In the garden

Birds in the garden

Song Thrush

Saltlane

The Song Thrush is the operatic tenor of the bird world. Found in gardens, parks, woods, and hedgerows - any stage where they can sing to a good audience. The Song Thrush is stocky with a relatively short tail. It is pale brown above with creamy buff under parts covered in black v-shaped spots (that look like upside down love hearts for all his adoring fans). They show an orangey underwing when flying, with their rapid and direct no nonsense flight, to get to their next concert venue as quickly as possible.

The Song Thrush has a far carrying, musical song that is rich with flutey notes. It sings in short phrases that are often repeated in threes or fives just in case you didn't get it the first time. They can have an extensive operatic repertoire of over 100 songs from Puccini to Wagner. They sing mainly during the day and also at dusk after most other birds have finished, as a good opera can go on a bit. The Song Thrush sings mostly from March to July and briefly in the autumn - for charity concerts. The Song Thrush flicks its wings when excited.

The Song Thrush feeds under trees and bushes and is seldom far from cover. Their favourite food is snails (escargot) which you would expect from such a musical prima donna. The snails are opened by banging them on a rock. They will eat other insects and especially a good juicy worm. They change the menu to more fruit in the autumn and winter when there are fewer insects around.

The female Song Thrush builds the nest in a tree or bush close to the trunk (the male is too busy signing autographs). It is made of twigs, grass, and moss and is lined with mud. She lays up to 5 eggs which hatch after 15 days. Both parents feed the young who leave the nest after 13 days. The youngsters are quickly independent and soon busy signing up for their own record label. The Song Thrush will sometimes have a second brood.

There are 1 million birds in Britain which are both migrant and resident. Many from Scotland and Northern Britain overwinter in Ireland. Some from Southern Britain go to France and Spain. The numbers of Song Thrush are, sadly, falling and they are on the 'red list'. It seems many youngsters are not getting through their first winter because of agricultural intensification and changes in hedgerow and woodland management. Their Latin name is ’turdus philomelos’ where ’turdus’ means 'thrush' and ’philomeos’ refers to a character in Greek mythology, Philomela, who had her tongue cut out, but was changed into a singing bird to make up for it.

Long-tailed Tit

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Long-tailed Tits are only distantly related to other Tits. Their Latin name means ‘tailed titmouse’ which sums up being a 'fuzz ball on a long stick' superbly! Pinkish brown above, pinkish white below with black marks on the side of their head and a white crown. Their tail has some white outer feathers to jazz the plain wings up a bit. Altogether, they are 14cm long of which 9cm is that very long tail. Image having a tail two-thirds of your total body length.

Long-tailed Tits move about in a sociable troop, singing their “Si-Si-Si” song as they fly in single file along the hedgerow. In the winter, they pick up other birds into their gang as they whizz along, as being polite and sociable is their thing. They love calling to each other and rarely shut up, always needing the reassurance of another Long-tailed Tit close by.

They are restless and acrobatic as they feed among the trees and bushes, often hanging upside down while munching on insects, spiders and seeds. They will go on garden feeders, but only if there is a good bush nearby for their mates to wait in.

The Long-tailed Tit does a showing off butterfly display flight in spring to attract a mate before they build beautiful domed nests from moss, lichen, and spiders' webs. They line the nest with as many as 1,500 feathers to make it super soft. They are the real wizards of nest building. The most magical part is that their cute homes are elastic and expand as the youngsters get bigger inside. The nests are built in early April and the female lays up to 12 eggs which hatch after 15 days and are ready to join the troop 14 days later once they have learnt the “Si-Si-Si” song off by heart. Other Long-tailed Tits may help feed the youngsters. With these birds, it is all about family.

Being so small, cold winters can be deadly, though they generally recover numbers quickly. To conserve body heat, they cuddle up together on a branch at night, taking it in turns to be the cold one at the end.

There are about 120,000 Long-tailed Tits in the British Isles and, like other tits, they don’t move about much, keeping to their local patch. Their Latin name is ‘aegithalos caudatus’ (‘aegithalos’ means ‘titmouse’ and ‘caudatus’ means ‘tailed’).

Great Tit

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This is the bruiser of the Tit family, often pushing Blue Tits, Coal Tits, and finches off the bird feeder. It is the size of a House Sparrow. The Great Tit has white cheeks, a black cap, collar and throat with a black line all the way down its yellow breast and belly - like a long black tie over his bright yellow shirt. The Great Tit’s back is greenish and the wings are blue grey with a white wing bar. The blue-grey tail has white outer feathers, which is how you can tell it from a Blue Tit when it is flying away from you. The male and female look the same but the male has a wider, showing off, kipper tie. In fact, the wider his tie, the more the girls like him!

