Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => Miscellany => Where The Wild Things Are => Topic started by: Aidan on 27 January, 2016, 09:16:20 pm
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Anyone else doing it? We are looking forward to it as we gets lots of birds in the garden so hoping for a good showing!
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Thanks for the heads up. RSPB (I'm still a member, despite some concerns about RSPCA-style diseases of governance) may have sent me a form, but it may have been shredded by now because it looked too much like a begging letter.
Sadly many of the birds around/in our garden seem to be very good at avoiding it over the Birdwatch weekend. Last year I didn't see anything apart from woodpigeons, magpies & the odd jackdaw. We usually see (hear) lots of titmice, nuthatches, dunnocks, blackbirds, robins, wrens, jays, song thrushes, bullfinches, & possibly goldfinches. We have even had during the last fortnight a grey heron researching our tiny pond, a buzzard flying over & a raven (or a crow with a very deep voice). It's difficult, since the disappearance of house sparrows, starlings, greenfinches & chaffinches troubles me.
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Scores on the doors:
| Chaffinch | 3 |
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Goldfinch | 14 |
| Feral pigeon | 2 |
| House sparrow | 1 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 2 |
| Jackdaw | 2 |
| Magpie | 2 |
No great tits, coal tits or greenfinches.
1 cat, no squirrels.
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My total for the hour 1100-1200 today was 3 wood pigeons. One of those was on our ash tree, but on a branch on our neighbour's side of the boundary. There were one or two jackdaws visible on the tops of cypressus/chamaecyparis trees in more distant gardens. A couple of blue tits landed in the flowering cherry next door, which is usually a popular feeding site. They left quickly. Birds flying over were one unidentified small bird, a couple of herring gulls and a few woodpigeons.
That is utterly atypical of what I see in the back garden. For 44 minutes there were no birds in our garden. There was a robin singing in the distance & a possible song thrush competing with the incessant traffic noise from about 500m away.
During the whole hour there was not a single tree rat in our garden. That looks less than coincidental.
Last year, I gave up. Today, I realised that my thoroughly negative observations are a crucial part of the Birdwatch, with an implication that the numbers may well be biaised because others will have been put off because they didn't see "lots of birds" (YACF is a nice illustration of a subtle competiveness about such things) & didn't bother to record their results. It's no more than an anecdote, but it might be a trend.
This year, helped by by Aidans post, I've realised I must record my observations. Tonight the RSPB website has defeated me. I've spent enough of my working life in IT to recognise a cock-up...
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We are doing our hour this afternoon. Mrs Aidans been on nights so waiting until after she's had a snooze this morning. Very little in the garden yesterday :-( but the weather was pretty awful. Not looked at the website return form yet, but might just do now! there's alwaysthe option of a paper return. :hand:
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I'm due to do mine once the heating kicks in. Crumbling Nick, we're not that far from each other, so maybe it's the same raven flying over? Starling and sparrows are visitors, though less frequent than the green and goldfinches. Recently that's down to sunflower hearts being on offer rather than meal worms, which the starlings guzzle down. I have no affiliation with them, but GW Titmus flog 30Kgs of sunflower hearts for £30 delivered. I'm well into the second 15Kg bag this winter.
Update from a rainy Warwick at 5-6C:
Greenfinches 5
Goldfinches 5
Chaffinch 1 (first sighting, yay!)
Magpie 1
Great tit 2
Robin 1
Blackbird 3
Collared
Dove 1
Wood
pigeon 2
Much better than last year's measly total.
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Scores on the doors:
| Chaffinch | 3 |
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Goldfinch | 14 |
| Feral pigeon | 2 |
| House sparrow | 1 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 2 |
| Jackdaw | 2 |
| Magpie | 2 |
No great tits, coal tits or greenfinches.
1 cat, no squirrels.
Just a quick point, the idea is to record the highest number of any species you can see at one time, not individual sightings. If thats what youve done then youve a serious Goldfinch infestation ;D
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That was the highest number seen at one time.
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Bloomin eck :thumbsup: thats a lot of Goldfinches!
