The birds in your garden add welcome colour and life. This is a guide to more common visitors to a suburban garden, which children and adults alike will enjoy observing.
Birds are attractive and easily observable members of the natural world, and knowing the more common species adds to the enjoyment of your feathered visitors. This article describes the more common birds of a typical British garden; these birds are widespread in the UK and can be encouraged to visit gardens by offering bird food. These are very different from the typical backyard birds of North America because the avian fauna evolved on separate continents. American readers will recognise two of the species here, the House Sparrow and the Starling, but this is because they were introduced in the 19th century from Europe. The House Sparrow is not always welcome in America, but is a much-loved member of the British urban landscape, and there is much concern about its falling numbers in Britain.
Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Britain’s favourite bird according to the RSPB. Robins are very territorial and quite bold in Britain, often waiting for the suburban gardener to turn over the earth so that the robin can pounce on an earthworm. They are easy to see because of their boldness, and sing most of the year from song posts in clear view to proclaim their territory. They are easily recognisable by the red/orange breast, which is not present in other garden birds. Robins prefer feeding on the ground, though they will occasionally use seed feeders.
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Another bold visitor to British gardens, the male blackbird is indeed black, with a bright orange/yellow bill after the first year of adulthood. Blackbirds feed on the ground, foraging for insects and worms, and become very tame. They will eat raisins (preferably soaked a little) and mealworms. Spoiled fruit like apples and pears will be welcomed if cut in half and left on the ground – they will be pecked out and the skin left.
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
House sparrows have suffered a serious decline in recent years. Sparrows form colonies of twenty or more birds, but the loss of front garden lawns and hedges to car parking has made the urban environment less hospitable to this once common bird. They live in close proximity to people, often nesting just under roof tiles but can still be quite wary. Their noisy antics in the spring and the loud squabbling of the flocks makes them a favourite with children, and in the past when they were commoner sparrows could be persuaded to eat grain from people’s hands. Their decline is probably a result of many changes; a study sponsored by the RSPB and English Nature showed that the adult birds cannot find enough insect food for the fledglings, many of which therefore starve in the nest. The adults feed on grain, and a seed feeder will attract sparrows if they are in the area.
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus, was previously Parus caeruleus)
Colourful and petite, blue tits are intelligent and quite acrobatic, capable of feeding upside down. They can be attracted with seed feeders, peanut feeders and fat balls or coconut halves smeared with fat and hung upside down, which can favour blue tits over other fat-eaters like starlings. Blue tits will also readily nest in suburban blue tit boxes, where the hole is small enough to admit just blue tits and exclude the bolder great tit and house sparrows.
Dunnock (Prunella modularis)
A timid grey-brown bird which inhabits leafy undergrowth, the Dunnock is common in gardens but less well observed because of its shy habits. Similar to the House Sparrow in size, it used to be called hedge sparrow but is not part of the Sparrow family.
Other Birds in Your Garden
These are five of the more common British garden birds, and are distinctive enough that you can identify them from the descriptions and photos. Like any other habitat, gardens vary greatly, and you may welcome other members of the tit family, such as the bold yellow/black Great Tit, or the diminutive Coal Tit. Long-tailed tits sometimes forage in gardens. Finches which may grace gardens include the Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Siskin. Starlings will raid fat balls designed for tits and robins – they move in flocks and tend to be messy and therefore not always welcome, though it is worth studying the iridescent plumage in sunlight, where the black feathers take on a purple sheen. Woodpigeons, gulls and Collared Doves may also be visitors that people have mixed feelings about in their gardens. Other members of the thrush family such as the Song Thrush and the Mistle Thrush may visit rural gardens, and seasonal visitors like the Blackcap, House Martins, Swallows may be summer visitors, and Fieldfares and Redwings in winter.
References
Decline in urban House Sparrow population, Kate Vincent, 2005
