Nice little surprise.

Wild-Woman · #1 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 03:11 PM

Monday mornings aren't seen as the best moment in the week, but it was for me this morning. A usual, when I opened my curtains I counted my goldfinches-all present and correct and then I noticed my extra little visitor. A lovely little male siskin feeding in amongst the golfinches on the nyger seed feeder. It's a first for me and the garden. I was delighted and really didn't want to go to work, but watch him. I hope he returns tomorrow. I think you all have probably had one in your gardens, but that was special for me.ww

wildone · #2 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 03:17 PM

Very pleased for you WW. It always gives a lift to life when the happy unexpected happens.

glsammy · #3 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

I think you all have probably had one in your gardens, but that was special for me.ww

No such luck!

Glad for you though..

Mark43 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 04:21 PM

Goldfinches and Siskins.

What are they then

Actually i saw my first ever Goldfinch on Saturday afternoon but have never seen a Siskin.

You are very lucky to have such birds in your garden ww.

John · #5 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 05:57 PM

We moved here Nov 2004 and through that winter didn't see a Goldfinch or Siskin at any time in the garden.

A few weeks ago a lone Goldfinch suddenly arrived and frequented the feeders on a daily basis for almost a week. Suddenly one became three, three became ten, ten became approximately twenty and so on until we are now having upwards of fifty of these beauties at a given time. Always on both the Sunflower Hearts or the Nyger seed. The Goldfinches are extremely noisy and argumentative but they are great to watch as they battle it out for positioning on the feeders.

Three weeks ago two Siskins arrived on our feeders and also frequented the feeders on a daily basis. After a few days a third bird joined them and about a couple of days later a male and a female also arrived and we now have 4 male and one female Siskin here everyday, also feeding on both the Hearts and Nyger.

It is a great feeling to see the Siskins as not everyone gets to see them in their garden

I'm well chuffed with their arrival so I know how you must feel with your visiting Siskin.

John

matt_xyz · #6 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 06:05 PM

I put a niger seed feeder up around 3-4 weeks ago, with the hope of attracting some goldfinches. After a couple of weeks a pair of siskins appeared and have visited every day since. This was the first time I'd seen siskins so they're very welcome. Still no goldfinches though. I've never seen a single goldfinch in our vicinity - I just don't think there can be any around here!

Matt

Lincs Yellowbelly · #7 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 06:22 PM

It took us a good 6 months to get the Goldfinch to come to our niger feeder, so give it time and the will appear

On the siskin front, this year around our pond we have had huge numbers of siskin, a flock of around 50+ birds virtually all the way through since November

plus the odd suprise in a couple of Redpoll feeding with them one day

Wild-Woman · #8 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 06:25 PM

Thanks for your replies. John-how on earth do you keep up the supply of food!? I fill up two sunflower heart feeders every day for my dozen or so, so 50 must be a nightmare to keep up with! That's what you call dedication. Really can't wait to see if the siskin is back tomorrow.
I had to wait patiently for my goldfinches. One little scouting goldfinch arrived one day,went off to tell his mates, his mates told their girlfriends and now they all come round for nyger and sunflower takeaway.

Lincs Yellowbelly · #9 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 07:21 PM

If anybody has a decent sized garden, then Alders are really great trees to attract Goldfinch, Siskin and Redpoll, especially throughout the winter

these tree's do grow very quickly though, and a big garden would be needed

glsammy · #10 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

I put a niger seed feeder up around 3-4 weeks ago, with the hope of attracting some goldfinches. After a couple of weeks a pair of siskins appeared and have visited every day since. This was the first time I'd seen siskins so they're very welcome. Still no goldfinches though. I've never seen a single goldfinch in our vicinity - I just don't think there can be any around here!

Matt

I used to think that Matt. We had never seen a Goldfinch until the RSPB garden watch, when for the first time ever, we saw one! I don't know if it's been back, because I'm always chasing around the Country trying to find them..

matt_xyz · #11 (**permalink**) 06-03-2006, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glsammy

We had never seen a Goldfinch until the RSPB garden watch, when for the first time ever, we saw one!

it was nice of him to turn up to be counted!

Hopefully one day some will turn up here. There's no shortage of greenfinches, we have a flock of 6-8 almost constantly eating from the sunflower seed feeder. As was stated above, I can't imagine how John fed 50 goldfinches. If they're as hungry as greenfinches the feeders must have needed refilling every hour!

Matt

Wild-Woman · #12 (**permalink**) 07-03-2006, 06:24 AM

Yesssssss! He's back!!! It's times like this that it would be great to have a really good camera. He's quite bold too. The goldies don't worry him even when they squabble. Think I'll have a look on e-bay tonight to see if there's any good second hand cameras. Oh well, suppose I better go to work. :-(

John · #13 (**permalink**) 07-03-2006, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

it was nice of him to turn up to be counted!

Hopefully one day some will turn up here. There's no shortage of greenfinches, we have a flock of 6-8 almost constantly eating from the sunflower seed feeder. As was stated above, I can't imagine how John fed 50 goldfinches. If they're as hungry as greenfinches the feeders must have needed refilling every hour!

Matt

As you may have read, we had all our feeders stolen the other day. I have managed to replace some but we did have about twenty or so feeders spread around 3 feeder stations, plus two large tables and 3 smaller tables.

