Pleasantly surprised by all this activity! (1 Viewer)

[Stuarty]

I stay only a few hundred yards from a lovely woodland which follows a small river into the countryside, however due to my immediate surroundings I didn't think my garden would attract much birdlife - how wrong I was!

The missus bought us a feeder at Christmas, and since then we have kept it well stocked with various different types of food, which have so far attracted birds which have surprised me; maybe not rare garden birds as such, but certainly ones I hadn't expected:

Sparrowhawk (THIS POST might be of interest, particularly the last paragraph)
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Feral Pigeon
Collared Dove
House Martin
Pied Wagtail
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
Song Thrush? (Lisa assures me we've had one but I honestly cannot recall seeing it)
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Starling
Magpie
Jackdaw (eats from the feeders!)
Carrion Crow
House Sparrow
Chaffinch? (as with the Song Thrush, apparently we've had them but I cannot remember)
Goldfinch (first time yesterday - have been back at least five times since!)
Siskin (I missed these but the missus got pictures of them - funnily enough they turned up the day after my mum had them in her garden 45 miles away!)
Greenfinch

We have also seen quite a lot from the window, whether it be immediately outwith the garden, in the distance, or flying overhead:

Grey Heron (flew over the house at a height roughly equivalent to an imaginary third storey!)
Pink-footed Goose (our house seemed to be directly under their daily flight path too and from their roost site)
Mallard
Buzzard
Kestrel
Oystercatcher (hear them almost every night making a racket as they fly over the house!)
Woodpigeon
Swift
Rook

I'll update this as if and when more species turn up

 

[Stuarty]

Goldfinch (first time yesterday - have been back at least five times since!)

Make that at least nine times!

The weird thing is, only the other day we bought a bag of nijer to try and attract them, and they turned up yesterday - BEFORE I had put said food out! Now that it is out they don't seem to want to leave :t:

 

[Disneynut1973]

This is a great list, especially with the Siskins - one bird I haven't managed to attract!

I think your surroundings have probably helped with the birds, they aren't going to turn down an easy food source i'm sure and have the woodlands to retreat to.

Keep the updates coming :t:

 

[Stuarty]

This is a great list, especially with the Siskins - one bird I haven't managed to attract!

The first time I saw them was around fifteen years ago, funnily enough at my mum's bird table! Seen them many times since, however only one of those times have they not been at feeders.

My mum hadn't had them for around ten years, and then they turned up last week... percevere, they'll turn up eventually :t:

 

[Disneynut1973]

To be fair i've only been putting out so much food regularly since late last year, it took a while for the birds to settle in general. It took the Goldfinch ages so there is still hope yet! They do love that nyjer seed don't they! Best food I've ever bought, the Goldfinch are always a talking point when people visit.

 

[Stuarty]

To be fair i've only been putting out so much food regularly since late last year, it took a while for the birds to settle in general. It took the Goldfinch ages so there is still hope yet! They do love that nyjer seed don't they! Best food I've ever bought, the Goldfinch are always a talking point when people visit.

Still getting the regular House Sparrows and Blue Tits, however since yesterday morning they have hardly left the garden, and seem to be, along with the Greenfinches, the most regularly attending birds in the garden!

Also stopped putting fatty treats out which seems to have discouraged the Starlings a bit, which might account for the improved number of smaller birds.

 

[Rewcastle]

Just had my first greenfinch in the garden, it joins the other residents; house sparrows, tree sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, wren, robin, chaffinches.
I put a feeder out and it seems it must have reached twitter by the amount of birds i'm getting in the garden, two litres+ of bird seed a day. :eek!:

Can anyone tell me what the bird on the right is? the crown of it's head is black...

 

[tramper]

The bird in the picture looks like a male Blackcap to me. Females have a brown crown

 

[Rewcastle]

Thanks tramper, I've never seen one around here before. I'll have to see if i can get a better picture of it.

