The bumper crop certainly makes them stick around but the reason they come
in the first place is that they are pushed out by shortage of food supplies
or cold weather in their normal range. They just hit lucky if it's a bumper
crop here.

J Poyner


"fred" wrote in message ...
The berry crop is very good this year with rowans bending under the
weight.
Could this bumper feast be the reason for the early high nubers of winter
visitors ? And how do they know about the berries ?

We have huge numbers of fieldfares on the rowans just now, over 500 in a
flock
"Steve Loft" wrote in message
...
Alex Stephens Jr wrote:

The waxwing is an amazing bird.
Had flocks of them visit my garden in early 2001 and January 1987.
They
make
short work of cottoneaster berry's, are totally oblivious to humans
and
have
an amazing plumage. Only ever seen here when there's been very deep
snow
lying.

We had a number of them here last winter. Stripped our cotoneaster, just
outside my window here, in a couple of days and then moved on. Hope very
much to see them again this year.

This week we've had a flock of Fieldfares in the village, and they've
stripped the Mountain Ash of all its berries and knocked most of the
remaining leaves off in the process. They've left the Cotoneaster alone,
I think the berries aren't plump enough yet, or maybe they're just too
shy to come that close.
--
Steve Loft, Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire. 1417ft ASL
http://www.wanlockhead.org.uk/weather/
Free weather softwa http://cumulus.nybbles.co.uk/
Experimental webcam: http://www.wanlockhead.org.uk/webcam.php




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