Though winter is a tough time for birds, it's perhaps the most rewarding season for us to feed them. You're virtually guaranteed to have a decent number of hungry visitors to your garden, even if all you do is chuck a bit of seed outside. But have you ever pondered where the birds are from?
Sometimes it's easy to tell if you have a new arrival in your backyard. Fieldfares, redwings, bramblings and - if you're really lucky - waxwings are obviously 'foreign'. You've probably read about large numbers of starlings and blackbirds coming here for winter from Europe or even Russia.
And then there are the regulars - the blue tits and great tits that never go anywhere, right?
Well, not quite, as I've been reminded again today.
Every month I spend a Sunday morning helping with a bird ringing demonstration at Beeston, not far from The Lodge.
(You might have seen ringing on BBC Springwatch or Countryfile, but if you haven't, it's where trained, licensed volunteers fit tiny, lightweight metal rings around birds' legs. Each ring has a unique number - being able to identify individual birds helps us learn more about their population changes, biology and movements. The BTO has lots of info on ringing if you want to find out more)
We set up some nets in a garden, along some hedges and in a small copse. Most months we catch a modest selection of birds like tits, finches, dunnocks and thrushes, with the occasional surprise like a kingfisher, kestrel or woodpecker.
September was no exception, but one of the blue tits that I ringed has since been caught again. Again, that's not unusual - we 'retrap' quite a lot of the birds that we catch.
The difference this time was that the blue tit turned up not at Beeston, but at the RSPB's Hope Farm near Cambridge! Three weeks later it had flown 14 miles (22 km) and was caught in a net in the farm's old orchard.
I wonder where 'my' bird is now. Will it stay at the farm or stray even further from Bedfordshire? If it's caught again, or found dead, we'll find out... Find out how you can report a ringed bird.
Though we take great care when handling the birds, they don't return the favour. This isn't the actual blue tit involved, but it gives you a fair idea of the punishment that these innocent-looking birds dish out...
The blue tit didn't exactly perform a mighty feat of migration, as birds like geese, warblers or swallows do all the time. But for a small bird that's meant to stay at home, it's a pretty long way!
Don't underestimate the birds you see in your garden - there's often more going on than you think...
Glad to hear my Blackbird is doing well! I'm upset though because if he's old, I might not see him soon....
Hi wigglywormhole. Don't worry, there are other possible explanations. Birds can have problems with things like feather mites which can cause them to look scruffy. Sounds like your blue tit's doing just fine - keep up the good work!
The only way you can tell, if a certain birds is the same one you saw yesterday, is if there is something unusual about it. There's a Blue Tit, using my feeders, that is just the scruffiest looking thing! It seems healthy enough (it's surviving through this freezing weather and feeding regularly) but it's feathers are all over the place. I'm worried that it might be my fault because I hung out some of those cozy roosting pockets (those pendulous things, made of bracken and stuff, that you hang in trees). Didn't hang them in a tree that I can watch so I don't know what, if anything, is using them. Has the Blue Tit tousled itself trying to get in and out of the little holes?
Hi Bemused26! Thanks for your comment.
Some blackbirds migrate, but not all, as your distinctive bird shows. If he's been going for five years he's actually doing pretty well for a blackbird - many of them don't make it past three years old!
There was a nice story a few years ago of a ringed blackbird which moved from Norfolk to Devon each winter: http://tiny.cc/tf5ov
I saw this on Springwatch where they said that black birds for instance migrate. But, I have a leucistic black bird in my garden, very distinctive indeed and he is there all seasons of the year. He is there now, I've seen him this week and I have photos of him from all seasons and going back about 5 years. There have been times where a few weeks have passed and I haven't seen him but he always comes back. Is this strange then?