‘whoop’, or ‘kiew, kiew’. We know they live just down the road so they pretty assuredly are in the woods.
We went for a short walk a couple of years ago and down in the village main road we walked past a derelict barn. You could see the barn from the road, sat back about a hundred feet or so. The barn had one special feature quite unlike most barns, as folk would imagine a barn to be. It had windows lining the front facet. There was no glass left in some of them – long since gone. That of course is the one thing which made the windows the ideal entry for Mr Potato Head.
As we walked past the gateway to the field, we sidestepped into the run off from the road for a view of the barn, and a breather. It was a fantastic sunny summers evening. Leaning against the gateway (and with a more concerted look) we saw Little Owl, just stood there on the window sill. It looked at us, and we looked at it. Neither party moved, nor did we want to.
We had just spotted Little Owl.
Evangalisa went on a train trip the following week. She had to go with a work colleague. She made conversation with her colleague, knowing he was a keen bird lover. She said – ‘saw a little owl at the weekend’.
Her work colleague turned to her and said ‘oh yeah, what sort?’
Evangalisa was mildly surprised, but only mildly. She said back to him ‘a little owl’.
Her work colleague turns to her again and says back ‘yeah, but what sort of owl?’
Evangalisa was a bit more surprised by now. I mean, a Little owl is a Little owl.
So she said back to her work colleague ‘ a little owl’.
He – her work colleague, really wasn’t getting it. The whole conversation was repeated again until at last her work colleague asks ‘OK, I know you say you saw a little owl, but what sort was it’.
And that was that. He wasn’t convinced even then. Even after getting the answer that it was an Owl called a Little Owl. He’d never heard of a Little Owl.
Chaffinch: Call sign – Smokescreen.
Like an out of control ping pong ball in a fast bounce, the Chaffinch takes off from a surveying position in a branch.
It looks clumsy, the initial flight characteristics from its chosen branch, as it decides that maybe it isn’t a good time to have a go at the feeders. I wonder why?
Oh, it’s because Chaffinches don’t tend to feed openly from garden feeders. That’s what I read somewhere so I’m sticking with that. Although Winter Watch on the telly shows the Chaffinch in a very different light. Apparently they like to pick up food from the ground. And that’s great news. The more the better as far as I’m concerned. The amount of food that gets thrown to the floor is a lot. All the better then that the Chaffinch is known to be one of the most widespread of garden birds.
Like all Finches around here, they are massively attracted to the Buddleia plant growing mainly next door. They stand a lot on the Buddleia, surveying the birds on the feeders. The more you look the more colour the Chaffinch has. It’s not such the ordinary bird one would think.
It’s definitely not interested in having a go on the feeder today.
Funny that it kind of goes unnoticed. Amongst all the other birds, it seemingly gets a bit lost. Not because it’s shy, but because its patterned plumage sort of camouflages it into the rest of the birds and surroundings.
One of my intended future projects is to learn more about bird song. It would be a lot easier to identify a type of bird by the song heard. As there are so many birds out there, the ability to learn a specific bird to a specific song is overwhelming. But birds aren’t always seen, so is a good way.
The Chaffinch apparently has a very easily identified song. Not that this bird is difficult to spot if you know a Chaffinch when you see one. Even with their ability to fade into the environment like using a cloaking device, like a Smokescreen to avoid notice.
As it’s a really common bird it would be accepted to wonder why then is it not the most observed of birds. I have a friend who was very taken by the Chaffinch. I assumed this from the fact that whilst we were watching birds feeding on a feeder that she specifically placed in a position at a place of work, the question often arose as to what type of bird were we watching at that present time. She admired the Chaffinch, so much so that she really wanted to know which bird was which amongst all the others – not including the Chaffinch. We spent a few minutes going over the birds there, happy to see the amount of Chaffinches there.
If not completely familiar, birds are easily mixed up with others. We identified the Chaffinch amongst the others, and every one’s a winner.
Still? it may be a thought. Why is it not seen as much as say for instance – the Sparrow? The Chaffinch is amongst the most popular and widespread of garden birds so initially it would be easy to think ‘why see so much of the Sparrow when the Chaffinch equals numbers?’
The Chaffinch is a migratory bird and the Sparrow is not. When the Chaffinch over- winters in Scandinavia, the Sparrow over-winters here.
Partridge: Call sign – Troop Command.
Small and colourful. Colourful as in Goldfinch colourful – almost tropical, the both of them. We see them around here and in the garden regularly: the Partridge. Always seem to be in a hurry with a brood in close quarters. It’s almost like they are in Troop Command .
On the other hand, not especially good mothers it would seem. At least before any of the eggs get hatched, that’s for sure.
