RSPB big garden bird watch 2022

[Fat Lars]

We have noted every bird seen in our garden in the last 5 years and it comes to 37. Not bad eh?

 

[biggs682]

A poor count this morning in the garden
6 sparrows
1 black cap
1 pigeon
1 blackbird
None of the usual magpies and only one solitary pigeon normally have at least 4 at a time

 

[mistyoptic]

Collared dove 1
wood pigeon 3
house sparrow 6
Dunnock 1
robin 2
blue tit 1
starling 1
blackbird 2
magpie 1
coal tit 1
chaffinch 1

neighbour’s cat in stalking mode 1 😡

oh, and a reed bunting, just slipped in under the wire…

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I did a recount today but it was pretty similar to yesterday, with only a thrush and a wood pigeon to add. Otherwise it was an identical guest list of robins, black birds, dunnock, tits etc, no more than yesterday.

 

[Illaveago]

A Herring Gull on our roof . Pesky blighters carp on my car . A crow usually comes along to tell them that they are not wanted here .
A neighbour out the front had about a dozen Sparrows in a bush in here front garden this morning .
Not many noted today . The birds Seem to have gone elsewhere today as the numbers are way down on what they usually are . Only 4 Starlings . Usually we will get over a dozen once they see food on the bird feeders . Goldfinches are also down . We usually get 8 birds on our 2 feeders with some waiting in the trees . Not sure if yesterday's bad weather has disrupted them .

 

[Tail End Charlie]

It's interesting what we all saw. And even more interesting what we don't see. For instance I live surrounded by fields and whilst crows can be seen in them, they never come into my garden. Whereas in my previous abode, in the middle of suburbia, I was plagued by them. Likewise I don't see wood pigeons or starlings.
I've just spent an hour or so making four bird boxes and am now deciding how big to make the hole. Do I make it so the birds I know visit can use them, or a size that ones that I don't regularly see can?

 

[geocycle]

Did ours today, just the usuals:
8 long tailed tits
2 bluetits
2 coal tits
2 great tits
Robin
Dunnock
2 Blackbirds*
wood pigeon
2 magpies

Seen from the house, so not in the survey, we had a dozen curlew, widgeon, crows, egret and 2 hares

*one is really tame and comes and knocks on the bedroom window when we open the curtains!

 

[biggs682]

Whilst having breakfast this morning I have seen more than I did yesterday , hope they had a nice weekend away

 

[Chief Broom]

I live a few hundred yards from the sea with farm land in between so the birdlife is quite different from an urban area. Large flocks of greylag geese feature a lot and often many Curlews sometimes a flock of a hundred or so, Herons, Oystercatchers, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk, Gulls, various pigeons, all the crow family but not magpies The rarest sighting was a Woodcock which was looking for soft ground to probe when everywhere else was frozen.
Pic taken through window and fence slats

 

[CanucksTraveller]

8 long tailed tits

Wow that's a lot! I gathered that they were pretty rare and I thought I was lucky to have the odd one or two very occasionally. Beautiful birds, lucky you!

 

[Illaveago]

One Goldfinch and one Wood Pigeon in the garden this morning . I think they are looking at each other saying . "Where's the rest gone ?"

 

[Illaveago]

Well it looks like the bird feeders have hardly been touched ! There doesn't seem to be the same numbers of birds around .
Is it the weather ? Saturday morning was a complete wash out as the wind was too strong . Any birds that were flying were having trouble . The afternoon brightened up but the birds didn't return .
Yesterday birds visited our garden but the numbers weren't representative of what we normally get. On a normal day our bird feeders would be half empty . The Blackbird and Goldfinch numbers are down . The Goldfinches could be feeding elsewhere but the Blackbird numbers are half of what we usually get . Wagtail numbers are non existent. We used to get 3 to 4. Only 1 Robin ! Hardly any Starlings or Sparrows.
So what are they going to get from these figures ? Should they hold it again ?

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Well it looks like the bird feeders have hardly been touched ! There doesn't seem to be the same numbers of birds around .
Is it the weather ? Saturday morning was a complete wash out as the wind was too strong . Any birds that were flying were having trouble .

So what are they going to get from these figures ? Should they hold it again ?

Yes I've wondered this myself. Chris Packham was gravely announcing on Winter Watch the shocking extent that bird populations have declined, and while I don't doubt the decline for a second, I do wonder how the data is compiled and whether it takes into account things like the sample timescale. Because as you say, one weekend of high winds across the nation and all of a sudden those gardens are probably looking very different indeed to how they normally do. I hope it doesn't falsely paint a grim picture.
On a calmer weekend I'd have seen double the number that I did this weekend, and probably 3 to 4 more species, easy.

 

[Illaveago]

Yes I've wondered this myself. Chris Packham was gravely announcing on Winter Watch the shocking extent that bird populations have declined, and while I don't doubt the decline for a second, I do wonder how the data is compiled and whether it takes into account things like the sample timescale. Because as you say, one weekend of high winds across the nation and all of a sudden those gardens are probably looking very different indeed to how they normally do. I hope it doesn't falsely paint a grim picture.
On a calmer weekend I'd have seen double the number that I did this weekend, and probably 3 to 4 more species, easy.

Yes , even today the garden is virtually empty. 4 Wood Pigeons and a few Sparrows . At one point this morning we had a Goldfinch and a Wood Pigeon looking at each other as if to say "Where are the others this morning ? "

 

[potsy]

1 robin
2 blackbirds
2 Great tits
2 blue tits
1 nuthatch
2 bullfinch
1 dunnock
1 greater spotted woodpecker

Most of the regulars put in an appearance, just missing the collared doves and the wood pigeon..