Sowing the seeds of a great Empire
Robins may have got the vote to be our national bird because of their chestpumping, pugnacious ways, but the jay, with its powder pink plumage and turquoise wing flashes, also has a good claim to the title.
In fact, the much-maligned jay should preen with patriotic pride for its historic role putting the great into Great Britain.
Even the jay’s ghastly habit of stealing the eggs and young of other birds should not detract from the part it played in helping to create the Britsh Empire.
You only have to sing along to the official march of the Royal Navy – Heart of Oak – to understand how this bright and feisty member of the crow clan made our fighting fleets the most feared and revered in the world.
The sturdy timbers of such mighty warships as Horatio Nelson’s HMS Victory are said to have come from 5,500 oak trees, many of which would have owed their existence to the foraging antics of jays.
I recently spent a fascinating hour watching a band of jays stripping a holm oak, diving deep into the evergreen foliage before flying off with acorns held tight in their beaks to be deposited at secret caches in nearby parks and woodlands.
This hoarding behaviour is the jay’s way of preparing for winter when food supplies dwindle and precious energy can be depleted by constant scavenging.
Stockpiling acorns is a behavioural trait of jays, with sometimes hundreds of birds descending on oak trees to harvest acorns before then returning to their home range to hide winter supplies.
Some accounts tell of birds travelling more than 120 miles a day to hoard up to 5,000 acorns.
However, not all winters are bad, so the jays don’t always need to dip into their food banks. This leaves forgotten acorns to germinate and grow into new oak trees. This process dates back millennia and helped landscape the British countryside into what we know today.
Stockpiling acorns is a behavioural trait of jays in readiness for winter