We had one in the garden and that is where she lay her eggs. There was around a dozen eggs in that nest; which was on the ground below a garden wall. She had nestled her home into a nice little hollow in the ground. Trouble was, we didn’t know until we came back from a holiday. As soon as we entered our living room we spotted her on her nest right outside a sliding patio door.
Lucky, we thought. Good job we saw her so we don’t disturb her. Let her get on with it without being bothered by us.
Trouble was, she was bothered by us – it would have seemed. She only had to take one look at us and she disappeared.
We weren’t that bothered. She obviously knew what she was doing. Off for a bit of food no doubt.
Trouble was, she never came back. I did some research and found out that if disturbed while on the nest, they do have a habit of disappearing. The eggs get left and that’s that.
We dared not touch those eggs lest she came back for a second sitting.
We thought that a great shame. The eggs were left exactly as they were because I’d like to encourage her back. The thought of a brood of Partridge from our back garden was a really nice one.
They are quite an active bird around here. There is a comical element to their nature in the way they wonder about. There’s lots of whirring of the wings when they take off and in flight, intermixed with the occasional glide; which creates the appearance when in flight mode that they maybe aren’t that convinced that flying was what they should be doing.
We keep our fingers crossed that one day the Partridge will decide to settle here again one day.
Starling: Call sign – Frogmorton Ineda Bunn Waffles Bodacious Overture.
Is this the most active garden bird we have here, I wonder? It is the case that we never used to have the Starling at all. To see a Starling here years ago used to be no more than a wish as opposed to a reality. Mind you, it’s not a huge surprise that they like it here, after all, easy food seems to be the draw. And best of all, it only started with one Starling, then two.
They definitely came from the West. Just happened into the garden one day after spotting the bird feeders. Luckily, there was a tree right close by, covered in Ivy. Perfect for nesting.
So they did, they nested. And since then the Starlings have been getting more and more. With each new brood of young Starlings – so does the amount increase. It’s a definite that they are in the tree because we can sit in a room looking out and watch them get up in the morning from out of the tree.
It’s also a definite that when they fly for the day and come back later in the day (if they go anywhere) it’s always from the West.
Not that it matters. It’s just an odd thing. The West direction from here isn’t to the next village where we had seen them before they came here.
All said and done, what a fantastic achievement. I wasn’t sure at first whether Starlings in the garden might be the frightener for every other type of bird. The other birds had had it on their own for so long. A topic of conversation would often be how we never saw Starlings, and then all of a sudden one appears from nowhere.
We watch them with great delight. They are extremely gregarious birds. There is no question that they provide entertainment in an overly portrayed manner.
Now that we have parents and youngster Starlings alike, we know how they grow. How they appear as young. What their feathers look like. From young they don’t have the spangled and speckled appearance of dotty markings. They are the cutest and most playful of young birds, always hanging out as a family. It’s not usual with other birds to be able to see the youngsters from a nest hang out all as a family and together. Starlings most definitely are the exception to that. Certainly from an obviously visible way.
I think that because this is the case then, that the antics exacted on the various feeders between all the Starlings together is – although in appearance ‘a bit bullyish’, is in fact not at all bullyish. It’s just the Starling being the Starling, and all is good.
We don’t have enough of them yet to be able to watch them create one of nature’s most watchable spectacles in the air, whereby Starlings group together and create wave after wave of incredible moving air aerobatics. That’s known as murmurisation. Although it has been seen locally at a bird reserve.
I have had my previous expectations of this bird completely blown out of the water since the arrival of the Starling. I had it in my mind that the Starling was a sort of a mass invader kind of thing.
We had Starlings in the next village down the road, so going back in years I remember thinking ‘nice to see them, if they came our way would they massively disrupt the balance’.
Now I know. They add entertainment and wanted wildlife. The more that come here the better as far as I am concerned. This is the most entertaining bird of them all. All birds have their individual qualities. This one is number one for watching with a guaranteed exceptional entertainment value.
They eat a lot. They squabble a lot. They in-fight (probably only playfully) a lot. They stick together as a family – always. They are incredible to look at. They have an almost star constellation pattern on the feathers which the closer you look the more three dimensional it becomes in a moving in depth way. They are jokers. They are family tied. They are beautiful. They are not afraid of any bird.
I was watching the other day – four Starlings (this is the family here) on the feeders. They are constantly moving about, kicking each other off the feeder instead of waiting in turn like the Sparrow would, wings flapping in an aid to stay on the feeder perch that doesn’t entirely suit their size, and perching anywhere their feet happen to land. They’re playful, constantly flapping, happy go lucky, poncy, floor sweeper, over the top, lovable birds. Hence the call sign Frogmorton Ineda Bunn Waffles Bodacious Overture.
