My mum and dad rang me last night excited about the finch-fest going on in their Worcestershire garden at the moment.A number of Redpolls have been visiting for about 3 or 4 winters now. And this year a trio of Bramblings have joined the party.But they’ve now been joined by a little troupe of Siskins, providing yet another splash of colour and variety to the gardening mix. And I’m hearing that for many other people Siskins are visiting in larger numbers than usual at the moment.If you are unfamiliar with Siskins, they are small, dainty finches, overall looking rather greenish and streaky, but with contrasting black-and-lime wing markings. The males are especially dapper with a black crown. I usually like to bring you photos taken this week, but given that they aren’t in my garden, I’ve had to dig into my archives for one I photographed in 2009 with a Goldfinch. It's only a female, so imagine how lovely the males look.
Most of the year Siskins breed in conifer woods, but in winter they often flock along waterside Alder trees or in Birch trees feeding on the catkins. However, about 20 years ago, they learnt to visit garden feeders but they tend to only do so once natural food supplies have run out, usually in March.On sunny days, you may even be lucky enough to hear the males singing, a happy if wheezy little ditty that goes on and on and sounds like a whole flock of birds instead of just one.Have you been Siskinned yet in your garden? (It’s a new verb, but I’m sure it will catch on). If not, eyes peeled, they could be coming your way soon...
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Been a busy day for birds in my wooded garden in the Peak District. Feeders have been a magnet for redpoll, siskins and gold finches. Our resident one-eyed squirrel has not been able to get near. Lovely to see a few long-tail tits descend in a mad frenzy too. The bird table and ground feed trays have been especially active with blackbirds,chaffinch, robins and a beautiful mistlethrush. A regular visitor is the nuthatch, but today I spotted a tree creeper, which was too quick for me to identify. Two bluetits have spent much of the afternoon looking in and around a nest box put up last year. It was originally a great tit box but we changed the hole size. Fingers crossed!
The sunshine has brought more activity into the garden...including a pair of pheasants!
I too have been well and truely siskinned this year. Before now I've had the odd one visiting my feeders but in the last few weeks I have been positively inundated. They hang around with a large group of goldfinches and greenfinches who come to my garden on a daily basis and for the first time ever they have been joined by several red polls. What a treat, especially for me at the moment as I have been ill for a couple of months and am spending much more time than usual looking out of my window.
Last Sunday gazing out of the window into the garden and suddenly a cloud of tiny green birds swooped into the garden and landed on every feeder and bird table, I had never seen birds like this before so I grabbed my bird book and guess what, yes, I had been sisskined. The first time but I hope it won't be the last.