RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2009

This year the RSPB hosted its 30th Big Garden Birdwatch. This is the first year I have taken part and I must admit that it was great fun. I bet many other wildlife bloggers also took part in the event. I thought I would do this posting to show you what I saw this year. I will first say that I didn't really see anything particularly unusual, but it is the taking part that counts, in my opinion. I haven't got any photos of the event but I have got quite an exciting video clip for you to watch- well, I think so anyway!

I watched the birds for an hour between roughly 09:10- 10:10 yesterday morning. I am yet to enter my results on the RSPB website, but I have my list here. I watched from my bedroom window (where I have the best view of the whole garden). The reason why I couldn't take photos from there is because the feeders are too far from the house for my camera to take close-up photos. Anyway, before I talk for too long, here is my list:

Blackbird x 1
Blue Tit x 3
Chaffinch x 2
Collared Dove x 1
Dunnock x 1
Goldfinch x 5
Greenfinch x 2
House Sparrow x 2
Magpie x 1
Robin x 2
Song Thrush x 1
Starling x 2
Woodpigeon x 4

This gives me a total of 13 species. I don't think this is bad, however, I was a little disappointed not to see a Great Tit or a Coal Tit. They obviously had other things on their minds. I suspect this isn't going to be a particularly great score compared to everyone else, but I guess it depends greatly on the time in which you do it. So, having seen 13 species, I would have been disappointed with my results. However, while I was counting the birds, I, for the first time, captured Blue Tits entering my camera nestbox. Admittedly, they didn't stay long actually inside the box, but I was still chuffed to bits to see it.



Above, I have included one of the two captured videos. There seems to be 2 males fighting over 1 female in our garden at the moment, which is very interesting, and it appears that it is one of the males that has visited the box. I have to say that this constant interest in the nestbox bodes well for the nesting season ahead. Of course it is only January and its early days yet, but as long as these birds keep visiting, I think its likely that they will nest there in spring. Fingers crossed for that!

I have left the video as I captured it for now, so you will find that nothing happens after the Blue Tit has left for around 20-30 seconds. Please stop the video after the Blue Tit leaves the box. I was very surprised with the fantastic quality of the video. Seeing the greyish wood shavings made me think that the colour wouldn't be very good, but I was definitely in for a surprise. I look forward to the nesting season ahead in our nestbox and everybody else who owns a nestbox!

Just before I go, I must congratulate and thank Shirl for her effort organising the Plant Challenge and also to the people who helped spread the word. It was a great event, and I was amazed with the interest it caused. Also, I look forward to seeing other people's results for the Big Garden Birdwatch.

Video taken in my camera nestbox on 24th January 2009

Desert Island Plant Challenge

Ah, right then, the Desert Island Plant Challenge. This should be an interesting one, Shirl. The rules were simple, but choosing plants definitely wasn't! I have been thinking of what plants to include now for a while and I think I have finally come up with my top 3. I am not particularly knowledgable with plants, so this posting was harder than usual. However, even though I am probably slightly more into birds and wildlife than plants, I think I have a good enough idea to take part in this. Ok so here goes...

1) Conifer tree or Pinophyta- As you will see here, I have not gone for a specific type of conifer tree on my Desert Island. We have one of these trees in our garden, and they have got to be one of my favourites. Well, why have I picked it? The main reason is for the protection it gives - all year round. Being an evergreen it would shelter you from the sun, wind, rain, snow and the cold all year round. If that isn't a good enough reason for you, they provide nesting sites for all sorts of birds.

2) Hollyhocks or Alcea- We have inherited these plants in our garden for years now and they have got to be one of my favourite flowering plants of them all. The main reason for me picking these is because they remind me so much of home. I always imagine Hollyhocks as being in front of an Old English cottage in the countryside, swaying in the wind. Admittedly, at home we are really in the suburbs and are in a smallish garden. Its roughly the same effect though, and on a Desert Island, they would be perfect.

