Changing Status of Firecrest in UK (1 Viewer)

[KenM]

I probably haven't time for yew but my hollies have been in 20 years and are pretty decent. 👍 😁

Replace yew with Ivy!, which is probably better anyway and it doesn’t hang around on the growth front. I can also attest to it attracting Redwings….+ Naumann’s. 🤩👍

 

[Andy Lakin]

I would second what someone said earlier about them being very scarce here in Yorkshire away from the coast at migration times. Are there other species i.e rare/scarce that mirror this pattern? It feels like they aren't quite as frequent on the coast up here i.e Spurn etc but could be wrong as I havent got annual reports to hand. Obviously without giving specific locations does anyone know what is the furthest North they are breeding with any regularity?

 

[Hotspur]

I would second what someone said earlier about them being very scarce here in Yorkshire away from the coast at migration times. Are there other species i.e rare/scarce that mirror this pattern? It feels like they aren't quite as frequent on the coast up here i.e Spurn etc but could be wrong as I havent got annual reports to hand. Obviously without giving specific locations does anyone know what is the furthest North they are breeding with any regularity?

Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire (in public domain)

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Still scarce round here, but I do have it for the garden. Fifteen years ago and none since, but still.

 

[dwallace]

John: Re frequency in Hampshire, described in the latest HBR as "a common and increasing resident and passage migrant."

Paul: I don't have any long-term data for Hants. Numbers are up 7% on 2020 with a marked increase in records from the north of the county with a spread from the original core area of the New Forest.

It's getting far more common on my Chilling/Brownwich coastal patch during the winter months but still outnumbered by Goldcrest.

Dave W

 

[Paul Chapman]

John: Re frequency in Hampshire, described in the latest HBR as "a common and increasing resident and passage migrant."

Paul: I don't have any long-term data for Hants. Numbers are up 7% on 2020 with a marked increase in records from the north of the county with a spread from the original core area of the New Forest.

It's getting far more common on my Chilling/Brownwich coastal patch during the winter months but still outnumbered by Goldcrest.

Dave W

Cheers.

A few older County Reports on the shelves from various Counties. I may well have a look out of interest on some stats as I am sure that people will have access to modern data.

All the best

Pail

 

[Owene]

Had two this year so far in south wales. Dozens and dozens of goldcrest

 

[Nohatch]

I certainly see them more in my local area (edge of the New Forest) than when I moved here, 14 years ago. Prevalence seems strongly habitat dependant. In my back yard (central Hythe) I've had breeding Firecrest for the past few years, but Goldcrest is a rare winter visitor. Dibden Bay next door has a few resident Goldcrest, but I rarely see Firecrest there. The mixed landscape behind Blackfield/Lepe seems about 50/50.

 

[pppppvvvv]

I read somewhere, about Firecrest's preferred breeding habitat being Oak with holly beneath, and I do often stumble across territories with an abundance of both in the vicinity. Although it's hardly an unusual combination.

I would say they have increased for me locally in the last 10 years, in Test Valley South. A local golf course easily has 10+ territories around the edge, just from casual observations.
Probably 50/50 with Goldcrests here.

 

[Mark Lew1s]

In Scotland, it's still very rare and records don't seem to have rocketed in spite of a slight increase over the last 20 - 25 years or so. Suggests to me that Scottish records are coming from somewhere else, which doesn't feel like rocket science...

 

[Isobeljbrown]

Way back in the late 60s I was taken to a hush-hush ultra-secret site in the New Forest where Firecrests had established a small colony. Back in the 80s (I think) having moved to Kent I was told in confidence that Firecrest were now breeding in the county & taken to the site. Fast forward to the present day and in my neck of the world (east Kent) Firecrests now seem to be more common than Goldcrests. Earlier this year a friend and I had 15 Firecrests but only one Goldcrest in my local woods (Old Park, Canterbury). In January I had 6 Firecrests but only a single Goldcrest in Blean Woods (Canterbury). I've just now returned from another local walk & had 4 Firestrests but only a single Goldcrest. Last year a friend found 26 singing Firecrest in a part of a large woodland a few miles from Canterbury. friend Talking with other Kent birders they all say the same - Firecrests have increased on their patch.

So is this a national trend or one limited to Kent and the southeast? Is it linked to a changing climate?

I have a pair that seem to be nesting outside my front door on our driveway! Our road is wide but a bit of a rat run in North London N2. I've never seen them before.

 

[Farnboro John]

I'm still waiting for that garden tick but yesterday as I was cycling to the social club I had a Firecrest singing within two hundred yards of my late mother's old house. There are a lot of them about!

John

 

[PYRTLE]

A member of the Berkshire Records Committee found a relict flock while undertaking survey work on Crown Estate just inside the boundary with Surrey, back in the late 90s. The following year a more detailed effort showed around two dozen singing males holding territory....subsequent years recorded just a handful of breeding pairs. We pulled his leg over his exuberance re the increase in numbers, but to be fair he was extremely diligent in his methods. As Ken intimated the ideal mixture of tree species ( overlapping mature deciduous woodland interspersedwith yew and holly ) was likely habitat and proved to be rewarding.