Garden birds

[tegwini]

Here in rural Wiltshire - almost in Hamphire, overlooking part of the New Forest, and close to a large Woodland Trust forest, we have  numerous birds visit and live in our garden.  Perhaps 20-25 species.  And this year a large family - or two ?  of blackbirds have sucessfully raised a very large brood.   Admittedly we do encourage them & make some effort to feed them, especially in winter and have had nesting boxes around the garden for a few years. We find some of them them almost tame, especially the robins. And we love having them in our garden.

In France by contrast, on the edge of a forest, with most of the garden left wild with a natural forest, we hardly see any birds.  We can hear them, and have tried to put out some treats, but these are not eaten and we have hardly seen any near the house or on the lawn.

Can anyone explain why, and suggest what we can do - bearing in mind that we are not in France full-time at present.

Thanks

Tegwini

[odile]

Hi Tegwini - in the UK and in our Jura house, we have thousands of birds - very little pesticides are used in either area, we don't use chemicals in the garden - and in either area, not even the hardest thug would shoot a blackbird or a thrush. Both species love grapes and other fruit. We rarely get to eat any our cherries- and our raspberries, currants, blackberries, apples, pears - get raided. But when we lie in bed listening to the dawn chorus- we know it's worth a lot more to us. I am afraid that in France they are shot in their millions, and that heavy pesticide use also has a huge toll. Where are you in France?

[Michael]

I think the answer to your question, to a large extent, is in your last paragraph. It makes so much difference when you feed the birds on a regular basis. We have been here just over two years and my garden bird species list is now fifty. Whilst inevitably, numbers will vary from area to area, I never saw this variety where we lived in rural U.K.

[odile]

when we get over to the Jura, as soon as we fill the feeders, birds flock over- as though they had been waiting for us! Sparrows, chaffinches, green finches, nut hatches, Northern chaffinches, the odd robin. Too high altitude for blackbirds and thrushes. (950m)

[chris pp]

There is no shortage of birds in the Vienne and although there have been declines, sometimes severe declines, with certain species there are other species which have increased in numbers. It must be said that there are more losers than winners and it is mainly the result of modern agricultural practises and habitat loss and this continues.

So, whether you actually see the birds or not will depend on when you are here Tegwini and how skilled you are at knowing where to look. Here at APP we have masses of birds on the land and some 32 species that nest, please feel free to visit on Sundays. (Sundays are open days for visitors) or just get in touch. In addition to APP I'm a local rep. for the LPO in south Vienne.

Here is a list of birds that are present here at APP or flying over at one time of the year or another, some are permanent.

Greater spotted woodpecker, Lesser spotted woodpecker, Green woodpecker, Magpie, Jay, Crow, Raven, Collared dove, Woodpigeon; Turtle dove, Golden oriole, Hoopoe, Hen harrier, Montague’s harrier, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Goshawk, Sparrow hawk, Short toed tree creeper, Great tit, Blue tit, Coal tit, Long tailed tit, Robin, Chiff chaff, Melodious warbler, Black cap, Wren, Mistle thrush, Song thrush, Blackbird, Starling, Chaffinch, Green finch, Gold finch, Meadow pipit, Tree pipit, Quail, Black redstart, Little owl, Barn owl, Tawny owl, Spotted flycatcher, Fire crest, Nightingale, House sparrow, Dunnock, Haw finch, Cuckoo, Nightjar, Cranes, White stork, Grey heron, Coot, Grasshopper warbler; Swallow, House martin, Black kite, Cirl bunting, Stonechat, Fieldfare, Siskin, Brambling, Nuthatch, Short toed eagle.

 

Chris

[tegwini]

Many thanks all

Odile - we're in the Vienne - NE (30 mins) of Poitiers- overlooking the River Vienne - La France profonde,  but we love it here!

Many thanks Chris, interesting list of birds,  my definite favourite is the Hoopoe.   I would love to visit the APP and find out more about French birdlife.  I am not sure what the APP and LPO are.    For decades I have had this interest, here & in S Africa, and have a shelf full of bird books including Roberts, although I am not a 'twitcher'!  It would be lovely to see some wild life in the garden/forest and not just the fouine that visits our roof occasionally. We are hoping he will go elsewhere!

At present we only get to France as and when, but about 4-6 times pa - next visit this Christmas, perhaps we might try again to help them out if it's as cold as last year.