Ive been looking out this morning and seen bugger all :'( I think the birds are playing awkward! starting at 2.00pm with our hour so hope it gets busier
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We were prepared to do it, and went to the RSPB website, and got the distinct impression its not birds they are trying to gather maximum information about, its us. I'm more than happy to do bird research, but I fail to see why they need all that information about me. Fuck off, RSPB.
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Im a member so they already have all off my details.
our tally was a bit disappointing , we normally see lots more than we did.
ended up with
6 woodpigeons
2 blackbirds
2 dunnocks
4 Longtailed tits
a couple of crows
and a Robin
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Yes, Crumbling Nick, ITYP about the competitiveness in these things. I was disappointed last year when I saw almost no birds, but still submitted my results, because, as you rightly point out, low number submissions are as useful in painting the overall picture as results like my rather 'better' observations today.
I have made the garden more bird friendly over the last couple of years. The elder has grown well since being pruned and gives ample perching near the feeders; the privet hedge is now that rather than a row of saplings and the laurel tree provides good roosting. We have few cats nearby and I am quick to discourage them should they appear. I would dearly like to provide more fodder for the ground feeding birds, but the squirrels are quick to take advantage. Having said that, the finches are such messy feeders that there is always plenty of spilled seed for the blackbirds and robin.
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I also saw far fewer birds today than last year, or what I think of as usual. I can imagine two contributing factors, that I'm assuming that the RSPB can adjust for in their analysis: a) crappy wet day, b) failure to bait the feeders just prior to watching on account of a.
However we still got a pair each of robins, blackbirds, and magpies; half a dozen sparrows, a great tit (usually there's a flock of tits, wonder where they are?).
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It's the 2017 version this weekend.
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It's the 2017 version this weekend.
We are doing it again :thumbsup:
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2017 count from the Igloo:
| Chaffinch | 2 |
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Goldfinch | 25 |
| Great tit | 2 |
| House sparrow | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 2 |
| Jackdaw | 1 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Coal tit | 1 |
| Collared dove | 1 |
| Redwing | 1 |
Also heard waxwings, but didn't see them. No feral pigeons at all during the hour :o
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/638/31755464753_7501d9bdd3_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Qo84jZ)
top10 (https://flic.kr/p/Qo84jZ) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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2017 count from the Igloo:
Are you breeding them or something? ;D
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Apparently :)
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Seriously though, what food do you put out that attracts them in such numbers?
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They eat sunflower hearts. They used to eat niger, but they haven't touched that for ages so we've stopped putting that out.
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Today's count:
10 Collared-Dove
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Jackdaw
3 Coal Tit
4 Blue Tit
2 Great Tit
2 Robin
4 Blackbird
2 Dunnock
2 Yellowhammer
7 Chaffinch
2 Greenfinch
8 House Sparrow
A grey day, with a bit of drizzle, so maybe a bit quiet.
Still most of the usual stuff, though I rarely get that many collared doves at once. And there were a few long-tailed tits earlier in the morning, but they disappeared before the count.
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We do a similar count here in France for the LPO (league for the protection of birds).
Greenfinch 8
Chaffinch 23
sparrow 4
bluetit 4
jackdaw 1
magpie 1
robin 1
green woodpecker 1
collared dove 4
blackheaded gulls 4
blackbird 1
Not on Sunday but during the same week I saw 4 crows, several woodpigeons and a jay. Thrushes are fairly common. Both Saturday and Sunday were wet and windy and this seems to affect the avian population. We have a large garden not all of it visible from the window I was sitting at, and we are surrounded by trees. One of our cats thinks it is his function in life to reduce the birdlife in the garden.
We do quite well for birds here. We are quite near the river Odet so we get gulls in the garden. On the river herons, egrets and cormorants may be seen. In winter there are avocets. Further down the river bone may see spoonbills and there is a colony of sacred ibises which escaped from a zoo and are still about. Cattle egrets may also be found. All this without going very far, we are really very lucky.
