RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch this weekend – fun to take part

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/?gclid=CLOSq-3FgLwCFQPmwgodQWsAog

Just one hour on Saturday or Sunday counting the different species of garden birds, either in your own garden or maybe a local park.

Send off the results and the rspb get an idea of how the bird population is faring.

thanks for the reminder. registered. cheers

It’s actually the weekend of the 25th and 26th, not this weekend.

Thanks Verses, you are indeed correct.

I shall ‘bump’ it up next weekend.

Every year I plan to take part, and every year the sneaky little bastards bugger off to other places, leaving my feeders an avian ghost-town: you can almost see the tumbleweeds… 😕

Not a lot going on in our garden, only things using the feeders are the squirrels…..

In answer to the implied question no it ain’t that much fun but we do it.

Ooooh great! I’ll be in Scotland with the parents but their garden has loads more variety than mine 😀
Thanks BH!

Bumpetybump.

I got the date wrong and it is this weekend.

yes, thanks

Tip for anyone taking part: I’m not good at recognising birds quickly so I’m putting up some really sticky netting to catch ’em

(err, 😉 )

J. I’d love to but it would be an exercise in futility. The songbird population where I live has effed off en masse over the last 20 years. I haven’t seen a pair of tits in ages.

This weekend has been so bad weather wise (apart from Saturday morning) that I only counted 3 birds.
How did everyone else do?

Minus five birds here 😮

2 Nuthatch
2 Coal Tit
9 Mallards
5 Wood Pigeon
3 Carrion Crow
1 Blackbird
1 Magpie
5 Long-tailed Tit
1 Aylesbury Duck
2 Coot
2 Great Tit
5 Blue Tit
2 Moorhen
2 Robin
1 Pheasant
2 Rabbit
1 Jackdaw
1 Goldcrest
1 Squirrel

Ok, not all birds! Goldcrest was a new sighting for the garden. This was on Wednesday last week when it was a bit sunnier but it’s pretty representative.

What did anyone else see?

That’s a fine list Julian

Mine:
1 magpie
1 dunnock
1 blackcap

Normally have several wood pigeons, a pair of jackdaws, a pair of bullfinches, loads of goldfinches, greenfinches, blackbirds, a few long tailed tits, blue tits, a coaltit and a robin, not one of these to be seen 🙁

Wow julian, did these actually land in your garden in 1 hour? If so, thats impressive for 1 hour, unless you count a country park as your garden 😉

My results were not typical, our garden is normally teaming with goldfinch and long tailed tits, not one in my hour !

Bloody hell BH. I’d be over the moon if a blackcap landed in our garden. I last saw one locally in 1984 and couldn’t wait to get to school to tell my birdie mates.

Well, at one point there were 2 blue tits.
Then there were 2 blue tits and one sparrowhawk.
Then there was one blue tit. And some feathers.

Crikey Julian. You should open a national bird reserve. We had a flock of about 10 long tailed tits, a magpie, a wood pigeon a crow and a few blue tits. Bit rubbish really, poor weather prob at fault.

Wow julian, did these actually land in your garden in 1 hour? If so, thats impressive for 1 hour, unless you count a country park as your garden

Yep. (To the birds, not the country park question!)

Didn’t get the Kingfisher, the Mandarin Duck, the Mute Swan, the Gadwall or the Little Egret though.

All those and we still haven’t seen a House Sparrow or a Starling though!

We used to have eight Yellowhammers and a couple of Reed Bunting in our last garden too.

That’s a fine set of birds you usually have too, BunnyHop. We have seen a couple of Bullfinches in our garden, but only once.

Rarest sighting in our last place was a hen Hawfinch.

Good stuff too, YB

Bloody hell BH. I’d be over the moon if a blackcap landed in our garden. I last saw one locally in 1984 and couldn’t wait to get to school to tell my birdie mates.

I know it’s so nice among the usual suspects. However there are 2 males, although I only saw 1 today.

There is of course a sparrowhawk hanging around, although I haven’t seen him for a week.

JulianA – We are lucky to have 2 pairs of bullfinches, probably because myself and the 3 nearest neighbours all feed on a daily basis and we have the correct habitat. I still think your list is fantastic!

The rarest bird we got was a brambling in the last snowy spell a year ago.

Someone from here had a water rail in their garden during the really long cold snap 2 years ago. That will take some beating on a garden list. My best is willow tit.

What’s the correct habitat for Bullfinches BH? I guess you have fruit trees?

We are incredibly lucky as we have a river running alongside the garden.

The full list for the seven months we’ve been there is:

Goldcrest
Kestrel
Fieldfare
Mandarin
Gadwall
Pheasant
Little Egret
Magpie
Swallow
House Martin
Long-tailed Tit
Green Woodpecker
Wren
Kingfisher
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Swift
Jay
Dunnock
Red Kite
Nuthatch
Coal Tit
Tufted Duck
Collared Dove
Carrion Crow
Tawny Owl
Jackdaw
Bullfinch
Red-legged Partridge
Moorhen
Coot
Mallard
Buzzard
Wood Pigeon
Song Thrush
Chaffinch
Robin
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Great-spotted Woodpecker

Some of these are overflying rather than landing – Kite, Buzzard, Fildfare being three of these. We also hear Little and Barn Owls most nights. We also feed daily – except the ducks: they would eat us out of house and home! They get fed when it’s frosty.

I know the rspb survey doesn’t allow over flyers, but a regular garden list does 🙂

The weather took its toll saw a grand total of 11 birds covering 7 species:
3 Wood Pigeons
2 Greenfinches
2 Gold finches
1 Bluetit
1 starling
1 Robin
1 female Blackbird.

The weather is always awful for the GGBW. Never fails.

We’re on the lookout for Water Rail – they have been seen nearby. That would be fab! Willow Tit is a great find – haven’t seen one for a while. Can’t tell them from Marsh Tit, me. Any ideas?

Greenfinches are a rarity for us, too.

What’s the correct habitat for Bullfinches BH? I guess you have fruit trees?

They like buds, anything from heather to fruit shoots. Yes we do have fruit trees and are very near woodland, open fields and not far from high heathland.

Very jealous of your list JulianA.

Typically this morning I had:
3 green finch,
6 gold finch
4 long tailed tits,
2 blue tits
1 great tit (haven’t seen one in ages)
1 wood pigeon,
2 blackbirds
Lastly a pair of bull finches (which feed on the sunflower heart feeder)
all in the space of 7 minutes – what a difference a day makes!

Dunnit, had to reign in Minion 3’s insistence that a buzzard was in fact a Golden Eagle.

Ah yes, buzzard, also commonly known as a tourist eagle 🙂