Winter birds

[paddy_36]

Love reading all the posts about birds, as I love watching them in the garden - this year, have had goldfinches (my fave!), greenfinches, dunnocks, bullfinches (just a one-off visit, unfortunately), reed buntings (I think), blue/coal/great tits, sparrows, starlings and blackbirds. I've only just spotted chaffinches since the colder weather started - I thought this was a bit strange, as I would have expected to see them all year round. Does anyone know any different? (Live in Central Scotland, btw.)

Spotted a robin for the first time this winter a few days ago. All the books I've read say that robins are actually around all year. Do they have a different plumage in summer, as I don't think I've ever seen one outside of winter? I have food out all year.

[burnhal]

robins look the same all year and are pretty territorial so where you see one in winter you should see one in summer. Juveniles are speckled and have no red breast but all shoul be in adult plumage now. You are only likely to see one in your garden in the winter- they do fight! But they do seem to call a truce if the weather is harsh and food is a priority. Generally chaffinches and many other birds only start to come to gardens when the food supply elsewhere has dried up. Though some do stick around all year as they know when they are onto a good thing.

[mycatis]

I've got a little robin in my garden. He must be new born this year cause when I first saw him he was all scruffy and a bit tatty looking, but he would come in every day and gradually he got lovelier. He came in one day all bright and tidy, without his scruffy "baby" feathers and just sat there looking all proud!
Sorry, I just love robins :-)

[woofgang]

I have 3 robins in quite a small garden!! They all keep to threir own patches though....means that I get nagged 3 times every morning!!!

[Robinia]

paddy you sound lucky, like me, to have such a variety of wild birds visiting the garden. I have all the same ones as you (I'm in Derbyshire) apart from the bullfinches & I've only seen one goldfinch so I've bought some nyger seed in the hope of attracting them. My neighbour tells me she has a yellow wagtail waddling around in her garden but I haven't seen it - she has the advantage of a pond though.

I've only seen one robin up to now this season but we have had 2 for the past couple of years - one squatty grumpy one & one tall (if a robin can be tall!) skinny show off!

[Cetti]

Hi paddy, it's so great to have another birdy person on this site and your visitors are to be envied, as thanks to much building work my birds are few and far between.

When the cold weather kicked in a couple of days ago I was thrilled to see a beautiful Song Thrush make an appearance. A few minutes later along came 3 Blackies, 2 Robins, a perky little Wren and a couple of Dunnocks. If the food source is scarce in Scandinavia we can expect to see a surge of Redwings and Fieldfares - so out with the apples and fingers crossed!

Back to Robins. I remember Bill Oddie saying that the breast is only the true vivid red during the autumn and winter months and some are actually orange. These are continental birds who have hopped over the channel to add to our numbers which is why they appear to be everywhere you look.

[shaneystar]

Hi paddy... we are in Norfolk on the east coast.I still have Mr.Sparrow and his ever increasing family ! Loads of starlings and a couple of blackbirds who turn up every day.Also my three thrushes have returned!
I had a pair or doves the other day and we have got a robin too.
And of course and dear old Sammy seagulls floating around.
Noisy devils !!I I put lots of different seeds out in the hope of attracting some different birds but the starlings scatter it all over the place so I am putting up fatballs this week in view of the cold snap we are supposed to be getting and of course their peanuts.
You all seem to get a better variety of birds than I do ..perhaps it's because we are on the coast.

[paddy_36]

Hi, thanks for all your comments, really enjoyed reading them. Cetti - I wondered if your nickname was taken from Cetti's Warbler - now seems a good time to ask!

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen robins at all since last winter, even juveniles, but will watch extra carefully once this winter is past. Burnhal - yes, it is just the one! I read somewhere that they are very territorial. Like you, mycatis (loved your story!), I absolutely love robins! I was so delighted when he/she appeared in the garden! I even got the camera out... Woofgang - had a good chuckle at your comment!

Robinia - very appropriate name! - nyjer seed should do the trick for goldfinches, it did for me. I couldn't believe it the day I saw two bullfinches - a male and female together - pass through the garden. I was rooted to the spot! As I said though, sadly, it seems to have been a one-off for this year. I don't think we get yellow wagtails up here; I hope you get a visit from the one your neighbour has seen in her garden.

It's great when you see something new. I saw what I think was a thrush in the garden for the first time the other day. Cetti - hope all your visitors return once your building work is finished. Are you in Scotland?

Thanks again for all your posts - nice to know there are others out there who get as excited about birds in the garden as me!

[paddy_36]

Hi shaneystar, sorry for missing you out, you posted while I was typing! Seagulls are a bit of a pain - I see them flying over but they don't seem to come down into gardens here, thank goodness. Pigeons are more of a problem here but I don't mind them too much really in small numbers. Do starlings land on your seed feeders? They don't do that here that I've seen, but they love peanuts and hang on to those for dear life! I think you can get starling-proof feeders - that'll stop the blighters scattering the food all over the place! Fat balls sound like a good idea - it's supposed to snow at the end of the week. I got a big bucket of them from the local garden centre quite cheaply, so will definitely stock up for winter.