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It's the 2018 edition this weekend: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/
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Disappointing tally today. 1 (maybe 2 ) blackbird, a goldfinch (usually get lots), a dunnock, 2 robins and a scrawny wood pigeon. Mind you, I haven't been as regular with topping up the feeders this winter as I was last year.
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That was a bit different from previous years!
2018 count from the Igloo:
| Chaffinch | 1 |
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 1 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Goldfinch | 1 :o |
| Long-tailed tit | 4 :) |
| House sparrow | 7 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 1 |
| Jackdaw | 3 |
| Magpie | 2 |
| Coal tit | 1 |
| Great spotted woodpecker | 1 :) |
| Redwing | 3 |
| Feral pigeon | 3 |
I've only ever seen a GSW once before in this garden and never seen long-tailed tits here before today :)
I was expecting the number of goldfinches to be lower because the bird seed consumption seems to be very low at the moment. I thought I'd see more than one , though.
Some photies here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmemkExp
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We’ve just been out for lunch , so starting our hour at 2:30.
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5 sparrers and a collared dove.
That was an hour well spent.
:-\
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Ours was a pheasant and two wood pigeons , might have had something to do with the 25mph winds but none of the many normal birds were showing themselves :(
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2019 edition this weekend.
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2019 scores.
| Chaffinch | 3 |
| Blue tit | 4 |
| Blackbird | 1 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Goldfinch | 16 |
| House sparrow | 6 |
| Carrion crow | 2 |
| Herring gull | 1 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Coal tit | 1 |
| Great spotted woodpecker | 1 :) 2nd year in a row! |
| Feral pigeon | 6 |
| Wood pigeon | 1 |
No dunnocks ???
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7901/45967181695_59e89b84dc_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2d2XPDr)
IMG_9610_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2d2XPDr) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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I had a go at this just now.
Something that's not at all clear from the RSPB website is what birds you're supposed to count. Is it just the ones that are on the ground or perched in your garden or do you count ones that are flying around that you can see and identify further afield. In my garden that's a huge difference. Anyone got a clue?
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Not the ones flying around. Just the ones which are in your garden, as you say on the ground or perched.
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Not the ones flying around. Just the ones which are in your garden, as you say on the ground or perched.
Ta. Shame they couldn't mention that.
Zero then, as opposed to a few hundred.
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I can't help thinking that if it's not clear then others will misunderstand and thus render their results somewhat worthless.
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It used to be clear. Have to confess I've not looked at the instructions for years, but it always was 'in the garden' and explicitly not 'flying over'.
ETA
I've just checked the website as well and you're right that it doesn't mention what counts. Sigh.
I can't help thinking that if it's not clear then others will misunderstand and thus render their results somewhat worthless.
I suspect the results are a bit rough and ready anyway. Our local RSPB group used to do a similar exercise, but you kept a tally over a whole weekend and just ticked species with no record of the numbers. I got some people at work to join in and their responses were, in some cases, interesting. As in, if you did see what you thought you saw there would be a queue of twitchers all up your garden path!
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It says:
Count the maximum number of each species you see at any one time. For example, if you see a group of three house sparrows together and later another two, and after that another one, the number to submit is three. That way, it’s less likely you’ll double-count the same birds.
[edit] I see we crossed.
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But what if you see 3 male sparrows, then later see 3 female sparrows? You clearly have at least 6 individual sparrows in the garden.
Though yes, it has to be fairly simple anyway, to allow the general public to take part. If you want to do more detailed surveys, you can send your results to other places. eg BTO or Ebird. They have options to include flybys etc.
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We count the obviously different genders separately - not sure I can tell with sparrows, but blackbirds are easy for instance.
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I emailed them and they replied:
Thanks for your email. Sorry it wasn't clear from the website - the request is to only count birds that land in your garden or park, not those flying over. This helps with bird identification as well as providing a greater level of accuracy with counting.
Thanks for raising this. I've taken note to make this clearer on our website in future.
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I emailed them and they replied:
Thanks for your email. Sorry it wasn't clear from the website - the request is to only count birds that land in your garden or park, not those flying over. This helps with bird identification as well as providing a greater level of accuracy with counting.
