Bird Watching in the Garden

charleeh

As suggested I am starting a topic on the bird watching we all do from our own homes....

If only our little feathered friends knew how much they cheered us up just by coming to eat and bathe!

I for one know how awful it is when you're in flare and stuck in-doors unable to get out and the sight of a little blue tit jumping around eating all the aphids off the roses cheers you right up.... or hearing the robin singing his little head off

Just thought I would start this thread to hear what birds we each get in our gardens

Best wishes,
charleeh x

Sharon2960

We live in a tiny village, and have robins, great tits, blue tits, blackbirds all regularly in our garden. We also have pigeons and doves visit when they know it's time for us to take some treats out for our chicken! There's also squirrels in the trees. We have lots of red kites nearby, which regularly swoop in quite low. On one occasion last year, there was even a woodpecker on our Apple tree! Considering next door have three cats, I don't think we're doing too badly for birdlife!

applerose

I always feed the birds in winter and during nesting. I've got a blackbird pair who bring their babies to feed and a pair of sparrows. There must be about 20 starlings at feeding time plus a pigeon, a crow, a wren and a robin. Sometimes I see some blue tits. I got the food ready to put out just before I went to work this morning then forgot. I daren't put it out earlier as I caught the dog eating it the other day.

barbara12

Thankyou charleeh
Has I said in your other post I love watching the feeding stations we have put back and front...and have my bird book and binoculars at my side at the min we have 2 greedy pigeons..but I don't mind they eat off the tray and the little one eat from the feeders..I have noticed them all pairing off a few weeks ago, so hope to see there offspring's... :balloon:

Kitty

I can see this will become a popular topic. Thank you for starting it Charlee.

I live on an estate, and we only have a really small garden, the typical pocket handkerchief really. But we have a bird feeding station and are sometimes blessed with visits from a Blackbird, Great Tits, Wood Pigeons, and Starlings. OK, not so keen on pigeons or starlings, as they scare the smaller birds away. There's an occasional visit by a Robin who we can hear singing loudly from nearby, larger gardens.

Some years ago we used to get a lot of Sparrows, Blue Tits, Green Finches, Gold Finches, Coal Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Dunnocks, Mistle Thrush, and Buntings. The most exotic bird we have seen, didn't actually come into our garden, but we saw them in a Rowan Tree that used to be in the garden over the back of us, were Waxwings. Loads of them, munching on the berries.

That same year, we had a Mistle Thrush take residency in that same Rowan, and he would chase off all comers, even a small group of Bullfinches. That was a brilliant year for bird visitors. I actually wrote a poem about him.

Sentinel

His speckled breast puffed out with pride,
head slowly turns from side to side,
and now and then his feathers tweak
while watching all with upturned beak.
The Mistle Thrush is keeping watch,
this Rowan Tree his private patch.
Red, juicy berries are his treasure,
he eats them one by one, at leisure.
Should a Blackbird fly down, tempted,
the Thrush's fury will be vented
as feathers fly and sharp beaks clash,
the Blackbird falls, and in a flash
makes his escape, and flies away.
Once more the Thrush has won the day.
Many try and many fail
to take the prize, to no avail.
The Mistle Thrush, voice like a bell,
stands proud. Stands firm. The sentinel.

We often hear a Chaffinch in the surrounding gardens, but he has never visited us.

frogmella

We have a big garden and get lots of birds. I am always pleased when we get an "odd" one though! Lats year I saw a bullfinch in the garden for the first time. I went out and bought the sort of food they are supposed to like and he has never been back! We also get redpolls with the gold finches and siskins in the winter. Last year I saw a dead gold crest on the floor but this year there has been a live one!

frogmorton

Mostly pigeon here and a squirrel. I put it down to the menacing presence of Daisycat :?

applerose

I saw 2 coal tits in different places today while I was out walking. Wow, they were loud. Lots of other birds too being very springy and all singing at once. Wonderful.

snowdrop123

I have a small garden which I feel so lucky to have. I love feeding and watching the birds. I have pigeons, wood pigeons, collared doves, house sparrows, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, a robin, a pair of gold finches (so cute), a chaffinch and of course crows. The crows like to bash their way into my peanut feeders and damage the wires so the nuts fall out, they're not daft.

applerose

Just realised I said I saw 2 coal tits. They were great tits.

Kitty

We were walking home from shops yesterday, and passing a neighbours house we saw a small bird on their roof. One of the dormer windows was open and it was trying to hop up onto the window ledge but couldn't quite manage it. We thought it was a Wagtail, but as it flew off we noticed that underneath, it's chest and stomach was green and it had quite a long tail. It wasn't a Greenfinch though, very like a Wagtail, but all the ones we get are just black and white. The green bits were quite dark, so don't know what it was. Any ideas?

applerose

Could it be a yellow wagtail? They are green on top and yellow underneath. Although you said it was green underneath.

