I WAS in Bedfordshire last week, following the River Ivel where it makes its way between cornfields. Clouds loomed overhead, with brilliant blue cracks sometimes opening among them, and the only sound was the twittering of swallows as they swept to and fro over the wheat stubble. I was listening out for a yellowhammer’s song, since they go on singing until the end of August. I also hoped to see one or two alongside the river, where there were bushes and trees on the far bank.
I didn’t hear any song, but suddenly I heard a yellowhammer’s sharp “twink” call. A moment later, one appeared in the dead top branches of a small elm tree beside the river. It was a female, with a streaky yellow head, and some gauzy-winged flies in its beak.
Another bird flew into the treetop — a male greenfinch. It sat a little way away from the yellowhammer, and started making a thin “hweet” call — not the long wheezing note that it makes in spring, but something more like a chiffchaff’s warning. It seemed to be a warning call too, since shortly afterwards I noticed a young greenfinch, presumably one of its family, lurking in the hawthorn bush beneath.
Then I glimpsed a young yellowhammer in the bush quite close to the young greenfinch — no doubt the bird, or one of the birds, for whom the flies were intended. By now it was quite a gathering. But more was to come. With a little swirl of tinkling notes, three goldfinches flew into the tree and landed on some of the other dead twigs. The sun came through one of the blue cracks, and I had the adult yellowhammer, the adult greenfinch and the three goldfinches sitting on the bare treetop in front of me, all with the golds and yellows of their plumage gleaming. The stubble had turned gold in the sun too.
I have noticed before that sometimes a spot becomes fashionable for birds. One of them comes there for a reason, and others come along just because of the birds that were there before them. The yellowhammer was hoping to feed its offspring, but the greenfinches had no obvious reason for coming there — they may have been members of a family, but they were not actually doing anything — while the goldfinches were fairly obviously just attracted down by the other birds in the treetop. I was just lucky that morning to be at the fashionable venue.
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WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
Birders Young willow warblers or chiffchaffs can be seen in gardens.
Twitchers White pelican, Cley, Norfolk; eastern olivaceous warbler, Boddam, Shetland; aquatic warbler, Seasalter, Kent; paddyfield warbler, Kilnsea, East Yorkshire; buff-breasted sandpiper, Titchwell, Norfolk
Details from Birdline, 0906 8700222 (60p a min) www.birdingworld.co.uk; www.rspb.org.uk
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derwent.may@thetimes.co.uk