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Siskins and Redpolls appealingly absent this Winter? (1 Viewer)

KenM

Well-known member
There appears to be a distinct “almost” absence of the above this Winter in the London area (prior to this I’ve had both species certainly every Winter over the last six years, what about elsewhere and on the continent?

What does seem a little incongruous was the flock of Siskins that I encountered on Fuerteventura at Xmas not to mention the two Brambling. :eek!:

Cheers
 
Very few Siskins and no Redpolls that I know of in lowland southeast Northumbs. Have heard there's lots of Siskins in the spruce plantations (Kielder, Harwood, etc.) in the hills though - Sitka Spruce had a fairly good cone crop in 2019.
 
A VERY, mild winter in Russia, hardly any snow at all and I think it's been similar elsewhere so maybe more birds stayed put?
 
We've had flocks of up to a dozen or so redpolls feeding on alder cones around my NW Durham office recently, but very few siskins (1-2 in mixed flocks with goldfinches and redpolls). Normally siskins are much more frequent by now.

I'm sure Andy's observation of mild weather in Russia (and presumably Scandinavia too) is a major factor - its possible the small numbers of redpolls around here are from the local breeding population, which I believe still exists in the west of the county - I've had small post-breeding flocks around here as early as July.
 
oddly enough the same effect is in play over on the other side of the pond. Zero reports locally of any redpolls and pine siskins also are absent in central Wisconsin. Explanation I have heard is that there is enough food up north that they haven't had to head down south. Certainly this winter has (mostly) been more mild than previous winters
 
Although only 22 days of data for this year, BTO's Birdtrack is showing a distinct drop in reporting rates of Redpoll and Siskin...
 
So far thanks guys, for me it’s not just the polls/skins, it’s also the almost complete absence of Redwing (just the odd Singleton), also no Fieldfare or Brambling this year yet!

Would be interesting to know if the Central European roost of Brambling (Slovenia?) is in operation this year?

I’ve certainly experienced Winters where the skin/polls have been less...but not like this, then being complimented by Siskin and Brambling respectively being present in two flocks on Fuerteventura to late December at least!

Even accepting that no two years are the same...it all does seem very odd.:eek!:
 
So far thanks guys, for me it’s not just the polls/skins, it’s also the almost complete absence of Redwing (just the odd Singleton), also no Fieldfare or Brambling this year yet!

Would be interesting to know if the Central European roost of Brambling (Slovenia?) is in operation this year?

I’ve certainly experienced Winters where the skin/polls have been less...but not like this, then being complimented by Siskin and Brambling respectively being present in two flocks on Fuerteventura to late December at least!

Even accepting that no two years are the same...it all does seem very odd.:eek!:

We are also short of Siskins and Redpolls (especially Redpolls!), but Redwings seem to be around in fairly normal numbers. Brambling locally tend to be a late winter thing anyway so I can't judge, but we found them in the New Forest on 1 January without difficulty.

John
 
Think I actually had my highest ever count of Siskins on my patch earlier this winter (around 60). Those could be fairly local birds coming from the Highlands though.
 
Only our second winter here so too early to make any judgement on local trends - but we have around twenty siskins visiting the feeders. They breed locally and we saw several families last year.

I think redpoll may be something of a rarity round here - but keeping fingers crossed.
 
So far thanks guys, for me it’s not just the polls/skins, it’s also the almost complete absence of Redwing (just the odd Singleton), also no Fieldfare or Brambling this year yet!

Would be interesting to know if the Central European roost of Brambling (Slovenia?) is in operation this year?

I’ve certainly experienced Winters where the skin/polls have been less...but not like this, then being complimented by Siskin and Brambling respectively being present in two flocks on Fuerteventura to late December at least!

Even accepting that no two years are the same...it all does seem very odd.:eek!:


In my experience in Russia, it wasn't always just the weather but the abundance of food too.

One year I had overwintering Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares in small flocks of c20 in -20c but Rowans were mega abundant that year.
 
Very few Siskins around my part of the Alps it seems, I’ve had none locally so far this year whereas the past three winters at this location saw them daily throughout the season. No shortage of Brambling though!
 
I guessed there was a typo, but your response makes it even more opaque... ???

(Saying it out loud may help - took me a while)

The strange thing is that a typo on an almost obsolete* word kicks up a slightly (?) commoner word which in the context used gives the opposite sense to what you would expect... that was what threw me!

(* online dictionaries say it's almost obsolete, plus a search here on BF doesn't give a single result)
 
(Saying it out loud may help - took me a while)

The strange thing is that a typo on an almost obsolete* word kicks up a slightly (?) commoner word which in the context used gives the opposite sense to what you would expect... that was what threw me!

(* online dictionaries say it's almost obsolete, plus a search here on BF doesn't give a single result)

Good to know that you can “still” pass the cryptic test, but then being a PEdanT you’d have an inbuilt advantage and when it comes to obsolescence I’m probably ahead of you there as well.

May the Pollskins be with you. ;)
 
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