Garden Birds December / January 2009
More birds start to appear in our gardens during these months, as natural food starts to diminish in the countryside. This year has been a good berry year, so as there are still plenty of berries left on shrubs and trees; gardens have been much quieter than normal. However because of this, more Scandinavian birds have flown here to take advantage of this bounty. In particular is the stunning Waxwing, which have arrived in their hundreds in Scotland and are gradually working their way south devouring berries as they go. They are more often found in supermarket car parks, but do turn up in gardens if you have berries left on your shrubs or trees – keep a lookout for them!
Two other Scandinavian visitors that have been here for a few weeks are Fieldfares and Redwings. These thrushes move around in noisy flocks, again searching for berries. They will visit gardens but are very shy. Our resident Mistle Thrushes have moved back into the garden and have been busy chasing all other birds off “their” favourite Pyracantha bush. They will keep this up all winter until the berries have all gone.
Another much smaller Scandinavian bird to look out for, is the Siskin. These are small finches which are usually found in small groups, often accompanying Greenfinches and Goldfinches. They are attracted to nut feeders, particularly red ones, and are very aggressive, chasing off any other birds on the feeder, regardless of size! They are recognisable by their green streaky appearance and the males have black on their heads. They are smaller than Greenfinches and a little smaller than Goldfinches. Once they start to use your feeders they usually stay until spring.
At this time of year, the tits which visit our feeders, tend to get together into small mixed flocks and visit at the same time. This is particularly true of Blue Tits , Great Tits, Coal Tits and Long Tailed Tits. They tend to do this for protection as there are no longer any leaves on the trees to hide. The more birds—the more lookouts for the Sparrowhawk!
If you haven’t cleaned your nest boxes out yet –do it now! Birds like to use them to roost in during the winter, particularly Tits and Wrens.
This is also a good time to consider taking part in a garden bird survey: the RSPB run one in January for one weekend and the BTO run a weekly one. Lynne Demaine
