Goldfinches

This year there seems to have been a goodly supply of natural food in the countryside for our garden birds – they have been a bit thinner on the ground (and on the bird tables!).

Berries, nuts and acorns – which are crushed on the road – supply good proteins for the usual suspects and the seed heads from the thistles and wild flowers have been keeping many of our regulars busy further afield.

Our Goldfinches have made a reappearance on the bird table although they still seem quite keen on the standing thistles in the hedgerows – most of the thistles are usually stripped by the strong winds but the heavy rains have made the seeds ‘stick’ to the plants more than usually is the case.

Blackberries are in good supply and we have been amused to see one of our regular Blackbirds arriving at the bird table with a decidedly purple beak instead of his usual bright yellow.

Fat balls are as always a really popular feeding medium for the whole variety of birds – we have crows at 5-6am followed by starlings at 6.30am and the whole variety of tits, sparrows, nuthatches etc from 7am.