Farmyard birds

Zoo4m8

A post by Birdnuts in Nature in the News got me thinking, when we were involved in intensive sheep production we ground our own cereals to mix feed for the sheep, on winter days the variety of birds outside the Mill shed and the feed troughs was fascinating..
I counted forty two Yellowhammers one snowy morning, Chaffinchs by the dozen, Bramblings, Reed Buntings, linnets etc etc..
Now the sheep are gone and so are 80% of the birds..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's all down to food supply. Yellowhammer thrived around us when there was plenty of arable farming and sheds storing cereals. Today they are more or less gone, as the trend has drifted to pasture and livestock. But other species have moved in to the pastures.

The traditional farmyard was always a great place to spot birds and a fantastic classroom to bring budding birdwatchers to.

OpenYourEyes

Certainly a decline in overwinter survival has been implicated as a big factor in the decline of many passerines in this part of the world. Lack of winter stubbles in more recent years has made it even tougher!

Birdnuts

The loss of small oat fields and stubbles is behind the big decline in many species and the extinction of the Cornbunting - this is particulary an issue West of the Shannon where tillage has more or less disappeared along with the Yellowhammer....tis why I feed the likes of Reed Bunting with cheap oats from the Co-op on my place in North Mayo, got some Twite visiting last winter too:)

Benny mcc

Birdnuts wrote: »

The loss of small oat fields and stubbles is behind the big decline in many species and the extinction of the Cornbunting - this is particulary an issue West of the Shannon where tillage has more or less disappeared along with the Yellowhammer....tis why I feed the likes of Reed Bunting with cheap oats from the Co-op on my place in North Mayo, got some Twite visiting last winter too:)

How do you feed the oats? Out the land ?

Water John

The Wild Bird Cover (WBC) of the Glas Scheme was an effort to feed a range of wildlife over the winter. Not sure has it been successful?

Benny mcc

Ordered 5kg of quinoa seed for planting. Seems to be a good option for cover mix and feed over early winter. Not in glas but am trying to reintroduce grey partridge here in mayo

Birdnuts

Benny mcc wrote: »

How do you feed the oats? Out the land ?

I leave stuff in the yard plus they clean up after the Donkeys and Sheep around their feeders

Birdnuts

Water John wrote: »

The Wild Bird Cover (WBC) of the Glas Scheme was an effort to feed a range of wildlife over the winter. Not sure has it been successful?

Noticed a wide variation myself - seems to depend on the land use locally. If there is little or no tillage the birds seem to really pile into the WBC during the coldest months

Water John

Thought there was good use tow years ago but little last winter.

Birdnuts

Water John wrote: »

Thought there was good use tow years ago but little last winter.

Last winter was exceptionally benign which might explain that

Zoo4m8

First opportunity to look in here for a while, at my age it’s good to be busy ,
I suppose my original post was an indication of wildlife and bird life in particular interaction with modern farming methods, (I’d be the first to acknowledge that it’s not all good)
I still have Yellowhammers, four singing males this summer..I now leave clumps of gorse through the hedges at the times I get round to hedge cutting, two acres of waste ground has also been left to grow gorse, so there is a fairly stable population the last couple of years.
As indicated in posts above stubble is very important to a wide variety of over wintering birds, the EU says there has to be green cover over winter now but even though they say it’s to encourage wildlife plus preventing nitrates leaching it probably works better at the latter.
I did an experiment for my own interest a couple of years ago, one field that always had overwintering Skylarks and Snipe as well as all the usual finches was left with weeds and grasses that shot up post harvest and another had the straw from the combine chopped and the weed growth was sprayed with a weak herbicide.
The first field had the Skylarks and Snipe as usual plus a few Pheasants and that was it...the second field was alive with all types of birds over the winter, was very pleased to count fourteen Yellowhammers at one stage in a large flock of finches etc.
Unfortunately age and circumstances mean that my full time farming days are over and I won’t have much say in what happens next here but there are a couple of outfarms that I’m getting a lot of satisfaction from improving from a wildlife perspective despite the cynicism of the lads who have them rented!

feartuath

Water John wrote: »

The Wild Bird Cover (WBC) of the Glas Scheme was an effort to feed a range of wildlife over the winter. Not sure has it been successful?

