Bird of month - Siskin

One of the things the Blackwater Valley has in abundance is Alder trees. Throughout the length of the Valley they string along the banks and adjacent meadows providing good habitat for a variety of birds in winter and the seeds are one of the favourite foods of the Siskin.

This tiny finch is bigger than a Blue Tit, smaller than a Great Tit and about the
same size as the Goldfinch with which it is often seen high in the Alders, but it looks very different. The Siskin is a black and yellow bird and the male is a striking combination with a bright yellow-green plumage with a black cap and wings with wonderful yellow wing bars and a streaked white underside. As with most birds the female is much duller but the colours are still there blended with a little brown.

Like so many winter birds they can be fairly elusive despite being quite common but as months wear on and spring is approaching the sounds they make seem to grow in their variety and volume. The calls of flocks of as many as several dozens feeding in the trees can be described as ‘twittering’ but your ears must be sharp to hear them if they are high up. These birds can also be found by following the more diverse ‘musical twittering’ repertoire of Goldfinches with which they often congregate.

Studying a flock of Goldfinches or Siskins may also yield a surprise sighting of a Lesser Redpoll, now a declining species with sightings much less frequent than in the past, but carefully checking Siskin and Goldfinch flocks is likely to yield the occasional sighting for the patient birdwatcher.

Numbers of Siskin are much higher in the valley in winter as the birds of the northern pine forests in Britain and Europe migrate south to warm southern England. We also have some local breeding pairs in fairly small numbers but the bias in breeding habitat to the north and west of Britain is clear from distribution surveys and ringing recoveries over many years. Their first love of conifer forests and pine cones for food means a failure of those cone crops can lead to bigger or earlier influxes than normal but we expect our first winter birds to appear mainly in October and stay until March but, by then maybe in full song, the stragglers may still be in small flocks in April to delight us on our spring walks.

The Siskin has become a bird of gardens in recent years and their love of nyjer seed has lead many bird lovers to include this alongside peanuts and sunflower seed in their garden feeders. Goldfinches also share the love of these foods so if you feed birds and have Goldfinches visiting the garden keep your eyes open for a Siskin and you might be lucky!

Colin Wilson

Berkshire Ornithological Club

www.berksoc.org.uk

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