Big Garden Birdwatch

[g4ghb]

I have just spent a quiet and enjoyable hour while swmbo completed her RSPB birdwatch . Quite a few of our regulars seem to have taken a day's holiday but still saw quite a lot and a couple of new visitors (obviously on there holidays from someone elses garden )

Anyone else doing the survey this year? I thought it might be nice to compare our community's findings so here is the vote of the jury in Kimmeridge.....

2 blackbird
5 Blue tits
2 chaffinch
3 coal tit
1 dunnock
3 great tit
1 robin
1 wren
2 nuthatch
1 great spotted woodpecker
2 pheasents (pretty good as yesterday was the last shoot on the estate)
3 guinea fowl

 

[oldtimer]

Funny how they disappear on Birdwatch day. Perhaps they are all trying to be designated as rare species so that they can get preferential treatment.

 

[Chiseller]

We've a pair of mistle thrushes that frequent the garden :thumbup:

 

[Elen Sentier]

here's our lot, I think the bird SFX team were out today, they must have known we wanted to count 'em

Feeding Station Crew …

Blackbird 3
Blue tit 10
Chaffinch 6
Dunnock 3
Goldfinch 12
Great tit 10
House sparrow 15
Magpie 4
Robin 3
Song thrush 2
Wren 2

Great spotted woodpecker 2 – regular visitors
Jay 2 – regular visitors
Green woodpecker 1 – in the garden
Grey heron 1 – fishing in the pond, early this morning
Grey wagtail 2 – on the waterfall in the pond

Yard-birds and field birds
Jackdaw 30 – around the farmyard
Carrion crow 5
Collared dove 7
Feral pigeon 5
Starling 10
Woodpigeon 4

Black-headed gull 3 – over the field
Buzzard 3 – residents in the field
Common gull 20 – in the field, wading in the huge puddles

Rook 30 – in the farmyard, gorging on the cattle feed
Fieldfare 3 – in the field
Kestrel 1 – regular in the lane
Mallard 3 – regular visitors, landed on the pond
Mistle thrush 1 – rare visitor, briefly in the lilac tree, flashed down to the lawn
Pheasant 5 – in the lane
Pied wagtail 1 – on the wind mirror of the car
Raven 2 – 1[SUP]st[/SUP] thrill of the day tumbling overhead and upsetting the resident buzzards
Red kite 1 – 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] thrill of the day !!!
Sparrowhawk 1 – 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] thrill of the day, flashed into the honeysuckle and came out with lunch.

 

[Rod Paradise]

Quiet day in Sanquhar yesterday too.

1 Blackbird
2 Blue Tit (usually about 6)1 carrion crow
10 Chaffinches
3 Coal Tits
1 Dunnock (usually 4 or 5)
2 Great Tits
1 Greenfinch (usually about 6)
2 House Sparrows
2 Jackdaws
1 Robin
1 Brambling

Regular visitors who decided to play shy:
Pair of Collared Doves.
Charm of Goldfinches
Siskins
Occasional long-tailed tits
Song & Mistle Thrushes
Wren
Red-legged partridges.
Great Spotted Woodpecker

Didn't even get a swoop through the back garden by the sparrowhawk to blame.

While it's important to the survey to accurately record the visitors it's so annoying when the regulars aren't there for it.

 

[greensurfingbear]

1 robin

 

[Robbi]

Elen, i think you're only meant to count the birds once, not every time they come into your garden

 

[Emdiesse]

2 Robins
2 Blue tit
2 Great Tits
4 Pigeons
1 Sparrow

When we stopped a coal tit came in to feed and during I counted 5 robins (5!) all in the same tree in the copse outside our house (So they were not recorded). I thought they were quite territorial?

It seemed quite quiet, but had most of the recent regulars; The regulars this year were not as frequent and as numerous as in the garden last year though.