News: October 2005

A research student at the University of Birmingham trying to find out whether or not birds still attempt to steal the cream from doorstep milk deliveries.

There was a time when blue tits (Parus caeruleus) and other garden birds regularly attacked doorstep milk deliveries to obtain the energy rich cream from the top. However, recent reports state that the behaviour is thought to have died out (see for example the news item for January 3rd 2004). Mike Ashford, a student of the University of Birmingham's Certificate in Ornithology course is to conduct a study this winter to see if he can find any current evidence of this behaviour. If you have any information which you think might be useful to Mike, visit the BTO's Garden BirdWatch pages and contact him.

BTO. From the magazine Bird Table, Autumn 2005, Issue 43, page 2.