Wild Bird Guide : E - H

The Fieldfare is a large colourful thrush. Fieldfares breed in Scandinavia and the former Soviet Union including the Baltic States.

 

In central Europe the breeding range has extended to Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France.

 

The Fieldfare starts arriving in the UK around October and  numbers increase throughout the winter. They return to their breeding migrate between March - May. 

The Goldcrest is the smallest resident songbird in the UK.

 

In the winter it joins up with flocks of tits and other woodland species. In the autumn large numbers of migrants also arrive, and large numbers can be found in coastal bushes on the east & south coast during this period.

The Goldfinch is one of the largest of the finch family, is highly coloured, sociable and often breeds in loose colonies. The collective noun for a group of Goldfinches is a 'charm of goldfinches'.

Resident in UK apart from far north & west Scotland. In the winter many Goldfinches migrate as far south as Spain.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most common and widespread of the three British woodpeckers. The size of a blackbird this distinctive black & white bird is most common in England & Wales, & is not found in Ireland or far north & south Scotland.

The Green Woodpecker is the largest of the three woodpeckers that breed in the UK. Widespread resident of the UK except for the far north & west of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

 

The Grey Wagtail is the largest of the three British wagtails and more colourful than its name suggests. Can be found across the UK, but winters mainly in Eastern England & summer visitor to northern Scotland.

The house martin is small bird from the swallow family. They arrive in the UK around April, returning to their traditional nest sites. They stay until around September - October time when they then migrate south for the winter.

The House Sparrow is the most familiar of British birds, noisy & gregarious, found everywhere that’s inhabited by people taking advantage of man's rubbish and waste. Its resident in the whole of the UK, although thinly distributed in upland areas and parts of Scottish highlands.