Fact file

Jay

Common names: common jay, Eurasian jay, acorn jay.

April 16, 2024

Fascinating fact

In the next few weeks each of the reserve’s jays will cache as many as 7500 acorns, carrying away from the tree as many as six acorns at a time and hammering them into the ground in a spot believed to be chosen for a nearby memory-jogging marker.

September 22, 2023

Jay

Last week, Cheryl Cronnie photographed this jay (Garrulus glandarius) foraging in the long grass for the acorns it buried there before the winter arrived.

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March 31, 2023

Jay

Ian Bushell photographed this young jay in the reserve on Sunday morning. He said:

It is last year’s chick, a one year old bird that has raised its crest; adults have black and white bands on their heads. Its call, which was what attracted my attention, was more like the mew of a buzzard rather than the harsh call of the Jay.