Regards

Tegwini

[ViVienne]

we have loads of birds in our garden in the Vienne too, we are only there for a couple of weeks at a time, I am a bit rubbish at identifying them, by the time I've looked them up in the book they have flown off!! we did however identify the Nightingale that kept us awake all night for a whole fortnight (not complaining though.) I think I am going to have to resort to taking photo's of them and then looking them up. It's amazing to see so many birds of prey and song birds, we do get some in our garden in England but nowhere near as many. I think we too will be paying a visit to Chris in the spring.

[chris pp]

I've edited my post as I realised that it was a bit unclear. The list of birds was for our land and not for the Vienne, that would have been a much larger list.

Association Planete Passion.

Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux.

Chris

 

 

 

[Thebiga]

We have a two acre garden and we have plenty of birds here in loire atlantique. We had a bird watcher come here a year or so ago and he saw at least 40 species in our garden and the field next door. We see green and spotted woodpeckers on a almost daily rate and we get the blue tits nest right outside in a bird box every year which is nice to see.

[tegwini]

Thanks all for the cheerful news - perhaps more effort from me  needed!  

I should have mentioned that we never use pesticides, herbicides  either.  The only danger to our visiting birds is our neighbours' cats - and we are careful there too with nesting box and feeding table positioning. 

Regards

Tegwini

[chris pp]

The decline continues..

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/12/monitoring.html

Chris

[odile]

I know lack of habitat, increased used of pesticides, winter crops, etc, all contribute to the loss. but it is also a fact that in France even skylarks are shots in huge numbers every year. Maybe Chris could post the list he gave us on another thread recently. thanks. In the UK not even the hardest thug would even think of shooting a skylark!

[chris pp]

Vis a vis the Skylark in France, perhaps this will shed some light on how they are hunted, this is called 'Chasse traditionale" to get round EU regulations.

Les préparatifs de la chasse

Ma pantière ou chasse à l'alouette est composée de deux pantes de 20 m sur 2,50 m et d'une cabane à laquelle j'ai ajouté une « salle à manger » extérieure pour recevoir des invités. J'ai scellé les ressorts dans des blocs de ciment et je dois entretenir la cabane et travailler le sol.

Une journée de chasse.

Je chasse du début du mois d'octobre à la mi-novembre. Dans la saison de la chasse, j'ai droit à un quota de 220 alouettes.

Un peu avant le lever du jour, je tends les filets que je vérifie minutieusement. Je ratisse le sol. Je prends les appeaux dans leur cage, je leur mets le corset que j'attache au bout du balancier avec un émerillon. Je rejoins le poste de guet et je vérifie mes sifflets.

La brume se lève le soleil apparaît, une bonne journée de chasse s'annonce. L'oreille tendue, j'entends les premières alouettes. Je commence à siffler mais je ne vois rien. Avec le vent de nord, elles passent très haut dans le ciel, dans la brume restante.
Au bout d'un moment, j'en entends à nouveau. J'aperçois le vol très haut dans le ciel. Je siffle, elles descendent. Je « sémère », c'est-à-dire je tire sur les ficelles pour actionner les appeaux. Le vol s'approche, tourne au-dessus du sol, quelques alouettes se posent. Je ferme les deux pantes, cinq oiseaux restent prisonniers sous le filet. Je les délivre de leur piège. Deux vont devenir appeaux à la place des anciens à qui je rends la liberté. Les trois autres sont enfermés dans une cage, ils iront dans ma volière.

Je retends les filets, je ramasse les plumes et je rejoins mon poste de guet. Durant toute la matinée, les vols se suivent. Je réussis à attraper dix-huit autres oiseaux jusqu'à midi. Je suis content de ma chasse : demain, nous ferons une belle brochette. Pour aujourd'hui, la chasse est terminée, le temps va changer, des nuages arrivent à l'horizon. Il n'y aura pas de passage cet après-midi. En effet, durant tout le repas pris à la chasse, je n'entends plus aucun oiseau. Seuls passent des vols de palombes qui fuient la perturbation météorologique annoncée. Je récupère les appeaux que je remets dans leur cage. Je ratisse le sol et je referme les filets en espérant que demain soit une bonne journée de chasse.

 

Chris

[Patf]

We live in a cereal-growing valley, and the farmers do spray pesticides and herbicides, but usually in the spring.

