What birds can you see in the garden this autumn?

If you pay close attention to your garden visitors, there is likely to be an array of birds this autumn. Some are large, some are small, while others scuttle along the floor, scurry along branches or flit in and out in the flash of an eye.

With a few helpful tips, you can start to notice the special differences between our garden birds. The folks over at Nokular have shared some of their favourite garden birds and given life to their wonderful and weird characters!

Let’s start with a few simple tricks to help identify garden birds. Firstly, what size are they? Some of the most common small garden birds include the robin, tits and finches. Next, the plumage (the pattern, colour and feather arrangement) is probably a good place to go to. It’s hard to miss the red breast of the robin – perhaps the nation’s favourite – but when it comes down to the others, it can start to get a little more difficult.

There are four types of tits that frequently visit our gardens: the blue tit, the great tit, the coal tit and the long-tailed tit (there are some others but these are the most common).

The most noticeable feature of the blue tit is its bright and colourful exterior yellow, blue and green. While the great tit shares similar green and yellow plumage, it also possesses a distinguishing feature of a black cap.

The coal tit is smaller by nature and is recognisable by its grey back, clear black cap and white stripe on its neck. Finally, as the name suggests, the long-tailed tit has a long tail! A particularly gregarious bird, you can also spot the long-tailed tit by its undulating flight pattern and the fact they often enjoy the company of up to 20 birds at a time.

Now that we’ve covered the tits, let’s turn to the finches. While there are many types of finches, some of our more regular visitors include the chaffinch, the goldfinch and the bullfinch.

Let’s start with the chaffinch. To make things a little more tricky, the male and female chaffinch appear differently. While the male chaffinch has a slate grey head with a bright orange cheek and breast, the female chaffinch has buff brown tones all over!

The goldfinch, as the name suggests, is a dazzling and charming little bird that is constantly on the move. What’s more, the goldfinch is a highly coloured finch with a bright red face and a yellow wing patch.

Finally, the bullfinch can look quite similar to the chaffinch. However, unlike the chaffinch, bullfinches have a plumage that has more solid blocks of colour. Male bullfinches have a solid orange breast plumage, while the females are brown-grey. Also, the overall shape of the bullfinch is distinct from the chaffinch and they appear plumper with a rounder look to them.

This is really just the beginning. The more we start to learn about our garden birds the more we realise how much we don’t know! The difference between male and female birds, the juveniles and the adults, the song patterns, the seasonality of visitors . . . the list goes on.

It is a true joy to hear about which birds you’ve been seeing and it is, in fact, what inspired Riana and Matt over at Nokular to start their business where they deliver seasonally appropriate and highly nutritious garden bird food straight to your door! They love to hear about the nature that’s on your doorstep and are always happy to talk and offer advice about what is right for your garden birds.

What birds have you been seeing in your garden? Have you spotted any new visitors as the cold weather sets in? We’d love to hear.

Find out more and get in touch via their website at www.nokular.com or call their friendly phone service at 0330 133 4726.