Henfield Diary
Neil Fletcher takes a regular look at the everyday wildlife at Woods Mill, headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and at his home in nearby Henfield.
Finches at the feeder / Neil Fletcher
They come about this time of year. They’re here in dribs and drabs all the time, but in December they come mob-handed, dozens of them, for the bird food. The goldfinches insist on centre stage, occupying every port of the seed-feeder. Twenty of them at a time, scolding and squabbling in high-pitched angst with flashes of yellow and red. For social, flock-feeding birds they are remarkably anti-social, constantly bickering and fighting over whose turn it is.
The greenfinches want to take over, and they should be able to – big, bulky bruisers. There must be a dozen of those and just as argumentative, sometimes they gain control of the feeder and sometimes they don’t, outnumbered and outmanoeuvred by their nippier cousins.
The chaffinches are just as numerous, but these are more gentle souls, deservedly shy of the raucous mob. They make do with the gleanings, hopping on the ground, filling up on the discards raining from the feeders above – the chaff that gives them their name. Some of the males look different, much darker below and with white wing-panels that shine out like a beacon. I wonder if these are Scandinavian birds that have joined us for the winter, but enquiry into Birds of the Western Palearctic reveals a minefield of subspecies and plumage variation, which, quite frankly, I can’t be bothered to wade through. To have to worry about it would be too much of a distraction from just watching and enjoying them.
No doubt the goldfinches and greenfinches also include some or all migrants, but they certainly seem at home with the conventions of bird feeders and bird baths, like they’re used to using them. I’m glad they’re here, but part of me will be glad to see them go. A degree of peace and harmony will return, and it’ll cost me less in bird food.
I played around with various cameras to try to get the bird’s-eye view footage of all the fuss.
Link to a Living Landscape
Superb close up views and I really liked the view from inside the feeder. I share your reluctance to investigate the minutiae of sub-species and plumage variations, though I suppose I should be grateful that some other folk have!
Neil you are so lucky to have this amount of one species in your garden. I wish I could attract the same to mine, though I try. Well done.
Thank you Major – not sure why I get so many finches when many of my fellow Henfield residents fail to, in spite of equally suitable gardens or feeders. They do tend to come when the weather is rough though – easy pickings I presume, so hardly any today when it’s bright and sunny.
Our very own birds of paradise – stunning!