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Good Morning, Thank you for accepting me to join the forum .......

Stewart Mayhew
27/02/2020 08:58

I have taken part in the Garden Birdwatch Weekend over the last few years and whilst I do not consider myself a dedicated watcher, I do enjoy seeing different birds both in my garden and out and about. I am finding it more and more infectious as I get older. I am a Gardener by trade and take interest in birds in other peoples gardens too and often find myself pausing from my work to watch their habits. I carry a Mobile phone as most people do and also take the opportunity if it should arise in taking photographs of my sightings.

As you can appreciate, with the current weather cycle, I am not very active in the garden, not on the gardening front at any rate. This morning, I was surprised to welcome (for the first time ever to my knowledge, we have lived at our home in Nottinghamshire for 36yrs) this 'Leucistic' I believe is the term, Goldfinch? We have seen a massive increase in Goldfinch visitors to our feeders over the years but never anything quite like this and I wanted to share my excitement. I have no idea how Common or Rare these birds are but was delighted to see this one in my garden. It hung around for 20mins or so, I don't know if it will return but was so pleased to have witnessed its visit.

  • 27/02/2020 09:50
    Welcome to the forum, Stewart. That's an interesting looking leucistic Goldie.
  • 27/02/2020 11:03
    Welcome aboard Stewart, and what a fabulous picture for your first post Wink
  • 27/02/2020 14:33

    Hello Stewart and a warm welcome from Cheshire from me too and thanks for posting up the interesting photo of the leucistic Goldfinch. From time to time I see birds with similar problems, lacking the melanin pigment. We once had a Jackdaw with a touch of leucism but not as affected as your Goldfinch and I have seen it in Blackbirds too who seem more prone to it. What a nice job you have working outdoors (weather permitting ! ) as a gardener; my late father was a gardener and would also enjoy the company of a robin or hedge sparrow as he worked ! Once again, welcome to the forum and look forward to seeing more photos and hearing about your birding stories. .

    HERE is a LINK about plumage abnormalities which you may find interesting to read.

  • 27/02/2020 16:46 in reply to HAZY
    Thank you Hazel for your kind welcome and thank you very much for the link, I have read this with much interest and thank you once again for your help and encouragement. I will post my other sightings from time to time for all who may be interested.
  • 28/02/2020 07:01

    Hi Stewart and welcome from Dorset. I've not seen leucistic finches, but we do have two "resident" jackdaws with the condition. We've also seen a massive increase in goldfinch numbers, with a flock surging to 20-odd birds in the garden for a few days, the returning to the more normal 4-6 for a couple of weeks.

    We look forward to seeing your photos, because in different gardens, therefore different habitats, there should be a nice variety of species.... but no pressure Smiley

  • 28/02/2020 11:36 in reply to PimperneBloke
    Many Thanks, I have never seen any other bird in all honesty with leucism but to have two jackdaws in your garden with the same condition must be quite unusual, are they the same sex? Presumably of the same set of young originally?
    We too have had a massive increase in Goldfinch numbers up here, last year in particularly, this year mind the numbers in our garden are not so great. We have noticed an increase in Blackbirds too, Robins, Great Tits. When we came to live here around 36yrs ago we used to get very large numbers of Starlings in the garden, some 20-30 at a time but nowadays we hardly ever see any at all sadly. I recall our neighbour used to have a Song Thrush in his garden sitting at the top of a tree singinging its heart out early morning and at dusk every night, now, I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a Song Thrush in the area let alone in the garden. I feel very sad about this as I miss the beautiful birdsong so much. We have also seen an increase in larger birds, Rooks, Jackdaws, Magpies, Sparrow Hawks and a decline in the smaller birds, Sparrows, Greenfinches, Chaffinch. One of the biggest thrills in the garden since we lived here was about 20years ago when a Wren paraded her young all around the fence tops on what appeared to be their first trip out with Mum, it was like a train journey on our own back garden, a real thrill never to be forgotten. I remember one morning years ago going out to the bins and being met by a Small Owl sat on the fence looking at me. It's been amazing really to see this all in our own garden for where we live in such a built up area.