There’s a bird which occurs regularly on the Reserve, but which at this time of the winter isn’t that easy to see up close. Amongst the tops of the alders among the ditches and beck there are regular flocks of siskins, a small finch, which feeds largely on the tiny seeds of the Alder. Males are yellow and green, the cap and chin are black, the undersides speckled darker, the females generally pale green with less marked speckling.
Gregarious and often noisy with a wheezy call, their acrobatic behaviour seeking the seeds as they move through the canopy is a giveaway. Photographing them at this time of year is difficult in the tree tops so we were pleased to have received a great photo of a male Siskin feeding among the Alder cones recently from John Carrette. Towards the end of the winter as the natural seeds are depleting they will often come readily to peanuts in gardens, a great time to see these superb birds close up, thought they can be easy to overlook.
As April approaches they will suddenly disappear, heading back to the main summer breeding areas in Wales and Scotland, and also back across the North Sea to the birch forest of Scandinavia.