The signature song is the one that sounds like “teacher, teacher” but the crafty Great Tit also mimics other birds and invents little ditties when bored. You can be in a wood and hear an interesting call, thinking you have found something special, only to find it is a Great Tit having a laugh. Their alarm call is similar to a Blue Tit’s - a ‘mini Magpie’ churring rattle which you will hear on the opposite side of the hedge to where you are.

The Great Tit feeds on insects (especially caterpillars in the summer), seeds and nuts. Being bigger, it is not so acrobatic as other tits and will often feed on the ground.

They nest in holes in trees and buildings, and like a good comfy nest box. The female lays 5-12 eggs in late April to May. The young hatch after 14 days and leave the nest about 21 days later. The teenagers get a further 5 days of family life outside the nest before being kicked out ready for the occasional second brood.

Generally, Great Tits don’t travel far. There are about 2.5 million in the British Isles (except Orkney, Shetland and very rarely in the Hebrides - as they are not into tweed). Great Tits can be found throughout Europe, Asia, and the Far East, which is a long way for a bird that doesn’t like to travel. Great Tits numbers have remained stable, benefiting from people putting bird feeders in their gardens.

Latin for Great Tit is ‘parus major’ which means ‘big tit’, but don’t call him a big tit as it is not kind.

Blue Tit

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It is funny, you see them all the time (there are about 3.5 million across the British Isles) but struggle to accurately describe a Blue Tit. They are smaller than a House Sparrow, have a tiny, dark bill, a blue cap, a white face with a black eye stripe, and a yellow chest with a weak dark vertical line down their belly. There is a white wing bar but you will struggle to see it unless they keep very still. Their song often consists of two or three really high-pitched notes followed by two or three lower ones, ‘tzi-si-du-du’ almost sounding like “I am Blue Tit”. You will hear them sing most frequently from the start of the year to early summer (when they are moulting so don’t want to attract any attention). Their little ditty only lasts 1.5 seconds, so not the greatest of the singers in the hedgerow. They sound the alarm with a churring ‘mini-Magpie’ call that is difficult to tell apart from a Great Tit’s so it could be either when you hear it.

Blue Tits are acrobatic feeders and are quite happy to be upside down. They feed on insects, spiders, caterpillars, fruit, seeds, and fat balls. They avoid competing with Great Tits and Coal Tits by feeding on different trees or different parts of trees due to their relative sizes and which part of the tree will support them.

From the rear (as you will often see them flying out of hedges away from you), they have greyish, blueish backs and lack any white sides to their tails which, if you are sharp sighted, is how you can tell them from a Great Tit speeding away. The flight is fast and direct, stopping dead at their destination.

Blue Tits look their best from early in the year when they chase together along the hedgerows. They pair up for egg laying in late April to early May, nesting in holes in trees or in nest boxes (which are important as there often aren’t enough holes in trees to go round). They produce 6 to 16 eggs (wow!) which hatch after 14 days and the young fly about 21 days later. Second broods are rare as it is knackering bring up that many young. They generally stay local and don’t migrate much except their continental cousins who may come over in winter. It may be the same Blue Tit that uses your nest box over several years.

The best way to help Blue Tits is by putting up nest boxes and feeders in your garden and making sure you clean the nest boxes each year to stop the spread of any parasites.

Like most birds, Blue Tits can see ultra-violet (UV) light. Studies have shown that the blue crown on their heads glows brightly under UV light. The brightness of the feathers is thought to provide a variety of signals - for instance: male Blue Tits have been shown to choose females with brightly coloured crowns as they make fitter mothers - and look sexier. Their Latin name is ‘parus caeruleus’ which means ‘tit sky blue ’. Spot on.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

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The Spotted Woodpeckers are the snazzy dressers of the woodland birds. The Lesser ones are very rare and differ only by not having a red bum and being smaller. Let's concentrate on the Great Spotted and their outrageous dress sense. It is called disruptive camouflage. It is not meant to blend in, but to confuse the eye (as opposed to colour matching camouflage where you blend in with your surroundings). You would have thought something that is black and white with a bright red rear end would stick out lick a sore thumb, but they don't. That's disruptive camouflage for you!

The Great Spotted Woodpecker despite the 'great' is smaller than a blackbird. It is just that it is bigger than the Lesser one. The 'great' is just trying to sound more impressive. They are black and white, with a red bum and red on the back of the head, with white cheeks separated from a white throat and neck by black lines, and white spots on their wings. They have large white patches on their shoulders which are most visible when flying.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker has a zooming undulating flight and closes its wings completely every few flaps to look like a smartly dressed flying torpedo in a tuxedo. They climb trees in a series of hops using their stiff tail feathers (coat tails) pressed against the tree for support.

