RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2013

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is something which brings much of Britain together and has really become an exciting weekend which so many people look forward to. There is always such an impressive number of people that take part, and I'm sure this year was no different. 

Having said this, I had originally thought 2013 would have been the only year for a while where I wouldn't take part, at least in my garden back home, with me being at university in Reading. However, I happened to be popping home this weekend anyway, which worked out very nicely indeed. I went home on the train on Friday evening (only about a 40 minute journey altogether), stayed at home on Saturday and came back to university in the evening. It really is convenient living so close to university and being able to do stuff like this. This allowed me and dad to do the big garden birdwatch together on Saturday morning. 

I woke up about 8ish on Saturday morning to pop outside and make sure all the feeders were as filled up as possible. They had been filled up on Friday morning, but I wanted to make sure everything was topped up. We then started the counting at 9:15, with the conditions cold but sunny, with the ground still partly covered with snow. The result? Probably the most disappointing big garden birdwatch we've ever done. We saw a total of just 10 species, which is the lowest we've ever seen. Everything about the conditions would suggest that the bird activity would have been high. Not only this, but just a couple of weeks ago, before I came back to reading after the Christmas break, we were seeing some incredibly busy activity at the feeders. On the 7th January, I tweeted this on my wildlife twitter feed:

So we really don't know what caused the quiet bird life yesterday morning, but that's all part of the exercise really. If everyone saw tons of birds in their garden, then it wouldn't really be a realistic demonstration on the populations of garden bird species. Anyway, without further adieu, here is the list that we saw. 

• Dunnock- 1
• Blackcap- 2
• Chaffinch- 3
• Robin- 1
• Blue tit- 3
• House sparrow- 2
• Wren- 1
• Magpie- 1
• Blackbird- 1
• Collared Dove- 2 

10 species

To be honest, it wasn't the lack of species diversity that was most apparent, but just that the numbers of birds around were generally very low- only 16 individual birds were seen throughout the course of the hour. Amazingly, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Coal Tit all eluded us. These are all species we would probably expect to see on an average day. It was pleasing to see a Wren though- a species which is probably around the garden quite a bit but we only actually spot once every month or so. And it was good to see both a male and a female Blackcap- a species which tends to visit us all year round these days. 

I managed an average photo of the male Blackcap below. My 500D is still off for repairs, but I still had my 300mm lens at home, and I used Mum's 450D to take a few photos. All photos were taken through my bedroom window to avoid disturbing the birds, so the photos really aren't any good, but I wanted to get some photos up as a record of the day, and also simply because getting any photos to post on this blog at the moment is difficult.
 

And below, a photo of a rather smart looking Magpie:

The pair of Woodpigeons in the photo below very annoyingly decided to sit in the tree of the garden next door, not descending down into our garden to be counted...

... Only to fly down to the garden about 2 minutes after we finished counting the birds:

It wasn't all bad though. Throughout the whole morning, we actually saw a decent variety of birds in and around the garden, and flying overhead. The problem was, all of these other species decided not to visit during the hour we were recording in. There were times both before and after the counts where the feeders were busier, but nothing really close to what we were seeing a few weeks ago. 

One species that was particularly good to see was a Bullfinch (female), that landed in the trees at the end of the garden two doors down. Although it arrived during the hour, it was only seen in a nearby garden, and not our own, so couldn't be counted. A terrible record shot can be seen below:

Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Long-tailed Tits Woodpigeons, a Song Thrush and a Great Tit were all seen feeding in the garden outside of the hour that we were recording in. A Fieldfare was also seen at the top of a tree in our next door neighbour's garden, as well as flying overhead. A bad record shot of the Fieldfare can be seen below, just as it was flying off.

A number of birds were seen flying overhead throughout the morning. On 3 or 4 occasions, a small flock of Redwings could be seen flying over. Other birds flying overhead throughout the morning included Carrion Crow, Red Kite, Buzzard and Common Gull. So by the end of the morning, the number of species seen in and around the garden and flying overhead was 22- which really isn't too bad really. 

