Oh dear, not many to count this year. The weather was against it from the start. The last few hours of storm Eowyn on Friday, followed by glorious sunshine on Saturday and the start of storm Herminia on Sunday. (When did we start to name storms?) The birds stayed away from the feeders in the bright sunshine just the same as they had in the wet and windy weather.
Friday was busy with supermarket shopping, collecting medication from the hospital pharmacy and then dashing home in time to receive a pre-organised appointment call from the hospital we'd just visited. Saturday was sunny so we ventured out for a walk in the morning. Glad of the warmth of the sun on our backs. In the afternoon we sat down with a cup of tea to start the bird count but none appeared so we gave up. We finally started a count around midday on Sunday. The feeders were topped up with sunflower hearts and suet fat balls.
Counted were 5 blackbirds, 2 Dunnocks, 8 Goldfinch, 4 Siskins and 1 Robin.
We did the birdwatch too; had we done it last week, we’d have seen more birds than this week! The weather has been dreadful and I think the birds have been sheltering. As you say, it will be interesting to see the final figures. 😁
ReplyDeleteWe fared even worse than you for the birdwatch. 1 robin, 1 pigeon, 2 rooks. But we are living on a new build estate and the shrubs and trees aren't mature enough yet for hidey places. Hopefully come Spring more will appear. Xx
ReplyDeleteSiskins are a nice visitor :) We actually did better this year than in recent years! Abandoned on Saturday as garden faces south and with the sun we couldn't see the garden hardly with the brightness. So took part yesterday when it was cloudy! Hopefully, I'll write a post tomorrow but we did manage 15 species this year. Thanks to my son spotting many I would have missed! It is always fun to do though and a low or even zero count is important too for the RSPB so they can see how garden birds are faring.
ReplyDeleteThat's still a pretty good effort in all this horrible weather, I did wonder how you were getting on. Apart from a robin and loads of wood pigeons, that was all we saw. 😊
ReplyDeleteThat's a good amount. I often wonder why I bother, because that hour is the one time I am guaranteed to see very few birds in the garden. Xx
ReplyDeleteWe don't do birdwatch out here, but mine have been a bit scarce lately & I think it is the crazy weather we've been having. Glad you did see some & we only remarked about the naming of storms in the UK the other day too. Our family keep us up to date with that sort of thing and especially now that another of the grandkids are over there for a working holiday. I do miss them. Cooler here today after sweltering yesterday. Take care, keep warm and hugs.
ReplyDeleteI have never participated in a birdcount but I think I will see when there is one here that we can join. Weather definitely impacts who and how many visit feeders for sure, so given the conditions I think you didn't do badly.
ReplyDeleteYou did well considering the weather. A total no go here with force eight winds. We do have our own Jersey bird count here in a couple of weeks so hopefully better weather then. B x
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