With a flurry of snow and cold conditions over the last couple of weekends I decided to check out the Coed y Capel Hide by Artisans café to see what species would be forced to find an easy food supply. There were many birds already hanging around the feeders when I arrived to fill them up. I was then distracted by the distinctive call of a brambling up in the trees.
Once I’d filled up the feeders I decided to sit in the hide for a couple of hours to see what would come in for the feast. As would be expected there were many chaffinch about which have a preference for feeding on the ground, either on the fallen seed or on the natural food within the leaf litter.
Male siskin
After half an hour the brambling still hadn’t shown up but a few siskin were present for a short time, preferring to sit on the feeders whilst feeding. In the next couple of months the number of siskin will start to rise as birds return to their breeding grounds, Lake Vyrnwy being a good site for them. Two birds ringed at Lake Vyrnwy last March found themselves heading to Inverness within a few weeks which just shows how far they will travel.
There were very brief visits from a single greenfinch and goldfinch to the feeders. Goldfinch are similar to siskin in that they can travel long distances to find somewhere different to spend winter and summer.
Left: Male chaffinch, Right: Male brambling from last winter
After an hour or so I finally spotted the brambling. It was feeding among the fallen tree in front of the hide and would occasionally make a brief visit to a feeder before heading back to the tree and ground to feed (still present on 22nd January). These winter visitors are similar to chaffinch but generally have a yellow bill, bright orange patch on neck, speckled flanks and usually a bright white belly. This bird was a male, similar to last winter, which has brighter colouring than the females and a darker, speckled face.
So I’d seen 5 finch species at the feeders and while sitting there I could hear crossbill calling in the conifers behind the RSPB shop and as I walked home a couple of bullfinch with their flash of a white rump flew off from the nearby bushes. The only other finch that I could have seen would have been the lesser redpoll, which I did see and hear flying over the following day making it 8 finch species over the weekend.
Also keep your eye out for one of these along the roadside when driving around the lake, though they are easy to miss!!
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