[shaneystar]

Paddy the starlings round here will land on anything ! They bully the poor sparrows on the peanut feeders and I haven't got seed feeders..perhaps I should get some.I have been putting the seed in a shallow dish on the bird table and they come along and trample around in it .They are quite comical though ....they hang around on the sloping roof of my sunroom and sometimes if I look up they are peering at me through the window in the roof ! Then they squabble over the bird bath !
I love watching the birds and have always got my binoculars handy..I hope my neighbours over the back realise I am watching the birds and not them !

[paddy_36]

Oops, sorry everyone, made a mistake in my first post. It should be corn, not reed, buntings.

[funnywebsite]

I have a bird tabel but the greedy wood pigeons come and eat everything. I have a hanging bird feeder which attracts blue tits. The problem is that robins do not hang off bird feeders, nor do blackbirds. You have to put some food on the bird table and you get a lot of those big wood pigions in my neighbourhood. I get some doves though but I think they are attractive. I got quite fond of doves when I went on holiday to Tenerife, they used to come onto your balcony and eat any crumbs you made there.

[ursula62]

We have lots of jays come to the garden. They love peanuts - whether from the peanut feeder or from where we leave some on the ground for the squirrels.

[valsuey]

I have a bird table and had loads of sparrows in the summer and starlings but they seem to have disappeared now.I do have a robin though and occasionally a wren.They are such little darlings.
paddy_36 you are so lucky to have such a wide variety of birds in your garden.As I live on the coast I think a lot of the smaller birds get scared off by the seagulls.We do have a lot of crows and magpies too.

[paddy_36]

Hello again everyone! Shaneystar - agree that starlings are comical to watch - big bullies that they are! You must get a good laugh!

Funnywebsite - shame that the pigeons are eating everything, despite your best efforts. The blue tits are great to watch though, I love the way they hop around on the feeders.

Ursula62 - jays! That's a more unusual one! They look very colourful, must be nice to see them. And squirrels too! Are they red or grey? Must be great to watch. Do the squirrels frighten off the jays (or vice versa even!), or do they eat together?

Valsuey - I didn't know how lucky I was until I read all the posts. I don't exactly live in the countryside either; I'm quite near the centre of a big town, and I didn't realise that this amount of variety maybe isn't so common. You and shaneystar both mention your lack of birds may be due to living near the coast. I thought you would still get a wide variety of visitors, possibly even more unusual birds, but maybe it is the seagulls that frighten them off. Crows and magpies probably don't help either. A pair of magpies nest nearby - I know they're not well-liked by bird lovers, but they are amazing to look at. They don't come into the garden very often because I don't put down food that they are interested in, but if they do come down, everyone disappears sharp-ish! Wrens are beautiful, it's nice that your summer visitors have been replaced by other ones. It's great how there are changes with the seasons too - we're all really lucky here!

[Cetti]

Hi again, like shaney star and valsuey I'm also slap bang on the coast, but way down south, so even without the glorious high rise flats the only real excitement comes with the migrants who drop in for a rest and a wash and brush up before going on to somewhere more important!

I know I sound like a broken record paddy, but if you happen to see a Corn Bunting again give your Bird Recorder a ring as this once common bird of summer is now a rarity and on the Red list. Wagtails are lovely, the Yellows have gone abroad for their holidays, but the equally gorgeous Greys are residents particularly near water. Yep I'm Cetti - mainly a silent bird but an explosive and earsplitting song when you least expect it.......so I'll now shut up :-D!!!

[ursula62]

The jays started coming in the summer when I put up a peanut feeder - there are 3 of them - presumably mum dad and the youngster. Our other visitors are magpies, a pair of collared doves, the ubiquitous pigeons, sparrows, bluetits, thrushes, starlings, and more recently a robin and a goldfinch and a huge crow. The big birds don't seem to scare off the littler ones, mind you we have put up feeders of one kind or another all round the garden where the hanging baskets were in the summer. Sometimes the bird watching is better than watching TV as they are so funny!

The squirrel quite happily feeds on the bird feeders - he shins up the pole and sits on the base of the bird feeder - he's a bit cheeky as he chucks the seeds he doesn't like onto the ground. I am happy for him to do this as long as he doesn't dig up any more of my bulbs!

[espookid]

Hi
I don't want to make anyone jealous but in my garden today we can see at different times great,blue ,willow ,and long tailed tits ,green , grey headed greater spotted and black woodpeckers , waxwings, jays , bramblings,bull , chaff , green , and goldfinches , linnets and one robin , gladly we don't have any starlings but we do have grey-headed crows although they don't come to the table . What I would give to see just one goldcrest

[Cetti]

That's cheating espookid, with a list like you don't live in the UK.....but yes, you're right I for one am emerald green with envy :-D !!!

[espookid]

Just for Cetti
We also have roe deer and white tailed deer ,foxes , elk and I am afraid many adder , yes you are right I live in Finland , 20 mins from the Finnish equivalent of Trafalgar square ( in other words from the centre of the capital) but well spotted I have always been a bird enthusiast and here it is so special , especially with summer transits as well . Good luck with your spotting