Once I saw a Robin make a move onto the hanging tub of peanut butter and then walked into it, as there was not a lot left in it at the time, so the Robin had to go right in. One of the Starlings was perched on the little roof of the hanging tub and once the Robin was in the Starling simply poked its head into the tub from above and had a bit of a prod at the Robin. The Starling kind of scooped the Robin out. The Robin obligingly left (although returned later.) Probably the funniest act of bird life I’ve seen on the feeders.
For me, if you’re keen on watching the birds, here is a compelling case to buy a really good camera to catch a decent photograph. The Starling has one of the most hypnotic of feather designs.
Red Kite: Call sign – Geo Orbiter.
This guy is big. Its wings are huge. Seen from a distance it appears even bigger. It’s easily identifiable and different from its cousin the Buzzard. The two being mixed up with one another because of their closely matched appearance. One quick reference point: does it have a fan tail or a forked tail? They are otherwise pretty much the same. If it’s a forked tail it’s the Red Kite. I’ve observed them from a distance and I’ve observed them close up. It doesn’t matter from what distance you watch them, you can’t help but watch them.
We were in Wales once near Brecon Beacons. Llandeausant is the place to be (there are others places conducting the same projects) if you want to get to know a bit more about the Red Kite. These are places of attraction by feeding. OK, it may be a bit false in that the food is thrown out for them into the field. You do have to ask yourselves at this point whether it’s all that bad actually. After all, if you want to see an elephant or an animal that isn’t going to be going for a walk in the local woods, the chances are you’re going to go to the zoo.
Well this is far from a zoo. Those birds live naturally in the local – and also not so local, environment. They don’t have the constraints of an aviary. They do what they want. We loved every second of the experience of watching Red Kites up close, feeding off of food thrown on the ground. And what better way to encourage natural breeding than keeping them fed and able.
The Red Kite has a very definite way of feeding even though this is a loosely controlled environment, and in their natural environment too. If a Red Kite has spotted food it may attract another. This then in turn will attract others too, and from up there in the air the distances covered by the attracted birds is quite massive, hence the not so local birds arriving. This is a bit like jungle drums.
The Red Kite is a careful feeder and a clever one too. They will deliberately congregate up there in the air and allow – yes, allow, any local Rooks or Crows that happen to be there (and there will be plenty arriving at the sight of easy food) to go first. At least this is what the Rook or Crow will end up thinking. This allows the Red Kite to survey for any signs of danger and the Crows and Rooks will cop it first if danger is present. Once The red Kite is sure the coast is clear it will make its own move. As is the case in the Brecon Beacons where there were at least seventy birds there and any local Crows or Rooks that happened to be there, didn’t stay long once the Red Kite had made up its own mind.
That’s clever. The Rook and the Crow are the bird shields in this instance.
It may seem a world away if not in Wales, the fact that they are on the doorstep. And just like the Buzzard and every other type of wild bird, I feel sure they know a friendly face when they see one. They soar over our garden and talk away in their own language. The ability to soar and use the air to glide and move around does make this bird the true Geo Orbiter.
When up close to these creatures (as we were in Wales) they bring their world to you. They are happy to cruise by at almost touching distance. This is where you can see the look in their eye. The sleek and purposefully sculpted body and the huge wings. You can feel the swoop of the air as they pass by and now more than ever you can align with the mind of the bird as you watch the forked tail react to its mind and turn as a rudder. It’s not just a bird in the sky, it’s a bit like you can imagine controlling it as remote control – sort of.
Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s a thing that these days there seem to be a few more folk who appreciate seeing these birds. Or a few more folk who notice them because they are becoming more visible. If you go for a walk and you see one in the air close by – it’s the way it should be. Although they are carrion drawn for eating, they don’t go for farm animals and they don’t do any harm. They are only ever good.
Reed Warbler: Call sign – Legs Eleven.
Teeny, weeny little reeny. It’s small. Alright, it’s not the smallest. We have smaller birds coming and going. However, a Reed Warbler? No way, surely?
But yes, actually. Sure as eggs is eggs, they were here in the summer time. Looked like Mr and Mrs, too. Two little unknown (at the time) feathered friends and they chose here to spend some time. Most of the summertime in fact. No idea where they came from, but I’m glad they did.
I’m guessing they liked the environment. They definitely were attracted to the bamboo plants. I can’t for sure say it was the healthy green bamboo plants that the Reed Warblers liked so much. When we first saw them, and continuing on from that first sighting, the big attraction for them seemed more to be the bamboo that looked like it was dead.
