Kitchen Garden Forum

Just my annual reminder that the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is this coming weekend.

Those of us who have taken part before will no doubt be doing so again. If you haven't taken part before have a look at the link above and give it a go.

Hi Alan - I'll be giving it a go for the first time. I have done one for BTO I think it was somewhere in the dim and distant past!

Hopefully the weather won't be too bad.

We are going to have two bites at the cherry. On Saturday we shall be going to Harlow Carr RHS garden at Harrogate with one of our teenage granddaughters who is a member of the RSPB juniors and very keen on wildlife. They have a lovely hide there with lots of bird feeders so, weather permitting, we should see quite a few birds. Then, on Sunday, we'll be doing our own birdwatch at home.

I am thinking of taking part. Have been hearing about it on the radio.
My knowledge is limited though, so I may not be able to identify all the birds I see . Is there a catagory for that?

Hi GS - the only way to 'unlimit' knowledge is to practise! Just keep watching and spot the ones you know to start and gradually try to identify a new one every now and then. Do you have a good bird book. I have been watching birds since I was a young child but there are still lots I can't recognise.

Hi GS

The RSPB's top fifteen is a good starting point. Or download their Birdwatch checksheet - link to pdf file at the bottom of this page.

Thanks Alan / AT, To my suprise I was ok with the top fifteen list
I can say confidently that I know all of those.
I have been watching but not really identifying for a while so somethng has sunk in!
My friend comes round to pick up a few gardening tips and while she is here she will mention seeing; Siskins, Blackcaps, Coal tits, we even have a Parakeet in the area. I know there are so many more that I do not know.
Also a whole load of the Pigeons around here are from people who keep them and let them out in hourds. Do I count them? They land on the wire in my garden, about 40 -50 at a time.

We'll be doing it again this year in the garden. But it's the one week-end of the year when all our regulars seem to disappear off elsewhere in search of better pickings from the people who only put out food on this particular week-end. (Disloyal little creatures ) So on Monday morning if they misbehave in this way and return to our garden, they'll find themselves on a diet of bread and water instead of their usual grain, sunflower seeds, fatty oats, chopped apples, peanuts and suet pellets.

Oh, that's a horrid thought, Primrose! Nobody could be that nasty, surely?

We had a great birdwatch today, by the way, at Harlow Carr RHS at Harrogate. Saw all the usual, like blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits but also a marsh tit (I think that's what it was, not a willow tit), nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers (m + f), lots of bullfinches, treecreeper, blackbirds, etc as well as a tiny goldcrest, really close. My 13-year-old granddaughter spotted it first and was really chuffed.

Hi Primrose,
We ALWAYS seem to have a fall in the number of birds during Birdwatch weekend too. My theory is that the birds know what is happening and hide so that we think the numbers are lower than they actually are and keep doing our bit to help them from becoming extinct!!