June Birding

June is normally one of our busiest months of the year, both in the shop and for birds on the feeders, as all the fledglings arrive in gardens. It seems this year is significantly quieter, very few Blue Tits or Great Tits, the Sparrows are busy but not a whole load of youngsters, the Starling youngsters were out in May and have slowed down too. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers have brought one juvenile in though, which is always nice to watch, and the Nuthatches are certainly regular at the minute too.

Adult Male (left) and juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

A brief but nice surprise in the Nature Area was a male Blackcap, just staying long enough for Allan to get a nice photo.

Unfortunately the Spotted Flycatcher's attempt to breed was unsuccessful, the nest was built but then destroyed, presumably by a corvid or rat. A big disappointment for us as they now haven't bred here for the past 3 years.

The Pied Wagtails didn't breed in the same place as last year and so far we have seen no young, though they are seemingly now gathering nesting material so we're keeping watch on that.

The Kestrels, however, did breed in the same place again as the Church tower evidently provides a safe home. Though we haven't kept up with their progress as well this year, they are certainly very active now and it seems the young are out flying now, though not venturing too far from the safety of the Church, particularly as the Jackdaws give them a lot of grief!

Allan had an unusual event in his garden recently as an adult Great Tit was feeding a couple of baby Blue Tits. This is known as cross-species feeding and according to the linked BTO article can be down to a number of factors, including mixed clutches and nest failure.

Cross-species feeding: Adult Great Tit feeding fledgling Blue Tit

Signs of Spring

The general trend in recent years is for the mean egg laying date of most birds getting earlier and earlier. This trend is believed to be caused by climate change, with warmer weather allowing for better food availability earlier in the season. Last year's warm, wet winter provided almost no frosts at all in Sussex, leading to a particularly early breeding season, an anomaly that was opposite to the breeding season of 2013, where a cold winter which held on until April led to very late broods. To give you an example; according to data from the BTO's Nest Record Scheme, the 2013 average laying date for Blue Tits was 12.3 days late (relative to the average from the previous five years) whereas it was 5.9 days early in 2014. It will certainly be interesting to see how 2015 sits in the table, with what has been a typical British winter, laced with cold snaps and warmer periods alike.

The Bullfinches, which had been resident for so long here recently, have moved on, as well as the Treecreeper which hasn't been spotted for a while either. The Goldcrests however are frequent visitors, often spending a long time searching for food in and around the yew tree over the road.

Still the Siskins remain a 'no-show', with just one male turning up on my feeders at home (Staplecross) on a few occassions between late Feb and early March.

On the 27th February we had our highest count ever of Buzzards as 8 graced the blue skies together. The pair of Kestrels have been bonding and inspecting the nesting site in the Church where they have nested in previous years, though we're not sure what stage they are currently at. It's most likely they haven't laid any eggs yet. One Blackbird was spotted this morning collecting nesting material, they are one of the earliest 'garden birds' to breed. We haven't heard them singing yet, though I'm sure they may well have started in the warmer climes of towns and cities. The Chaffinches have certainly started singing, their colours becoming increasing bold too as they attempt to lure a female. As the temperature progressively increases, the feeders begin to quieten down, though there is still a fair amount of activity, especially with the good size charm of Goldfinches. Here's a composite photograph put together with a few snaps of the same feeder in use in our Nature Area.

Just to follow up on the Blue Tit with a deformed beak (see post) spotted on the 27th January, the same bird was back again yesterday afternoon in the Nature Area unfortunately looking a little worse for wear.

Allan had a rather amazing Blue Tit in his garden on the 17th Feb, with a curved lower mandible and highly elongated, decurved upper mandible crossing over. This particular bird looked in pretty good nick given its condition but how it continued to feed one can only imagine!

Where have all the Siskins gone?

The arrival of Siskins in our Nature Area is one we anticipate and look forward to every year. Last year, the first bird arrived on the 28th January and we had them until early May, by which time the youngsters were already visiting as a mild Winter led to an early breeding season. This year we haven't seen or heard one here and according to the BTO, the shortage of Siskins in gardens is most likely down to a bumper crop of Sitka Spruce seeds. In fact, fewer gardens reported Siskins at the end of 2014 than since Garden BirdWatch records began in 1995. There is still time, of course, as this particular supply of natural food won't continue forever, so keep your eyes peeled for these colourful small finches on your Sunflower or Peanut feeders.

2 Males (right) and female (left) Siskins - 25th March 2014

Juvenile Siskin - 1st May 2014

The recent cold snap that saw a few snow showers seems to have passed with temperatures back up to around 8° forecast for the next couple of weeks, but wet weather also may encourage the Siskins on to feeders as the spruce cones close up in the rain. You can find out more about the BTO's Garden BirdWatch survey here, or record your sightings using BirdTrack.

Beak deformities in garden birds

According to the BTO, fewer than 1 in 200 adult birds suffer from a beak deformity. Arriving at a figure like that can't be easy as a large scale survey would need to be undertaken. Fortunately for them, many members, volunteers and enthusiastic nature lovers are all at hand to participate in such a survey (which is ongoing) called the Big Garden Beak Watch.

There are many different types of beak deformities, affecting either or both mandibles, in a manner of different ways. This Great Tit was first spotted here on the 3rd September, with what seemed at first to be just something stuck to his beak. In the time he was around on that day, it couldn't seem to shake it off (though it did seem to try). The (presumably) same bird was back again earlier this week, with the same object stuck, again trying to shake it off. This leads me to think it's not a beak deformity as such, though I'm not certain we'll ever be sure either way.

We have, however, spotted a few confirmed (and recorded) beak deformities here over the years:

Blue Tit with decurved (and slightly crossed) upper mandible

Rook with decurved upper mandible

Blue Tit with elongated mandibles

We have had a few reports and photos brought in to us of beak deformities in Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Blackbirds too, though a total of 36 species have been recorded through the Big Garden Beak Watch. Please do record your sightings to the BTO - this survey, along with many others they undertake, including the Abnormal Plumage Survey, help them to gain a greater insight in to the causes of irregularities in birds.

Goldfinch with leucism

Chaffinch with leucism