 

[Stuarty]

Yep, looks like a Blackcap... not a bird I'd expect to see in my garden, but you never know! Good record :t:

Anyway, small update to the list with Woodpigeons now regularly entering our garden. Goldfinches are now pretty much a mainstay, visting the feeder more than any other bird. Siskins have been back a few times too... at one point three of them, along with a par of Goldfinches, a pair of Greenfinches, a Blue Tit and Dunnock were all around the feeder at once!

Also have a cheeky little mouse regularly scampering out of a small grass patch it seems to have made its home to eat any fallen seeds!

 

[Stuarty]

Just had SIX Goldfinches, three Greenfinches (delighted to see them eating "naturally" - always funny watching them wrestling with the dandelions!), two House Sparrows and a Dunnock round the feeder, plus a Starling on the fence... never seen so many all at once, really wonder what I'm missing during the 23 hours a day I can't see that particular garden!

 

[Disneynut1973]

You always wonder what you are missing don't you, I haven't seen any Greenfinches for a while but for all I know half a dozen could be feeding every day when i'm not there !

Nice to have the mouse too, they are fun to watch. I haven't seen the Goldfinch on the feeder for a few days but have seen them in trees near by.

 

[Stuarty]

Just heard a weird repeated squeak coming from the bird tabel... looked out to see our first baby Goldfinch at the table!

 

[Clive Watson]

Can anyone tell me what the bird on the right is? the crown of it's head is black...

Surely that's a Marsh or Willow Tit? The fact that it's eating seed seems to suggest that too. I wouldn't like to say which based on that photo though, only that Marsh is statistically more likely since Willow is so rare these days.

 

[Rewcastle]

Hi Clive,
Only seen it a couple of times since but my neighbour has said that there has been quite a few Blackcaps in a tree in the corner of his garden, perhaps they prefer his garden

I'm going to try some nyger/sunflower seed to see if anything changes. At the minute i'm just using an all round seed mix, which the sparrows seem to be in charge of...

 

[Stuarty]

First chaffinch this morning, good spot by the missus B

Also, goldfinch numbers are increasing now they have flocked, regularly getting numbers in excess of 20.

 

[Marmot]

First chaffinch this morning, good spot by the missus B

And I always thought Scotland was the Chaffinch capital of the World! Everytime we have been to Scotland just about every other bird is a Chaffinch.
Have you tried feeding sultanas to the ground feeding birds, they are good energy food for them. I just get the cheapest from the shops.

PS Can you send some of your birds down here as they seem to have deserted our garden during the last week. I think its because they are used to me filling all the feeders and then Ian did them one day and they have hardly came back since.:eek!:

 

[Stuarty]

And I always thought Scotland was the Chaffinch capital of the World! Everytime we have been to Scotland just about every other bird is a Chaffinch.
Have you tried feeding sultanas to the ground feeding birds, they are good energy food for them. I just get the cheapest from the shops.

PS Can you send some of your birds down here as they seem to have deserted our garden during the last week. I think its because they are used to me filling all the feeders and then Ian did them one day and they have hardly came back since.:eek!:

Haha, my folks' garden is inundated with Chaffinches, as are most of the other places I visit, however until today I hadn't seen one in mine. Thanks for the sultana tip, will try some :t:

 

[balvert]

Surely that's a Marsh or Willow Tit? The fact that it's eating seed seems to suggest that too. I wouldn't like to say which based on that photo though, only that Marsh is statistically more likely since Willow is so rare these days.

I'm joining this debate a little late on, but I too would identify as a Marsh or Willow Tit. The Blackcap, both male and female, is much more grey in colour. The bird photographed appears distinctly sandy brown/buff.

Both species of tit are at the edge of their UK range in southern Scotland, though Willow extend to the west coast. From what I can see in the photograph, I'd suggest Willow because of the pale-edged secondaries that are more evident in this species. This alone isn't enough of a diagnostic to call either way, but I'd definitely say that it isn't a blackcap.

http://www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk/cbc/images/949-07_WillowTit_GSellors.jpg

http://www.rspbliverpool.org.uk/Tit marsh.jpg

http://www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Blackcap-2913.jpg

 

[balvert]

Sorry, just realised that the query was posted by Rewcastle who is from Cumbria, not Scotland! Ignore the stuff about the range of Willow/Marsh tit.