Monday, February 01, 2016

Big Garden Bird Watch

It was the weekend of the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch so, of course, it wasn't the best weather for counting birds.  Saturday was very windy and most our usual visitors stayed away or lurked in the hedges.  We could hear the sparrows chirruping and rustling whilst they kept out of the wind protected by the holly hedges and laurel bush.  Sunday was very wet and again a lot of birds were discouraged.  We saw far fewer than we do on any other day.


We did the count between 9.40am and 10.40am on Sunday morning because that is the time Mr Thrush comes for his breakfast of buggy nibbles but did he come to visit on Sunday? Of course not; so unfortunately he missed out on being counted in.  As did the lone long tailed tit that I spotted on one of the fat balls at lunchtime.  It is unusual to see just one long tailed tit as they usually arrive in little groups as do the goldfinches.  All this week we have had up to eight goldfinches on the feeders at any one time but today there were just two.  Ah, well!

Here is the final count which I have submitted to the RSPB.

Sparrows  17
Blackbirds 2
Robin 1
Wood Pigeon 2
Blue Tit 1
Chaffinch 1
Starling 3
Goldfinch 2

Did you do the Big Garden Bird Watch and if so what did you see and record?

It is February 1st today.  January has rushed by and as I said in a comment left on a blog post yesterday, January has been both cruel and kind in equal measure. I wonder what February will bring? I hope it brings you some good times.

Thank you for your comments on my last 'muddy walk' post I will get around to answering them later today.
Have a lovely week.

24 comments:

  1. I've written about my count on the wild blog but my list is quite similar to yours (I counted 17 sparrows too). I was disappointed the thrush didn't visit during my count. The long tailed and coal tits stayed away too, as did all the finches!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll pop over and have a look at your post Louise. I'm sure these birds are getting wise to our counting activities, although the weather didn't help:)

      Delete
  2. It was lousy weather for birds. Not one single sparrow here, as usual, but we did have siskins and goldfinches that I've never seen before. Putting up the niger seed feeder last year was a good move!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We put out niger seed for the goldfinches but they always go to the sunflower hearts first:)

      Delete
  3. I didn't take part. We have two cats and I actively discourage birds in our garden. I did spot a very chubby female blackbird in the restaurant garden when we went out for lunch on Saturday. I guess it was a sheltered corner!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite understandable to discourage birds if you have cats who will catch them. Our two are too old to care now but I have to say even when they were younger they never bought in a bird, it was always field mice from the school field nearby:)

      Delete
  4. We did take part, we saw, 6 Blackbirds, 6 Wood Pigeons, 1 Sparrow, 1 Magpie, 1 robin and 5 blue tits, Little pickle really enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great Michelle, glad little pickle enjoyed counting the birds you saw some interesting ones:)

      Delete
  5. Oh well done you got quite a good score Rosie. It will be interesting to find out the results when they've done the analysis. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Karen - it seems that each year some of the species are seen less and less and some become listed, I just hope all this counting helps them understand why:)

      Delete
  6. No big bird watch here, but we have noted that there are more woodpeckers about than usual.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful photo! You did well seeing so many birds Rosie. The weather was so dreadful at the weekend (not much better today) and I should think most birds have gone into hiding! I didn't take part in the watch but hope to do so in the future. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It wasn't the best weekend for the bird count, although it was dry on Saturday it was very windy and Sunday was just wet:)

      Delete
  8. I didn't take part but I mainly only saw a tit of some sort! Shame Mr Thrush was elusive!!Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I was really hoping I could count him in but he had other ideas:)

      Delete
  9. For the first time I didn't take part in the big garden birdwatch, mainly because we have just had a garden refurb and we now have a blank canvas and I haven't had a chance to get any planting put in so nothing to draw the birds in. We are in the process of buying new feeders and with a bit of cover planted I hope all our birds will return. I especially miss the goldfinches we used to get.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good luck with sorting out the new garden, the birds do like a bit of cover near the feeders don't they? I love the goldfinches and it is great when they all take over the deeders for a while, constantly looking over their shoulders as they feed:)

      Delete
  10. Great count of lots of different sorts of birds! I hope that February brings you joy! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Amy hope February is good to you, too:)

      Delete
  11. I did the count early on Sunday morning. (I include our neighbour's wilderness garden as that's where the birds hang out). The usual sparrows were taking shelter in the bushes. I counted less than last year when they were happily flitting about. Conditions have been so wet and windy. The bigger birds were huddled high up in the trees. There were a couple of blackbirds, two magpies and a pigeon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We did ours on Sunday morning too. There were less birds about than last year. We saw some lovely birds this morning when we woke up to snow. As well as the usual ones we saw greenfinches and siskins:)

      Delete
  12. Hi Rosie,

    That is an impressive count, even if lower than in previous years. We bought a heated bird bath and set it up in early December - it was six weeks before the birds discovered it - we had been on the point of unplugging it when the birds arrived! We don't have much shelter in our garden other than a boundary hedge, so the smaller birds dart in for a quick peck at the sunflower hearts and then take off again, but it is still lovely to watch them.

    Hope February is kind to you - we are between winter storms again!

    Marie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A heated bird bath - sounds like luxury but with your present weather it is probably more of a necessity. Lucky birds:)

      Delete