16th April 2020

16th April 2020

Greenfinches, Siskins and Red Squirrels

Male Greenfinch (Creative Commons - credit Charles J Sharp)

A welcome reappearance at our West Tempar bird feeders is a pair of greenfinches - not seen on our feeders for some time. Greenfinches have been subject to a disease, Tichomonosis, which is caused by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae. The disease is thought to have been responsible for a steep decline in the numbers of greenfinches in Britain.

The greenfinch and the siskin both have green and yellow plumage and can be confused but the greenfinch is larger, perhaps slightly larger than a sparrow. Both species appear at Rannoch bird feeders and can visit at the same time which gives a good opportunity for comparison. In both species the male is more brightly coloured than the female.

Male Siskin (Creative Commons - credit Francesco Veronesi)

In the last two days a red squirrel has returned to our bird feeders at West Tempar.

In the autumn we had four every day. I know that other people have also noticed a drop in squirrel visits but some people (for example Robin and Penny) at least, have already had them return. Walter and others attribute the drop in numbers to predation by pine martens. If so, the very large numbers of voles this spring may deflect their predatory attentions.

Red squirrel (Creative Commons - credit Hernán De Angelis)

A chiffchaff heard at West Tempar today