Garden birds in U.K

[Riz]

http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.2.jpgHouse sparrow - Passer domesticus - Noisy and gregarious, these cheerful exploiters of man's rubbish and wastefulness, have even managed to colonise most of the world. The ultimate opportunist perhaps, but now struggling to survive in the UK along with many other once common birds. They are clearly declining in both gardens and the wider countryside .and their recent declines have earned them a place on the Red List
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.3.jpg Tree sparrow - Passer montanus - Smaller than a house sparrow and more active, with its tail almost permanently cocked. It has a chestnut brown head and nape (rather than grey), and white cheeks and collar with a contrasting black cheek-spot. They are shyer than house sparrows in the UK and are not associated with man, although in continental Europe they nest in buildings just like house sparrows.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.4.jpg Starling - Sturnus vulgaris - Smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail, pointed head, triangular wings, starlings look black at a distance but when seen closer they are very glossy with a sheen of purples and greens. Their flight is fast and direct and they walk and run confidently on the ground. Noisy and gregarious, starlings spend a lot of the year in flocks. Still one of the commonest of garden birds, its decline elsewhere makes it a Red List species.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.5.jpg Blue tit - Parus caeruleus - Its colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make the blue tit one of the most attractive resident garden birds. Almost any garden with a peanut feeder will attract them and they readily breed in nestboxes. In winter they form flocks with other tit species and a garden with four or five at a bird table at any one time, may be feeding 20 or more.

[Riz]

http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.6.jpg Blackbird - Turdus merula - The males live up to their name but, confusingly, females are brown often with spots and streaks on their breasts. The bright orange-yellow beak and eye-ring make adult male blackbirds one of the most striking garden birds. One of the commonest UK birds, its mellow song is also a favourite.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Goldfinch1.JPG Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis - A highly coloured finch with a bright red face and yellow wing patch. Sociable, often breeding in loose colonies, they have a delightful liquid twittering song and call. Their long fine beaks allow them to extract otherwise inaccessible seeds from thistles and teasels. Increasingly they are visiting birdtables and feeders. In winter many UK goldfinches migrate as far south as Spain
. http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.7.jpg Chaffinch - Fringilla coelebs - The chaffinch is the UK’s second commonest breeding bird, and is arguably the most colourful of the UK's finches. Its patterned plumage helps it to blend in when feeding on the ground and it becomes most obvious when it flies, revealing a flash of white on the wings and white outer tail feathers. It does not feed openly on bird feeders - it prefers to hop about under the bird table or under the hedge. You’ll usually hear chaffinches before you see them, with their loud song and varied calls
. http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.8.jpg Greenfinch - Carduelis chloris - Its twittering and wheezing song, and flash of yellow and green as it flies, make this finch a truly colourful character. Nesting in a garden conifer, or feasting on black sunflower seeds, it is a popular garden visitor, able to take advantage of food in town and city gardens at a time when intensive agriculture has deprived it of many weed seeds in the countryside. Although quite sociable, they may squabble among themselves or with other birds at the bird table.

[Riz]

http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.9.jpg Collared dove - Streptopelia decaocto - Distinctive with its buffy-pink plumage and black neck collar, it is usually seen singly or in pairs, although flocks may form where food is plentiful. It feeds on the ground but readily perches on roofs and wires. After rapidly spreading across Europe in the early half of the 20th century, the collared dove is now one of our most common birds and its monotonous cooing is a familiar sound.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.10.jpg Great tit - Parus major - The largest UK tit - green and yellow with a striking glossy black head with white cheeks and a distinctive two-syllable song. It is a woodland bird which has readily adapted to man-made habitats to become a familiar garden visitor. It can be quite aggressive at a bitdtable, fighting off smaller tits. In winter it joins with blue tits and others to form roaming flocks which scour gardens and countryside for food.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.11.jpg Woodpigeon - Columba palumbus - The UK's largest and commonest pigeon, it is largely grey with a white neck patch and white wing patches, clearly visible in flight. Although shy in the countryside it can be tame and approachable in towns and cities. Its cooing call is a familiar sound in woodlands as is the loud clatter of its wings when it flies away.



http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.12.jpg Robin - Erithacus rubecula - The UK's favourite bird - with its bright red breast it is familar throughout the year and especially at Christmas! Males and females look identical, and young birds have no red breast and are spotted with golden brown. Robins sing nearly all year round and despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders. They will sing at night next to street lights

[Riz]

http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.13.jpg Nightingale - Luscinia megarhynchos - Nightingales are slightly larger than robins, with a robust, broad-tailed, rather plain brown appearance. They are skulking and extremely local in their distribution in the UK while in much of southern Europe, they are common and more easily seen. The famous song is indeed of high quality, with a fast succession of high, low and rich notes that few other species can match.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.14.jpg Siskin - Carduelis spinus - The siskin is a small, lively finch, which is smaller than a greenfinch. It has a distinctly forked tail and a long narrow bill. The male has a streaky yellow-green body and a black crown and bib. There are yellow patches in the wings and tail. It is mainly a resident breeder from southern England to northern Scotland, but is most numerous in Scotland and Wales. Many breeding birds are residents; in winter birds arrive here also from Europe.



