RSPB birdwatch weekend

[andyjevs]

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

Anyone doing it ? I am so lucky that the garden i look after at work has an abundant and varied bird life. Among the guests in the garden are a very large colony of blue and coal tits, Jenny wrens, Robins which follow me around for food, lots of blackbirds, mistle thrushes, collared doves, wood and ferral pidgeons, a family of crows which follow me around when i feed the fish and a large colony of noisy Jays.

I also have a very large Herring Gull which eats all my goldfish and there has been a little egret land there too.

[Jules001]

I am planning to do this together with my daughter, I have been looking around for a new birdtable for my garden as the last one fell to pieces and had hoped to have it in place for a few weeks prior to this weekend to give the birds chance to find it, however this wasn't possible and I am planning to buy one tomorrow, so maybe I will be lucky and get a few more than usual!

[gessoo]

Sounds great Andy. I love encouraging birds to my 'wildlife' garden. We too have loads of different species. No crows, but lots of Jackdaws, although they are not around at the moment. We also have moorhens and ducks. Had an injured woodpigeon the other day and must admit to putting a large quantity of food down for it whilst in rested in the garden. Was rewarded by seeing it fly off later in the day I keep binoculars permanently on my window sill, together with bird books and a notebook for any new species I spot. We have been lucky in encouraging loads of tree sparrows over the past few years. My neighbours might think my half acre garden is out of control, but I love the birdlife that it attracts!!!

[logman]

Thanks for the reminder Andy, i certainly will have a crack at it, i'am lucky enough to have some ancient oak and hornbeam woodland to the back of me and some open farmland to the front and a few small wetland areas. have a well stocked bird feeding station in the garden, which i have recorded up to 20 species of birds in some years. I think the rarest bird i ever saw was a black cap, a couple of summers ago.

Jules, I hope the birds soon get used to your new table in your garden, with plenty of tastey treats, they have been going mad for sunflower seeds in my garden lately. Happy spoting folks..

[itsallyellow]

I hadn't realised it was on. I live in the middle of Leicester but my ground floor apartment backs onto the old River Soar and I'm meters away from the edge. There are a lot of species: Swans, Mallards + 1 plain white duck with a bright orange beak that hangs around with these, coots, moorhens, canada geese, the odd heron, gulls (noisy things), wood pigeons. Its amazing in summer as all the trees get their foliage you cannot see any other building apart from the cathedral spire and its very quiet considering the main road i'm near. I think i'll take part after reading the above.

[spudqueen]

I have a lot of birds in my garden, and it is regularly visited by Long Tailed Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, along with robin, song thrush, starling, sparrow, greenfinch, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, blackbird, siskin, pied wagtail, jay, magpie and rooks. I've had a couple of visits from a grey wagtail and a single visit from a brambling and (I was so delighted!) a lesser spotted woodpecker! HOWEVER, every time it's the garden birdwatch what do I get, sparrows, starling and a blackbird if I'm lucky! I'm sure those darned birds KNOW when I'm doing the watch and all b****er off to someone elses garden!

[WendyS]

Yes Andy, We'll be doing it again this year and hope to have better results than last year, where every living creature seemed to disappear off the radar screen for the one hour duration we picked. In anticipation of the cold weather I've made up lots of extra fatty oats to encourage them to our bird table which has been the best investment we've made in ages in terms of the pleasure it has provided in bird watching facilities. However the local squirrels have now cottoned on and come very early to pinch all the sunflower seeds, leaving a trail of black empty husks all over our patio. But I'd given anything to spot a common sparrow. They seem to have completely deserted our neck of of the wood in Bucks.

[Robinia]

Thanks for the reminder andy. Yes I will be doing it, my garden is getting busier by the day now, although the sudden dip in temperature has made it feel like spring is still a long way off. I can bet I'll be seeing, amongst a varied assortment of visitors, the four young, fine, dandy blackbirds who are battling it out at the moment. I've noticed they are here very early & stay much later in the afternoon now & they're taking it in turns to stand on tiptoe on the window sill to attract my attention when the currant supply has run out.

I'll be patrolling the area before I start with a loud hailer warning all the local moggies that they'd better scarper or I'll be after them with a monsoon force water pistol!!

[gen2]

I'll be taking part again. The RSPB send me a reminder as I have previously supported it. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be as exciting as last year as I havn't seen any finches for several months now and no long-tailed tits have been seen all year. I think the milder weather has meant that ample food is still available in the countryside and they haven't been driven into town gardens to survive. I could go up to the local park and do it there but all my previous submissions have been for my garden, so I'll stick with that.

Here's hoping for good weather.

[shaneystar2]

I shall be doing it too Andy ..like gen2 I had a reminder from the RSPB as I took part last year. We get loads of sparrows and also blackbirds,starlings and the Lone Ranger...the robin.Woodpigeons and now and again a jackdaw.Nothing as exotic as some of the others !

[burnhal]

Always do it. And dont forget Springwatch either!!

Bird population hasnt been so high this winter though did have a goldcrest drop in yesterday. Think that there has been plenty of food elsewhere. So much for the hardest winter in living memory that was predicted. The RSPB reserve where I do volunteer wardening hasnt anywhere near the usual number of overwintering wildfowl this winter. Still- looking forward to August when me and the missus will be on a working holiday on the RSPB reserve Ramsey Island- only forty visitors a day allowed and when they have gone home in the evening you get a whole island to yourself!

[gessoo]

That sounds fantastic Burnhal. What a lovely way to spend a holiday.