Thanks for raising this. I've taken note to make this clearer on our website in future.
:thumbsup:
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Results entered. The website appears to be creaking a bit!
The 'best' spot, which was by MrsC, not me (we watch from two different rooms to cover as much of the garden as we can as it's an awkward shape), was a fieldfare on the garage roof.
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A bit of crappy charty stuff for teh lolz: http://www.pinniped.plus.com/birdwatch/index.htm
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8 sparrers, 7 pigeons.
I’m beginning to see a theme here.
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Seeing as how we have a feeder on the back patio, and it was a cold day Monday, we did quite well with the usual suspects, tho some of the rarer visitors were missing - no wrens or greenfinches. And surprisingly no ring-necked doves or magpies. But we had hedge and house sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, great spotted woodpecker, blue, great and long-tailed tits, chaffinches, blackcaps (new this year) goldfinches, robins, wood pigeons, pied wagtails, and a thrush (unusual in our small garden).
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Following on from the above, tits and long tailed tits noticeable by their absence in our gardens this year.
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We’ve got the first long tailed tits I’ve seen in our garden in 8 years this year. They’re very friendly, and come and tap the window. Blue tits are a bit thin on the ground for a couple of years though.
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A yellowhamer and a greenfinch yesterday on our feeders. Thats the first yellowhamer we have had though you quite often see them in the field hedges locally. The first greenfinch for a couple of years since disease decimated their population.
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We doubled our highest species count this year:
7 spadgers
5 winged rats feral pigeons
1 blackbird
1 collared dove
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2020 scores.
| Blue tit | 1 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Robin | 3 |
| Goldfinch | 11 |
| House sparrow | 7 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 2 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Coal tit | 2 |
| Feral pigeon | 2 |
| Wood pigeon | 2 |
| Great tit | 1 |
| Starling | 11 (!) |
| Jackdaw | 5 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
No chaffinches!
There were some redwings in a neighbour's garden today but they didn't land in my patch :(
The light was pretty poor for photos this year, but this robin kept an eye on me for the whole hour and came quite close.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49445635197_433745e50c_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ikkNFF)
IMG_2318_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2ikkNFF) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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2021 scores.
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 1 |
| Robin | 2 |
| Goldfinch | 2 |
| House sparrow | 1 |
| Herring gull | 2 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Coal tit | 3 |
| Feral pigeon | 1 |
| Wood pigeon | 3 |
| Starling | 2 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Blackcap | 1 |
| Chaffinch | 2 |
Low numbers of individuals this year. Blackcap is a new species for us :thumbsup:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50890749951_2fdd10c7c0_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kx3oXi)
IMG_0149_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2kx3oXi) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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2 robins.
2 more than last year then.
The birds round here don't like being counted.
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2 robins.
2 more than last year then.
The birds round here don't like being counted.
Well we have much greater biodiversity round here. I saw a robin and a blackbird. 5 minutes before I’d got sorted there were various tits, sparrows and a pigeon.
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I did this yesterday with some strange results. The almost ever present Great Tit and flock of Parakeets stayed away so I couldn't count them, though they were back in fine vocal form first thing this morning. In their place we had six Long Tailed Tits, a rarity, and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker, only seen once before in about 25 years.
I hope somebody does something useful with this information.
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2 robins.
2 more than last year then.
The birds round here don't like being counted.
Well we have much greater biodiversity round here. I saw a robin and a blackbird. 5 minutes before I’d got sorted there were various tits, sparrows and a pigeon.
We've got plenty here normally. Just not on Birdwatch day. :(
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6 Jackdaws
4 Wood pigeons
4 Collard doves
7 House sparrows
2 Tree sparrows
1 Dunnock
4 Blue tits
1 Great tit
1 Greenfinch
2 Goldfinches
2 Chaffinches
2 Robins
4 Blackbirds
1 Thrush
A higher number of jackdaws than usual (normal only two) but a much lower number of sparrows, I have counted 17 on the feeders at once before.
