Feeding the birds

I expect you have seen the latest recommendations from the BTO on feeding garden birds.  The new guidance is to stop feeding seeds and peanuts from today to the end of October in the hope of reducing transmission of trichomonosis which has caused declines in populations of chaffinches and greenfinches.

The problem is widespread but seems a bit less up here compared with farther south.  This graph from the BTO Garden BirdWatch shows the reporting rate for greenfinches in the North East.

Compare that with the South East.

These are similar data for chaffinches.

I don't remember ever seeing a finch on the peanut feeder so I think I'll continue with peanuts until they are all used up and see what happens.  That will be a relief to the woodpeckers who will be here with their fledglings in June.

I reckon I only see about one sick finch a year here.  One effect of stopping feeding is that all the finches will disappear so recording of both healthy and sick finches will presumably plummet but I expect the BTO experts have thought about that.  I'll be disappointed not to see the birds but I guess it is all for the greater good.

At the moment I still have lots of siskins, redpolls, bullfinches, greenfinches and chaffinches outside the kitchen window.  They are going to be very disappointed.

My prize visitor, a brambling, was only here for a week before setting off home to Scandinavia about three weeks ago.

Assuming most people comply with the advice it's going to be interesting to see what happens, both here and nationally.  I expect I'll be getting complaints from the local clean-up squad as well.

Seven winter finches

I have had a few complaints - mainly from the small birds who turn up in the garden every day hoping to have their photos taken but who say they never feature on this blog.  They think there are far too many squirrel, badger and deer pictures and are completely unimpressed by all the sparrowhawk photos.  So here are some finch photos from this week.

The most numerous finch in the garden is the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) with dozens visiting every day.

The most constant finch is the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), here almost all the time.

Also a regular visitor is the greenfinch (Chloris chloris).

And at this time of year I expect to see a pair of bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) every day.

I don't usually take photos on the feeders but the last three birds are rarer winter visitors and feeder photos are all I could manage this week.  I saw a couple of lesser redpolls (Acanthis cabaret) in December but this week they have been regular visitors.  These are males.

The first siskins (Spinus spinus) of the winter came to the feeders last week.  This is a male.

And most exciting of all, a male brambling (Fringilla montifringilla), the first I have seen in the garden for two years.

My left hand

I am right-handed so if I am holding something to be photographed it is in my left hand.  As well as feeding the robin and the pheasant I seem often to be catching birds that have strayed into the house or greenhouse or, occasionally, been stunned by flying into the window and everything has to have its photo taken before release.  Over the last few years I have collected quite a few photos of my left hand and here are some of them.  I wonder what I'll catch this year? Whatever it is, it will have its photo taken.

I expect you'll recognise everything.  The only tricky one is after the pheasant and before the blackbird and is a juvenile whitethroat that got stuck in the greenhouse.