Their main call is a distinctive "pic" as in 'picky' or 'take my pic'. Once you recognise it, you will hear this dapper bird of the woods everywhere. The more widely recognised 'song' is the 5 seconds of drumming against a branch with their bill to get a bit of attention. The woodpecker has unique muscles and bones in the head and neck to allow them to use their bill like a pneumatic drill to chisel out nest holes ('drumming'). They can also use their pneumatic drill to hammer open tough nuts.

You seldom see Spotted Woodpeckers on the ground. They feed on insects, nuts, seeds, and berries so you may be lucky and get them on your garden feeder. They have a tongue that can stick out 4cm beyond their bills to get at things in crevices and to blow raspberries at the duller dressed birds. They also pinch eggs and even the youngsters of other birds, which is rather nasty for a swanky dresser. They will even chisel out the hole in a nest box to get in and grab the tasty chicks inside. That is why some nest boxes have a metal plate round the hole to put them off.

In courtship, the love-struck Spotted Woodpeckers engage in noisy chases among the trees. Nesting begins in April. Both parents help to make the nest hole where the average nest chamber is 28cm deep. 4-7 eggs are laid which hatch after 13 days. The young fly after 20 days and stay with mum and dad for 7 more days before going off on their own - to find a good tailor. You are most likely to see them in your garden in June when they bring their youngsters along to teach them to feed on the bird feeders.

Great Spotted Woodpeckers can be found where there are trees big enough for a decent nest hole. So moorland, tops of mountains, and the fens are off the list as trees are hard to come by there. They are generally resident. Northern birds may 'erupt' down south when food is in short supply. There are about 50,000 Great Spotted Woodpeckers in Britain and their population is rising. Their Latin name is ’dendrocopos major’, ’major’ meaning great and ’dendrocopos’ from a combination of the Greek words ’dendron’ for 'tree', and ’kopos’ for 'striking'. So a big tree striker as opposed to great looking in black.

Sparrowhawk

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If you find a pile of feathers in the garden, you have probably had a visit from a Sparrowhawk. If you are exceptionally lucky, he may still be on your fence post plucking his victim to bits and having a little dinner.

The Sparrowhawk is one of our smallest birds of prey, the male being about Collared Dove sized. The male is a blueish-grey and has reddish barred underparts that can look orange. He has a grey tail marked with 4 or 5 dark bars. The female is 25% larger than the male and can weigh twice as much – one of the greatest size differences between the sexes in any bird species. She is browner and has dull white underparts with grey bars. She also has a pale stripe over her eye where she has applied her mascara to look fierce. She is not a fatty by being bigger but an Amazonian killing machine.

In flight, the Sparrowhawk has a long slim tail and relatively short broad wings, adaptations for manoeuvring through trees and woodland glades. They fly by doing quick wing beats followed by long glides (flap-flap-glide) unlike a Kestrel (which is bigger and flaps about all over the place). Sparrowhawks are like deadly cruise missiles, flying low over the terrain and looping up over the top of a hedge, inches away from it, and diving down the other side to take their victims by surprise. All you see is a flash of blue-grey wings and the long barred tail. If the hedgerow birds suddenly start making alarm calls, it could be an incoming Sparrowhawk.

They eat mainly small birds like Chaffinch, Yellowhammers, Great Tits and especially (you guessed it) Sparrows. The female will take larger birds such as Blackbirds, Starlings, and Collared Doves. During one year, a Sparrowhawk can munch through over a 1,000 cute little feathered victims. Don't get too upset though as cats, with over 10 million in Britain, kill far more birds than the Sparrowhawk does. Their deadly reputation makes racing Pigeon owners and chicken breeders particularly twitchy, though their claims it was nasty Mr Sparrowhawk that did it have not been backed up by any studies.

The Sparrowhawk nests in woodland where it can hunt along the edges and clearings or make a short trip to your garden. The nest is made of twigs and sticks in the fork of a tree and can measure up to 60cm (2ft) across. The eggs are laid in late April and the incubation of the 4-6 pale blue, brown-spotted eggs is done by mum while dad gets food by going to the supermarket garden feeder. The eggs hatch after 35 days. Both parents then feed the youngsters who stay in the nest for a further 28 days before venturing out to sit on a nearby branch and be teenagers. (Whatever!) The youngsters finally fly a few days later but still depend on mum and dad to feed them for another 20 days while they finish stealth flying school. The Sparrowhawk is silent for most of the year. Dad only making a rapid "kew-kew-kew" call when bringing in a tasty morsel for mum to eat while she sits on the nest.

The Sparrowhawk is now one of the most common birds of prey in Europe. There are more Sparrowhawks than you think there are, as that flash of grey out of the corner of your eye can too often be dismissed as a Pigeon. There are about 80,000 spread all over the country. They are largely resident and don't move far. Some North European birds may move south in winter and reach the eastern shores of Britain. A few decades ago, the use of chemicals in farming nearly wiped out the Sparrowhawk, but banning these chemicals has allowed them to recover. The English folk names for the Sparrowhawk include 'blue hawk', referring to the adult male's colouration, as well as 'hedge hawk' from its cruise missile tactics.