There are lots of birds around, and at the moment they are stuffing themselves on the remains of the cut maize. There are clouds of hundreds of small brown birds with a white patch on their back above the tail. They move so fast I can't see anything else about them. I wonder what they are?

We have several species in our garden, but they are very wary of our cats, so it's difficult to find a safe place to put feed for them.

[odile]

Thanks for that Chris. Tradition has a lot to answer for - a skylark kebab! does anybody want a translation of this 'wonderful' hunting day?

Again, the use of pesticides and modern farming method, loss of habitat - take a much bigger toll than traditional hunting - but it is still pathetic to hear that some people get so much joy in killing endangered song birds.

[chris pp]

See this link for more on "netting skylarks".

http://bouchiret.free.fr/pages/Alouette.html

Chris

 

[odile]

don't know who to feel more sorry for, those which end up in kebabs- or those who are kept in cages from year to year fed antibiotics?

[cassis]

I haven't updated the list in a while but the commonest ones we get are here:

Garden birds in Normandy

We finally broke through fifty species spotted on our patch this year. [:D]

[ventodue]

[quote user="Shivy"]I am a bit rubbish at identifying them, by the time I've looked them up in the book they have flown off!! [/quote]

Hi Shivy,

It's very difficult to identify birds, particularly small and active ones, by looking in the book while trying to watch them!  The way to do it is to take notes ('field notes' in the parlance) and then check these against the book after the birds have flown.  (In fact, this is still the recognised way of reporting sightings of rare species - if you have no field notes, the scrutiny committee will be very unlikely to accept your sighting.)

The old-fashioned way to take field notes was to write them down in  a notebook - not fool-proof, of course, 'cos, as you're writing, the bird may fly.  But technology has come to our assistance.  All you need is a small tape recorder or memo recorder.  You can talk into this and never let the bird out of your sight.

I use an old technology Philips one; but £20 will buy you something modern like this http://uk.shopping.com/xPO-Oregon-Scientific-VR393.

HTH

Craig

[ventodue]

[quote user="Patf"]

<snip>

There are clouds of hundreds of small brown birds with a white patch on their back above the tail. They move so fast I can't see anything else about them. I wonder what they are?[/quote]

Hi Patf,

If, when disturbed, they're flying up from the ground into nearby trees and bushes, they could well be Bramblings, aka Pinson du Nord or Fringilla montifringilla.  One of the diagnostic field notes of this species is a clear white rump in flight.  They often flock with Chaffinches.

Go http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/pinson.du.nord.html or http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/brambling/index.asp#

At this time of year, the males aren't as black-headed as they are in summer.  They breed in Scandanavia and Northern Russia and winter in western and central Europe.

HTH

Craig

[ViVienne]

think I might stick to photo's or notes then, the neighbours already think the English are mad without walking around the garden talking to myself!! thanks for the tip

[Patf]

Thanks for that, ventodue. I'll have to go back and have another look, try to see them again. But I didn't think they were as colourful as that. Just a dull brown with a splash of white. And as they flew up, startled, a loud cheep cheep cheep from all of them.

Actually the french link does seem to describe their behaviour and call.

 

[ventodue]

[quote user="Shivy"]think I might stick to photo's or notes then, the neighbours already think the English are mad without walking around the garden talking to myself!! [/quote]

Ha!  In that case, I think it is almost your duty to go out there and confirm them in their suspicions! [:D]

Cheers

Craig

[ventodue]

[quote user="Patf"]

Thanks for that, ventodue. I'll have to go back and have another look, try to see them again. But I didn't think they were as colourful as that. Just a dull brown with a splash of white. And as they flew up, startled, a loud cheep cheep cheep from all of them. Actually the french link does seem to describe their behaviour and call. [/quote]

Ok, most likely chaffinches, then.  I'll admit to being a bit uncertain when you said they were mainly brown ... but a white rump is diagnostic of brambling, chaffinches showing white only in the wing and outer tails.  And the two species do form mixed flocks at this time of year - they're reckoned to be closely related.

Cheers

Craig

[chris pp]

I'm right with you there Craig.[:D] I initially thought Brambling but more likely mixed finches. Brambling tend towards forming their own groups, frequently in poplars near rivers for winter. They also seem to follow rivers quite often and can be seen flying along them in groups.

Have you noticed that?

Chris