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Bedgebury's Birds

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Bedgebury's Birds Bullfinch Great tit The male bullfinch is a large colourful Bedgebury’s Birds The great tit is our largest tit. It is a black, finch, with a black head and a A beginner’s guide green and yellow bird. Both male and prominent pink chest, often seen in female have a chest/belly stripe but in the a pair with the duller female. Both Bedgebury Pinetum is home to a variety of resident and migrant male this is much thicker and easier to male and female have a white rump birds. A walk round the Pinetum and Forest is bound to turn up see. The young are much more yellow than and this can be quite visible when the a good selection of birds. All of the birds shown are residents the adults, lacking a black belly stripe and birds fly away from you. They are shy unless marked with an (M) and the season when you are most with a very dull black cap. From February birds, preferring to hide in shrubbery. likely to see them at Bedgebury. onwards, the male will start to sing. His Sometimes a soft slowly repeated ‘peu- song seems to say ‘tea-cher, tea-cher’. peu-peu’ may be the only indication This leaflet describes just some of the birds you may find here. A that they are present. bird book may be helpful for more information about these birds Coal tit and how to identify others. Smaller than a blue tit, the coal tit is a Chaffinch buff, brown and black bird with a white The chaffinch is a common resident cheek and a small white patch at the back at Bedgebury; the blue head and Water Birds of its head. Frequently found amongst pink underparts of the male are Mallard conifers, this is a common breeding bird at unmistakable. The females are much Mallard is the most common duck Bedgebury. In winter this bird will also join plainer and can easily be mistaken for you will see. It up-ends to feed, head in with roaming tit flocks. From February sparrows. Compared with sparrows underwater and tail upwards. This onwards, it will start to sing a fast high- they are slimmer, longer tailed and duck does not dive. The male has a pitched, two-syllable song resembling a have a plainer back with prominent green head and grey body and the squeaky bicycle pump. white wing-bars. female is brown. Both have a blue metallic flash on their wings. Young Marsh tit Goldfinch mallards are brown. Slightly bigger and much less common The goldfinch is a colourful small finch than a blue tit, the marsh tit is mainly with a small thin bill, red and white Tufted duck brown and buff with a dark ‘bib’ and face, and an obvious gold bar on the Tufted ducks are often seen on the shiny black cap. It does not have the white wings. A twittering call can alert you lake outside the Visitor Centre. They patch at the back of the head like a coal to the presence of this bird which, in dive to find food. The male is a very tit. The marsh tit is often seen in the lower winter, is often seen in flocks. In spring smart black and white duck while the branches of trees rather than high in the and early summer the male will often female and young are brown. Both canopy. Sometimes a distinctive ‘pit-chu’ sing from an exposed perch. male and female have a crest at the call will help you find this bird. back of the head, longer on the male than the female. Whilst this bird is a Long-tailed tit Brambling resident, during the winter numbers are Roaming flocks of this lovely little bird (M) Autumn/Winter increased by migrants who may have are a delight to see as they flit from tree Closely related and similar to the come from as far away as Russia. to tree trailing a tail that is longer than chaffinch, the brambling visits us in their body. They communicate constantly winter. This attractive finch has orange Moorhen with a variety of buzzing, squeaking and tones on its chest and largely white With a dark slate-blue and brown body, ‘prrrt-prrrt’ calls. By late January or early underparts. It is not pink, like the long green legs and red bill with a February, the flocks are breaking up as the chaffinch. The most prominent feature, yellow tip, the moorhen is not a duck. birds pair off to breed. usually seen in flight, is its white rump. It is a type of rail and does not have It is mainly found in flocks. This bird webbed feet. Although the bird can be Goldcrest often favours a roosting area behind seen swimming on water, bobbing its Our smallest bird and common all year the Visitor Centre. head as it swims, it is often seen walking round, the goldcrest is a tiny dumpy bird around on the grass or by the edge of with dark eyes in a plain face. Both males Siskin water. Youngsters are much browner and females have crests; the male has an Although a resident bird, the siskin is than the adults with a dirty white chin, orange crest and the female’s is yellow. easier to see in the winter since numbers dull red bill and white under-tail. They are usually found in conifers and are increased by migrant birds from sometimes high piping calls will alert you northern Europe. In winter this small Coot to their presence. In winter they will often lively, streaky yellow finch is often seen The coot has an all dark body and a join roving tit flocks so if you find a flock of in flocks, sometimes mixed with other white face and bill. It is not a duck and tits, you may well find goldcrest also. finches. The male has a small black cap does not have webbed feet. Spending and bib. The female is mainly streaked. much of its time on water, the coot will Firecrest Siskins are very agile often hanging do a little jump before diving to find The firecrest is similar to the goldcrest, but upside down to feed, enjoying alder and food. The young are mainly brown-grey is much rarer. Its white eye-stripe is very birch seeds. They call to each other with a with a white chin and pale bill. distinctive and gives the bird an angry variety of twittering calls. expression. The bronze patch on each shoulder and its green back can also Willow warbler Little grebe be quite noticeable. Although resident, (M) Spring/Summer This lovely little water bird with its numbers increase in the winter when birds The beautiful descending song of the powderpuff rear end is not a duck. arrive from the continent. It may join roving willow warbler is becoming much less It dives under the water with a little tit flocks. The firecrest often remains fairly frequent in the South East, however leap to catch small fish and then bobs low in the undergrowth and can sometimes Bedgebury is still an excellent place to back up like a cork. Generally, this be located by its repeated high-pitched call. hear and see this small active greenish bird prefers to stay close to vegetation warbler. It is very fond of birch trees around the edges of a lake. Little grebe Wren and next to the Visitor Centre lake is a will sometimes carry their young on This tiny brown bird with a cocked tail is good place to hear them during April their backs. common at Bedgebury wherever there and May. is undergrowth. Sometimes it will perch Small Birds openly, but more often all you will see is a Chiffchaff tiny bird with very short wings flying from (M) Spring/Summer Robin one area of undergrowth to another. Common and very similar to the The robin is a common breeding bird willow warbler in looks, the chiffchaff at Bedgebury and can easily be seen is another small greenish warbler. The throughout the year. The adults are song is the main feature separating very obvious with their red chests. Nuthatch these two species. The chiffchaff sings Youngsters, however, are brown and The only British bird that can climb down a a loud repetitive ‘chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff’. speckled. Although common all year, tree as well as going up, the nuthatch is a they are easier to see in the winter fairly common resident at Bedgebury. This as numbers increase due to migrant short-tailed bird has a blue back, black Blackcap birds arriving here to escape the cold in eye-stripe and white chin. A tapping noise (M) Spring/Summer northern Europe. or piercing call can give away the presence This bird, sometimes known as the of the bird. northern nightingale, sings a wonderful Dunnock flutey song from shrubberies or low Once known as the hedge sparrow, this trees. A common bird throughout unobtrusive bird is fairly common at Treecreeper spring and summer, the male has a Bedgebury, often seen near the ground The treecreeper is often seen creeping black cap and the female and young a in, or close to, undergrowth. Seen close up tree trunks and branches like a little brown cap. up, the greyish head and well-marked mouse. It sometimes makes high-pitched back makes this little brown bird quite calls like a squeaky tap. This bird has a House martin attractive. habit of flying low down onto a tree trunk, (M) Spring/Summer climbing up and then flying low down on to Frequently seen soaring in the skies the next trunk.
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