Tree-planting birds

Discover why jays are prolific planters of oak trees...

It's been a bit of an odd year weather-wise, with many trees losing their leaves in this summer's heatwaves. Traditionally, however, autumn is the time of year when it becomes much easier to see one of our most flamboyant birds. Colourful jays are much shier than their corvid cousins like magpies and rooks but they're just as characterful and much more striking to look at.

You might be lucky enough to have jays visit your garden (I'm envious if you do) and if you do, it's likely that there will be oak trees nearby. Oak woodlands provide nesting and feeding opportunities for jays and many other species of wildlife but oak trees really come into their own as autumn approaches. Jays adore eating acorns and hide lots of them in readiness for the harsh days of winter. Falling leaves make it easier to see wildlife of all kinds but at this time of year, jays are much more visible as they busily hunt for acorns.

Jay with acorn sitting on a tree stump by Barry Green — Jay with acorn by Barry Green

In common with many birds, jays are territorial, so once they’ve found a stash of acorns, they’ll return to their territory to bury them before heading back to the source for more. It seems incredible that they're able to carry three or four acorns on each journey. If estimates are to be believed, each jay can cache 5000 acorns; that’s millions of acorns cached across the UK each autumn. This helps to explain why jays can be responsible for the slow movement of oak woodlands and the distribution of scattered oak trees – acorns that aren't collected eventually send down their roots and send up their shoots!

Most birds aren’t known for their digging ability but these crafty creatures have powerful beaks – they plunge them into the ground at an angle, deposit an acorn or two and then use their beaks to push the earth back into place over the acorns. It's thought that they relocate their winter dinner stashes by recognition of landmarks and visual clues. Studies of corvids have shown that there are thieves amongst their numbers - innocent corvids continue to cache food oblivious to any danger. Thieving corvids, on the other hand, always look around to check for any potential miscreants before caching their food; they're more than aware that not every corvid is a law-abiding bird!

Jay sitting on a post by Brian Eacock — Jay by Brian Eacock

If you’re wandering through a woodland in autumn or winter, don't just look for a flash of pink and blue with a white rump, keep your ears open too. The first you may know of a jay is the loud screaming call; the Gaelic and Welsh names for jays both translate as ‘screamer of the woods’.