| RSPB big garden birdwatch 09:12 - Feb 2 with 2056 views | NthQldITFC |
Anyone have any pleasing results in terms of species or numbers this year?
Concerningly low on both counts for me and most people I've spoken to so far.
Cheer me up...  |  |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:18 - Feb 2 with 2030 views | Bluesky |
I can't cheer you up with my sad birdwatch results. - too many effing woodpigeons and seagulls. Haven't seen a thrush for three years and I live in the country. However - one spark - I saw a pair of bullfinches just after Christmas -- first for over five years. |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:18 - Feb 2 with 2028 views | Mookamoo |
Lot more Sparrows for us this year. We also have a few buzzards now around the local fields. And I saw a flock of Lapwing the other day, which I've not seen for a long time.
Worryingly few Blue Tits and Great Tits though |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:20 - Feb 2 with 2008 views | TractorWood |
Enormous increase in Red Kites everywhere I jog in the deep countryside. I was stalked by a couple around West Suffolk on Sunday. |  |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:23 - Feb 2 with 1992 views | NthQldITFC |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:20 - Feb 2 by TractorWood |
Enormous increase in Red Kites everywhere I jog in the deep countryside. I was stalked by a couple around West Suffolk on Sunday. |
If you were stalked by them, should the start of your first sentence read "Increase in enormous Red Kites..."!  | |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:28 - Feb 2 with 1975 views | TractorWood |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:23 - Feb 2 by NthQldITFC |
If you were stalked by them, should the start of your first sentence read "Increase in enormous Red Kites..."! |
Amazing bird. The Chiltern hills are packed with them. | |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:33 - Feb 2 with 1964 views | DJR |
I've never really understood the survey. My understanding is that you are supposed to record the number of birds in your garden over a period of an hour, but how can you be sure that six sightings of, say, a sparrow are not just sightings of the same sparrow which merely flitters between gardens? Or maybe numbers don't really count, just species. [Post edited 2 Feb 2023 9:36]
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:51 - Feb 2 with 1933 views | solemio |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:28 - Feb 2 by TractorWood |
Amazing bird. The Chiltern hills are packed with them. |
What is so remarkable is that thirty years ago red kites could only be seen in a very restricted area of West Wales near Aberystwyth. |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 10:41 - Feb 2 with 1886 views | DJR |
I live about 35 miles north of the south coast, and had a Little Egret in my garden in the early spring of last year.
This is what the RSPB says about them
"The little egret is a small white heron with attractive white plumes on crest, back and chest, black legs and bill and yellow feet. It first appeared in the UK in significant numbers in 1989 and first bred in Dorset in 1996. Its colonization followed naturally from a range expansion into western and northern France in previous decades. It is now at home on numerous south coast sites, both as a breeding species and as a winter visitor."
Admittedly, I live about half a mile from the Medway, and there is a stream next to my garden which flows into it, but it still struck me as unusual to see such a bird so far inland. [Post edited 2 Feb 2023 10:44]
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 10:54 - Feb 2 with 1868 views | Dubtractor |
We forgot to do it, but our IP3 garden has had lots in it recently. Including a pair of fieldfares who are loving the last of the windfall apples on the ground. |  |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 11:36 - Feb 2 with 1832 views | ElephantintheRoom |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:33 - Feb 2 by DJR |
I've never really understood the survey. My understanding is that you are supposed to record the number of birds in your garden over a period of an hour, but how can you be sure that six sightings of, say, a sparrow are not just sightings of the same sparrow which merely flitters between gardens? Or maybe numbers don't really count, just species. [Post edited 2 Feb 2023 9:36]
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It’s numbers at any one time. If you have one robin and see it five times in one hour it’s still one robin. However if you see two….. | |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 12:21 - Feb 2 with 1793 views | keighleyblue |
Many tits in my garden... |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:02 - Feb 2 with 1754 views | Chondzoresk |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 12:21 - Feb 2 by keighleyblue |
Many tits in my garden... |
And one or two that post on here. |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:25 - Feb 2 with 1727 views | Gogs |
Low numbers overall. Sadly my cat brought in a song thrush the other day. On a brighter note, some waxwings in the neighbourhood over the last week. |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:46 - Feb 2 with 1710 views | positivity |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:33 - Feb 2 by DJR |
I've never really understood the survey. My understanding is that you are supposed to record the number of birds in your garden over a period of an hour, but how can you be sure that six sightings of, say, a sparrow are not just sightings of the same sparrow which merely flitters between gardens? Or maybe numbers don't really count, just species. [Post edited 2 Feb 2023 9:36]