Usually there are several dunnocks skulking around as well but in the hour we watched non until one turned up at the last minute.
I expected more goldfinches and chaffinches as well but they were being shy.
Non of the less common visitors showed up today. The cock pheasant who comes about twice a week was elsewhere as were the long tailed tits, coal tits, greater spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, wrens and sparrow hawk. Mind you if the sparrow hawk had shown up there wouldn't have been much else to count as everything else hid.
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Hmm - we never see as many birds as usual when it is BGB time.
I'm developing a theory that the publicity build up in the couple of weeks beforehand causes more folks to put out food in more gardens. Certainly the village school always does. As the village is more sheltered than our garden, I suspect the birds spend more time hanging around there than usual. And they come back to us when the easier food runs out because other gardeners don't maintain the supply.
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You may have a point. In the space of 5 minutes in the rain this morning I saw:
2 Robins
2 Blue tits
1 Blackbird
6 Long tailed tits
2 Dunnocks
1 House sparrow
It's also pretty unusual for there to be no magpies or wood pigeons about. Had a heron strutting about on the grass a couple of weeks ago - that's fairly unusual.
<edit> Update. Magpies are back.
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Yes, we usually get great tits, collared doves, crows, great spotted woodpeckers and jackdaws which were missing from my list. There have been fieldfares and redwings lurking about too.
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And today the Black Grouse turn up. I swear they know when its BGB
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Bit of a washout here. No birds turned up - well, one pigeon I think, but that ignored the food we'd put out and ate berries off the ivy instead. Every now and then we find a neighbouring place that seems to have a whole flock, but in general bird activity seems quite low.
Given that our food is not selling, my wife is suggesting offering them discount vouchers.
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The 2022 version starts tomorrow: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/
I expect very depleted counts here at the new Igloo. Not many birds have found our feeders yet :(
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CET Towers reports
4 x Wood Pigeon
1 x Collared Dove
3 x Magpie
All the tits and sparrows head to next door's birdfeeder. We don't have smaller ground feeding birds because the neighbour has c&ts. We are getting less birds this year because the Norway Maple had its once in 5 years visit from the tree surgeons before Christmas and the Daphne Odora that grew next to the waterfall where the bird drink died and so there is less cover.
We haven't seen collared doves for years, but they have been around again this winter.
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Storm Malik means our birds are slulking. Will try tomorrow
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2 collared doves
2 wood pigeons
2 blackbirds
1 robin
1 magpie
1 starling
1 dunnock
4 spadgers
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Had to look up spadgers.
4 spadgers
1 robin
1 blackbird
1 blue tit
9 starlings (could have been 10 - there was a confusion of pecking and flapping and general raucousness)
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2022 scores. Better than I expected
| Blue tit | 1 |
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Robin | 2 |
| House sparrow | 2 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Feral pigeon | 6 |
| Wood pigeon | 2 |
| Chaffinch | 2 |
| Greenfinch | 1 |
| Jackdaw | 2 |
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Better than last year.
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I was going to have a go at this this morning, but after looking out of the window I realised that I wouldn't be able to tolerate it. It's a south-facing patio door whose double-glazing has "blown" and it's very smeary. The sun was shining brightly on it, making it very difficult to see through, and the south end of the garden was in deep shadow where the garage blocked the sun. So I abandoned the attempt and had a wander round the park instead.
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Why not sit in the shadowy end of the garden?
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Not bad. No idea where the rest of our blackbirds went, usually there are six upwards. The woodpecker was a no show as every year and the starlings obviously were having a party somewhere else as only two showed up rather than the usual large gang.
Dunnock 2
Robin 2
Blackbird 2
Long Tailed Tit 2
Great Tit 1
Coal Tit 1
Blue Tit 5
Sparrow 11
Wood Pigeon 3
Collard Dove 2
Goldfinch 5
Chaffinch 2
Jackdaw 4
Starling 2
Pheasant 1
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Starting the clear up between Storms Malik and Corrie meant I just haven't had an hour to spare.
