Saturday 4 February 2012

The Garden Bird Survey


 



The recent cold snap definitely brought more traffic into the garden: We have been carrying out the Garden Bird Survey  and always look forward to the last 4 weeks of the survey in February, not least because there is a little more light, fresh growth and bird song around the garden. 

Siskins are a real February special in the garden: preferring to stay in the forest and woodlands up to now, until natural food is exhausted.. They descended on the peanut feeder this morning , characteristically perched upside down  and patiently queing while the Great Tits are fed!



This winter was very good for regular visits from Jays: Two birds come , mainly in the early morning, they are incredibly shy, particularly for members of the crow family.  They can make quite a racket, a coarse screeching comes from the woods before they swoop in to the ground under the feeders where there are lots of scraps.. Their gait, or walk is well described as 'muscular and bounding'.  The smaller birds give them plenty of space and they can be quite threatening when they take to the nut feeders: knocking them over seems to be a strategy they adopt to get the maximum amount of food in the shortest time..




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