Bird watch: the siskin
Ruth hopes this colorful finch will discover her garden bird feeders
A SUPPOSEDLY common visitor to bird feeders, yet one which has yet to grace ours, is the siskin.
You may be lucky enough to get them visiting your garden, especially if you live close to pine trees or conifer plantations, as these colourful yellow finches like to nest in tall evergreens and are experts at winkling out the seeds from the cones of spruce, pine, birch and alder.
When these natural foods are less available, they may visit bird tables in search of niger seeds and sunflower hearts.
Siskins have gradually become more common over the past four decades, partly thanks to the increased number of garden bird feeders. They are now found throughout most of the UK, and overwinter down England’s east flank, East Anglia and through the central belt.
There are around 420,000 breeding pairs, though their numbers are given a boost in winter when they are joined by siskins from mainland Europe.
The males are jaunty little chaps, with a yellow-and-green streaked body and black cap. Females are more drab, without the black head feathers, but both have a distinctive forked tail and long, slim bill. These little finches nest high in pine trees, the female building a snug nest of twigs and soft linings, before laying between two to six eggs, which she incubates alone. There may be two broods and both parents are involved in feeding their chicks, usually with small insects.
So my next task is going to be fitting a niger seed feeder to our ‘feeding tree’ in the garden, and keeping my eyes peeled for any yellow-striped newcomers. They will be welcome!