Where birds go in hedges

Where birds go in hedges

This table is based on one in the book, Hedges, by E Pollard, M.D. Hooper and N.W. Moore (Collins New Naturalist, 1974)*. It shows the typical haunts in a mature hedge of various species of bird.

Those birds more commonly found in any part of a hedge appear in black type. The less often found species are in green. This is only a rough guide, so do not be surprised to see a bird in the 'wrong' place.

Note that "herb" here carries its botanical meaning (an annual species of non-woody plant) and not its culinary one.

*The book appears in our list of recommended resources for further reading.

Part of hedgerow	Activity
Part of hedgerow	Nest only	Nest and feed	Feed only
Upper branches	Carrion Crow Rook Buzzard Kestrel Mistle Thrush	Wood Pigeon Greenfinch	Blue Tit Chaffinch and other tree and shrub species Treecreeper Lesser-spotted Woodpecker
Trunk and holes (of hedgerow trees)	Barn Owl Little Owl Stock Dove Jackdaw Great Tit Blue Tit Starling Tree Sparrow Kestrel Tawny Owl	Wren (in Ivy) Green Woodpecker Greater-spotted Woodpecker Nuthatch	Treecreeper
Shrubs	Turtle Dove Magpie Collared Dove	Wood Pigeon Cuckoo (lays in Sparrows' nests, etc.) Long-tailed Tit Song Thrush Blackbird Lesser Whitethroat Hedge Sparrow Wren Goldfinch Linnet Lesser Redpoll Bullfinch Chaffinch Greenfinch House Sparrow Moorhen (especially over ditches) Blackcap Garden Warbler Red-backed Shrike Cirl Bunting Tree Sparrow	Fieldfare Redwing Mistle Thrush Robin Great Tit Marsh Tit Blue Tit Whitethroat Willow Tit Coal Tit Willow Warbler Chiffchaff + Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and other species on migration
Herbs; low Brambles		Whitethroat Yellow Hammer Reed Bunting Nightingale Chiffchaff Grasshopper Warbler Sedge Warbler Stonechat	Goldfinch Greenfinch and other shrub and ground species
Ground	Skylark	Robin Corn Bunting Pheasant Partridge Red-legged Partridge Willow Warbler	Hedge Sparrow Blackbird Song Thrush Wren and many other shrub and herb species