Answers & solutions
Check your answers against our explanations. Remember, as ever, there are no ‘trick’ birds or extreme rarities among those here
BIRD 1
Let’s get things started with a bird perched in a bare winter tree, perhaps about to visit a bird table or come down onto the lawn in search of food. The shape is the first clue. This bird is shaped like a thrush ( because it is a thrush): plump with a strong but essentially narrow bill (though nowhere near as thin as, say, a pipit or Robin). And it is patterned like a thrush, with lots of spots arranged in rows along the white breast, belly sides and flanks. The biggest pointer as to what kind of thrush comes from the face pattern, with a very strong supercilium (the pale ‘eyebrow’) and equally strong pale submoustachial stripe. This pattern is very pro-Redwing, backed up by the hint of rusty-red showing on the flanks. This bird is a Redwing.
Key features
n Thrush shape
n Thrush-like spotting/streaking on breast/flanks
n Striking face pattern
n Hint of rusty red on flanks
What is going on here? That is surely not a garden bird! Your question and slightly rude statement have some validity, in that this is not most people’s idea of a typical garden bird (which, as has already been emphasised, are usually woodland birds); this is a gull! Well, gulls do come into gardens in search of food, and this one is presumably looking for a relatively easy meal in the snowy conditions. The neat plumage and ‘well patterned’ bill suggest this is an adult bird, and one of the large, white-headed gulls (Common Gulls lack the red spot on the bill). The pale grey mantle and wings, and those pink legs strongly suggest that this particular gull is a Herring Gull. Most people’s gardens are visited by Black-headed Gulls more commonly, but why not a Herring (especially near the seaside)?
Key features
n A ‘large, white-headed gull’
n Pale grey back and wings
n Red spot on yellow bill
n Pink legs
Warblers are turning up more frequently in winter UK gardens. Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps are most common, but be on the look out for rarer warblers