Species Of Wild Birds That Visit Your Garden

Through the year we are visited by many types of wild birds. Below are a combination of video's,  photo's and statistics of some of the species that choose to spend time searching for food in our gardens.

1. Bird Feeding Station ( Ideally raised about six foot from the ground with clear view from the sky and trees and try to keep it a fair distance from inhabited buildings).
2. Provide Food and Water (You can purchase wild bird feed from most supermarkets and pet shops e.g : Fat Balls, Suet, Nuts and seed mix and Meal Worms).
3. A Bird Box (Make Sure it's placed in a place safe from predators e.g: Cats ,Foxes and Pet Dogs).
4. Flowers That Attract Insects ( Bird's love to eat insects so the more insects you attract the more birds will visit your garden).
   

Family

Sparrows (Passeridae)

Latin name

Passer domesticus

They have stout bodies, rounded wings and broad heads, with deep, conical bills adapted for seed-eating. They are social and loosely colonial when breeding. Some species are closely associated with people.

some may nest in bushes or trees, building untidy nests of grass and assorted rubbish. Found in most gardens feasting on seeds, nuts and insects.

Latin name

Sturnus vulgaris

Family

Starlings (Sturnidae)

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 UK's commonest garden birds. Huge roosts are found in plantations, reed beds and city centres.

When to see them

All year round.

Large numbers arrive in autumn to spend the winter here.

What they eat

Insects and fruit.

Latin name

Turdus merula

Family

Chats and thrushes (Turdidae)

When to see them

All year round.

What they eat

Insects, worms and berries.

The breeding season lasts from early March to late July, and chicks are often found in a nest well into August. During this period, blackbirds rear 2-3 broods. In a good year, fourth broods may be attempted. Weather determines the timing of the breeding season.

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.

The nest, built by the female, is low down in any suitable cover. Trees, shrubs and climbers are preferred, but nests can be found inside buildings, occasionally even on the ground.

The normal clutch size is 3-5. Larger clutches are laid in woodland than in gardens. The female incubates alone, and the chicks hatch 13-14 days later. Only the female broods the chicks, but both parents feed them.

They are flightless at first, but within a week will have learned to fly. By this time, they begin to experiment with foods, learning by trial and error what is edible. As their skills and confidence grow, they begin to explore their parents' territory and range more widely. The young become independent three weeks after leaving the nest, and leave the natal area shortly after. They are not driven away by the male.

Latin name

Cyanistes caeruleus

Family

Tits (Paridae)

Its colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make the agile blue tit one of the most attractive garden birds.

They can be found flitting onto bird feeders, or feeding on seeds and scraps left on bird tables and on the ground. And almost any garden with a peanut feeder will attract them.

In winter, family flocks of blue tits are joined by great tits, long-tailed tits and other woodland species, as they search for food.

The juvenile birds are duller than the adults and have greener crown, wings and tail, and yellow cheeks.

Latin name

Streptopelia decaocto

Family

Pigeons and doves (Columbidae)

These doves are slim with a long tail, and their plumage is predominantly pale brown with a pinkish flush on the breast and they have a distinctive black neck collar. They have short red legs and a black bill. Both sexes look alike, but the male has a monotonous cooing ‘song’. Juvenile collared doves have dark brown plumage.

You can see them all year round, foraging in gardens or perching on power lines and TV aerials.

Collared doves eat seeds, buds, grain, fruits, berries and bread. Unlike many species of bird their chicks are fed on crop milk. They are common garden visitors, especially in winter when food is scarce and can be seen foraging on the ground. They are very territorial and aggressive and are known to scare smaller birds away from feeding stations.

They usually build their nests in the fork of a tree or bush but have been recorded nesting in more unusual places including a window box full of flowers! Their ‘nests’ are made from twigs, stems, roots and grasses but are often just an insubstantial platform of twigs! Some nests are so flimsy that the eggs and chicks can fatally fall through the gaps and plunge to the ground. Collared doves produce between 2 and 4 broods a year from mid February to early October. Each brood consists of 2 white, slightly glossy eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 14-18 days.

