Spring and Summer time is a busy period for birds. I sat in the garden the other day and watched two Blue Tit parents take food into a bird nest box, full of their young. It was non-stop. During the period I watched them they were taking a food item in every 30 seconds. Usually, it was a small green caterpillar in their beak to feed their fast growing and every-hungry youngsters.

Every now and then one of the parents would stop off at a garden feeder and eat some of the sunflower hearts in the feeder. I could not see them take any sunflower hearts to the youngsters but that would be easily missed. The parents certainly need to keep their own energy levels up and sunflower hearts is a good way for them to do that.

The parents co-ordinated the feeding brilliantly. Mostly whilst one parent was in the nest box feeding the youngsters the other was searching for food in the bushes around the garden. Occasionally one of them completed their search for food a little faster than expected and just waited outside the nest-box for the other parent to complete their feed and fly off.

They will have typically laid 8 to10 eggs and incubated them for approximately 2 weeks. The female will lay the eggs over a few days and tuck them into the nest lining. Once she is ready to incubate the eggs, they are pulled out so she can lay on them and give them the warmth they need.

The youngsters after they have hatched will then be in the nest for typically up to about 3 weeks. As they grow the youngsters become more demanding and need more food. The day I was observing them was just before they fledged and left the nest, a busy period for the parents. The parents must be exhausted at the end of it all – they look very tatty now and will need to moult and grow new feathers. That also takes lots of energy so they will continue to need to find high energy food for themselves – fortunately at this time of year there is plenty of natural food for them to eat.

Blue tits rarely have a second brood so for those birds they have done what they need to for this breeding season and produced another generation of birds. They are not particularly long-lived birds and the mortality rate of the young birds after they have left the nest is high. Hence the reason they have evolved to lay so many eggs.

It’s a common garden bird, one we are all no doubt familiar with, but sitting back for an afternoon watching the activity of the parents made for a fascinating experience.

In my early morning walks around the village, I have enjoyed spotting the migrant birds arrive. As usual there are some good news stories and some bad.

I have yet to hear a Cuckoo from the village this year – the first time since I moved to the village, a little over 10 years ago, that I have not heard a local Cuckoo in May. One villager has told me they heard a Cuckoo, just once this year, at the end of May.

And on the theme of bad news the number of migrant Chiffchaffs breeding this year is well down in the area from previous years. They are easy enough to count as the male spends the breeding season sitting high above the nest singing chiffchaff, chiffchaff, hence their name! There are a few around but nowhere near the number I have counted in previous years. It has not yet been reported whether this is a national trend or a local one. I shall try to find out and report back in another article.

Swallow numbers are up this year. They had a very bad year in 2021 with many perishing as they migrated to the UK. Numbers are clearly much higher this year and I am seeing them in several locations around the village.

Song thrush and Mistle thrush numbers are also up locally on previous years. They are of course resident birds.

We have a small population of breeding Tree Pipits – a small brown bird, with a beautiful song. They sit on the top of bushes and trees (hence the name perhaps!) singing away. I am aware of four places locally where they normally breed, and I have seen and heard them in all four places this year – and in one of the places there are two breeding pairs rather than the one from last year.

I saw my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year at the end of May – they are some of the last migrant birds to arrive. Hopefully, some will stay in the area to breed. Another brown bird and this one with not a particularly appealing song. They sit on a tree branch and dash out flying in a loop to catch flies / moths etc and land back on the same branch – hence the name flycatcher! If you are fortunate to see one do take a closer look. It is an attractive brown bird and I always think they look a bit cross – their facial markings and dark coloured bill make them look like they are frowning!

 

We can hear plenty of Skylarks in the surrounding fields – albeit in lower numbers than from some years ago. There is another lark that I can get quite excited over seeing – the Woodlark. This is a shorter tailed lark, and they don’t hover in the air singing like a Skylark, The Woodlark has a lovely descending song which they deliver from a perch / treetop. There are at least two places near to the village where Woodlark are at the start of this Summer. Last year I could only find one place – so a doubling of numbers for them!!

Natural History Book of the Month.

One of the more reliable and easier to use bird ID guides for the UK is I think Collins Bird Guide. Collins describes it as the most complete guide to the birds of Britain and Europe and I think that is true. It appears in a hard back and soft back versions as well as a phone App. All are excellent and a good reference source.

Some of the less good bird books just show a single picture of each bird, or maybe two one of the female and the other the male. Bird plumage changes throughout the year and there are various sub species that look different. All covered in this guide.

They are about to publish a new edition – the 3rd edition - of the book. The softback version for less than £25 is a bargain!