Why so many brambling? (1 Viewer)

[luke]

I was wondering why we are getting so many bramblings in south wales at the moments?? Counts into to hundreds even thousand have been made over the past few weeks at various sites around gwent and glamorgan. usually a few are seen every winter but not this many. Is it the same in other parts of the UK?

 

[Clive Watson]

Thousands???? That does sound like quite a lot. They're quite irruptive depending on their food supply and some years are much better than others. If your counts are anything to go by, it could be a very good winter indeed. Send a few to my feeding station, will you?

 

[KnockerNorton]

poor seed crop in scandinavia.

 

[luke]

earlier i saw a flock of at least 400 birds. In a conifer plantation which i thought was rather strange.

 

[KnockerNorton]

earlier i saw a flock of at least 400 birds. In a conifer plantation which i thought was rather strange.

they do eat spruce seeds.

 

[Steve Dudley]

Like many finches, Brambling is an irruptive species with movements largely triggered by the availability of food.

When I lived in the Brecks I occasionally came across flocks 1-2000 birds, usually on flax fields near woodland blocks. There was one flock of over 2000 birds by the Tesco in Thetford.

Feeding flocks (if you can call them that) in Continental Europe have been counted in to the millions in some winters, with roost counts of p to 20 million! See the Migration Atlas for more info on this. The European Atlas probably also covers it too.

Being on the edge of the winter range we never get these sorts of numbers, but by the sounds of your flocks, and the number being reported in Cambs, its looking like a good Brmabling year here.

 

[epervier]

First time this year we've had them in the garden. Nice to see them. Loads of Jays too.

 

[baphomet]

On a kinda similar note I've noticed large numbers of Blackbirds this year. Am I alone here? I also need to head out to find some Bramblings as I haven't seen any yet.

 

[Original PaulE]

On a kinda similar note I've noticed large numbers of Blackbirds this year. Am I alone here? I also need to head out to find some Bramblings as I haven't seen any yet.

i would agree loads of blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings and the other day in rendlesham forest i saw a huge flock of mixed tits although mainly great tits it also contained blues long-tailed and a couple of goldcrests i,m fairly useless at estimating numbers but i reckon getting on for a hundred birds
cheers

 

[citrinella]

I was wondering why we are getting so many bramblings in south wales at the moments?? Counts into to hundreds even thousand have been made over the past few weeks at various sites around gwent and glamorgan. usually a few are seen every winter but not this many. Is it the same in other parts of the UK?

Yes, we seem to have loads of brambling too.

I have been kind of expecting this, saying so for a few months.

Why ?

Last year we had excellent wild seed crops, including beech mast. These excellent conditions stretched across northern Europe. Coupled with exceptionally mild weather this meant migrant numbers were very small.

When I started checking beech mast this autumn I found the seed cases were empty - no kernel. I haven't found a single kernel but bear in mind I have only checked 30-40 seed cases in a small area. Summer weather is the most likely cause, and it has been pretty bad across a large area, so I was inclined to guess seed production across northern Europe would be poor.

We have good numbers of fieldfare too, and more chaffinch, waxwing and blackbird than last year. Maybe significant numbers of the blackbird and chaffinch are migrants.

Haven't seen any blackcap yet - maybe central Europe is different.

Mike.

 

[luke]

around here there seems to be plenty of beech mast, our feeding station is in a beech wood and it took the birds a while before they decided to arrive at the feeders. I think its allg one now though! thousands of woodpigeons didn't help.

 

[KnockerNorton]

i would agree loads of blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings and the other day in rendlesham forest i saw a huge flock of mixed tits although mainly great tits it also contained blues long-tailed and a couple of goldcrests i,m fairly useless at estimating numbers but i reckon getting on for a hundred birds
cheers

The vast majority of the tits witnering in Britain are British birds. We don't get many coming from the continent. It was a bad breeding season for Great/Blue too, so numbers are a bit down on last year. Many tit flocks seem to be dominated by Long-tailed Tits, which had a good breeding season.

 

[TomSmith]

Haven't seen any blackcap yet - maybe central Europe is different.

Judging by recent posts to the Cambirds mailing list, there are unusually high numbers of blackcap around in Cambridgeshire at least.

 

[Original PaulE]

The vast majority of the tits witnering in Britain are British birds. We don't get many coming from the continent. It was a bad breeding season for Great/Blue too, so numbers are a bit down on last year. Many tit flocks seem to be dominated by Long-tailed Tits, which had a good breeding season.

Hi poecile i have heard that great and blue tits have had a bad breeding season, but locally to me anyway there seem to be plenty about, although i would agree that there are loads of long-tailed tits.I'm not seeing many tits at all on my feeders in the garden they all seem to be out in the countryside. the flock i saw the other day was easily the biggest i have seen and the majority of the birds were great tits
cheers

 

[luke]

possibly upto 10,000 brambling have been reported today!

 

[Mike Richardson]

I've been birding best part of 4 years and saw my first Brambling today- a flock of over 500 at Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire. Its taken me a hell of a long time to catch up with this bird, but the huge flock like I saw today was well worth the wait.

 

[vermivoracelata]

I've been ringing for more years than I care to remember and only ringed my first brambling this year (incidentally the first I had seen in the hand) on the North Notts Ringing Course in November.

They've been somewhat absent in North Merseyside/S W Lancs in recent years - such has been my experience.

Peter

 

[KnockerNorton]

Hi poecile i have heard that great and blue tits have had a bad breeding season, but locally to me anyway there seem to be plenty about, although i would agree that there are loads of long-tailed tits.I'm not seeing many tits at all on my feeders in the garden they all seem to be out in the countryside. the flock i saw the other day was easily the biggest i have seen and the majority of the birds were great tits
cheers

It will probably be patchy, depending on where exacty had the wet weather - it didn't p1ss down everywhere. A bigger proportion than usual in the east are adults, as there are much fewer first years than usual.

 

[luke]

Through the course of the day i have seen thousands of brambling. They are everywhere! See the pics at http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=93481&page=17

 

[sooseee]

Have seen separate flocks of branblings in hundreds on Exmoor/Brendons in Somerset -feeding on beech mast with some chaffinches as well.