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. 😁
ReplyDeleteThank you Sal. Yes, we had loads of birds the week before, including the woodpecker. The weather was bad over most of the weekend. I wonder how many others had the same thing happen:)
DeleteWe 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
ReplyDeleteThank you Gill. I'm sure as your plants mature you will get more birds, lets hope for more visitors in Spring:)
DeleteSiskins 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.
ReplyDeleteThank you Caroline, yes we've been having four Siskins visit for a few weeks now, they usually arrive together. We too struggled with the sun midday on Saturday as the conservatory faces South. The back of our house faces East and the front West. Yes, it is important to report no matter how few you see:)
DeleteThat'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. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you CK, the birds stay hidden in high winds, although the Goldfinches are quite fearless at times. We get both Wood pigeons and Rock doves or town pigeons, mostly Wood pigeons but not during the count:)
DeleteThat'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
ReplyDeleteThank you Jules, yes it's just as if they know and keep away or it may be that more people put food out over that weekend so they have more choice? Who knows:)
DeleteWe 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.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, the weather is certainly having an effect on the habits and behaviours of our garden visitors. Yes, the naming of storms. My friend Aileen was a bit miffed when they named one with her name:) I hope your grandchild is enjoying being over here, I bet it's good to hear all their news:)
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteThank you Granny Sue. Yes, I suppose we did quite well to have any visitors at all in the wind and rain. It's always a fun thing to do:)
DeleteYou 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
ReplyDeleteThank you B. Your winds sound worse than ours. Hopefully you will have better weather for your Jersey bird count:)
DeleteWith the weather as it was, you did well with the birds you counted. I don't know if there is a bird watch count here; it would be something interesting to look up. Hopefully, the weather has improved for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lorrie, we always enjoy the bird watch, the weather could have been better but we didn't do to badly at all:)
DeleteThe weather has really kept animals and birds away. It's been a strange winter so far with colder temps then normal in lots of places. Too bad you didn't get to count.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sandy, like you we've been having strange weather sometimes warmer and sometimes colder than expected seasonally:)
DeleteThe weather has not been particularly kind to humans or wildlife lately has it. We have two quite long lengths of hedges around our garden and I think the birds prefered to snuggle down in the safety of them instead of venturing out in the garden much. They probably zoomed out to the feeders when I wasn't watching. You still saw some lovely birds even if it wasn't as many as in the past. I hope you have more feathered visitors very soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you Beverley. It has been such strange weather. The four Siskins were back on the feeders this lunchtime so they seem to be stopping around. We have hedges on two of the three sides of our back garden and a hedge on the front too. The holly hedge along the back of the garden is popular with birds especially the robins:)
Delete