Little birds, big news
MY home office/bird hide has a great view of the bird table and the colourful characters that come to visit my garden.
It is a pretty constant procession of birds, but small ones I tend to see the most – sparrows, blue tits and robin.
House sparrow, dunnock and robin all tend to hang around together, hopping along the garden wall towards the bird table.
Sometimes they wait patiently for pigeons and starlings to finish, but some just dive in and feed alongside their bigger feathered friends.
They are great fun to watch, paying back every penny I spend on bird food.
Can you tell the difference between a house sparrow and a dunnock, or hedge sparrow?
Male house sparrows are streaky brown above and grey below.
They have chestnut wings with white wingbars, a black bib and a grey cap.
Females and juveniles are brown but, like the males they have a fat bill.
The dunnock on the other hand is a streaky brown-and-grey bird, with a dark grey head and a thin bill.
So it’s all in the bill, narrow in dunnock, wide in house sparrow.
Both come to my bird table which is lovely, but these birds have decreased in numbers.
House sparrows are rarely seen parks in some parts of the country, which is sad.
I have mentioned the sparrow bush at the back of our garden, where many congregate to chatter.
I can’t imagine going into my garden and not hearing those brilliant gossips.
We can do our bit to help sparrows, by feeding them, of course, but now is the time to prepare your garden for spring.
You can actually buy long bird boxes with lots of holes which sparrows love, being a communal bird.
Terraced houses for spadgers!
Dunnocks are shy, but the females have a naughty secret.
Males and females form strong couples, but the female will happily mate with another male.
This means neither male knows who the father so they both supply her chicks with food.
Girl power indeed.
Our beautiful robins tend to spend summer alone in their own territories, but they will mix with other birds in groups in winter, probably for warmth.
The robin’s song is one of the first you hear in the morning, brightening the cold, dark welcome to the day.
They sit at the top of trees and really let rip throughout winter.
Robins like to nest in ivy, so don’t cut it down this winter.
The other regular small bird in my garden is the blue tit, a colourful little bird with a blue cap, white cheeks, black eyestripes, a greeny-blue back, yellow belly, and blue wings and tail.
I was really excited this summer when they nested in our next boxes for the first time in 15 years.
They had a look round last year but 2020 was great for blue tits, as far as I am concerned.
We get a regular wren, probing the stone walls for insects, goldfinches sitting on the washing line and, sometimes, beautiful long-tailed tits sit in the tree.
All of them add colour to my life and raise my spirits.