As I mentioned in my previous post, we completely forgot about the RSPB Garden Bird Count at the end of last month.
We didn’t completely forget, but our memory didn’t kick in until late Sunday. We thought that the count carried on until Monday 31 January as we were sure that in previous years the count carried through to the Monday but it seems we were wrong. To be honest, the official count weekend probably won’t record typical bird activity, as the birds seemed to have been hunkering down during the gales.
As we have taken part in the Birdwatch since 2012 and I have kept my own records since then, we decided to carry out an unofficial count. I can’t submit our results but at least I can record them.
It was still very windy on Monday morning when we decided to count our visitors and the number of birds visiting was much lower than usual. Those that did visit were difficult to count as they were very skittish.
We only spotted ten different species which, as you can see from the chart below, is low for us. I think there were far more sparrows and goldfinches than we managed to count. These species were very nervous about landing on the feeders which were being buffeted in the wind. They darted about making counting individuals almost impossible.
If you compare previous year’s records, you will note that most years with the exception of 2016 we usually count between thirty and fifty birds. This year was the worse year yet, but I put this down to the weather conditions rather than a decline in bird visitors as the food we put out is being taken as usual.
Other than the low number of sparrows and goldfinches recorded, there were other noticeable differences. It’s the first year that we didn’t count a single starling. We haven’t actually seen many if any, starlings in the garden this year. It also seems that our growing wood pigeon population has nudged aside the collared doves. Although we only recorded one individual, we often have three or four wood pigeons strutting around. Ironically we were commenting on this, just after our count, when we spotted a collared dove in one of our trees. Generally, though, we are seeing them a lot less frequently.
I was surprised that, this year was the first time that we have counted any greenfinches as they are fairly regular visitors.
We often have a surprise visitor to the garden and this year our unusual guest is a female pheasant. She has seemed to have been about most days for a week or so. She stays for quite a while spending time pecking at crumbs dropped from the feeders and resting amongst the hellebores and shrubbery. Martyn posted a video of her here.
Despite the low numbers, sparrows and goldfinches remain the birds we counted the highest number of. There were probably more blackbirds around than we counted but, they too, were whizzing around and I think were also a bit wary of the pheasant hogging one of their favourite foraging areas.
For those of you unfamiliar with our British garden birds, I have put together a collage of the birds that showed up for our count.
If you took part in the count, how did your experience compare to ours?
I wish we had sparrows! Love all these photos, you have a great variety of birds! Great close-ups of the pheasant.xxx
We don’t get as many sparrows as we used to, Dina nor starlings but we do get a greater variety of species
I’m sure the weather was the cause of your low counts – I bet the birds were mostly trying to hide from it. We don’t have blue tits here in Minnesota – they are very pretty, with the blue and yellow markings. We have black-capped chickadees, which are not nearly as colorful, but fun to watch.
The blue tits are so quick, Su I’m guessing we see several individuals but not at the same time.
Yes I have done the bird count on a Monday before now. Goldfinches were a no show here. As you say the storms were a factor, but, too late for the count, a female sparrowhawk turned up later in the day right by their feeder. Today I got dive bombed by a male sparrowhawk when I was weeding in the same area.
I don’t fancy taking on sparrowhawk, Mal
Yes, a shame about the weather. Sparrows and goldfinches are the most common here too, by a long way. We also have plenty of pigeons. When the cherries ripen there can be 12-18 in the tree stripping it.
Wood pigeons strip the leaves off the cherry at the allotment before it has chance to fruit, CJ
Sue, you did a great job counting the birds. So you can find out which ones live in your garden. Most of all I love goldfinches, they are cute and beautiful.
Please download the Google translator!
I’ll see what I can do about the translator Nadezda