Kitty

All the photos I've seen of a yellow wagtail have a bright yellow underbelly Christine, so I don't know, thanks for the suggestion.

LignumVitae

This thread inspired me. For years I haven't fed the birds because we have a cat and I didn't want to be creating avian carnage. The current cat is more interested in things the size of dogs and larger so after reading this thread I got the feeders back out. In a short space of time we have a very tame robin, a pair of blackbirds and at the front a host of tits and a crow (I don't mind her, she's very inquisitive). Thank you, it makes me smile every time I see a visitor has landed

Kitty

I went for my blood test at my local Health Centre today. Was absolutely delighted to see and hear a Blackbird perched atop of a lamppost. He was singing his little heart out and I felt I should reward him somehow, but had nothing for him. Totally surprised when we came out about half an hour or more later, to see and hear him still perched in the exact same spot, trilling away as though his life depended on it.

toady

I have the usual pigeons, doves also, blackbirds & bluetits - not many starlings these days, or sparrows, but 1 or 2 regulars. Did see a lovely redwing just the once a while ago.

I love your Mistle Thrush poem Kath, I had a resident Song Thrush a few years ago & hoped it would return another year but no.

Here is 'my' robin, he/she will come & feed perched on an offered plate - or hand!

applerose

I love listening to the blackbirds. There used to be one which perched in a tree down the road right outside someone's bedroom and it sung it's head off at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. :shock: I have often heard one before sunrise.

Love your robin Toady. I'd love one to sit on my hand.

LignumVitae

My little feeder is hosting coal tits. They are such lovely little birds. I'm so pleased this thread inspired me to get feeding again

Airwave!

We do get a lot of birds here, the rooks are high in their nests and start a racket about 4am, I have seen a lot of magpies dancing around the nests, waiting for an unguarded egg I bet!

The wren seems to have been with us for most of the winter and hardly seems out of view either. Th gulls do their 'patrols' seemingly at the same sort of times of the day, I wonder if one of my neighbours is feeding them?

The sparrows are back in the forsythia arch, they don't mind a few at a time in there, I have counted as many as eight in previous years.

I lopped and pruned a few apple trees yesterday, they are covered in pigeon guano where they roost in the neighbours fir trees, I have surprised them by going down to my shed in the dark the last few evenings, they will usually take off and not return, perhaps they see me as a threat?

The usual blackbird wars will start soon although their numbers have fallen since my elderly neighbour has passed away, nothing but the best oats and currents for them while she was alive! I didn't like to tell her that the other birds were taking most of the fare.

pot80

We are lucky,as far as the birds are concerned in that we have a large garden. I record my sightings weekly and send the results to the BTO - (The British Trust for Ornithology) who in my view are a wonderful organisation and well worth joining if you have any interest in birds at all.They produce some superb literature - monthly newsletters,bird identification videos etc. They also produce a specific Garden Birdwatch newsletter. Of interest at the moment are the cuckoos carrying gps tags who have started their long journey back from NW Africa to the UK. Their flight tracks and distances can be viewed on line on the BTO website. They return to the area (as a rule) where they were tagged. The distances that they cover are mind blowing,hundreds of miles a day.
On the subject of garden birds we are getting about 24 different species per week and put out 6 or so feeders so that we can sit back and watch.

applerose

24 different species? Wow. Giving the stats to the BTO is a great idea. I popped in to say I have a pair of coal tits which have taken up residence in my garden. I've never seen them before. The blackbirds and sparrows are collecting lots of material now for their nests.

pot80

Christine,

Just pop BTO.org into your computer and the bird world will unfold before your eyes !!

applerose

Thank you. I have saved it in my favourites. Will have a look later.

mig

Just been watching a pair of goldfinches flitting about the garden ,looks like they are collecting for a nest. Mig

Slosh

As I no longer own a cat I'd like to invite more birds into my garden. However when I tried this before my bird table was dominated by the pigeons kept by a near neighbour. Any suggestions about ways to avoid this would be very welcome. I was wondering if a simple hanging seed feeder might work.

applerose

While I was gardening yesterday, my blackbird was making quite a racket. After a while, I went to see what was the matter with him. He was hiding under a bush and went quiet when he saw me. I went back to my gardening and he suddenly flew quickly past me squawking and nearly took my ear off. Don't know what I did to upset him.