Still lots to do after Arwen....
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I'm surprised by the number of goldfinch being reported here, but that's only because I have only seen one at our feeders over the past couple of years (and my birdy colleague hasn't ever seen one in his garden), so possibly a UK distribution thing. On the other hand, I'm also surprised that no nuthatches have been reported - not just this year but since the start of the thread.
eta: just checking last year's results and goldfinches were at #7 in England and #10 in Wales and Scotland.
eta#2: I've just found the more detailed breakdown from last year here https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/ (https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/) and have answered my own question. There's a link to a spreadsheet which shows these as the top-most UK counties (by percentage of gardens) where nuthatches were reported:
Powys
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Scottish Borders
Caerphilly
Neath Port Talbot
Gwynedd
Dumfries and Galloway
Torfaen
Monmouthshire
Denbighshire
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff
Merthyr Tydfil
eta#3 (sorry): And for goldfinches, my county - Neath Port Talbot - is 6th from bottom of the 112 counties. I'm supposed to be working, but I can see that's going to be difficult now I've found that spreadsheet.
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We (on the Yorkshire Wolds) get nuthatches (or at least one it may be the same one every time) but they are occasional visitors. Couple of times a month I manage to spot one.
We have wrens too but they are shy little things and I don't always see them. Sometimes they nest over winter in the garden shed which in winter is infrequently visited.
One of out neighbours gets bullfinches but I haven't seen one in our garden since we stopped growing teasels years ago even though I have started putting out a sunflower seed feeder.
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We see goldfinches quite a lot but like every other feathered beast (apart from our faithful pair of robins) they all fuck off when it's the BGBW.
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Why not sit in the shadowy end of the garden?
Because I don't want to sit in the cold shadow of the garage on a January day with the expectation of seeing the square root of fuckall, tbh. I'd sooner walk to the park and watch birds. Which I did.
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You are a lucky bunch - haven't seen mention of ring-necked parakeets (unless I missed it).
They are gradually dominating my (London N1) yard, emptying the squirrel-proof feeders before the great tits (who have nested here for decades) get a look-in, whilst shitting all over the patio.
I first saw one here 5 or 6 years ago. They are now here, usually in pairs, every day. I also hear them in the trees of every park, small or large, all over London.
If you don't have them in your garden yet, you will soon. The population is rocketing and spreading UK-wide.
I would volunteer if a cull were proposed.
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Will a caged feeder not keep them out?
https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/the-joys-and-horrors-of-parakeets-on-bird-feeders
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Will a caged feeder not keep them out?
https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/the-joys-and-horrors-of-parakeets-on-bird-feeders
I may have to resort to something like that eventually but they are expensive and I'm not convinced there is anything on the market that would 100% keep them out and is light enough to hang from the wire I have set up, not to mention the added difficulty in refiling them.
The sunflower seed feeders I have now have worked fine for decades and only attracted tits and jays. As I say I feel an affinity with the great tits as they have nested here for multiple generations and it's one of the joys of spring/summer when they fledge. It would be sad if they were shunted out.
Also it's not just my problem. They are now everywhere in greater London, where they presumably will be causing the same problems.
It may already be too late for a widespread cull, but that should still be seriously considered IMO.
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I kept getting distracted by stuff that needed doing, so haven’t managed more than 10 minutes yet. A collared dove, a blackbird, and a mog that sits by the feeder looking intimidating.
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There have been small groups of ring-necked parakeets reported round here for a few months. I first saw them in Southend quite a few years ago, but then there was a gap of several years before I saw them again.
My Pal Terry Who Art In Sibton has been a keen birdwatcher, verging on twitcher, for many years. He told me quite a few years ago that he had recorded seeing 229 species in Suffolk in whatever year it was. He decided, randomly, to drive to Southwold to try to round the year off with a 230th species. He told me with some disgust that he did indeed see his 230th species and it was a ring-necked parakeet, in Southwold.
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Our list was much the same as usual. The brightest spot however was six greenfinches. When we moved here they were fairly common, although I don't remember seeing that many at once. They were then devastated by some disease and we didn't see them at all for several years.
