Ah sorry My other half cannot hear either, I have to shout. Higher pitches are bad for him.
I am chuffed for you to have good bins and now you have seen them you might be able to recognise them more easily, sort of eye training. They are a bit more like little bobbles with wings flying round, compared to blue tits
People are always quick to dismiss conifers as having no benefit to wildlife, but they are a favourite haunt of goldcrests. We get them regularly here, although you don't see them as often as other birds - they're quite secretive. Lovely wee things
Yes, I only ever see them on a couple of Scots Pine I grew from seed. I think they feed on aphids which infest the growing tips. Very shy and likely far more about than we realise.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
We have several Scots Pine in the garden, one with branches not far from the bedroom window. I frequently see Goldcrests hopping about in the branches, collecting insects, and often hovering almost like hummingbirds. I’m now hoping to see a firecrest, which sometimes flock with goldcrests. No luck yet.
My first ever goldcrest: a friend visited my garden and immediately said "There's a goldcrest by the pond." Pretty unlikely it was its first visit, but easy not to notice. Often seen them since, though not for a while - and usually in or near the pond. There are conifers nearby. Like long-tailed tits, goldcrests don't seem bothered by nearby humans.
Since seeing the goldcrest, the song thrush has turned up and a pair of chaffinch ( which usually don't appear until summer) I wonder if the wild food is running low this year.
My most beautiful moment was a few years ago. I had seen a Goldcrest several times in my garden over the years. Mainly on the berberis darwinii where many feeders are hanging.
One day I noticed a goldcrest fluttering up and down the side window of the garage. It had a mouth full of insects. On closer inspection, I realised its chick was trapped inside the garage and fluttering on the inside of the window. I went in the garage and fairly easily managed to gently capture the chick and take it outside. I popped it on the low wall next to the Hawthorn where its parent was hopping about. I took a couple of steps back and the parent flew down and immediately began feeding the baby. I will never forget this, it was one of the best moments of my life. We still see a goldcrest flitting about on the berberis, not every year but luckily, seen one several times this year.
A few years ago, I'm convinced that a blackbird led me down the garden to where its chick was trapped underneath some garden netting. I was able to free it.
And last summer, I found a young swift from one of my nestboxes on the ground in the garden. I know my swifts - it seemed strong, of a size/weight probably capable of flight, but had evidently failed in its single attempt to fledge. Since it was nearly dark, I kept it in a box overnight, and next day took it to the wide-open recreation ground (so if it failed to fly, it would be easy to recover). Placing it on my hand, it looked around for a while, then off it went - initially parallel to the ground (I feared it would end up grounded among tall trees several hundred yards away), but gradually it gained height, cleared the trees, then up into the sky until invisible. All being well, it would have headed off to Africa, will have remained in the air ever since, and might be back in this area a couple of months or so.
Had it failed to fly, the choices would have been to put it back in a nestbox to be fed by the adults for a few more days, or to take it to a local swift-rehabilitator I know. The other year, I had one that could only manage to fly gradually downwards - I took that one to her, and after she'd fed it for a few days, it flew successfully. If in that situation again - I don't know - maybe I'd attempt the rehab myself. I know what they need, which is insects (and definitely not cat/dog food, etc.).
Posts
I am chuffed for you to have good bins and now you have seen them you might be able to recognise them more easily, sort of eye training.
They are a bit more like little bobbles with wings flying round, compared to blue tits
Yes, I only ever see them on a couple of Scots Pine I grew from seed. I think they feed on aphids which infest the growing tips. Very shy and likely far more about than we realise.
One day I noticed a goldcrest fluttering up and down the side window of the garage. It had a mouth full of insects. On closer inspection, I realised its chick was trapped inside the garage and fluttering on the inside of the window. I went in the garage and fairly easily managed to gently capture the chick and take it outside. I popped it on the low wall next to the Hawthorn where its parent was hopping about. I took a couple of steps back and the parent flew down and immediately began feeding the baby. I will never forget this, it was one of the best moments of my life. We still see a goldcrest flitting about on the berberis, not every year but luckily, seen one several times this year.