I still have a few siskins on my feeders in Frome. One male spent the day looking sick the other day, and died on the lawn in the evening. Looked ill rather than injured - have other people seen this?
Today seemed to be mainly male chaffinches, six under the feeder, plus a few greenfinches and a diminishing band of goldfinches and of course the male siskin.
I am still getting up to 10 siskins on my garden feeders (edge of exmoor).For the past 25 years, no matter how cold the winter has been, they have never appeared in the garden in any numbers until the end of February/start of March. For some reason, this winter they appeared in late November and have been here ever since.
Both M and F Siskins feeding on sunflower hearts. We only get one or two through the winter. The pair having been around for two months, can I assume that they are breeding locally?
I had a pair of siskins on my feeders today, but I doubt they are breeding, as we are lowland Frome by the river. Would be nice, but I suspect the nearest breeders are in the woods by Gare Hill/Longleat.