Not only this, but we noticed a Blue Tit pair check out the nestbox at the end of the garden for a good 5 or 10 minutes. Unfortunately, this nestbox currently has no camera in it, as the cable has become damaged again and needs replacing. Hopefully this should be sorted in time for the nesting season though, even though I won't be at home to watch what's going on! I'll have to get mum and dad to keep checking on the nestbox and sending me photos/videos if and when something happens.

Anyway, I think I'll stop rambling on about our garden birdwatch and start reading about what everyone else saw over the weekend (and entering our counts on the RSPB website). I hope you all had a great weekend of garden birdwatching, and saw some interesting species. Until next time, see you later :D  

Guess what... more snow

School was closed today because of heavy snow. I awoke this morning to a fair amount of snow, and it has snowed almost non-stop since then. The last lot of snow has really only just disappeared, and we now have a new covering! Through other blogs and the news, I get the impression that the UK has generally been affected quite badly by the snow, particularly in Scotland and Northern England.

We got our fair share of snow here in Bucks though, and it has definitely been very cold, with temps set to drop overnight. Because of the constant snow, it has been hard to find a gap in the snowfall, so that I could take my camera outside without it getting wet. I did manage to get out in the early afternoon with my camera for 20 minutes or so, and spend some time in the snow-covered garden.

I noticed that some snow had collected on the mobiles hanging on a pole, near the vegetable patches. I thought the contrast between the snow and the copper-coloured mobile looked quite nice.

The snow is covering almost all small plants in the garden at the moment. Although the snow is obviously very cold, I guess it is acting as a kind of warm blanket on the plants, stopping them from freezing in the open. The photos below show some various plants in the snow.

Various grasses

More grasses

The birds were, unsurprisingly very hungry today, and we saw the regulars in the garden, plus a few extras. The feeders were filled up just as it was getting light, and by the time it had gone dark, they were all empty again. The fat feeders were particularly popular, and the ground bird table had plenty of visitors throughout the day. Several times during the day, I heard tapping noises on the entrance hole of the nest box, although nothing popped inside.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker visited again. This time however, it only spent about 20 seconds on the feeders, and then flew onto the trunk of one of our conifers at the end of our garden. It then began drumming on the trunk, and was doing so for about 5 minutes. I was amazed with the energy the bird had. I also saw a Redwing again, as well as a Song Thrush, both of which were hopping around on the lawn at the end of the garden. A female Blackcap continues to visit, although she does seem a little shy, and is easily intimidated by other birds. No photos of these, although, with their more frequent visits, maybe they will build up the confidence to feed nearer the house.

The regular birds visited in large numbers, particularly the finches and starlings. The photo below shows a Goldfinch. As usual, the Goldfinches were the more approachable garden visitors, so photos were easier.

Also around were Blue and Great Tits, some of which ended up feeding on the ground, once the feeders were empty. The Blue Tits are fairly easy to photograph in our garden because they are one of the more tame visitors. The Blue Tits which I have seen in our garden all seem to be in very good condition, very much ready for Spring.

The highlight of today, however, was the sighting of a Fieldfare which was seen in the shrubs of the railway bank, overhanging a garden 2 doors away. Because of the distance between me and the bird, I only managed a very poor photo, which I have cropped and placed in the photo montage below. It only stayed for about 10 seconds, and flew away soon after it saw me. Shirl in Scotland also managed to spot a fieldfare around her garden. It looks as though many of the more uncommon birds are using our bird feeders as much as they can in this cold weather.

Top left and main photo - Blue Tit, bottom left photo - Fieldfare

Whilst is is clear that the birds are visiting very frequently, it also seems that we are getting some mammals visit our garden in the night. Yesterday evening, at about 9:00, I saw some fox footprints in the snow outside our back door. I checked the footprints in our "Animal tracks and signs" book, and confirmed that they were fox footprints. I followed the footprints, and they led directly to the ground bird table. Footprints in the snow really do show a lot about what animals visit your garden, and what they get up to!

I will definitely look out for more prints in the future. Maybe we will see some fresh footprints tomorrow morning. After this snow disappears, I really hope it warms up a bit here soon. Whilst I am really enjoying watching the frantic winter action in the garden, I am definitely looking forward to spring-watching now!