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Birds in Greatstone
On the Seashore
Take a walk along the beach, when the tide is coming in or going out, and you will see various seabirds searching for food.
In the Garden
Gardens in Greatstone attract many birds, including house sparrows, collared doves, starlings, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, robins, magpies. To see what birds are in Shirley's Greatstone garden now, please see her webcam.
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Chaffinch
The Chaffinch's large double white wing bars, white tail edges and
greenish rump easily identify this 14–16 cm long species. The breeding
male is unmistakable, with his reddish underparts and a blue-grey cap.
The female is drabber and greener, but still obvious.
It builds its nest in a tree fork, and decorates the exterior with
moss
to make it less conspicuous. It lays about six eggs, which are
greenish-blue with purple speckling. The main food of the chaffinch is seeds, and adults also eat insects in the breeding season.
picture taken March 2010 in Peter's garden in Greatstone
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Blue Tit
The Blue Tit is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout Europe
and
in deciduous or mixed woodlands. It is a resident bird in that it does not migrate.
The azure blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye and
encircling the white cheeks to the chin give the Blue Tit a very
distinctive appearance.
The forehead and a bar on the wing are white.
The nape, wings and tail are blue; the back is yellowish green; the
under parts mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen.
The
bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown.
The Blue Tit will nest in any suitable hole in a tree, wall, or stump, or an
artificial nest box, often competing with House
Sparrows or Great Tits for the site.
picture taken March 2010 in Peter's garden in Greatstone
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Robin
Our National Bird and a common favourite, the Robin is easily
recognised by most people. It is a plump bird with bright orange-red breast, face,
throat and cheeks
edged with grey, a white belly and olive-brown upper parts. Males and females look identical, and young birds have no red breast and
are spotted with golden brown. Robins sing nearly all year round and
despite their cute appearance, they are aggressively territorial and are
quick to drive away intruders.
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Great Tit
The Great Tit is a distinctive bird, with a black head and neck,
prominent white cheeks, olive upperparts and yellow underparts. It feeds predominantly on insects
and similar small creatures. It has adapted well to human
changes in the environment and is a common and familiar bird in urban
parks and gardens.
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Starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized birds occurring naturally in the Old World, from Europe, Asia and Africa, to northern Australia.
The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the European Starling.
Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. Several species live around human habitation, and are effectively omnivores. Plumage is typically dark with a metallic sheen. Most species nest in holes, laying blue or white eggs.
Starlings have diverse and complex vocalizations, and have been known to embed sounds from their surroundings into their own calls, including car alarms, and human speech patterns.
picture taken March 2010 in the eves of a Greatstone house
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Live Webcam
Greatstone resident Shirley has set up a live webcam (below) to be able to watch the birds who visit her garden. The camera faces due North and looks through a kitchen window across the rear of her garden.
Shirley feeds the birds every morning, so there is usually plenty of activity and a feeding frenzy at various times during the day. Occasionally it may be necessary to take the camera off air, eg a family event in the back garden. However it will always be put back on-line again quite quickly.
Please note that the camera only operates during daylight hours.
On the Nature Reserve
The nature reserve is a great
place to see birds, particularly migratory birds in the spring and
autumn
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Coot
Found on Greatstone Lakes, Coots are medium-sized water birds and are close relatives to the moorhen. Coots have predominantly black plumage,
and, unlike many of the species they are usually easy to see, often
swimming in open water. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, but Coots can walk and run vigorously on strong legs, and have long toes
that are well adapted to soft, uneven surfaces.
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Swan
Swans, seen both on Greatstone Lakes and resting on fields, are the largest members of the duck family,
and are amongst the largest flying birds. The largest species,
including the mute swan (pictured), can reach length of over 60 inches/1.5m and weigh over 33 pounds/15kg. Their wingspans can be
almost 10 ft/3m.
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On the Farmland
To the west of Greatstone village, the fields of the local farms are a great feeding area for many birds.
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Tree Sparrow
The Tree Sparrow is 5–5½ in/12.5–14 cm long,
with a wingspan
of about 8.25 in/21 cm and a weight of 0.86 oz/24g,
making it roughly 10% smaller than the House Sparrow.
The adult's crown and nape are rich chestnut, and there is a kidney-shaped black ear patch on
each pure white cheek; the chin, throat, and the area between the bill
and throat are black. The upperparts are light brown, streaked with
black, and the brown wings have two distinct narrow white bars.
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Corn Bunting
The Corn Bunting is a large bulky bunting, 16-19cm long, has male and female plumages
similar. It is an unusual bunting because the sexes appear similar in
plumage, although the males are approximately 20% larger than females. Both sexes look something like larks, with
streaked grey-brown above, and whitish underparts. The song of the male is a repetitive metallic sound, usually likened
to jangling keys, which is given from a low bush, fence post or telephone
wires.
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Acknowledgement
The Greatstone Website is very grateful to Wikipedia for the use of many of the bird descriptions and pictures.
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