3) English bluebells or Hyacinthoides- I have picked this plant for its pure beauty. I can just imagine these plants surrounding my conifer tree in the summer. They are spectacular, especially in the numbers seen below. Unfortunately they are prone to being vandalised, but on my Island, they will be untouched! Again, they, to me seem very british. These colourful plants really seem to turn a forest to life. One of my favourite animals has got to be a butterfly. Bluebells are sure to attract these!

So there you have it. The three plants I will take with me to my Desert Island. Even with my less than average plant knowledge, I struggled to narrow my list down to three. Other people involved will struggle more, probably. I wonder what everyone else will choose. I am not really sure if anyone else will pick any trees, but we'll see. Thank you Shirl for organising such fun! I am sure everyone else involved will have enjoyed it as much as I have.

Just a quite note for now. You may notice that my blog template has changed (I think this one looks better). You may also notice that there is a new link on the right of my blog. This leads to a new separate blog which I have created. It is called Joe's camera nestbox diaries and will have posts on everything related to my camera nestbox. At the moment I will not post as much as I will in the nesting season (supposing we are lucky enough) but should be regularly updated. I thought it will be easier for you to look at my camera nestbox postings on a separate blog, so that you can skip between my most recent postings.

I thought I would also mention the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. I will certainly be taking part, and will reserve the garden for the birds for an hour on Saturday. I am likely to do a posting on this afterwards, so feel free to join me. We can then compare results. I wonder who can see the most species. Hmm... this could be another challenge. Who can see the most birds in their garden for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. I'd be very interested to find out what you all see. I will certainly top up the feeders on Friday evening or Saturday morning!

Top photo taken by me at Wendover Woods and the bottom two are both from wikipedia.

Will I ever catch them?

Hmm... I am beginning to think if I will ever be lucky enough to capture these birds on camera as they investigate the box. I think we have had birds investigating this box twice now, and I have missed both of them. At least I know that, come spring, I will have a better chance of actually seeing the birds nesting. Again, you will really have too look carefully at the images below for this one! The wood shavings at the bottom of the nestbox seem to have given them away again. The wood shavings have definitely at least been disrupted.

Actually, before I go any further into these recent sightings, as you will already know that I created this new blog. I have done this, mainly to show my camera nestbox sightings as a separate diary. It will also be easier for you, as readers to skip between my recent camera nestbox postings. If we don't get any nesting Blue Tits this year, I will still keep the blog for next year. I will also say that there will be more and more postings here going into the spring supposing we do get nesting birds.

Again, I am not sure if anything stayed for long as the wood shavings have not moved too much. Apparently, a familiar sight with camera nestboxes is that, any residents will often frantically remove wood shavings from the box (presumably because it is not approved nesting material. So if I happen to notice that the shavings are decreasing, I think I will know why. I also don't know what species entered the box. If it wasn't a Blue Tit, I think it is more likely that it would have been a House Sparrow. A Great Tit (I would have thought) would be unlikely to nest so close to the house - but I could be wrong.

Before:
After:

This time, I have not used videos to show the nestbox. I found that, last time, the videos were not going to be clear enough for you to see the difference. Notice in the picture that, i particular there is one large wood shaving that has moved from the bottom of the picture to the left hand side of the picture. By the way, I have considered the possibility that the wind could be disrupting the wood shavings however it was not remotely windy today. The bottom image was taken during the day and the top one was during the night, but you will still notice that the bottom picture is very different from the top one.

Have you noticed any birds visiting you nestboxes at this time of year. Now that I have a camera nestbox I have noticed just how frequent these visits are for us even before the birds start nesting. I wonder if I will get any roosting Blue Tits in the box while the weather is still cold. I know that Shirl at Shirls gardenwatch has seen this in her camera nestbox. Looks like this could be an interesting year, Shirl. My mealworms have arrived and I have already put them out in the garden - the adult birds like them too, especially the Robins.

All images taken in my camera nestbox on 20th Jan and 21st Jan