We had some bamboo in the garden of a darker colour than the normal green. In fact it was of a black to very dark grey in colour. And nothing got their attention quite like that bamboo. The loved it. They spent weeks and months in it, on it, and around it. They did use the rest of the garden also, but not to the same degree. They were happy to find their own food, ignoring the feeders as though they weren’t even there.
They hopped about on their little long legs. Legs that are funnily and very visual. It’s not as though their legs were too long for their small bodies of yellowy buff brownish colour. They were completely in proportion. For some unexplainable reason their legs highlighted their hopping around – about the best way I can explain it really; which is why they are Legs Eleven.
We looked it up to be sure we were looking at a Reed Warbler. We were. I also found out that this bird over-winters in Africa. So that is going to explain why we didn’t see it after the summer time. I guess the bamboos were similar to a reed beds when thinking about it.
Amazing what types of birds you can attract through imaginative thinking and planting.
Black Cap: Call sign – Friar Tuck.
Careful not to get confused with this one. Is it a Coal Tit, a Blue Tit, a Great Tit, or …… No. it’s none of those. Could be mistaken for one tough. It’s a northern nightingale. If you think there’s no such thing, there is. So called because this bird has a very nice song.
I wish I could recognise the song if I heard it, wish I was able to say ‘that belongs to the Black Cap.’ I can’t though. I looked that up on-line to be sure.
If you’re not sure of the Black Cap when you see one, you will be once you know it is one. The female has a brown cap, but you know you’re looking at the same bird.
It’s quite happy to muscle in to the feeders no matter what other birds are around at the time. It’s a bit like the Coal Tit in that respect. Doesn’t congregate exactly, just hops closer and closer and then it’s on the feeders. Unlike the Sparrow, the Starling, the Blue Tit, the Great Tit, the Long Tail Tit, the Coal Tit, the Great Spotted Woodpecker – all birds that you could run your wrist watch to.
For me it was exciting to learn of this bird. Because this is not the usual bird that I think most folk would mention if the subject of garden birds was raised.
As this is a feeder in the garden, I decided to look up its favourite food. Of course I know what it is attracted to in our garden and how it goes about it. I was happy to read that – as with my preference to include meal worm as a food in the garden, that this is one of their favoured foods of choice. Result!
I also learned that for some funny reason the Black Cap is keen on the berry from the Mistletoe. We don’t have any of that in the garden.
I think I can find somewhere to put some.
This guy stands about in a singular capacity and due to the way it does this and how it does so, and with its individual markings, always reminds me of Friar Tuck.
Goldcrest: Call sign – Supernova.
I watched some telly about astronomy one day. The subject at the time was planet Betelgeuse. This planet is a red star out there in the night sky. It glows in a fading and brightening fashion. It is a special planet for one very special reason in that one day will be a supernova.
The Goldcrest is a very special garden bird. It is not the easiest of birds to see, at least not in the garden here. It is here though. It comes and goes at times to suit it. It cannot be timed or casually observed as part of every-day bird watching. If you see one it is a very lucky sighting.
I wonder how many people can say that yes, they know of that red star out there. I don’t, not for sure.
That is now a task I intend to put right. I want to know that the glowing and fading red star visible out there in the night sky is planet Betelgeuse. I know of a red dot in the night sky. I have known of it for many years. What I don’t know is – is it Betelgeuse? I may have been led to believe it was Venus.
I definitely do know the Goldcrest when I see it. I can’t say that I have seen it many, many times. That is not the case. I do know it and I am proud to say I have seen it. And it’s not like planet Betelgeuse in that the planet is there all the time. However, planet Betelgeuse is special. And so is the Goldcrest.
When Betelgeuse blows, it’ll be a Supernova. When you get the Goldcrest in the garden, it’s super special.
A smaller bird you could not wish to see. Marginally. The Wren is widely known as Britain’s smallest bird. That’s incorrect. The Goldcrest tops the bill. And that makes it a very special experience to see it in the garden. It doesn’t exactly make itself visible in specific ways as say a Sparrow would. It’s a hard to see little bird that weighs no more than a five pence coin.
If you see the tiniest little bird in your garden and it has a stripe of black lined gold across the top of its head, then that is the Goldcrest.
It doesn’t favour all the food in the feeders as it is a Conifer tree type of bird. Once you know the habitat of a certain bird the rest makes sense. Every time the Goldcrest has been spotted in our garden a Conifer tree is right where it is.
I read an article on-line that went on to say, ‘as this bird is a year-long resident of the UK, most people would have seen one.’ ……… Huh! I don’t agree. I can count on one hand the times I have seen one. It is a supernova. Something that is rarely seen.
Fieldfare: Call sign – Tardis Polaris.
