RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 30/31th Jan 2010

by Compostwoman 21st January 2010, 10:37 am

This weekend is the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, where you are asked to watch birds for an hour and record the results.

The idea is that you settle down for an hour watching and recording the highest number of each bird species seen in your garden, or local park (not flying over) at any one time, on either Saturday 30 or Sunday 31 January 2010.

There are ID charts and a useful counting sheet to help you do this.

Then you send the results to the RSPB and yes online is fine.

So, I am going to be doing this, Compostgirl will be doing it, all of Eco club at school will be doing the schools version, which is 2 weeks long and started this week...

How about we all join in? ( * those in the UK, at least) Very Happy

by MrsC 21st January 2010, 12:47 pm

I'll definitely be doing this - both at home on the Saturday and at the local nature reserve on the Sunday!

Mrs C

by Dandelion 22nd January 2010, 10:51 am

Ive done this for a few years now, and really enjoy the discipline of having to sit down and stay in one place for a whole hour! The problem is that our local birds seem to know it's the RSPB weekend, and deliberately stay at home. This year I've seen a blackcap on the birdtable, and redwings in the garden, but come the birdwatch hour the best I'll be able to come up with will probably be a blackbird or two!

by Compostwoman 22nd January 2010, 10:54 am

We have a glass sided front porch which overlooks the main bird table, so I can sit in comfort, with a cuppa and toast etc...bins and id books at the ready, and watch away...

Did the BSBW at Eco club yesterday but doing it from 3.30 until 4.30 wasn't a very good time......

by MrsC 22nd January 2010, 5:35 pm

BTW - CW - when you say this weekend - I assume you actually mean next I'm confused about dates and days of the week at the moment, but pretty sure that 30/31 Jan is in a week's time!

Mrs C

by Compostwoman 22nd January 2010, 6:20 pm

Ah I meant this, as in the weekend I am referring to in the title....

Sorry for any confusion!

by MrsC 23rd January 2010, 8:43 am

I thought I'd lost a week for a while!

Mrs C

by Green Rosie 23rd January 2010, 9:34 pm

Compostwoman wrote:We have a glass sided front porch which overlooks the main bird table, so I can sit in comfort, with a cuppa and toast etc...bins and id books at the ready, and watch away

Humpf - I stood outside for an hour last year with freezing driving rain meaning almost all the birds stayed hidden and I got frozen ..... and being as I'm in France the results were only for my own interest anyway Shocked

:scratch:

by Compostwoman 23rd January 2010, 10:45 pm

Sorry, Rosie.. :hug2:

But.........I can't help having a nice porch, with a good view of the bird feeders........ Embarassed

Shall I stand outside in the cold, as well.....to show solidarity ? Smile

by MrsC 24th January 2010, 9:04 am

At home I can at least stay in the warm and watch. Down at the nature reserve I feel it will be a rather cooler event down in the bird hide where an amazingly cold cross wind always seems able to get in!

Mrs C

by Dandelion 26th January 2010, 2:15 pm

I've just had an email advert from the RSPB advertising special bird food for the Big Garden Birdwatch. Maybe this is where we're going wrong: perhaps with the correct bird food we'll have flocks of pelicans landing!!

by Aberlemno 26th January 2010, 6:24 pm

I've just downloaded the form, so I have no excuse (apart from not being able to count fast enough perhaps!) not to take part. I was watching the birds in the front garden today and there are SO many, and there is a constant change-over on the nutnets and feeders that it is obvious that it can only be one species at a time to be counted!

by AngelinaJellyBeana 30th January 2010, 11:48 am

1 robin
1 blackbird (male)
2 blue tits
2 long-tailed tits
:cheers:

by Dandelion 30th January 2010, 12:13 pm

No pelicans, then??

by MrsC 30th January 2010, 5:25 pm

Well here are my results for doing it in my back garden today.

Blackbird x 2
Blue Tit x 2
Carrion crow x 2
Coal tit x 1
Dunnock x 1
Great tit x 1
House sparrow x 5 (yes five!)
Magpie x 2
Robin x 2
Woodpigeon x1
Black headed gull x 1

Pretty pleased considering when we moved in six months ago there were no bird visitors at all to the garden. Very Happy

Tomorrow I'll go and do it all over again down at the nature reserve.

Mrs C

by Dandelion 30th January 2010, 6:23 pm

I'm doing mine tomorrow - will shut the chickens up though, as they have been scaring the sparrows today. (They also helped me to paint grease onto the fruit trees, but that's another story!)

by Aberlemno 30th January 2010, 6:37 pm

I did mine this morning, though OH couldn't understand why I was getting cross because he kept going out the front door to the yard for something! Argghh!

Jackdaws 16 (comes from living next door to a farm as they live in the outbuildings)
Hedge Sparrows 6 (there are more of them but they keep lurking in the rose arbour and swopping over just as I have the ones on the ground and nut nets counted . . .)
Dunnocks 2
Greater Spotted Woodpecker 1
Robin 1
Starlings 4
Willow Tit 1
Coal Tit 1
Pied Wagtail 1
Great Tits 5
Blue Tits 13 (probably more, but they keep changing over too)
Nuthatch 1
Chaffinches lost count at around 10 " "
Blackbirds 3

by Mam Miniog 30th January 2010, 10:24 pm

Thats a great list Mrs C ... have fun at the nature reserve

by Dandelion 30th January 2010, 10:36 pm

...and wrap up warm!

by Compostwoman 30th January 2010, 11:27 pm

My birdwatching count is minus 6 hens today..a visit from Mr Fox, alas.... Sad

by Mam Miniog 30th January 2010, 11:32 pm

by Compostwoman 30th January 2010, 11:37 pm

Yep.

Full tale in the Tea room Fi..., join me in a cuppa?

by Dandelion 31st January 2010, 10:55 am

Right - have just done it.
3 blackbirds
2 blue tits
2 sparrows
3 jackdaws
2 song thrushes
2 starlings
4 woodpigeons
1 blackcap
(and one neighbours's cat, which I chased across the garden making fierce predator type noises!)

by Compostwoman 31st January 2010, 4:24 pm

Ok did mine earlier on so here is the list

6 blue tits
9 great tits
10 long tail tits
6 coal tits

5 chaffinches
4 greenfinches
2 bullfinches ( eating the buds on the magnolia!)

3 robins
3 sparrows
1 dunnock
1 blackcap

3 blackbirds
1 song thrush
10 fieldfares
5 redwing
( actually loads more but they were in the ivy hedge behind the bird feeders area where I was watching so I couldn't count them)

2 wrens

3 crows
2 woodpigeons
2 jays
1 magpie

3 GS woodpecker
1 LS woodpecker (!) Oh joy its come back!
2 Green woodpecker - wonderful exotic looking birds, we have a lot around here in the wood and garden!

1 heron
2 mallard ducks
1 moorhen

AND.....1 sparrowhawk getting a small ground feeder ( chaffinch?) and eating it in front of me, at the very end

by MrsC 1st February 2010, 8:53 am

Wow CW! That's quite a bird count. Mine's on my blog for both here and down at the local nature reserve. Eleven species here and 27 at the reserve. We have water down there though so we get things like coots, mallards and gadwalls as well.

As last year I really enjoyed doing it and when you really do just sit there for an hour it's amazing how many you see compared to just quick glimpses of things between doing jobs around the house!

Mrs C

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