Latin name

Columba palumbus

Pigeons and doves (Columbidae)

Found across the UK in fields and woods, and also in towns and cities where they frequent parks and gardens.

When to see them

All year round.

Eats crops like cabbages, sprouts, peas and grain. Also buds, shoots, seeds, nuts and berries.

Its cooing call is a familiar sound in woodlands as is the loud clatter of its wings when it flies away. 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. 

Latin name

Fringilla coelebs

Family

Finches (Fringillidae)

The male Chaffinch has a pink breast and cheeks, blue-grey crown and nape, and chestnut brown back. In summer, its bill is grey-blue, turning to pale brown in the winter.

The female has an olive-brown back, and grey-brown underparts becoming almost white towards the rump, which is greenish. The juveniles are similar to the female but lack the greenish rump. The bill is brown in both the female and juveniles.

Their song can be remembered by the phrase: "chip chip chip chooee chooee cheeoo".

Chaffinches usually feed on seeds and insects, like caterpillars, during the breeding season.

In the garden, they tend to forage on the ground for spilt seed (sunflower seeds and hearts) from the hanging feeders.

These birds are usually found in large flocks on open farmland, whereas resident British birds are usually in woodlands and hedgerows.

Latin name

Erithacus rubecula

Family

Chats and thrushes (Turdidae)

Across the UK in woodland, hedgerows, parks and gardens. Feeds on worms, seeds, fruits and insects. Seen all year round. With its bright red breast it is familar throughout the year and especially at Christmas!  Robins sing nearly all year round and despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are quick to drive away intruders.

Latin name

Pica pica

Family

Crows and allies (Corvidae)

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.

Purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail. Non-breeding birds will gather together in flocks.

Seen all year round

Found across England, Wales and N Ireland, but more localised in Scotland.

Latin Name

Turdus viscivorus

Family Turdidae.

They nest in trees, laying several eggs in a neat cup-shaped nest lined with grass.

The male sings its loud melodious song from a tree, rooftop or other elevated perch, often during bad weather or at night, and starting relatively early in the spring.

It is omnivorous, eating insects, worms and berries. A Mistle Thrush will defend a berry-bearing tree against other thrushes in winter.

The sexes are similar, with plain greyish brown backs and neatly round-spotted underparts.

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.

nywhere there are scattered bushes and trees, rough ground with thistles and other seeding plants. Likes orchards, parks, gardens, heathland and commons. Less common in upland areas and most numerous in southern England.

They eat seeds and insects and berries too.

A common countryside bird found in woods and hedges, but mostly found close to man on farmland and in parks, town and village gardens and orchards. Only absent from upland areas without trees and bushes.

The Greenfinch (or Green Linnet) is a large stocky finch with a distinctly forked tail. It's about the size of a Great Tit.

In summer, the adult male is mostly olive-green except for yellow edges to their outer primary wing feathers and tail feathers, and a more yellow rump. The coverts, cheeks and undertail coverts are greyish. During the winter, the male becomes duller.

The adult female has grey-brown, slightly streaky upperparts, the underparts are tinged with yellow and there is less yellow on the wings and tail than the male.

The bills and legs of both sexes are flesh-coloured.

Juveniles are similar to the female but have darker streaks above and below. At first glance they can be mistaken for House Sparrows.

The Coal Tit is a small tit, in fact the smallest European tit, and could be confused with the almost indistinguishable Marsh Tit and Willow Tit if it was not for the white patch on the nape. While it behaves like a Blue Tit, there is no blue in its plumage.

The upperparts are a olive-grey, the underparts buff coloured. The crown and large bib are black, while the cheeks and nape are white. There are also two white wing bars on each wing - this feature separates it from the Marsh and Willow Tits if the nape is not visible. The legs are blue-grey.

Juveniles are browner above, and the underparts, cheeks, nape and wing bars are more yellow.

Insects, beech mast and conifer seeds are among the Coal Tit's natural diet.

In the garden, they prefer black sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts and occasionally suet.

The Coal Tit's small (15 mm by 12 mm) eggs are smooth and glossy, and white with reddish-brown speckles. The female incubates the eggs by herself. After the young hatch, they are fed by both parents.