RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

[alan refail]

Just a reminder that The Big Garden Birdwatch 2008 is on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th January - less than a fortnight away.
If you've taken part before you know all about it. If you haven't, give it a try - have a look at the RSPB website.
I'm hoping for big sightings this year, as our populations of sparrows, blackbirds, bluetits and chaffinches have all increased this winter - and the starling population has exploded".

[Monika]

We'll certainly be doing the Big Birdwatch again this year, including two of the granddaughters (10 and 11) who are very keen. Contrary to the national reports, we, too, have had plenty of blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits this year and they are clearing the bird table of black sunflower seeds and (particularly the LTTs) of fat. We have, however, noticed a drastic reduction in all finches, particularly greenfinches. Our chaffinch numbers are down, too, and we have only seen three bramblings at the most this winter when in previous years we have had up to 40 at the bird table.
How are your numbers compared to previous years, Alan?

[Johnboy]

Hi Monika,
I saw one male Brambling on Sunday and that is the first I have seen. Chaffinches are decidedly a rarity but we have good numbers of Greenfinch and there is a Finch Flock of approx 2000 birds around.
They were down in my field next to the house last week and came under constant bombardment from a Peregrine Falcon and do you know he attacked them on and off for best part of an hour but I had the glasses on him and I don't think he actually caught anything and ultimately gave up. I think the safety in number bit is so true. I had 16 LT Tits on the peanuts the other day and I have never seen them go to a feeder before. The most was 7 at one time.
They were feeding on and off all day and generally they come up the hedgerow with their wonderful call announcing their coming some time before you see them then normally spend about 10 mins in the Beech Tree and melt away. I also have a Merlin that has taken up residence on the plot. He chased a bird straight through one of the tunnels the other day.
(The one that has no polythene on the ends used for ground vegetables)
I shall take part in the RSPB survey again this year.
JB.

[PLUMPUDDING]

We take part in the RSPB bird watch most years and hope for a bit of bad weather that weekend so more birds come into the garden.

My bird feeders are in a tree in front of the bedroom window, so I can bird watch while I have my cup of tea every morning.

There are large numbers of all the finches, green, gold, chaff and bull, but we haven't seen a Brambling this winter. We don't get many, but there is usually an odd one tagging on with the chaffinches. They must all be near your house in Skipton. We get a flock of about 9 long tailed tits passing through the garden a couple of times a day and as you say they only rarely go on the feeders and it is usually the fat block or peanuts if they do.

There are regularly 14 species come to the feeders in a morning and in bad weather we have had as many as 21. One of our recent regulars is a young male Sparrow hawk, but he isn't very accurate and usually misses, then jumps about on the wall and sits sulking in the cherry tree.

[Monika]

What lovely bird reports, Johnboy and Plumpudding! Our favourites at the moment are two nuthatches (hopefully, a pair) because until a few years ago they nested nearby and then suddenly disappeared, so we are hoping that they have moved into the area again. In fact, we are putting up another bird box with a large nuthatch-size hole on the Nature Reserve which our house overlooks and of which I am the voluntary warden.

We also get a regular treecreeper at the feeding station, presumably because I throw some finely milled peanuts against the trunk of a bird cherry and the treecreeper works up and down this trunk, pecking into every little nook and cranny.

[Primrose]

We're not telling the birds about the event in this neck of the woods. For the past two years they've all pushed off to other venues and our count has been pathetically low. And then, a couple of days later they all reappear again, (except the greenfinches which have virtually disappeared over the past couple of years) Whether it's because lots of people only put out food for them on these two days of the year and they get tempted elsewhere I don't know, but I think this year we're going to do our stint a couple of days early or a couple of days, just to fool the little perishers.

[Geoff]

We do the count most years and I am also doing the BTO count for our square. What I find odd about the RSPB count is the one hour limit. We find the birds come in shifts (or flocks I suppose), the feeders will be full of Blue Tits, then Great or Coal a little while later. I think the balance has shifted in the Tit species, Blue used to be most common but the three are almost equal now maybe Coal even being the majority. I like the Nuthatches too but the other birds are pretty wary of that beak, quite an offensive weapon.

[Monika]

Well, how did it go?

I spent an hour at Harlow Carr RHS gardens in Harrogate with one of our granddaughters yesterday to do the birdwatch and we were mightily impressed with their new birdwatching hide. We saw lots of birds, including two gorgeous jays, several bullfinches and siskins, and to cap it all, a male sparrowhawk flew past really close to our noses, giving us both a shock!

We did our own count today at home and were quite pleased, though neither of our resident nuthatches turned up during the hour.

[Colin Miles]

This winter the Greenfinches have completely disappeared but we have at least 5 Siskins and a pair of Nuthatches. Coal Tits and Long-tailed Tits also doing well and Blue Tits not noticeably down in numbers - can never get an accurate count of them anyway. Masses of Chaffinches, no Jays and although we regularly had 3 Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrushes until a few weeks ago, this has now reduced to 1 Blackbird. Where have the Song Thrushes gone?

Did the Wild Bird walk and count at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales yesterday. Never seen(!) so few birds. No sign of the Buzzards which are usually there, no Song Thrushes, even in the Walled garden where we went after the count sure were would see them there. Only a Stonechat, Little Grebe and Goldcrest of the more unusual varieties.

[PLUMPUDDING]

We did the bird watch in the garden on both Saturday and Sunday and sent in the best, which was Sunday with 16 species including a female Black cap, Greater spotted woodpecker, siskin, bullfinch and all the usuals.

Like you say, the 1 hour limit seems a bit daft because the flock of long tailed tits turned up later in the morning and the wren also appeared too late to be included and they are all regulars to the garden.

We abandoned the Saturday one as the Sparrow hawk kept flashing past the feeders and the birds hid for a good 10 minutes every time he came past, and although it would have been a good record, it scared everything else away.

[alan refail]

We're not telling the birds about the event in this neck of the woods. For the past two years they've all pushed off to other venues and our count has been pathetically low. And then, a couple of days later they all reappear again, (except the greenfinches which have virtually disappeared over the past couple of years) Whether it's because lots of people only put out food for them on these two days of the year and they get tempted elsewhere I don't know, but I think this year we're going to do our stint a couple of days early or a couple of days, just to fool the little perishers.

Well, Primrose, the biggest recording this year was starlings. Most of the other species seemed to have heard about the Bird Watch and steered clear over the weekend - less sparrows, blackbirds etc than usual. Our visiting cock pheasant popped in to be counted, but at the end it was starlings coming in at 73 (today it would have been 373 )

As for them understanding what's going on, I hear that the starling population is boosted by incomers from Latvia and Estonia, among other places, and they clearly haven't yet mastered Welsh( ), so didn't know we were going to count them.