I can say for a hundred percent sure that we have had one in the garden. Fieldfare definitely resembles a Thrush, more like a Mistle thrush only with a grey coloured head. And because the Fieldfare is a very upright standing bird – army like, shoulders back, head straight; and strides very army like – purposeful hops, just the way that type of bird hops about seemingly with both legs on the same spring, (not so army like, but in purposeful as a way, yes.)
Because of its traits then would stand it out as being just that little bit different from its fellow lookalikes the Thrush and the Mistle thrush.
We have had the upright standing Thrush lookalike bird. We identified it as a Fieldfare. The bird was stood distinctly different in an extremely upright fashion when seen on our grass pathway. It hopped about as described. At the time I was taken by its plumage resembling closely to the breast pattern of the Mistle thrush. And that is why my attention was there at that time. A Mistle thrush in the garden is a treat. It was only later that when looking up the identifying differences, that we assumed it may well have been a Fieldfare instead. And that is a treat for sure.
Bird call sign Tardis Polaris is a derivation of Turdus Pilaris – the scientific name given to Fieldfare. It’s not unknown for folk to play around with names to suit the circumstances; for instance – in 1989, the European space agency launched a space telescope called Hipparcos, so named after the famous Greek astrologer Hipparchus.
Tardis could be described as being not all that it appears.
Polaris is the name given to the North star. When you see it in the sky it is the brightest. When you see the Fieldfare in your garden it is a bright moment.
This bird is a hard one to find. We know we have the Thrush and the Mistle thrush. The Field Fare however don’t generally wonder into gardens, by all account. And I think I could agree with that based on the fact that I may have only once seen that bird in the garden. They prefer the fields and hedgerows.
With its very close resemblance to both the Thrush and the Mistlethrush would be why mistaking it with either could be forgivable.
Jay: Call sign – London Calling.
Memories from childhood. The Jay bird was frequent back then. Maybe it was because we lived elsewhere. I remember the Jaybird more than any other bird. It was this bird from, that as a child I knew what a bird was. At least that is how it seems in my memories. We lived next to a woods, if that makes any difference.
But wait a minute, we live next to a woods now.
It’s a different type of woods, and that seems to make a difference. Where London Calling once was, in a visible way, it now isn’t – all be it a different woods.
It’s a fantastic bird with colours that galvanise the observer. Well, me anyway. It’s hard to believe that this bird is from the Crow family of birds. It’s completely different.
From a legend dating back to the era of King Charles the second, the reckoning was that the monarchy of England will collapse the day the last crows leave the tower of London.
OK, it’s another play on words. They meant Crows.
But the Jay is of the Crow family, and it’s also largely blue. Blue to me signifies in some ways, steel and glass. The Jay is therefore London Calling.
I have seen this bird very few times over the years, (childhood years excepted) and have never sat down and wondered why, until now.
Information gained suggests that this bird is quite shy and that they are difficult to see. Result!
I saw one once in Wales next to a reservoir. It was flying at the time.
That makes it all the more better that we had one in the garden once. Quite unmistakable with almost tropical markings on the wings and head. I know a Jay when I see one. Maybe it was lost. The woods is apparently their favoured habitat. And that goes a long way to explaining why as living next to a woods when I was younger they were a regular sighting. So why then I wondered does that explain that in living next to a different woods now they are not a regular sighting.
It’s the type of woods that makes the difference. A Beech and Hazel woods doesn’t have the same appeal as an Oak woods. And that is why.
The Jay is a bit of a king of birds in my eyes. It’s a fairly big, but not too big bird. It has a colour that signifies something ……different. It’s hard to explain. It is just quite different from most other garden birds, except it’s not a garden bird.
Goldfinch: Call sign – Mirage.
What sort of bird is it? It’s a brilliant bird if ever I saw one. In fact, the first time I did see one I had to ask the nearest person. That was a long time ago now and I remember being told that it was a Goldfinch.
This bird perching, resembling very much all the other Finches I am aware of in one particular way, doesn’t have to do cartwheels to look special. Like a right royal visitor. It’s certainly coloured royally. This must be the closest to tropical to get in the English garden in a wild bird format. Best of all, it’s a Finch. That means that it has British origins doesn’t it? Well yes, of course it does. This bird does migrate apparently – to Spain. But not all of them and not always.
Closer up it’s quite obviously a Finch of some sort. The Finches all have a similar beak layout – sort of chunky at one end. Scientifically described as a long fine beak, it doesn’t appear that way. Still, I can’t dispute that, the bird would know best seeing as it likes seeds from Thistles no less.
