Bird Table News

On Sunday I finally managed to spend  an hour counting the birds in my garden for the RSPB Birdwatch Survey.  I’d tried Sunday morning to take part but -

Things went wrong when I was trying to take part in the Big Garden  Birdwatch

I  was so annoyed because every other day of the year I have a lot of birds at my feeders.  Usually I can see quite a few  male and female blackbirds, thrushes, greenfinches, doves,  sparrows, blue tits, coal tits, wrens, dunnocks and robins. 

So, on the day of the Big Garden Birdwatch not many birds appeared at my feeders at all and  I’m sure this was because of the gale force winds that had been howling and blowing. The force of the wind was amazing.

I’m annoyed now because this morning (Wednesday), before I even put the  bird food out I saw 5 blackbirds, 3 blue tits, 10 or 11 sparrows and other birds I couldn’t see very well  as they flitted near me.   I was surrounded by them.  They were above me in the tree, at the side of me near the bird feeder and on the ground near the garden bush.  So if I’d been watching for an hour I would have seen a lot of birds!  But  I’m not counting the Birds for the Big Garden Birdwatch this morning!!

How I recorded  the bird numbers on Sunday morning

Today as my garden has been a hive of activity all day  I’ve just had to go out and fill up the feeders so the birds have food enough to give them engery for tonight.  Why wasn’t it like this on Sunday when it was the RSPB Bird Survey?  I’m glad I took part and I look forward to reading the results when all the information from everyone in the country has been taken into account.

Why the Big Garden Birdwatch is important

It did cross my mind to count the birds today and put those numbers on my birdwatch form, but I can’t.  What would be the point?

I also think that the time of day I spent recording the birds had a bad affect on the numbers I saw.  I had planned to take part in this bird survey in the morning, straight after I had fed them and when they would be at the feeders.  In the end I recorded the birds at about midday and that’s a bad time for birds in my garden.

Anyway I saw

• 3 Blackbirds
• 2 blue tits
• 2 thrushes
• 1 collared dove
• 2 House sparrows
• 3 Tree sparrows 

Some ways you can tell the difference between a house sparrow and a tree sparrow

I then dashed off in the car to the RSPB Bird Sanctuary at Bempton so I could go on a Bird Watching Walk that had been organised for the weekend.  We were out for nearly two hours but a lot of that time was spent stood watching birds at feeders and sea birds on cliff tops.  Among the birds we saw were gannetts, robins and dunnocks, I enjoyed myself and learnt a lot from the RSPB volunteers who were friendly and helpful.  More about that another day. 

Photos of birds I saw on Sunday Morning  in my garden-

Is it a tree or a house sparrow?

Tags: dunnocks, force_of_the_wind, garden-birdwatch, RSPB