Big Garden Birdwatch - 2017

As I settled down for this year's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, I kicked myself for not doing it in yesterday's beautiful sunshine. At 9am the light was so murky that I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to see the birds, let alone identify them.

Then two cheeky Robins flitted into the trees at the front of our garden.  As I watched their boisterous progress through the branches, I noticed a Song Thrush sitting quietly in the Robinia.

Notes from my Birdwatch.

Looking out at the back I noticed a Goldfinch on the old teasel seedheads.  In the next quarter of an hour, several different types of birds appeared in the garden. Great tits, Blue Tits, Robins and Starlings were all attracted by the food I had put on the  bird tables. 



Woodpigeon feeding on tiny crab apples.

Perhaps the most bizarre sight was a Woodpigeon tying itself in knots while gathering up the last of the crab apples.  When it finished, it stared glumly at the empty branch.

At about 9:35 a Jackdraw, a first for my birdwatch list, perched briefly on a conifer. I found myself glaring at a Herring Gull that seemed to be glued to my neighbour's roof and couldn't be counted.  My hour was rounded off by the reappearance of the robins.

One of our pair of Robins.

The final score was 17 individuals from 11 different species. Strangely many of the birds that usually come as a flock appeared in ones, twos or threes.  I didn't positively identify House Sparrows but there was a group of birds that I couldn't see properly in the poor light and wasn't able to include in the count.

2017 Great Garden Bird Watch Results.

Compared to previous years, the variety of birds was good. It has only been better in 2011, the first year I did the birdwatch. However the number of individuals counted, at 17, was well below the average of 21.  Results of this and previous years' counts are shown below.

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
No of species	12	11	10	6	11	7	11
No of individuals	30	26	15	20	28	12	17
Blue tit	3	3	2	3	2	2	1
Blackbird	2	2	3	3	2	2	2
Collared Dove	2	1	1		1		1
Goldfinch			1		7		2
Great tit		1					1
Jackdaw							1
Magpie	2	2	2	2	1	1	2
Robin	1	1	1	2	3	1	2
Song Thrush	2		1		1		1
Starling	8	9	2	8	5	2	3
Woodpigeon	1		1	2	2	2	1
Chaffinch	2				2
Coal Tit		1
Carrion Crow						1
Dunnock	3	1
House Sparrow	3	4			1
Pied Wagtail	1	1	1
	Saturday, 29 Jan	Sunday, 29 Jan	Saturday, 26 Jan	Saturday, 25 Jan	Sunday, 25 Jan	Saturday, 30 Jan	Sunday 29 Jan
Start time	8.45 am	8.45 am	9.07am	8.50 am	8.45 am	8.55 am	9:05am
Weather	dull, icy		cold, bright	damp, misty	bright, cold	dull, mild	damp, mild