What to look for

• What birds might you see?
• Bird behaviour

Bird behaviour

Often it's the way a bird behaves that's the best clue to its identity. Each bird has developed its own niche in the garden, so if you're having trouble identifying a bird, think about where you saw it and what it was doing.

Eat in..

Some birds are quite happy to sit on feeders or bird tables and eat their food. Birds like greenfinches, chaffinches and house sparrows will often perch on a feeder and eat seed after seed before moving on. They will often be seen squabbling amongst themselves over the perch to get access to a tasty treat.

..or take away?

Other birds prefer to eat under cover and will take seeds away to eat. Blue tits and coal tits fall into this category. It's safer for such small birds to spend as much time out-of-sight as possible.

Ground-eaters

Birds like blackbirds and robins will occasionally be seen on feeders, but they're much more at home on the ground. They don't feel the need for concealment though, and will often be out in the open on the lawn or patio, eating scraps or picking up grubs and worms from the ground.

Small brown wrens and dunnocks also feed on the ground, but they prefer to stay hidden away. They will often scurry, mouse-like, under bushes and along fences looking for scraps that other birds have dropped, or for grubs in the ground.

Signalling their arrival

Another way to identify birds is by listening for them and to them. You can often tell when a flock of tits is about to descend on your garden because they constantly call to one another. Listen out for high-pitched calls and then look in the trees and hedges, it's likely there's a flock heading your way.

Collared doves often call when they land with a 'coo-coo'. If you hear this noise, chances are there's one perched on your fence, hedge or tree, making sure the coast's clear before it comes in to eat.

Starlings chatter to one another, often from a high perch like a chimney pot or an aerial. They can make a variety of noises including clicking and singing. This doesn't always indicate an imminent visit to your garden, but if you've put out a fat cake, then most starlings find they can't resist and will fight and argue to get a peck at it.

A whole new world

By keeping an eye and an ear out for what the birds are doing, you can start to observe a whole new world full of colourful characters in your back garden.