On the subject of birds caching food...

In your January issue, on the readers’ questions pages, a reader asked which species of British bird cache food, aside from Jay. Your reply was that only Great Grey Shrike commonly does so, and maybe some other crows, and possibly some other raptors (similar to Eleanora’s Falcon). You overlooked that Coal Tit, Crested Tit, Marsh Tit and Willow Tit all routinely cache food, particularly in autumn and winter. These species bury seeds in the same way as Jays, and this has been well-studied and well-known for a very long time. Richard Broughton At Lincolnshire’s Whisby Nature Reserve in early December, a crow landed nearby and proceeded to regurgitate a pile of what looked like sweetcorn. It then proceeded to pick up the corn in ones and twos before walking a few feet away and burying it. This procedure went on for quite a while and then suddenly stopped. With a lot of corn still unburied, it flew onto a perch about 50 feet away, only to notice another crow overflying. With the coast clear it returned to the corn and continued to bury the rest in a similar fashion. In the same location after Christmas, two crows were dissecting what looked like a Starling. One of the crows then walked about 20 feet carrying the dead bird’s head which it proceeded to bury and cover with debris. It then re-joined the other crow to feast on the carcass. Sometime later, both crows were seen burying other bits. I have never seen this behaviour before. Maybe it was due to the fact that the temperature was sub-zero during both occasions. H Jones, Lincoln