Garden birding
Clare discovers that her latest visitors have quite the story to tell...
Goldfinches that visit our gardens have quite the story to tell...
Iam excited to announce the arrival of a pair of Goldfinches. They have appeared since I last wrote to you, and I’ve been spending a fair amount of time watching them while I should have been weeding the vegetable patch. But you know, weeds grow all the time. You’ve got to pick your battles…
This is the first time since we moved that I’ve spotted Goldfinches and they are now regular garden visitors. I recently created a special area in the garden, as a space for birds to go and relax – there’s a cafe, a bath and plenty of
places to take a rest. The peanuts are plentiful and I keep the tin bath regularly topped up with water for them. This is where the Goldfinches spend most of their time, taking it in turns to dip in and dip out. My favourite place to watch them is from the hammock I’ve hung from two trees and, if I keep really quiet, I get to see their gorgeous colours up close. They really are beautiful and their song sounds happy, as if they are doing it for the pure joy of it. In Victorian times, they were kept as caged birds. Their attractiveness was, in fact, nearly the death of them – the large volumes being caught to be sold as pets brought them close to extinction. For up to five years, these birds would be trapped, singing their hearts out, hoping, I’m sure, for release. Sussex was a hotbed for finch-catching, and it’s reported that more than 100,000 were trapped there in the space of a year. It was bleak. Thankfully, there were people who wanted to end this cruel trade and it was around this time, that Emily Williamson founded the SPB (now the RSPB) from her home in Manchester. She is a hero of mine and like so many pioneers was mocked regularly, both in private and in public via Punch magazine, for her beliefs. This woman was massively underestimated, but if it wasn’t for her, I might not be sitting here talking to you about Goldfinches – they would have gone the same way as the Dodo.
We can also thank wildlife photographers Richard and Cherry Kearton who were, to be totally honest with you, batty for birds to the extreme. Would you for example, lie in the taxidermied body of an ox to take the perfect shot? Would you? They did. And it gets weirder. Sometimes, they
pretended to be a pile of rubbish, quietly laying in wait for birds to make an appearance. The brothers observed finches being caught and captured at a time when anything living thing in the world was considered fair game for poachers.
Their book With Nature and a Camera, published in 1897, revolutionised the way people thought about wildlife and, like Emily Williamson, they were ahead of their time. Even today, some of their methods would be seen as bonkers. It’s important to know all this when we think of garden birds and that’s the whole reason I write this column for you every month. I want you to look at them differently – when you see a Goldfinch, I hope you appreciate them as much as I do. This month, I got a desk. It’s pretty big news in our house. I wanted it to overlook the garden and it gives me a good view of the blossoming apple tree; but what is it with pigeons and blossom? Why is it so irresistible to them? I can see one nibbling it off as we speak. I read somewhere that you can put a windchime on the tree to keep them away, but this also scares off the other birds which I don’t want to do. I also feel that it would be unfair of me to call myself the ‘Back Garden Birder’ and then, when you’re not looking, be banging on the window shouting ‘do one!’ to the pigeons.
Yes, the pigeons might not be as pretty as the Goldfinches, but all of these creatures have found a home in my garden, and long may that remain.