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I've hardly seen a greenfinch in the past two years. Goldfinches are ten-a-penny. Went with CET Junior to the RSPB reserve at Winterbourne Downs a few weeks ago and saw a flock of about thirty small birds flying over the grasslands, far away from any hedges. Managed to get one focused shot with the trusty Toshiba mirror lens. Goldfinches. Perhaps they have benefited from the greenfinches demise.
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I haven't seen a greenfinch for ages. Compare that to one January day in 2005. I remember it well because I was still grieving for my mother, who had died the previous month. I had a walk around the park just as dusk was falling there was a flock of hundreds of greenfinches roosting in the treetops. At one point I saw a small group of 7 or 8 birds, whom I assumed to be alpha males, all fly off at once to see off a sparrowhawk that was hanging around.
Last summer, a walk to the same park involved seeing half a dozen goldfinches perched on television aerials, singing their hearts out.
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There are a lot more greenfinches here than in our old neighbourhood.
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So, we had ~10 on the feeders the other day.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51885345328_18863436b7_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n3VXvs)
IMG_5077_01 (https://flic.kr/p/2n3VXvs) by The Pingus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_pingus/), on Flickr
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In my garden this morning. It also spent some time on the stump where I'd set up my gopro, but the hour or so of battery life had already passed.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51890697068_494ed2450f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2n4pooQ)
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Blackbird - 1
Sparrow - 14
Blue tit - 2
Great tit - 1
Starling - 2
Robin - 1
Collared dove - 1
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We got 18 species, including a blackcap, which is the first for the year (and probably for some months before that). :)
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1 Wood pigeon
1 Dunnock
1 Robin
1 Magpie
Beats the 2 robins for the last two years.
It seems odd that they don't ask what time of day you did it. This was around lunchtime when the garden's usually empty. First thing in the morning I'd record loads.
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Great Tit x3
Blackbird x2
Starling
Wood Pigeon
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw x2
Dunnock
Robin
Blue Tit
Also had flyovers of a Magpie and Collared Dove, both of which settled in next door's garden but not ours.
There were greenfinches on the Common, but they didn't venture over, and heard house sparrows but they don't get past next door's bird feeder.
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2023 scores.
| Blue tit | 1 |
| Blackbird | 1 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Magpie | 3 |
| Feral pigeon | 1 |
| Woodpigeon | 6 |
| Chaffinch | 2 |
| Greenfinch | 3 |
| Jackdaw | 2 |
| Starling | 20 |
| Goldfinch | 1 |
| Wren | 1 |
| Herring gull | 1 |
| Blackcap (m) | 1 |
| Carrion crow | 1 |
| Great tit | 1 |
| Coal tit | 1 |
Also a sparrowhawk flew over but didn't land so doesn't count.
No sparrows.
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Blue Tit 2
Blackbird 1
Dunnock 2
House Sparrow 3
Robin 1
Great Tit 3
Starlings who have been hammering the mealworms/suet all week didn't show.
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Blackbird 3
Sparrow 7
Blue Tit 5
Great Tit 1
Coal Tit 1
Goldfinch 2
Greenfinch 2
Dunnock 1
Robin 1
Wood Pigeon 3
Collared Dove 4
Jackdaw 2
A very low number of blackbirds usually we have at least six in the garden. Also disappointed the long tailed tits didn't show up as they usually do at about the time I was counting. Strangely no chaffinches or bullfinches which we normally get every day. In general a low number of everything. I counted on Sunday. On Saturday there were about eight goldfinches at once on the feeders and a flock of about twenty sparrows lives in our hedge.
Mind you we went for a walk with the dog half an hour later and the whole countryside seemed very quite on the bird front. No idea why, maybe the weather it was cold and overcast.
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The starlings are nesting under my roof tiles again. I like starlings but they don't half shit on the car during Spring - it's right under their flight path as they go to and fro with worms for the chicks.