I have had 6 large Sunflower Heart feeders on the go and have to fill them up on a daily basis. I also have about 6 or more different types of feed on the go all the time and this has brought in fairly large numbers of a lot of the common species. 20 or more Greenfinches at least 10 Chaffinches. I have lost count of the Blue & Great Tits. We have a party of up to 10 L T Tits that drop in occasionally, loads of Robins, Dunnocks and Blackbirds. Only a few Starlings visit (which is a surprise as there are usually about 50 flying over the houses). We have at least 1 Coal Tit, 2 pair of Collared Dove and about 20 or More Wood Pigeons that drop in at different times. We are also privelaged to get the G S Woodpecker on our nuts fairly often and a Green Woodpecker that uses our front garden (nearly always when I'm out though. lol)

All these as well as the Goldfinch and Siskins that are here on a daily basis. We are actually bulk buying about every 6 weeks or so.

Willow · #14 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 07:19 PM

Hi Wild-Woman - and everyone!

I just had to add my fantastic piece of news to this thread - I now have siskins in my garden too!

- and, yep, like the rest of you who are lucky enough to have these delicate, beautiful little visitors in their gardens - I'm also totally over the moon!

They've been visiting since the end of last week (so far a male and female together - and today, two males) - and it's the first time I've ever seen them in my garden! At one point, a scene of pure magic was framed in the lenses of my binoculars - "our" great spotted woodpecker on the fat cake, with two siskins on the seed feeder beside her! Absolutely made my day! I was so spellbound watching them, I ended up letting my lunch go completely cold!

Alan Hyde · #15 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 07:36 PM

Hi Wildwoman,
Loved the siskin story ! We never see siskins in our garden but a few years ago one did visit while I was gardening . I saw her/him sitting in our weeping birch and decided to creep closer for a better look . Then I crept even closer ... and closer ... and closer untill the little birdy was just inches from my face! It was at that point I noticed a close ring around it's leg , it must have been a hand reared escapee.

The siskin hung around for nearly an hour then flew away , but it was a lovely experience .

John · #16 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 08:05 PM

Out in our garden this morning, before I went to work, the female Siskin count had gone from 1 to 4 but the males have gone from 4 to 3. Still that makes 7 Siskins now. A lovely bonus for us.

John

Lincs Yellowbelly · #17 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Hyde

Hi Wildwoman,
Loved the siskin story ! We never see siskins in our garden but a few years ago one did visit while I was gardening . I saw her/him sitting in our weeping birch and decided to creep closer for a better look . Then I crept even closer ... and closer ... and closer untill the little birdy was just inches from my face! It was at that point I noticed a close ring around it's leg , it must have been a hand reared escapee.

The siskin hung around for nearly an hour then flew away , but it was a lovely experience .

The BTO do a lot of ringing of wild birds around the country, so the chances are it was one ringed by them

Alan Hyde · #18 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 08:42 PM

Thanks Yellowbelly, but that would not explain how tame this siskin was.
Most strange

Lincs Yellowbelly · #19 (**permalink**) 16-03-2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Hyde

Thanks Yellowbelly, but that would not explain how tame this siskin was.
Most strange

I've found siskins to be quite bold at time, often not being particularly bothered by human presence

i've noticed that when walking around, goldfinch quickly fly off when you get near to them, but siskin are quite happy feeding right above you

Wild-Woman · #20 (**permalink**) 22-03-2006, 04:48 PM

I've been told that my 9 siskins may be passing through. Do you think this would definitely be the case or do some stay resident as my bird book suggests? I shall be so sad if they go. We do have a wood about 1m away that is mainly silver birch. Would they put down roots there? ww

nightshade · #21 (**permalink**) 22-03-2006, 06:12 PM

WW hello,my garden has had siskins and bramblings for the first time,they moved into an area about a mile away and drift in and out
Regarding alder it makes a good hedging component and seems to prune ok
Hope the birds stay a little longer

Lincs Yellowbelly · #22 (**permalink**) 22-03-2006, 06:36 PM

Still a few siskin around the lake i go to today

still finding the seeds in teh alder

Also a little Goldcrest was feeding 4ft above my head on a number of occasions, and a Song Thrush signing his head off for a couple of hours

Stuart · #23 (**permalink**) 22-03-2006, 06:48 PM

Well done WW I too had a nice surprise today a Song thrush!! sad to say it did'nt stay long a Blackbird chased it off.

John · #24 (**permalink**) 23-03-2006, 07:42 AM

I had a brilliant surprise this morning with this bright, cold sunny start to the day. First of all the Siskins came down to drink in the small stream I have built (that is the benefit of having moving water when everything else is iced up). As I was watching these we had another very suprising visitor in the shape of a Male Reed Bunting on the bird table. This followed the fact that we had a male Blackcap three days ago and my missus saw a female Blackcap yesterday.

John

Wild-Woman · #25 (**permalink**) 23-03-2006, 04:15 PM

Oh that sounds just grand John. Have you got any photos of the stream? Really glad to hear about your reed bunting and blackcaps. I've never seen them. It's so rewarding when you know that what you have provided has attracted them. Tell me if you get a dipper!!!!!!!!! Cheers ww