The Mating game Apart from our usual ideas about St Valentines day ,the commonest one perhaps is the belief that birds mate around this time of the year. Without wishing to spoil a delightful myth however that is not strictly true. There are quite a few which mate for life., or supposedly do which prompts the question-“What happens if one dies ?” They tell us that only human beings are capable of sentiment, but I am sure most bereaved birds would find a replacement mate as a matter of practicality. The one aim is to breed – come what may.

Swans, are one of the species generally accepted as mating for life, but they are also a species which can suffer quite high mortality. This can be from fishing leads in the old days to them hitting power lines or other hazards. It is usually however the longer lived species which tend to stay together, and swans have certainly benefited from all the public attention and food they receive.

Small birds like the tits on our garden feeders very often only live a couple of years and also get very territorial in the winter which would obviously cause problems should they attempt to form a lasting relationship.

Strangely ,Bullfinches, beautiful pink breasted black capped gems, are one member of the finch family which are said to be faithfull for life. Why they should be any different from chaffinches, goldfinches or other finches is beyond me.

Ravens – those large intelligent members of the crow , along with Barn owls are also on the list of “long stayers”, whilst at the other end completely are some of the Humming bird species. The male will stay with the female long enough to copulate and then clears off ! In human terms that is just “not on “ !!

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