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The starlings are nesting under my roof tiles again. I like starlings but they don't half shit on the car during Spring - it's right under their flight path as they go to and fro with worms for the chicks.
We have a similar issue with wood pigeons. They like to sit on the apex of our roof just above the steps down to the patio and crap all over them and the patio doors.
Fixed it with a metre length of spikes epoxied to the roof ridge. I don't mind them perching on any of the rest of the roof.
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Mind you we went for a walk with the dog half an hour later and the whole countryside seemed very quite on the bird front. No idea why, maybe the weather it was cold and overcast.
I went for a run in the afternoon after the birdwatch and saw lots - both herons and little egrets, red kits and buzzards, and a kestrel (it's harder to notice smaller birds when slogging through the mud on trails), despite being overcast, gloomy and the occasional mizzle. I'm convinced it's as much luck of the draw as it is anything else. Summed up by the fact that it is always someone else that sees the kingfishers in the Loddon valley and never me.
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How's your Birdwatch 2024 going?
Here's ours (see piccy)
Good visibility
Garden 25m x 10m
Within 300 metres of farmland
Got trees, shrubs, flowers, wild area (oh do we have wild!) smol pond and a birdfeeder
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240127/0c8e77cf9315fc00f7f41509448f2593.jpg)
Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk
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An uninspiring
Sparrows - 7
Starlings - 3
Pigeon - 1
Great tits - 2
Blackbird - 1
Collared dove - 1
But I've just noticed I hadn't refilled the fat balls so there was a limited menu of peanuts and mixed seeds.
Some strange greater spotted woodpecker behaviour yesterday. It's an infrequent visitor but when it deigns to come it usually stays for a while, feeding at the peanuts and being particularly nasty to any other bird that comes close. Same yesterday, except that after a minute or two of feeding it just stopped, still, dangling in the breeze, for a few more minutes before flying off.
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Not one of our best years:
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 1
Rook 1
Jackdaw 4
House Sparrow 13
Blackbird 2
Robin 2
Goldfinch 4
Collared Dove 1
Chaffinch 2
Wood Pigeon 1
Dunnock 1
Greenfinch 1
Black Cap 1
And an annoying great spotted woodpecker, which was there while I was cooking breakfast, and both MrsC and I have seen since we stopped the survey, but did not show during the actual hour.
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Can't really do this because we have no window onto the garden and have to watch from the back yard, which makes some of the birds fly off as soon as they notice you. It's a shame because here in an urban suburb of Rochdale, on a very busy main road we get lots of stuff. In addition to the usual corvids, pigeon-types and LBJs we get all coal, great and blue tits, long-tailed non-tits but also nuthatches and bullfinches and the occasional GS woodpecker. All pretty impressive, really.
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Sparrows - 5
Dunnock - 1
Blackbird - 1
Collared dove - 2
Blue tits 2
Coal tits - 1
Jackdaws - bloody loads.
For some reason our resident robin and wren failed to appear, as did any of our other regular visitors.
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As usual most of the resident feathery things bugger off for the BGB. But we did a little better than our usual score of 1 robin.
2 long tailed tits
I blue tit
2 house sparrows
1 robin
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2024 scores.
| Blue tit | 2 |
| Blackbird | 4 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Magpie | 1 |
| Feral pigeon | 8 |
| Woodpigeon | 2 |
| Chaffinch | 3 |
| Greenfinch | 2 |
| Jackdaw | 2 |
| Starling | 5 |
| Wren | 1 |
| Carrion crow | 2 |
| Redwing | 2 |
No sparrows, great tits, coal tits or goldfinches :(
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11 Sparrow
1 Coal Tit
2 Blackbird
2 Great Tit
1 Robin
2 Dunnock
6 Chaffinch
1 Blue Tit
2 Collared Dove
1 Yellowhammer
9 Starling
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A couple of years ago they changed the rules of the garden watch slightly and now we are only allowed to log birds that actually land in our garden. This year there were (frustratingly) 30+ starling feeding in next door's garden, and although these flew into and out of their garden via my garden's airspace, none stopped in our garden until after the hour was up. Little bustards.