IT’S been an interesting winter so far watching birds on the bird table in my Wee County garden, with goldfinches becoming regular visitors for the first time.

They had previously only been sporadic in their appearance, but this year I have put sunflower hearts into the feeding dispenser instead of the usual shell-on seeds. This makes the sunflower seeds much easier to consume, which I’m pretty sure has helped attract the goldfinches.

Other welcome visitors include greenfinches. For the last decade of so they have been rather scarce birds in Clackmannanshire because of their susceptibility to the infectious disease, trichomonosis. In some parts of the UK, greenfinch numbers have dropped by a third within a year of the disease emerging. It is all very sad stuff, but perhaps also something that will sort itself out in time. Mother Nature has a habit of doing that.

In particular I miss the spectacular spring courtship display of the male greenfinch, for when the mood takes him, usually when it is sunny, he will sing in the air with wings fluttering in slow and exaggerated beats. Truth be told, he looks a bit like a large butterfly and the poet Francis Duggan described the accompanying song as ‘the beauty born of nature for us all to enjoy’. Although not all of the greenfinch’s repertoire is one of musical elegance, for at other times he has a most distinctive drawn out call not too dissimilar to a fishing line being drawn from a reel.

Red squirrels have also been making regular appearances to the bird table and they too have taken a special liking to the sunflower hearts. We have had at least two different red squirrels visiting the garden this year, which I have been able to differentiate apart by their tail colour. It is good to see them thriving in this part of Clackmannanshire and they certainly seem to be holding their own despite grey squirrels also being widespread here.