Identify visitors to your garden (From Worcester News)

Identify visitors to your garden

11:25am Monday 1st February 2010 in

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IT’S the sort of little book that every country household ought to have handy by a window that looks out over the garden.

How often have you seen a new visitor to the bird table, or one perched on a branch or bush, and thought: “I wonder what that is?”

Assuming, of course, it’s not a vulture or a parrot.

Well, here’s the answer to the question. Because the AA – yes, that’s the Automobile Association – has just published the Field Guide to Birds of Britain & Europe.

With details of more than 500 species and more than 1,000 colour photographs and illustrations, it has been produced in association with the British Trust for Ornithology with acclaimed wildlife author and photographer Paul Sterry as consultant editor.

The middle of winter may seem a strange time to be launching a book designed to be popped into coat pockets before setting out on a country walk but there is a reason.

For although the snow may have disappeared for the moment, we are not out of the woods by any means yet and so the plea has gone out: “Please don’t forget the birds.”

The results from a recent British Trust for Ornithology garden birdwatch survey showed a huge increase in the use of gardens by birds as they came in search of an alternative food source.

For some species this increase has been dramatic. The redwing and fieldfare, both types of thrush from Scandinavia, have shown an increase in the use of gardens for feeding by 283 per cent and 267 per cent respectively compared with a normal winter.

So, while the snow has now gone, flocks of these birds remain feeding in our gardens. This is set to continue for some time because most of the natural foods in the countryside have already been eaten or destroyed by hard frosts.

The chances are you will see birds in your garden you may never have seen before. It doesn’t stop here though. For 40 species of birds the percentage of gardens in which they were seen increased during the recent snowy weather and there were particularly large increases among thrushes and buntings.

The reed bunting and yellowhammer, both small birds belonging to the bunting family that would ordinarily find refuge in Britain’s farmland, have increased by 134 per cent and 80 per cent respectively.

With all these new birds visiting the gardens of Worcestershire, many people may find it hard to identify their new visitors.

This is where the AA’s Field Guide to the Birds of Britain & Europe comes in. This handy pocket-sized book to more than 500 species of birds is great for use at home, or if you’re out and about.

The striking photography and bird illustrations, together with authoritative and concise writing from leading ornithologists, including Dr Sterry, make it easy to use for both the amateur and experienced bird watcher alike.

This book has all you need to know about the birds you may see in your own garden or indeed, anywhere in Europe.

From user-friendly distribution maps and advice on the best times and places to view the more secretive or rarer birds to background information on bird structure and topography and details of habitat, voice, length, wingspan and behavioural characteristics, it’s all here.

So, keep a copy handy.

You just never know when a lesser redpoll or a melodius warbler may come calling.

● The Field Guide to the Birds of Britain & Europe is priced £12.99 and is available at all good bookshops. Alternatively, go tottheaa.com/shop.