The Latin name is ’accipiter nisus’ with ’accipiter’ meaning 'hawk' and ’nisus’ from the king of Megara. According to Greek mythology, Nisus, the king of Megara, was turned into a Sparrowhawk after his daughter, Scylla, cut off his only purple lock of hair (which made him invincible but look a bit weird) and presented it to her lover (and Nisus' enemy), Minos (a nasty piece of work who fed young girls to his pet Minotaur). Don't you think being turned into a Sparrowhawk to escape is pretty cool?

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Starling

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A lovely star covered bird, feisty and characterful, that is typically dark with a purple-green glossy metallic sheen. This colour is derived from the structure of the feathers, not from any pigment - which is rather cool. The Starling is short-tailed with a spikey beak. The wing feathers have a buff edge and their legs are orange-brown. The Starling's beak is colour coded at the base so you can tell the sexes apart - blue for boy and pink for girl. I wonder if that is where human baby colour coding came from? The wings look almost triangular in flight, and the tail is square ended.

Starlings have a variety of calls. One that sounds like a child's spinning top - a buzzing "churr". Another is a strident "Coo-ee!" whistle that sounds like a call from the Australian outback. Best of all, they are brilliant mimics. Their favourites are electronic sounds like car alarms and mobile phone ring tones which are delivered from the perfect singing perch, a TV aerial. These boys are the TV impersonators of the bird world.

The Starling moults after May with their fresh autumn plumage being spotted, almost star spangled. The head goes a little lighter with a vague dark eye stripe. In the autumn, they gather in large roosts, joined by birds from the continent to put-on the greatest show on earth - the murmuration. This where hundreds of Starlings fly in great pulsing flocks. They also forage in flocks and love a good church tower for the chattering troop to roost in. Their spots wear away during the course of winter with all the TV shows and murmuration appearances.

Starlings are really adaptable omnivores, who will eat just about anything. They probe the ground for worms, snails, cranefly larvae (leatherjackets), and hawk other insects (catch while flying), especially flying ants. They will eat fruit and seeds.

The male builds a scruffy nest of leaves and grasses in a building niche or tree which the female tidies up before laying her pale blue eggs (men, honestly!) Starlings lay up to 6 eggs which both parents look after. The young hatch after 12 days and youngsters stay in the nest for 21 days. They then join the troop to form summer flocks. Starlings usually have two broods. The parents may swap partners between broods, depending on who is looking the best in their shiny lycra.

The Starling is a local common resident with 2 million pairs in the British Isles. There are even more in winter when European Starlings come over to join in all the murmuration fun. Some winter roosts have contained over 1 million birds. That must have been an amazing show! Sadly, there has been a rapid decline in numbers of over 50% between 1970 and 2000. Nobody is quite sure why, but it is likely due to changes in farming (if all else fails blame the farmers). The Latin name for the Common Starling is ’sturnus vulgaris’ where ’sturnus’ means 'starling' and ’vulgaris’ means 'common' (or vulgar).

Goldfinch

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A small distinctive finch with a red face, white cheeks, a black crown, sandy brown body, and a white belly. The black wings have broad yellow bands (which makes them easy to identify even when flying). The tail is deeply notched. The bill is more pointed than other finches. The male generally has more red on his face than a female, being a man about farmland.

Usually seen in small groups (called ‘charms’) marauding along the fields and hedgerows. Their call is a liquid tinkling and sounds a bit like “Tickle-it” or “Bubbly-bubbly-bubbly-bubbly” - as champagne fits in with their swanky style. They often sing together when having a rowdy party.

The Goldfinch feeds on tall seed heads and, like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, is very partial to thistles. Teasels, dandelions, burdocks, groundsels, and ragworts come a close second. They only eat insects as a summer treat.

They build their tidy nests towards the end of a branch and lay about 6 eggs which hatch after 11 days. The young fly after 13 days. The young are fed for 1 more week before being booted out. These guys love child rearing, having 2 and often 3 broods (the advantage of a short time to hatch and the quicker child eviction rate compared to a tit).

The Goldfinch is widespread in the British Isles though absent from mountain areas and moorland - as these are rubbish for throwing a party. There are about 300 thousand in the summer, but this number drops in winter as many nip over to live it up with their continental mates.

In the bad old Victorian days, Goldfinches were a popular caged bird because they were so pretty and made lots of noise.

They started with the Latin name ‘fringilla carduelis’ which is ‘finch thistle’ but this later got changed to ‘carduelis carduelis’ (‘thistle thistle’) as they like thistles so much.