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Any Bramblings this winter? (1 Viewer)

Binocularface

Binocularface

You've all got one...............!
Hi

Last winter was a bumper year for Bramblings with flocks in excess of 2000 recorded locally. This winter is the complete opposite! The Hot & Dry summer in 2003 seems to have taken its toll on the Beech Mast Crop here in Cumbria. The knock on effect seems to be very few Bramblings this winter!

Is this reflected over the whole of the UK (and further afield), or is it just a local issue?

Regards
Tristan
 
Hi Tristan,
That's strange: I've seen far more Bramblings this winter(2003-04) than for many years(didn't even see one between the mid 90's and 2002!)
No large flocks locally,but have been seeing ones and twos since early November,and there have been flocks of 30+ on the east coast.
Harry H
 
Seen some end of last year and beginning of this for the first time ever. Probably havn't been looking in previous years, although the males are hard to miss!.
 
Did not see bramblings at Bonn or in the area of Pforzheim, this year,

last year there were several; and in Schleswig-Holstein, near the Danish border there were thousands last year..

and last year had quite a good beech mast, this year did not give much.
So perhaps they moved further , to explore some other areas, like Ireland? Or perhaps many of them did not move much, as the winter here is unusually warm?
 
I saw a few in the autumn but haven't seen any since.

A check on Birdguides gives flocks of 100+ in Durham, Hampshire, Devon, Lothian, Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Dorset and Kent. Numbers at Cheesefoot Head/ Longwood Warren in Hampshire have gone over a thousand and these have apparently been feeding on sunflowers. It seems that this winter they are mostly adjacent to the south and east coasts with rather few getting further west.
 
Had a dozen in the garden in November,then none at all til last week. Come into the garden in 2's and 3's. Don't know how localised these birds are as I live about 20 miles from the Dutch border so they could just be passing thru'. My dad lives in the midlands and says he hasn't seen any all winter...
 

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Much the same up here.......flocks seem very hard to find this winter. Usually get a flock of 40 or 50 Chaffinches around the garden all winter too but this year just a few pecking around the lawn so far, even in hard weather.
There were much more about in late autumn but they do seem to have moved on somewhere else this year.

JP
 
Tristan,

There was a small flock (10?) at the RSPB feeding station in Highnam Woods, Gloucs Nov 5-14th, before and after that a single pair/male for a week either side of the date. Maybe they've gone further south and will return for a week in the spring on their way back home. But at the moment not a solitary bird
 
One in my back garden this morning, first of the winter.... they usually appear end of Jan/feb, so this is an early one for me. Never had more than 8 at one time though.
 
Thanks everybody for your info regarding your Brambling sightings. It certainly appears that generally they are fairly scarce this winter, I am assuming this relates directly to this winters Beech Mast 'crop'. I believe this is also supported by the unusual habitat the flock (that Stevie has reported) in County Durham is using!

Regards
Tristan
 
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