Ah! Now I have just read that and I’m thinking we don’t have those, at least not in quantity. One Thistle in the front garden may therefore then not be enough to attract one of gardens most colourful birds. Every time I see one in the garden (and it’s not nearly often enough for my liking) my thoughts waver around ‘how to keep them coming in’. We have tried feeding only them; in as much as there is a feeder with some Niger seed in it. And I’d like them to know we want them to stay once they do come in the garden. But they’re hard enough to get in our garden as it is. We do have them, on and off. That is why to me they are like a Mirage. You have to look twice to believe they are in the garden.
Like a desert mirage.
They can’t get enough of Niger seed if it is on offer. And I have seen this first hand when we placed specifically Niger seed in a feeder. And ………. Actually, I think I may have just stumbled upon the answer. Yes, we do have Niger seed, but no, it’s not only Niger seed. The bird food in question has Niger seed in it. Now, I think I have solved a long standing question. At other places they congregate in numbers around Niger seed feeders. Trouble here in our garden is that the Niger seed isn’t attracting them as it should be.
Halleluiah. That must be it. That must be the answer.
The only time that we did hang a Niger seed feeder in a tree, the Goldfinch was there within minutes, but they don’t come back hardly at all.
When they do come we have more than one. Sadly, like the Bullfinch, the Chaffinch and the Green Finch, they just aren’t that regular a visitor to our garden. And now I think I may know why. Yes we do have them form time to time. No not enough.
I do have to bear in mind that this bird does migrate and that at certain times of the year it would be more visible than others. That said, the Goldfinch here is a challenge in some ways. We make our garden bird friendly so fingers crossed, we can make a difference for them.
Wren: Call sign – W.I.G effect.
A smaller bird you could wish to see, here in the UK. However, this one is often mistaken as the smallest when actually it isn’t. It’s still small though. Blink and you would miss it.
I know the flight characteristics of these very small birds now, having seen them in the garden here and about. It’s very hard to describe – a Wren or a Goldcrest flying in the foliage. Once seen, hopefully not forgotten. Because it’s not the most abundant bird in the garden is maybe why finding it is not the easiest of tasks.
The Wren is a little brown ball pinging around low to the ground. Furious flapping in a whirl of wings and hopping about on the branches lower to the ground.
For such a small bird it has a very loud song. I have watched it sing and it is a joy to hear. You wouldn’t put that loud voice to that tiny bird.
This bird tends to stay low to the ground, hence call sign W.I.G. effect. That may be a reasonable way to find one if looking for and seeing Wrens has proven difficult. The Wren won’t be seen flying in the air in the same way as say a Sparrow.
W.I.G effect is commonly known as Wing In Ground effect. This allows a flying object to stay close to the ground at high speeds, but still in the air flying.
The Wren certainly hops about at fast speed, and low to the ground.
I once thought that seeing a Wren must be for the talented and astute bird watcher only. For one it is too small to see and for two, how do you find one anyway. Well, my perceptions on Wren watching have changed over the years. Thankfully for us the Wren is more than happy to pay us a visit – if not regularly, then certainly sometimes.
I screwed a bird nest box to the garden wall one day. There were some plants growing up the wall so the nest box ended up in amongst the plants. That is the way I wanted it to be. I was happy with the result. Once fitted to the wall the nesting box hardly showed, unless you knew it was there.
The nest box itself was effectively a teapot. It had a spout facing down to the ground and a cut out above the spout that allowed for a bird to enter and nest in the cup shape that was formed above the spout. The whole nest area above the spout was then covered by the natural shape of what would be a circular bowl with the cut out in it. I had no hope of it being used. What bird would reasonably be expected to use a teapot to build a nest inside.
Sitting on the sofa looking out into the garden with the garden wall ahead; a normal kind of thing on a weekend, I was just relaxing. Weather outside was not too bad. I was having a bit of a break in the middle of the day. Low and behold, all of a sudden I notice the tell-tale signs of a Wren nearby. I see it in the low branches flitting about, its tail feathers stood prone at intermittent times between perching and hopping around. The Wren is excited. Its attention is drawn to the garden wall. I have noticed this with the bird life, they like to watch from a distance at something that has taken their fancy.
Because I know how they think (or at least I would like to think I do), I am stationary on the sofa, intent on watching the Wren. I don’t want to frighten it off with abrupt and sudden movements of which the Wren could see from outside.
Time ticks by, but patience is required if an observation is to be made. Eventually the Wren gets closer and closer to the garden wall and once the bird is as sure as it can be, it flies onto the entrance lip of the upside down teapot. The Wren momentarily has a look around from the outside, but having spent so much time observing from a distance must then have been fairly happy with its own conclusions; which were to enter the teapot and disappear from my view.
Fantastic.