Wild bird cover has worked around here with plenty of insect life,small birds and deer using it by night.
All depends on the type of crop planted.

feartuath

Water John wrote: »

The Wild Bird Cover (WBC) of the Glas Scheme was an effort to feed a range of wildlife over the winter. Not sure has it been successful?

Wild bird cover has worked around here with plenty of insect life,small birds and deer using it by night.
All depends on the type of crop planted.

wexandproud

seems to be lots of goldfinches around this year , i hear a lot of them as im cycling , lots of yellow hammers around the stubble fields around kilmore and plenty of young bullfinches along the ditches at the back of the house . don't see too many green finches though .
the resident swallows have the second clutch nearly reared . feckers have the window sill destroyed for the second time

Stigura

wexandproud wrote: »

The resident swallows have the second clutch nearly reared. Feckers have the window sill destroyed for the second time.

How's this?



Round here? It's chaffinches and great tits. Extremely localised (Corner of one of my hedges, localised!) family of house sparrows bringing up a piss poor third place

Seriously. Now ye've made me stop and think about it? Other than my starlings ~ which I practically 'breed' like a gamekeeper does pheasants ~ it's been a really schitti year, here.

Odd wren (one nested in another of my hedges). Robins. Odd dunnock. Woodpigeons seen. Family of magpies nested somewhere close. Gray crows about ~ but nothing remarkable even there!

Hell! I'm depressing myself here! Looking back? Hardly any blackbirds. Probably seen A song thrush.

If I started a list of the birds I Haven't seen, this year? That would get Seriously depressing!

wexandproud

nest is up under the eve of the house just over the window . most of the crap lands on window sill .
a blue tit actually used the nest this year before the swallows arrived , don't know if this is unusual or not as i would not class myself as an avid bird watcher , just casual .

Capercaillie

feartuath wrote: »

Wild bird cover has worked around here with plenty of insect life,small birds and deer using it by night.
All depends on the type of crop planted.

A lot of places have planted WBC on scrub that they have removed or grown on wet meadows. Removing a good habitat to plant a lesser habitat.

Stigura

wexandproud wrote: »

nest is up under the eve of the house just over the window . most of the crap lands on window sill .

That'll be a house marten. Ye lucky thing!

Can ye not fasten down a cover of 'vote for me' poster, for the duration? White side up. That'd keep the mess to minimal.

And, yeah; Sparrows are the usual culprits for grabbing their nests.

Benny mcc

Stigura wrote: »

That'll be a house marten. Ye lucky thing!

Can ye not fasten down a cover of 'vote for me' poster, for the duration? White side up. That'd keep the mess to minimal.

And, yeah; Sparrows are the usual culprits for grabbing their nests.

We have house marten here and I've seen sparrow cocks turf out the young house marten and then take over the nest

Stigura

Yep. I've heard of that, Benny. Never witnessed it myself, but ...

Benny mcc

I managed to save two and get them back in the nest but had to spend next two days chasing the sparrow away

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Benny mcc wrote: »

We have house marten here and I've seen sparrow cocks turf out the young house marten and then take over the nest

Yes, House Sparrows will certainly do that. I've seen them take over Tit boxes from nesting pairs as well. Wee bullies.

wexandproud

Stigura wrote: »

That'll be a house marten. Ye lucky thing!

Can ye not fasten down a cover of 'vote for me' poster, for the duration? White side up. That'd keep the mess to minimal.

And, yeah; Sparrows are the usual culprits for grabbing their nests.

thanks . just presumed it was swallows , just shows my lack of knowledge , all though i do love them coming and going . drives herself mad though .
if i was to use a '' vote for '' poster i'd probably turn it face side up just for the childish pleasure of it

Stigura

LMFAO! I must admit; I got absolutely sick and tired of this one, beady blue eye hanging around in my kitchen. Couldn't wait slap it face down on a nest box!