http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.15.jpg
Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula - The male is unmistakable with his bright pinkish-red breast and cheeks, grey back, black cap and tail, and bright white rump. The flash of the rump in flight and the sad call note are usually the first signs of bullfinches being present. They feed voraciously of the buds of various trees in spring and were once a 'pest' of fruit crops. Recent declines place it on the Red List.


http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.16.jpg Grey heron - Ardea cinerea - The largest European heron. It can stand with neck stretched out, looking for food, or hunch down with its neck bent over its chest. In flight it holds its neck retracted and has large rounded wings. It is usually solitary although several birds may feed fairly close together. It stalks its food, often standing motionless for some considerable time. It usually feeds close to the bank or shore, but may wade out into shallow water.

[Riz]

http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.17.jpg Jay - Glandarius garrulus - Although they are the most colourful members of the crow family, jays are actually quite difficult to see. They are shy woodland birds, rarely moving far from cover. The screaming call usually lets you know a jay is about and it is usually given when a bird is on the move, so watch for a bird flying between the trees with its distinctive flash of white on the rump. Jays are famous for their acorn feeding habits and in the autumn you may see them burying acorns for retrieving later in the winter
. http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.18.jpg Jackdaw - Corvus monedula - A small black crow with a grey neck and pale eyes. It is sociable and usually seen in pairs or larger groups. It is quite and acrobatic flier and flocks will often chase and tumble together in flight. On the ground it both walks and hops.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.19.jpg Magpie - Pica pica - Magpies seem to be jacks of all trades – scavengers, predators and pest-destroyers, their challenging, almost arrogant attitude has won them few friends. With its noisy chattering, black-and-white plumage and long tail, there is nothing else quite like the magpie in the UK. When seen close-up its black plumage takes on an altogether more colourful hue with a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail. Non-breeding birds will gather together in flocks.
http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/images/Imp/Birds.20.jpg Treecreeper - Certhia familiaris - The treecreeper is small, very active, bird that lives in trees. It has a long, slender, downcurved bill. It is speckly brown above and mainly white below. It breeds in the UK and is resident here. Birds leave their breeding territories in autumn but most range no further than 20 km. Its population is mainly stable.


http://www.letsgogardening.co.uk/Information/Birds.htm

[Riz]

:nature-051: So keep your eyes open for them in spring in your gardens......

[Kirsten]

haha our robins look like this: http://kaweahoaks.com/html/robin01.jpg

[~Obsidian~]

Great thread Riz, thanks :sunny:

[Riz]

haha our robins look like this: http://kaweahoaks.com/html/robin01.jpg

very nice.. :)

for a minute i thought it was a baby kestrel..

[edibles]

I see house sparrows and robins all the time, i sometime see wood pidgoens but thats about it

[Foz]

JazakAllah Khair for posting this

i love birds....i mainly get sparrows and starlings, blackbirds, doves and once saw a robin

my parents dont live too far from me and they see a few more

magpies are soo cheeky....i remember once at uni i was tryingt o study and there was this racket outside...looked out the window and there was a magpie teasing a cat lol

[Riz]

i saw a goldfinch in the front of the street today really early in the morning perched on the tree..

:swayingpine:

[farah]

magpies are so beautiful... <3 them :D does anyone else salute them?

your also supposed to say 'morning Mr Magpie' but that's just going a bit too far lol

Love them or hate them, you can't miss them. Their numbers have increased by 112% over the last 30 years and they are now the 13th most commonly seen bird in British gardens, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7316384.stm

[Foz]

didnt realise you meant to salute them? lol

[farah]

lol i just do it cos its a cute, harmless tradition albeit a strange one even in public its like an auto-response now hehe

[Tania]

Its so good when i read about increasing numbers of birds or animals. I do have in my garden only spparows - they come only for food, don't have nests here.
I don't find anything strange to salute the birds. :o I salute my dogs and in the streets usually i exchange few words with them, like don't go there or we have to wait...

[~Obsidian~]

lol i just do it cos its a cute, harmless tradition albeit a strange one even in public its like an auto-response now hehe

LOL what a loony! If any sister stopped on the street next to me and saluted a bird I'd think she had lost it!! :D

[farah]

:D well thankfully we don't have that many magpies about to have me certified insane... :p hehe Tania i talk to my cat as well the same :o the 112% increase seems a lot though but every animal and insect plays their part in nature even the annoying or dangerous ones.. it's really sad when you hear certain animals and insects are on the decline like snow leopards and :butterfly3: and its usually down to humans cutting away their natural habitats

[Riz]

*bump*

[memyself_and_i]

bullfinches and goldfinches are some of my favorite birds :)