I watched intently, happy to see the Wren make the teapot its home. The Wren spent some time thereafter nesting in the teapot and raised its own brood of little Wrens.
That is what I call a result.
Great Tit: Call sign – Raising brazen.
This is the Great Tit. Not so big, unless the other birds are Blue Tits, Long Tail Tit’s or Coal Tit’s for instance, Still however, definitely the Great Tit. That said, is it the greatest Tit of all, I wonder.
I wonder if its name was derived from its ability to overpower the rest of the Tits. Or maybe just because the size of it is bigger than the others. And that sounds like it’s a monster. Obviously we all know better.
As with the Blue Tit, the Great Tit stays around the garden with this hazy blue surround. On the feeders and hanging onto the wire, the blue colour overpowers the immediately surrounding space of the bird. It’s nice. It shows the bird up more – if you’re looking. And that would be because the front of the bird is facing the wire caged feeder whilst on display would be the back of the bird. The front of the bird is a yellow with a slash of black through the centre.
Great Tit hangs around the garden every day bringing life in. Always on the feeders, and most of the feeders at that, almost no matter what the contents. That said it’s the peanuts that attract them the most. So we can look out at the peanut feeder and guaranteed the Great Tit will be there. That bird will be mixing it with the Blue Tit. A bit of a show now and then when another bird gets a bit close, with a spreading of the tail feathers and the wings at the same time. It’s not a full spread of the wings; more of a half spread and they sort of jitter at the same time. It’s very funny. Every time the Great Tit displays this the other birds get the message and move a bit. Like a cursory display without too much meaning. The Great Tit has to do it though, otherwise it wouldn’t be the king of the feeder. But hang on a minute, here comes the Nuthatch. The Nuthatch isn’t going to listen to any of these birds. The Great Tit will have to move aside. And it obligingly does.
A few years now after placing a nest box in a tree for any bird that wanted it; later was I to find out that the hole in the front face was only big enough for a smaller bird than the Great Tit. And it looked to be the case that the Great Tit wanted us to now all about it. Or if he wasn’t that bothered about letting us know, we could tell anyway because the hole had been pecked all around to result in a chamfered edge.
As the Great Tit is one of the foremost birds in the garden to show his colours, it is this year that I will place a nest box somewhere in the hope that he – and Mrs Great Tit, can fit into. His colours will from now on get brighter as he looks to find his soul mate so she can lay some eggs.
Green Finch: Call sign – Smoke Green Aquiline.
Hail Smoke Green Aquiline, I say. Why the name – Smoke Green Aquiline?
Because this bird is a Smokey green colour to begin. Some may say it is a dull green. Whatever! To me it is a colour rich in beauty no matter what the opacity etc. And the word Aquiline is a Latin term used for the so called ‘Roman Nose’. You see, the Finch has a distinctive beak for sure.
We don’t see too much of this bird. Being a Finch it won’t stop by regularly. Those types of birds crave other foods that we don’t provide. Not that we don’t want to. It seems though that whatever it is that takes their fancy is not here. I note this from the sporadic appearance of the Bullfinch and the Chaffinch. A most commonly seen bird in other parts.
I must think and do some investigative work into why this is the case. These birds are as much appreciated as any other in the garden. And yet we do get them on and off. The Buddleia plant next door wafts its scent (I guess), as the Finch birds do like that. Normally when I see a Finch of any type it is perched on the Buddleia. Especially the Bullfinch, they like to perch and eat – very slowly. I have never seen another type of bird eat so slowly. And the same is true of the Green Finch, when we do get the chance to see it in the garden.
I can positively say we have it here, when it wants to be here.
Green Woodpecker: Call sign – Broadsword.
This is not a bird that I can honestly say I’ve seen a lot of. In fact if I were to add it all up I can probably list those amount of times on one hand. Thankfully one of those times was here. It wasn’t in the garden, it was outside near the car, but that counts. This is all about garden birds, or just birds, that are in the garden or can be seen very near or above the garden.
I saw it fly from the direction of the woods; which would have seen it fly over our garden from back to front. As Broadsword flies generally quite low it was therefore virtually in our garden. There is a well-known flight path running the length that serves the purposes for all birds here. Including Sniper the Sparrow hawk.
The Green Woodpecker is colourful, and like its cousin Hardass Engineer, carries great colours to highlight a pretty to look at bird. The Red crown sits there above a green over white plumage that has black and white splashes down the wings.
Listed as mainly a parkland type of bird it comes as no real surprise that seeing them here is an accomplished achievement, all-be-it a lucky one. I read when investigating the habits of the Green Woodpecker that when it comes to drumming (the drilling into a tree), the Green Woodpecker doesn’t do this an awful lot. Most of the food this guy wants is in the ground- apparently.
