BRITISH BIRDS
                                                                                                                                                     
BARN OWL
                                                                                                                                                                           
The barn owls represent one of the two main strains of owl and clearly evolved a long time ago. There are about ten species but the Barn Owl is very widely distributed indeed. It is not found at high latitudes or in the main mass of Asia but breeds in Europe, Africa, India, SE Asia, Australia and North, Central and South America. The forms can be rather different but the European one is the familiar white owl seen quartering rough ground like a huge pale moth at dusk. They have exquisite white plumage mottled with buff and grey. The facial disc is heart-shaped and the birds have long legs covered with white feathers. They feed on small mammals and their population and breeding performance depends on vole numbers.  The characteristic call is a strange snoring noise which can be heard at a range of several hundred metres. The nest is generally in a tree hole or abandoned building. The right sort of nestbox is readily taken. The British and Irish population has shrunk over many years and there are currently just over 5,000 pairs.


BLACKBIRD

Most people can recognise a blackbird as nearly every garden has them - a frequent visitor to water features where they bathe.  The male (pictured) is glossy black with a yellow beak and bright eye ringed with yellow, whilst the females and juveniles are brown.  They live in parks, gardens, farmland or moorland. Worms, which you will often see them tugging from wet lawns, is one of their main foods but they also eat berries, fruit and insects.  Nests are built out of dry grass, leaves and mud and are constructed in hedges, sheds and sometimes out-houses.  Three to five eggs are laid by the female from late March through to July, and in a good year a pair will raise as many as five broods of young.  Once attracted to your garden try not to spray with chemicals as this may affect the insect population that the birds feed on.  An open fronted nest box, either bought or made, can be placed in the garden to attract this delightful bird but make sure that it is placed where cats cannot reach it.


BLUE TIT
A familiar vistor to just about every garden in Britain, the common small tit is widespread over most of Europe. A resident species over most areas it breeds in tree holes like other Parus species but forms mobile local flocks outside the breeding season. One of the most common species at garden feeders with almost blanket coverage in Britain. Flocks may often reach 50 or more individuals but these are likely to have been bred within two or three kilometres at most.  The birds have a blue cap to the head - brighter in males - and blue-green backs. They have a white stripe above the eye, dark blue through it and on the throat but white cheeks. The underparts are yellow. Breeding population estimate for Britain and Ireland is 4.4 million pairs.  Nests are built late March through to June and clutches of up to fifteen eggs may be laid.  They feed mainly on insects, especially small caterpillars and aphids which they search for on tree and shrub foliage.  Hanging a feeder containing peanuts will help these birds and supplement their diet.  


BULLFINCH

 
A plump, secretive bunting, despite the males bright colours. The male has a bright pink breast, black crown and thick black bill and blue-grey upperparts.  The female is similar but with a pale buffy breast. The juvenile is like the female but lacks the black crown and has a sandy coloured breast and back.  Size:14-15cm tall   Its normal habitat is gardens, heaths, woods and hedges. It feeds mainly on buds and seeds, although it will eat insects..  The female lays between 4 and 5 eggs on a twig platform in a bush.  Incubation takes 12-14 days and fledging takes 12-18 days.  1-2 broods are produced per year; between April and May.
 


CHAFFINCH

A very common woodland finch which has spread into gardens and farmland. Probably Britain and Ireland's second commonest bird (after the Wren) with a population estimate of 7.5 million pairs. Breeds through most of Europe with birds from the North migratory - sexes move different distance hence Latin name (coelebs means bachelor and the winter flocks in Sweden are mainly males). Both sexes have white wing flashes but the female is dull grey and green compared with the very smart males. He has a grey head and blue-grey back with pink or brick-red underparts. Flocking in winter (likes beech trees when they fruit) but breeds in defended territories. Song phrase very characteristic lasting 2-3 seconds and has dialects over the whole of the range. 


GARDEN WARBLER
The Garden Warbler is a stocky bird with thick grey bill and grey legs, the plumage is plain looking and olive brown-grey in colour. They are a summer visitor to Britain (April to September), and winter in in the scrubby savannah of Africa (south of the Sahara). Their song is quite beautiful and is confusingly similar to the Blackcap. The Garden Warbler's song is longer (lasting anything up to 10 seconds and longer), faster and rather monotonous. The garden warbler feeds on  insects, and berries in the autumn. They breed in woods and large gardens with tall trees and shrubby undergrowth or hedgerows. The nest is built by both birds and is usually low in a tree or bush. The cup-shaped nest is made from dry grasses and lined with finer grasses and hair.  The eggs are white or buff with purplish-brown or grey spots, smooth and glossy, and about 20 mm by 15 mm. Both birds share the duty of incubating the eggs and feeding the young. Breeding starts late May and 1-2 clutches may be laid resulting in 3 - 7 eggs.  Warblers rarely visit gardens, except large, mature ones.  There are usually quite a few birds in the local woods. Like most of our warblers, the Garden Warbler is a summer visitor, choosing to breed here in the summer and migrate to tropical Africa for the winter.
 