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that's not how it's supposed to work:-
"To take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2023, watch the birds in your garden or local park for one hour at some point over the three days. Only count the birds that land, not those flying over. Record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time — not the total you see in the hour." | |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 14:01 - Feb 2 with 1700 views | NthQldITFC |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:25 - Feb 2 by Gogs |
Low numbers overall. Sadly my cat brought in a song thrush the other day. On a brighter note, some waxwings in the neighbourhood over the last week. |
I suppose you could count the song thrush as it was technically in your garden. Can't say I see many song thrushes these days, but a few redwings about at the moment. Haven't seen a waxwing this year, but I know there have been a few about. Hopefully we'll get an arctic blast in a couple of weeks and bring a few interesting things in. | |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 15:17 - Feb 2 with 1643 views | DJR |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:46 - Feb 2 by positivity |
that's not how it's supposed to work:-
"To take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2023, watch the birds in your garden or local park for one hour at some point over the three days. Only count the birds that land, not those flying over. Record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time — not the total you see in the hour." |
Thanks for this. I've never heard it explained like that when the birdwatch is covered on the radio. Maybe that's the fault of the interviewers. I suppose I should have looked it up myself, and will aim to take part next year. | | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 15:18 - Feb 2 with 1642 views | DJR |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 11:36 - Feb 2 by ElephantintheRoom |
It’s numbers at any one time. If you have one robin and see it five times in one hour it’s still one robin. However if you see two….. |
Many thanks. | | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 19:52 - Feb 2 with 1559 views | Whos_blue |
My daughter and I do this every year.
It was a strange hour this year.
In the first 30 mins (After filling all the feeders) we saw:
1 blackbird
1 magpie
1 carrion crow
1 Robin
3 goldfinches
2 blue tits
1 great tit
2 house sparrows
2 collared doves
2 Wood pigeons
4 white doves
25 starlings!
Then something spooked them and didn't see another bird for the rest of the hour! |  |
| Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness. |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 21:36 - Feb 2 with 1410 views | ronnyd |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:18 - Feb 2 by Bluesky |
I can't cheer you up with my sad birdwatch results. - too many effing woodpigeons and seagulls. Haven't seen a thrush for three years and I live in the country. However - one spark - I saw a pair of bullfinches just after Christmas -- first for over five years. |
Have had a few thrushes and blackbirds in the garden. They soon gobble up the mountain ash (rowan) berries. Watching them trying to get them off the branches is quite amusing. | | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 21:48 - Feb 2 with 1397 views | bazza |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 13:02 - Feb 2 by Chondzoresk |
And one or two that post on here. |
And several common loons.. |  | | |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:11 - Feb 3 with 1292 views | Swansea_Blue |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 19:52 - Feb 2 by Whos_blue |
My daughter and I do this every year.
It was a strange hour this year.
In the first 30 mins (After filling all the feeders) we saw:
1 blackbird
1 magpie
1 carrion crow
1 Robin
3 goldfinches
2 blue tits
1 great tit
2 house sparrows
2 collared doves
2 Wood pigeons
4 white doves
25 starlings!
Then something spooked them and didn't see another bird for the rest of the hour! |
If that was in order, maybe it was the arrival of a mob of marauding starlings to saw them all off?!
We didn’t do it this year, but last year’s was utterly depressing as I don’t think we saw a thing. There aren’t obviously any cats around us either. We’re not far from open farmland and lots of woods, so maybe they don’t see the need to venture into the gardens (which are all quite small and newish round here, so not much cover). |  |
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| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:45 - Feb 3 with 1266 views | NthQldITFC |
| RSPB big garden birdwatch on 09:11 - Feb 3 by Swansea_Blue |
If that was in order, maybe it was the arrival of a mob of marauding starlings to saw them all off?!
We didn’t do it this year, but last year’s was utterly depressing as I don’t think we saw a thing. There aren’t obviously any cats around us either. We’re not far from open farmland and lots of woods, so maybe they don’t see the need to venture into the gardens (which are all quite small and newish round here, so not much cover). |
That last point is maybe a bit of a saving grace, in that they might not be venturing into gardens so much at the moment because of the mild weather.
But I have to say that I think that's wishful thinking - on walks and bike rides I see very little in the way of finches, thrushes, etc, etc, etc. Just loads of pigeons, crows, gulls, and commercially attractive pheasants and partridges.
Our world is in a grim old state with all the symptoms of the natural catastrophe you'd expect given the continuing mistreatment we are giving it. Somehow most of us seem to be contriving not to notice. | |
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