The Annual Life of Birds
Spring:
This is a critical time for all birds, the need to build up food reserves in order to breed and survive is especially true of seed eating birds when most wild seeds stocks are exhausted and invertebrate food has yet to appear after winter, for thrushes and others.
The common species listed here are those species most likely to occur, based on nation wide studies of birds visiting our gardens: Blue tit, Robin, Blackbird, House sparrow / Dunnock, Starling, Chaffinch, Great tit, Greenfinch, Collared dove.
Less frequent visitors are; Blackcap, Brambling, Bullfinch, Coal tit, Crow, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Jackdaw, Jay, Long tailed tit, Magpie, Marsh or Willow tit, Mistle thrush, Nuthatch, Pied wagtail, Redwing, Reed bunting, Rook, Sisken, Redpoll, Song thrush, Wren, Yellow hammer, Wood pigeon, and finally Sparrow hawk.
All are visitors that may occur in the spring months, if we then look at the summer period we do see large reduction in the number of birds coming to the garden. Many species leave to take up territories in the surrounding area, others that visit will leave even blue tits may move some distance. In Scandinavia they move south to avoid harsh winters, whilst Redwings will fly back to Scandinavia to breed.
Summer:
We see a reduction in the numbers coming to the garden in May and June, but by July we see a gradual restoration as Blue and Great tits resume feeding. Many are fluffy youngsters that are very confiding only flying off when approached closely. Robins Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Great tits all reappear to resume their daily attendance. Though it must be said any species can occur at any time.
The birds presented here are based upon the most frequently occurring on bird feeders. These figures based on watches, made-up by many people around the country.
Autumn:
This is the period of greatest activity around the garden; we see species moving south to avoid northern winters. Redwings, Fieldfares, Chaffinches, Bramblings, Siskin and Redpoll are the obvious winter visitors, but many other commoner species we do not think as migrants move south to spend the winter here. Robins, Blackbirds, Song thrushes, Goldcrests, all come west from Europe to avoid the continental cold.
The species most met with are shown on the first autumn list above augmented by almost any of those shown later. Blue tits, Great tits, Robins, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Greenfinches will always be there, but look for the red crown of the Redpoll or the yellow wing bars of the Siskin.
Winter:
Fresh water and food is now a real priority for all the garden birds. We can make a significant contribution to the survival of the local birds by regular feeding. We can also plants trees and shrubs that are helpful; Oak, Beech, Alder, Birch, Apples and fruit trees all provide useful food in the form of seed. Caterpillars, Yew berries are favourites for recently arrived Redwings and Fieldfares. Holly is a great attractant as their fruit often being guarded by a Mistle thrush who will chase all other species away. This is a bird that rarely visits feeders.
Berberis, Cotoneaster, Elder, Hawthorn all provide berries and insects and nesting areas. Hips are a great source of winter food for green finches and others so Rosa rugosa is a good plant as is mezeon, ivy berries are eaten by winter visiting, blackcaps and thrushes.
These are just some of the trees and shrubs you can plant to help and increase the bird life in a garden. If you look around the museum garden and grounds you will see that we are fortunate in having many of these already, the feeders enhance this and also enable us to watch and observe the changes that occur throughout the year.
| Blue Tit |
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| Woodland fringes |
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| To the left of the curved ha ha |