Is very strange then that Hardass Engineer makes frequent (daily) trips to the garden bird feeders without any trouble or worry.
Broadsword is a joy to see. Just like the definition of Broadsword in which it could mean – for one particular way rather than the better known other, in terms of abilities of the sword. So as a Woodpecker is expected to drum, Broadsword does it differently.
Tree Creeper: Call sign – Jack Reacher.
Looking at the tree over there, should I rub my eyes? Yes I will, and then I’ll look again. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I remember something similar at Abbotsbury tropical gardens. Back there it was the Kookaburra we could hear. And another bird called the Tree Creeper that made its presence obvious.
At home I’m watching with surprise as a I see a bird I didn’t think I would see in our garden. It’s Jack Reacher. I called this guy Jack Reacher for two reasons: one because it was Jack that went up the beanstalk and two because this guy springs up the trunk of a tree like it is reaching for the sky.
It’s Jack Reacher the Tree Creeper. What a lovely bird. Ok, it’s not that close that I can make out the markings clearly, because it’s quite well disguised against the bark of the tree. It is a Tree Creeper, make no mistake. In fact it’s coloured disguise is so good, it takes a concentrated watch to take it in. Luckily I am afforded a silhouette view to highlight the abilities of this bird.
I was watching a bit of telly and ‘Winter Watch’ was being aired. They showed a Tree Creeper asleep in a hole in a tree. I never realised!
Of course they have to sleep somewhere. This little guy was facing into the hollow of the tree with its back facing outwards. How clever is that?
Because it has a white underbelly, that leaves the most camouflaged part showing outwards – and it looks like bark.
It’s great to watch the Tree Creeper at work on a tree. It’s almost not birdlike at all. I was lucky to see it. Here it was only the once.
Vulture: call sign – Last Stand at Little Bighorn.
Why would I list the Last Stand at Little Bighorn in my diary list of garden bird sightings at home?
The Vulture lives up to its name as I have awarded. The Last Stand at Little Bighorn was of course a well-known and documented battle that took place at Little Bighorn River in Montana, America.
As with most confrontations in Indian ruled territory in American history, the battle and Last Stand at Little Bighorn involved Indian warriors versus the American cavalry. This was Custer’s Last Stand.
Custer versus Sitting Bull.
Sitting Bull was a charismatic leader of Lakota Indians whose call for resistance to the expansion of United States resulted in the collection of multiple tribes of Indians against the US. During the annual Indian ‘Sun Dance’ ceremony of the previous year to the Battle at Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull experienced a prophetic vision of soldiers toppling upside down in his camp. He saw this as the harbinger to The Last Stand at Little Bighorn.
In the Spring of the following year the Indian warriors congregated. With other tribes, came along other warlord names, like ‘Crazy Horse’, included amongst the Indian tribal leaders. The battle ensued more by unplanning as opposed to planning.
Custer had a plan for sure, but was accidentally tricked into changing his plan, as fate would have it.
The Indians (of which there were up to two thousand) needed no second guessing as to the intentions of Custer’s own cavalry (of which there were 210 soldiers) and slaughtered all of them.
The battle was ugly.
And so too is the Vulture.
It’s possible the Vulture was there to clean up the mess. As a scavenger and carrion eater it’s a distinct possibility.
But the Vulture is ugly for a reason. They have bare heads, a condition that prevents blood matting with feathers for when they reach inside carcasses.
That said, the Vulture is a highly intelligent bird. It may appear ugly at first glance. But see what it can do.
Prepare to have your perception of the Vulture turned upside down.
Recently I was lucky enough to visit a bird sanctuary near Andover. There wasn’t all the fanfare of a pleasure park or anything like that. The sanctuary is an existing charity dedicated to the preservation of birds. And what a day out it was too.
The Vulture experience I have yet to arrange – a one to one with a Vulture. And it will be incredible.
So go visit. Just do this one bird experience even if you have no interest in birds and have no plans to mix with them. You will be amazed. You will see birds differently if you don’t at present see them in any way at all.
The audience are seated in an arena, a bit like a small amphitheatre. There is a display of birds in a field ahead of the arena and the field becomes; for all intents and purposes, an African Plain.The highlight is without doubt being so close to this incredible bird. It flies low enough to rustle your hair. The Vulture becomes a thinking, artful, intelligent, likeable, and beautiful bird of prey
All of a sudden, what was once seen as a bit of a brute is now like the transformation from the ugly duckling. Graceful and legendary.
We don’t have the Vulture in or near our garden, but we don’t have to go too far to see one.
Of legends are us. 