GOLDCREST
 
A very small bird, in fact it is the UK's smallest.  Green-grey in colour, the adults have an orange or yellow stripe along the crown of the head.  Often you will hear a goldcrest's high pitched calls before you see it.  About 1 in 20 gardens will be visited by a goldcrest in any year, although they are quite common in woodland.  Some birds spend all year here in the UK while others migrate in during the winter.  The goldcrest feeds on small insects and spiders.  Up to six eggs are laid in a nest built from spiders webs and moss which is hung from branches of trees well above the ground, normally conifers, such as yew.


GOLDFINCH
Golden brown, black and white head, red face, and yellow wing bar. The Goldfinch is a remarkably colourful finch: red face, white cheeks, black crown, golden brown body, and a bright yellow wing bar on black wings. Looking more closely, the back and flanks are a tawny brown. The wings are mostly black with a large striking yellow band. The belly and rump are white. The nape and crown are black, the face is red, and ear coverts are white. The beak is a very pale grey. The sexes are similar, except that the male's red face extends slightly behind the eye.Juveniles are generally a dull brown with black wings and pale brown wing bands, and lack the red, white, and black head.
A pleasant rambling twitter or tinkling best describes the most common call of the Goldfinch, and its song is a composition of this call and other rattling notes. Goldfinches used to be commonly kept as caged birds because of their colourful plumage and enchanting singing. Goldfinches feed on various tree seeds, and on thistle and dandelion seeds, which it can obtain owing to its thin bill and light weight. Niger seed and teasels may attract them in gardens, especially if there are no fields nearby with thistles and dandelions. The cup-shaped nest is built by the female with moss, grass and lichen, and lined with wool and plant down. The nest is usually in a tree towards the end of a branch or in a bush. The smooth, glossy eggs are pale blue with reddish markings, and about 18 mm by 13 mm. Incubation is by the female only.  The young are fed by both parents. Breeding starts late April.  The Goldfinches are recovering from a serious decline in the 1980's.


GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

The bigger of the two spotted woodpeckers found in Britain and as big as any of the six or so species found in other parts of Europe. This is a tree woodpecker and drums for territorial advertisement but also has a variety of loud - and piecing - cries. All the birds have a bright scarlet patch on the undertail and pied plumage. The head is the give away for age and sex. Newly fledged juveniles have a red forehead for a few months. Once this has moulted to black then birds with red on the back of the head are males and those with no red females. British birds number about 30,000 pairs and are fairly sedentary, but Northern European birds sometimes move long distances. The species is found over most of Europe and into Asia through China and to Japan - there is an isolated population in Kamchatka.








GREAT TIT

A large tit (chickadee) of woodland and gardens from Ireland through to Japan. In most areas they are resident but the sub- arctic birds move south for the winter. The black head is nicely set off by the white cheeks. The males have a broader, and the females a thinner, black band from between the legs broadening to form a black chest patch. The rest of the belly is yellow and the back green.  Great Tits are often found in flocks - except during the breeding season. All sorts of calls but the characteristic song is 'Teach-you, teach-you ... '. There are about 2,000,000 pairs in Britain and Ireland.





GREEN WOODPECKER
A moderately large woodpecker common over much of Europe except the far North (and the deprived island of Ireland that does not have any woodpeckers). It is green with very bright yellow rump and complicated head pattern including red. The malar stripe has red if its a male - all black if female.  These birds have an amazing laughing call and are known in parts of Britain as the 'yaffle' after this call. It drums but not as often as some woodpeckers and is particularly associated with feeding at ant's nests. It has the usual tongue extending capabilities of a woodpecker and gets the ants from the nest by exploring the corridors and chambers with its tongue. British population - about 15,000 breeding pairs.




GREENFINCH
This is a big green finch with yellow in the wings (more in males than in females) that has invaded the gardens of Europe over the last century. They may be present in very large numbers and form quite mobile populations without being a full scale migrant.  The young birds have the yellow flash in the wing but they may, especially females, be very dull and sparrow-like otherwise. These birds have big, conical bills and can process large seeds efficiently. They are particularly fond of sunflower seeds. The song is rather dull - a 'dreeeeze' which sounds rather nasal. Populations in Britain and Ireland are holding up well and there are about 700,000 territories (some males are polygynous).






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