Like many others, Martyn and I took part in this year's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.
Our garden isn't very large but it is impossible to cover the whole garden with just two pairs of eyes so we concentrate on the area to one side of our house. It's where the bird feeders and tables are and also the most popular bird bath. It's also an area that we often look out on after the feeders and tables have been topped up. That's Martyn's first job after breakfast and if he is late there is usually a queue of blackbirds positioned nearby waiting to swoop down the minute he returns to the house. They also often perch round the back of the house watching the kitchen door and following him round the house as he heads for their favourite bird table. The most vigilant bird has first pick of the food.
Two of our house windows overlook this area and so Martyn is on lookout at one.
I am stationed at the other.
At any one time the conversation goes:
"I've two blackbirds."
"I've three."
So that's five in total.
The birds tend to come in waves and so really once the first wave has passed we rarely beat the original numbers counted - that is until the next wave which is usually outside of the chosen hour. It's most frustrating when frequent visitors fail to make an appearance during the count.
On Saturday where were the almost ever present wood pigeons?
Then there were the three magpies that showed up on the wrong day.
Of course none of the more sporadic visitors deigned to call.
No long tailed tits turned up. A stray did however, pay us a fleeting visit on Tuesday.
If a coal tit turned up we missed it, as it tends to do quick dash and grab of a sunflower heart, this could easily be the case.
The greenfinches kept a low profile and no bullfinches graced us with their presence.
So which birds actually did turn up on Saturday morning?
The RSPB semi doughnut chart showed our results like this.
There were maybe more house sparrows than we counted as they were hopping around in the trees and flying to and from various feeding locations. The trouble is birds just don't sit still! Going on regular observations I would have expected the goldfinch to come out as second highest visitor.
It's really difficult to image that only one great tit and two blue tits paid us a visit. Like the coal tit unless they fancy feeding from the peanut or suet, they tend to flit backwards and forwards so our one great tit could in fact have been several individuals.
Over the past few years I have kept the results of our bird count on a spreadsheet.
The above data is shown as a graph below.
We had intended to do a recount on Monday morning as a comparison but it was a very dull and wet morning and just like us the birds were not venturing out.
Another weather related issue is that on a dull day many birds can only be seen in silhouette which makes identification challenging. This is specially true of birds flitting about in the trees
Another weather related issue is that on a dull day many birds can only be seen in silhouette which makes identification challenging. This is specially true of birds flitting about in the trees
It just further shows that the weather conditions can affect the results of the count so maybe we should make a note of that too.
Did you take part in the count and if so what were your observations?
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those results on the pie chart are similar to our own survey, more worrying is the general decline of all species in our garden.
ReplyDeleteOur species count seems to be fairly stable at the moment, David.
DeleteI missed the birdwatch this year as we were away for the weekend but I believe ours would have been very similar to yours except for the Great Tit, they're only occasional visitors here. We might have had greenfinches though, they're regular visitors. How cute are those long tailed tits, that's something I've never seen in my garden, though we used to get them on the allotment which isn't that far away.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t get as many greenfinches as we once did but apparently the numbers are in decline die to that dreadful disease.
DeleteEnjoyed my count (13x species) and reading your report Sue! Interestingly Woodpigeon come in numbers here too (we got 1 for my count). I loved the idea of you both being at different windows calling your numbers out. It's a solo straight count for me here. That's interesting to see your data form previous years and great to see how well the house sparrow is doing. I don't see so many here but have a theory it could be to do with the location of my bird table but being large it is tricky to position in the garden. My count surprise was a fleeting visit of a male Bullfinch! Enjoy your weekend :-)
ReplyDeleteI’m toying with the idea of carrying out a count at different times of the year, Shirley to compare the results and also catch the birds out as they won’t be expecting it.
DeleteThank you for the labeled photos. So often I don't know the types of birds you talk about. At this time of year it's only sparrows and the occasional blue jay at my feeders.
ReplyDeleteDoes your sparrow look like ours, tpals? We don’t have blue jays
DeleteA frustrating no show for robins and bullfinches. They have returned since to smirk! The colony of house sparrows still rule the roost here too.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure the birds know just what they are doing, Mal. They must send tweets to one another saying, “Keep your head down or they’ll say there are so many of us that we don’t need protecting,
DeleteDue to a family emergency, I didn't do mine, but they say it's not too late, so I might get on with it this weekend.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it frustrating how regular visitors fail to turn up? It's as if they know.
I did wonder whether more people put food out that weekend so they could count, Deborah but would the birds take to to as they can take time to trust new things.
DeleteThe weather does make such a difference to bird visitors, I think it would be a good idea to record it.
ReplyDeleteI think so, Brian as it could skew the data.
DeleteI love your charts and the phitos are lovely. Especially the long-tailed tits, they really are one of the cutest of birds
ReplyDeleteI love the long tails too, Belinda they look so cuddly
DeleteWonderfully informative post. Great pictures of the Longtail tits which I have recently found out do not really belong in this category.
ReplyDeleteI notice that the RSPB don't list it as a member of the tit family, Alistair but don't say which family it is a member of. No doubt before long they will change it's name as they did hedge sparrow.
DeleteIt is always annoying when some of the regular visitors don't show up when we are doing the count. Our robin didn't make an appearance. Our garden was only lawn when we moved in 7 months ago and there were hardly any birds. They are gradually finding their way here to the bird table and newly planted shrubs and trees.
ReplyDeleteIt does take time for them to trust new feeding sites doesn't it, Margaret?
DeleteIt's always the way isn't it? As soon as you start the bird count the regulars disappear! I enjoyed your bird pics, lucky you having so many sparrows, we don't have any!xxx
ReplyDeleteMust admit that the photos were not taken on the day, photographing and counting would be more than challenging
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