Home

Fred

Sarah

Jenny

Garden

Scotland

Site map

Siskins and redpolls, Spring 2007-8 and 2010   Redpolls, 4 March 2008 In February and March 2007 there was an irruption of siskins and redpolls in the area. Although we have had siskins for the majority of recording weeks over the years, we have very rarely seen redpolls. They had occasionally arrived with siskins, but did not feed in the garden until we put out nyger. Numbers started increasing in late February 2007, and by the first week in March we were getting by far the largest counts we had ever had of both these species. I scattered nyger on our ground feeder to give a wider feeding area for the redpolls. I also started recording daily instead of weekly, and the maximum numbers seen at once were as below. On 23rd February 2008 we suddenly had a huge rise in numbers again. The numbers were even higher, with our largest count ever for siskins. We had no large counts in 2009, but in 2010 they arrived earlier - in mid-January - and with even greater numbers of redpolls. Siskins and redpolls, 12 March 2008 Counts for 2007-8 2007 siskins redpolls   2008 siskins redpolls   wb 04/02  2  -   wb 03/02 16  -   wb 11/02 14  -   wb 10/02  7  -   wb 18/02 30  1   22/02 28  -   23/02 45  7 largest ever total of siskins 24/02 18  1           25/02 20  5           26/02 36 14           27/02 20  6   28/02 20  6   28/02 18  6   29/02 27 10   01/03 14  6   01/03 27 11   02/03  3  -   02/03 14  7   03/03 14  3   03/03 40 17   04/03 29 12   04/03 11 15   05/03 37 12 maximum no. of siskins 05/03 27 23   06/03 13  7   06/03 30 20   07/03  9 12   07/03 35 20   08/03  3  8   08/03 43 25   09/03 16 16 maximum no. of redpolls 09/03 21  3   10/03 14 13 a sparrowhawk hit the window at 7:50, failing to make a catch 10/03 30 23   11/03 14  9   11/03 26 14   12/03  9 12   12/03 35 37 maximum no. of redpolls 13/03 18 15   13/03 16 23   14/03 12 10   14/03 31 17   15/03  7 13   15/03 22 20   16/03 10  8 numbers low because I was working outside 16/03  9 12   17/03 27 12   17/03  1  -   18/03 16 12   18/03  1  -   19/03  7 10   19/03  1  -   20/03  3  1   20/03  4  -   21/03  2  -   21/03  -  -   22/03  1  1   22/03  -  -   23/03  2  1   23/03  -  -   24/03  -  1   24/03  -  -     18 January 2010 Siskins, redpolls and goldfinches on a nyger feeder in our garden. At 12' you can see, from top to bottom, a goldfinch (left), a siskin (right) and a redpoll (left)   19 January 2010 Counts for 2010 Date siskins redpolls goldfinches bramblings   wb 03/01 - 1 6 -   wb 10/01 5 3 12 -   17/01 11 4 11 2   18/01 14 11 3 -   19/01 14 25 6 -   20/01 26 42 5 -   21/01 16 32 2 -   22/01 25 46 3 2   23/01 14 50 2 -   24/01 34 50 2 - maximum no. of siskins 25/01 14 62 4 1   26/01 15 64 1 -   27/01 19 53 2 -   28/01 4 48 1 -   29/01 7 63 3 -   30/01 1 24 1 1   31/01 - 14 - -   01/02 - 3 - -   02/02 9 60 2 -   03/02 16 65 - 1   04/02 15 60 1 ?   05/02 13 84 2 - largest ever count of redpolls 06/02 15 58 1 ?   07/02 15 70 2 -   08/02 5 40+ 1 - up to 60 redpolls present 09/02 1 34   -   10/02 - -   -   11/02 - -   -   12/02 - 1   -   13/02 - -   -   14/02 2 1 2 -   15/02 12 37 3 -   16/02 11 71 1 -   17/02 11 64 1 1   18/02 5 49 - -   19/02 11 38 1 -   20/02 1 30 - ?   21/02 - 14 1 1   22/02 - 4 1 ?   23/02 - 1 - -   24/02 8 51 2 ?   25/02 11 55 1 1   26/02 26 51 3 -   27/02 28 44 1 -   28/02 8 40 1 -   01/03 - 3 1 -   02/03 - 1 - -   03/03 - 1 1 -   03/03 - - 1 - 1 dead redpoll 03/03 - - - -   Redpoll, 5 Feb 2010