P.S.A. Big Garden Birdwatch 27th - 29th January

AKA the Big Garden BirdScare for us. Seems like there's always loads around but as soon as we sit down with a brew to do a count they all bugger off, then come back exactly 1 hour and 1 second later.

Oo, nice - thank you! 🙂

It's also worth recording your wildlife records at other times of the year, provided you are certain of your identification of the species involved.

AKA the Big Garden BirdScare for us. Seems like there’s always loads around but as soon as we sit down with a brew to do a count they all bugger off, then come back exactly 1 hour and 1 second later.

That’s been my experience over past years. Having said that, there are regular periods when all the birds seem to bugger off anyway, it may be that those happen when I try to be around and see what turns up.

or log it all on the Birda app if you don't fancy writing it down and then filling in an online form after.

Wow, not actually recording, but while eating breakfast a goldcrest flew into our lilac bush, I got a really good look at it as it flitted about. The bright gold stripe was very clear on its head, then the bird was gone.
Also got a pair of bullfinches on the feeder, great tit, blue tit, blackbird, robin and dunnock. If all else fails I'll record these.

It's important to send in results even if nothing is seen to record, as this gives an insight as to how the birds are doing in that particular area.

A shockingly blue kingfisher flew out of the must & under the bridge yesterday as I cycled over the little river that feeds into the lake near us, with the big heron stood in the water just watching, would've made an amazing picture

Not bad for Milton Keynes

Cycling through Arbroath last weekend and there was a heron stood in the middle of a small roundabout with two lanes if traffic either side (outside the police station if anyone knows it)! I did a double take thinking it must be a model one, but no! Very bizarre. Normally if I try to photograph a heron they're so twitchy that they clear off before you can get even remotely near

While out on my bike in the Cheshire lane I saw 6 Rea.
Looking at the birds this morning I saw a wood mouse clearing the spilt seed under the feeders.

We've got a regular goldcrest(s) now, since a few weeks ago.

Also at least 4 blackcaps - two male, two female.

Plus the usual tits, finches, black things, woodpecker, jay, sparrowhawk (gulp)

So I always have about 10 goldfinches hanging around (amongst other things) but they come and go....if I count them each time they come back (which could be at least 10 times in an hour) then I'd be reporting 100 goldfinches.....won't that skew the figures? (My wife suggested I shoot them then there's no chance of double counting 😂)

won’t that skew the figures?

Rtfm 😉 the idea is that you report the maximum that you see at a single time, not the total number of sightings.

> Also at least 4 blackcaps – two male, two female.

Five male, one female here. Not sure whether that is going to turn out well, unlike for Mdme Mallard.

the idea is that you report the maximum that you see at a single time, not the total number of sightings.

That would result in zero sightings for most given periods. I’m not standing out in the kitchen for an hour, and certainly not sitting outside!
I did see a few during a roughly half hour period this morning the usual gang of starlings, half a dozen goldfinches, the male blackbird, a couple of blue tits, a couple of sparrows, and unusually both wagtails at the same time. Sadly no blackcaps, or magpies, or any of the other tits that turn up occasionally.
Better than most of the afternoon though.

Rtfm 😉

Show me the manual! I did have a quick look on RSPB but all I could see was to count any bird that lands.

One hour counting at lunchtime reveals:

Blackbird 2
Blackcap 1
Blue tit 3
Dunnock 1
Goldfinch 6
Greenfinch 5
Robin 2
Bullfinch 1
Feral pigeon 5
Chaffinch 1
House sparrow 1
Woodpigeon 2

Only count the birds you know to be that number that land. Eg. the 2 robins were fighting.Whereas the black birds were one male I saw at once then a female I spotted about 20 minutes later.

Blue tit 3
Bullfinch 2
Collared dove 3
Starling 12
House sparrow 6
Goldfinch 5
Robin 1
Chaffinch 4
Great tit 2
Jackdaw 3
Coaltit 1
Longtail tit 1
Blackbird 1
Wren 1
Dunnock 3
Greenfinch 1

Disappointed my regular Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatches didn't get the memo.

I was wondering when this was going to be coming round again.

This winter I've kept the feeders topped up to try and increase the amount of visitors during this years count.

All was going well with the usual crowd in attendance, Sparrows, various breeds of Tts including the local flock of Long Tailed Tits, Dunnock, even a Snipe which must have come over the back fence.

All looking good.

In the past couple of weeks though they have all vanished!

I'm not holding out much hope for my hour of observation later today.

Well the birds mainly hid for the hour we were counting but did manage to get the kids to participate so a small win.

We saw:
Starlings 7
Blue tits 2
Pigeons 2
Blackbirds 1
Dunnock 1
Crow 1

Thanks for the reminder OP.

Very quiet this morning and had the joy of assembling a load of flat pack so couldn't give it my full attention. Even so I managed to see.

2 Nuthatch
2 Dunnock
2 Woodpigeon
1 Jackdaw
1 Great Tit
1 Robin
1 Magpie

Love watching Nuthatch. If you didn't know what you were looking at, you'd think they were mice, the way they run up and down the trees.

Randomly, a pheasant arrived in our garden today. Seems it likes it's own reflection in the shed window.

Not a great haul, but;

Blue tit - 4
House sparrow - 2
Robin - 2
Blackbird - 2
Great tit - 2
Pigeon - 1
Magpie - 1
Coal tit - 1
Stupid fox - 1

Interesting to just focus on what's out there - we moved the feeders down the garden last year as they were bringing less welcome "little friends" closer to (and in some cases into) the house, it's only, say, 20 yards but the distance does mean they're a bit out of sight, out of mind. Tits used to be a rare sighting near the house - now they're all over the shop! 🙂

Anyone else noticed that there are fewer woodpigeons than previous years?