Big Garden Birdwatch - 2016

Once again, I've been doing the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch. I stopped rushing round trying to get everything done and counted birds.

Some of my notes from this year's birdwatch.

It seems that every time I do a birdwatch, I see something new. This time it was a huge wood pigeon and a shy female blackbird sharing the tiny crab apples from one of our trees. The blackbird had been haunting the garden for some days and now we know that the crab apples were the attraction. I also enjoyed seeing two robins, who appeared twice:

• At 9:25 one robin flew to the base of the bird table, while the other sang in our conifer.
• At 9:53, one was searching round the base of the bird table, while the other perched in the cotoneaster nearby.

To be honest, I didn't see very many birds compared to previous years. The Guardian's article Mild winter means lower numbers for annual garden bird count, RSPB warns says ...

RSPB wildlife adviser, Ben Andrew, said: “If the UK experiences a continuation of these milder temperatures, those taking part in Big Garden Birdwatch may notice their gardens quieter than in other years. The milder weather means that there is more food available in the wider countryside, with birds being less reliant on garden feeders.”

After my hour was up, I had seen 12 individuals, which is the lowest in the years that I have been doing this. On the up side, one of the local crows actually landed rather than just flying over so I was able add crow to my list for the first time. 

Here are the results of this, and previous years' birdwatches:

	2011 Saturday, 29 Jan	2012 Sunday, 29 Jan	2013 Saturday, 26 Jan	2014 Saturday, 25 Jan	2015 Sunday, 25 Jan	2016 Saturday, 30 Jan
Start time	8.45 am	8.45 am	9.07am	8.50 am	8.45 am	8.55 am
Weather	dull, icy		cold, bright	damp, misty	bright, cold	dull, mild
Blue tit	3	3	2	3	2	2
Blackbird	2	2	3	3	2	2
Carrion Crow						1
Magpie	2	2	2	2	1	1
Robin	1	1	1	2	3	2
Starling	8	9	2	8	5	2
Woodpigeon	1		1	2	2	2
Chaffinch	2				2
Coal Tit		1
Collared Dove	2	1	1		1
Dunnock	3	1
Goldfinch			1		7
Great tit		1
House Sparrow	3	4			1
Pied Wagtail	1	1	1
Song Thrush	2		1		1
No of species	12	11	10	6	11	7
No of individuals	30	26	15	20	28	12