This is the time of the year when there are very large numbers of young birds around and the problems they and their parents face are food, shelter and, inevitably, predators. A good example of this is in the gardens as many young siskins are flocking to feeders after peanuts, nyger or sunflower seeds. Many people interested in feeding garden birds have commented on the very low numbers of siskins coming into feeders in early spring this year. The birds would have been away in woodland and forestry plantations after seeds from fir cones. The cones of spruce and pine trees in particular attract them but they will also go after seeds from alders and silver birches. If any of these are in short supply as the crops vary each year then they will invade gardens. At one time siskins were virtually unknown in gardens and yet now most gardens have them.
Feeders are now packed with adult and juveniles siskins and as I write there are two feeders, one under the other, containing peanuts and nyjer only feet away from my window . Sometimes there are nine siskins, mainly juveniles, on those two feeders let alone all the other feeders elsewhere in the garden. The number of female siskins is decreasing and this is because they will be back sitting on their second clutch of eggs this year. The next few weeks are critical to get enough food for the males, an adult male is shown in the photograph, to take to the incubating female and then the nestlings. Many other birds rely on the food we supply in gardens and this is why it is essential that we keep the feeders topped up and fresh, clean water available throughout the summer months. The recent cold, wet weather in the Highlands exacerbated this problem in the last few weeks. It is a reflection on the increasing role of gardens in supporting wildlife that we have so many young birds around at the moment.
Some birds such as the curlews nesting in straths and glens have only one brood each year. With the curlews both the adult males and females feed the young to start with but the for some reason before the young have fledged the females leave for the coast to be followed later by the male and their offspring. Closer to home in gardens, blackbirds have their first brood fully fledged and catering for themselves. To start with the young blackbirds seem to disperse to various parts of the garden and the food brought to them by both the males and females. Now the female is back on her second clutch of eggs of the year and if the weather is good she may well have even a third clutch.
Many birds such as warblers and house martins rely on insects and for these the summer can be fickle. In parts of May this year the weather was so bad the swallows and house martins could be seen hawking very low, only a few inches above the ground, searching for insects. The house martins will try another brood if the weather picks up but there have been times in the last few years when around Inverness the insects in late summer were in very low in numbers. In some cases the adults even left their young in the nest to starve so they could themselves survive to breed another year. Survival of the fittest although to us it may seem a desperate measure.