Big Garden Birdwatch

[dogsbody]

So come on, who's doing it and what did you see?

I have to do it twice, once sat out on a (very) cold garden bench as it is the only way I can see the natural hedge and secondary feeder station, and again once indoors (whilst warming up) so I can observe rest of back and front gardens.

[snuffer]

Mrs snuffer always does the big garden bird watch. We do have a lot of birds come to our various feeders. I know this sounds rediculous but last weekend we spent over £70.00 on bird food. If I could grow that stuff on the lottie we'd be quids in.

[dogsbody]

Great to hear that - i don't spend THAT much. but the agricultural seed merchant smiles when he sees us coming - 3 dustbins full in shed.

Hope you see loads this w/end

[Flummery]

Mr Flum does it every year for here. His mum does it for their place. My sister does it for hers. Compulsive, innit?

[piskieinboots]

We have done it for the last three years, we always choose the Sunday as our count day as we are usually both here and SD is a better counter than I am

[dogsbody]

Here are the results of my count:

Starlings 8
Blackbirds 2
Chaffinch 2
Great Tit 2
Collared Dove 2
Sparrow 2
Robin 1
Wren 1

And OH's count from her house (which is more rural than mine)

Goldfinch 3
Chaffinch 5
Greenfinch 3
Robin 1
Pheasant 1
Blackbird 2
Sparrow 1
Starling 2
Collared Dove 6
Yellowhammer 1

Just waiting for Mum's results now.

The one sad thing we find is we used to see upwards of 30 Sparrows - now hardly any

[seasprout]

Big Garden Birdwatch.

Nice and Sunny Here, I'm going to do my official count tomorrow when BF has gone Golf.

I've just got back from GO Ryton with my spuds and some seeds to try.

I'm watching the Birdwatch chatter on Twitter, its great to see peoples sightings mentioned.

And its become a UK trending topic.

[wellie]

dogsbody, we've got all of your sparrows here at The Funny Farm, so don't worry about them no more, because I've been feeding them all the way through this cold weather, and I do believe that they're taking up residence in the roof-space a short distance from the marital bed, which is worrying me slightly.....

I like to do the Bird Watch on the Sunday too?
We've had completely everything here so far:
Ravens, Jays, Magpies, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Song Thrushes, Buzzards, BlueTits, CoalTits, GreatTits, Nuthatches, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Pied Wagtails, Housesparrows, Goldfinches, Bullfinches, JennyWrens, Robins, Wood Pigeons, Pheasants and hugely ginormous flocks of starlings, and if that weren't enough, there's the odd occasion of a sighting of a bird that we're having to get the book'n'binoccs out for, which is fantactic excitement.

The important thing is to keep the birdbaths topped up with clean fresh water, as well as the food for them, so they can bathe properly.

[seasprout]

Did the count this morning before a trip to the Garden Centre.

6 Black Birds
3 Blue Tits
3 Collared Doves
2 Dunnocks
2 Goldfinches
17 Sparrows
1 Jackdaw
4 Magpies
1 Song Thrush
8 Starlings
2 Wood Pigeons.
1 Stock Dove
1 Black Headed Gull

Not a bad turnout in all.

Although I appear to have a vacancy for a Robin.

[ukmaggie45]

Although I appear to have a vacancy for a Robin.

We only counted one robin in our hour's watching, but I've seen 4 at once in our new garden on occasions. Perhaps I should send a couple your way to avoid them fighting? It's our first year of doing the birdwatch as our current house is a terrace and we hardly ever get a single bird in the back yard.

We're not moving to new house yet as it needs everything doing to it (probably including digging out and replacing the concrete floors ) and we hope to extend a bit too. But we've been gardening and birdwatching since the day we completed - Dec 11.

[dogsbody]

Got Mum's results now, suburban close to farmland and 2 motorways

Goldfinch 6
Greenfinch 3
Wood Pigeon 7
Collared Dove 3
Blackbirds 7
Starlings 5
Blue Tits 4
Dunnocks 3
Sparrows 2
Chaffinch 2
Wren 1
Blackcap 1
Magpie 2
Jay 1
Great Tit 2
Robin 2

Not bad for what the RSPB call a SMALL garden!

[wellie]

ukmaggie45, a big hello from all of us here on The Grapevine!
Are you United Kingdom? or abroad?
(Much easier to help, if you need it, if we know where roughly you are in the world!) but not obligitory, obviously!
And also, to enjoy your posts about what you see, grow and harvest locally.

[ukmaggie45]

ukmaggie45, a big hello from all of us here on The Grapevine!
Are you United Kingdom? or abroad?

Hello Wellie, thanks for the welcome. I'm in UK - South Liverpool (Aigburth for anyone who knows Liverpool). Our new garden is medium sized, but that's pretty large for suburban Liverpool - most houses seem to have microscopic back gardens, I think it's a matter of knowing where to look.

We had a rather disappointing birdwatch in a way, as the day before we had a flock of redwings, starlings, a couple of goldfinches, and about 5 sparrows, but on the day none of them turned up! Well, a single sparrow did.

But did have the usual tits and blackbirds, and a single nuthatch (which is a bird I'd never seen before we got this garden), so really I'm happy. Estate Agent who showed us round told us that his cousin used to live 4 houses along, and that they saw woodpeckers in their garden. So am hoping to entice them with some nice suet cakes.

Our vendor tells us there are frogs and a toad too! It's just soooo exciting, and all the new shoots coming up, and it's such a nice surprise finding what's in the garden.

[glallotments]

We do the count every years and are always amazed at how the number of birds drops during bird count week.

It's not our imagination as the feeders that usually need topping up daily just don't seem to go down.

We don't do anything different and are not obtrusive in counting.

Others have told me the same thing too.

I can only guess that more people put out food during this weekend or our birds are more intelligent than I imagine and are laying low so their numbers will remain low and they will continue to receive support!