Big Garden Birdwatch - 2018

This year, I had to do my Big Garden Birdwatch a bit earlier (8:05 to 9:05 am) than usual because I needed to get to the hairdresser. I thought this might be why my scores were a bit low but I am assured that there were very few birds in the garden while I was away.

2018's Big Garden Birdwatch

I got a total of 18 individuals from 7 species:

• Blackbird - 4
• Blue tit - 3
• Carrion Crow - 1
• House Sparrow - 3
• Magpie - 1
• Robin - 1
• Starling - 4
• Woodpigeon - 1 

This compare's to last year's scores of 17 individuals from 11 species.  Mum suggested that the birds might still be finding plenty of food in nearby wild places and so are staying away from the garden.

The first birds to appear were the cheeky ones - a Magpie and a Robin, which both haunted the garden for much of the hour. I first saw the Robin amongst the purple cascade of Birch twigs. About 10 minutes in, they were joined by a group of Blackbirds, a Wood pigeon and a Crow, which lurked - rather shyly - in a branch just above the hedge.

I was a little concerned when Max, next door's cat showed up - but he just took a brief tour round the front garden before disappearing.  It was just after this, I started seeing the small garden birds including a lovely group of 3 Blue Tits in the Oak, their yellow chests almost glowing in the low sunshine.

I got slightly annoyed by 3 House Sparrows that seemed to be tormenting me by scuttling up and down the edge of a nearby house. Finally, they flew into our magnolia tree so I could count them.  That done, it was time to drop my note book and binoculars and head off to the town.

Garden Bio Blitz 2016

It's the first weekend of June and it's time to record as many species as I can for the Garden BioBlitz.  I really needed to go into town on Saturday morning and fine weather was forecast for Sunday, so my 24 hours ran from 2:15pm on Saturday to the same time on Sunday. 

Because I have just started doing the WildLifeTrust's #30DaysWild, this has been a very wild-life intensive few days.  Although I had a pleasant visit to a buttercup field in Birmingham, I was disappointed that the bluetits that nested in the box on the side of the house had gone before I came back to Uckfield.

BioBlitzing our garden - A lovely Sunday morning.

Before I started, I set myself some objectives:

• To record more species than I saw last year (127)
• To pay more attention to ground-level minibeasts and get a centipede onto my list.
• To detect a bat with the detector I got for Christmas.

Blackbird sunbathing.

My first BioBlitz sighting for 2016 was a pair of blackbirds sunning themselves. The female was on the grass and the male had spread himself out along one of the branches of our conifer.

Germander Speedwell in an uncultivated corner.

I did a quick round of the whole garden, ticking off flowers from my 2015 list. I hadn't particularly noticed during the year but we have had some casualties, probably due to our own tidying, which is 'assisted' by a visiting fallow deer.  On the other hand, I have recorded two self-sown trees, beech and rowen, for the first time.

Common Carder Bee feeding on Iris Sibirica

After this, I started looking at the minibeasts, particularly pollinators, that land on the flowers and leaves in the garden. I found myself fascinated by a Common Carder Bee feeding on an Iris Sibirica, its weight opening and closing the flower as it climbed in and out of its petals.

Western Yellow Centipede (Stigmatogaster subterranean)

It was only about 5pm when the light started dropping. It was time to find a centipede. I dug around in the "ready-to-use" compost from our heap and found a wriggling orange ribbon. I flicked it into a little pot, figured out which end was the head, took a photo and returned it to its home. 

After setting up beetle traps,  it was time to go indoors and start processing results.  by the end of the evening, I had identified 102 species had about 15 photos of unidentified creatures.

The Bushnell 'traps' a fox while I sleep off the day's efforts.

At 9:45pm I was outside again, bat detector in hand. I always get stupidly excited when detecting - waiting for those click-slap-click noises that herald the arrival of a bat. I waited and waited. Then just before 10pm, few weak squelchy clicks. My excitement mounted as I tried to pinpoint the direction. The clicks got stronger and louder and - there it was! A Common Pipistrelle, fluttering in the gloom - the perfect end to the first few hours of my Garden BioBlitz. It was time to leave the garden to the creatures of the night.

Beetle trap with Nebria Brevicallis in pot.

Sunday morning was bright and, having slept like a log, started a little later than I intended so I missed the early shift. I focussed my efforts at ground level and found black beetles in my beetle traps, slugs under paving slabs, and woodlice under garden ornaments.

Swollen-Thighed Beetle

Some beetles live a sunnier life. Amongst our flowers, I found several shiny green Swollen-Thighed Beetles. Whilst searching, I could hear the "dee-dee-dee" of bluetits calling each other. I kept looking up but, frustratingly, didn't see anything in our thick trees.

Hawthorn Shieldbug rocking 80's-style shoulder pads.

As I searched round shrubs and trees in the garden, I found three different species of shield bugs. The Hawthorn Shieldbug's block colours and pointed shoulders always remind me of the daft fashions we wore in the eighties. I tried shaking the trees but only the tiniest of insects came down.

Baby blue tit well disguised in the dappled light and birch leaves.

I was in the last stages, just mopping up the last few wild plants, when I heard "dee-dee-dee" and saw a flicker of movement in our birch trees. There was an adult bird finding insects where the clumsy human had failed and then ... two little balls of fluff emerged to be fed. I'm assuming that this is our bird box family and I was delighted to see them.

I've managed to meet my objectives having:

• identified 131 species with more to come - however finding them took more effort this year
• used beetle traps and dug around in the compost heap to find ground-level creatures including an implausibly long centipede
• detected and watched a bat.

There are more details about the results in Garden BioBlitz 2016 - What did I find out?

I've also enjoyed a day "playing in the garden" - making beetle traps and dipping ponds. I exchanged photos and IDs with others across the country who were BioBlitzing their own gardens or taking part in #30DaysWild. I've learnt to identify some more of the creatures with whom I share the garden and greeted some who I thought had left without saying goodbye.  Quite simply, a lovely way to spend 24 hours in June.

There are plenty more #30DaysWild blogs at MyWildLife.

30 Days Wild - Days 7 to 12 - Travelling

I'm continuing with 30 days wild. My first post was about me squeezing time out of a very busy week to see wildlife that had squeezed itself into our lives.  I'm juggling my time between Uckfield and Birmingham but my journey is nothing compared to that of some creatures, which travel enormous distances.



Sunday, June 7th

A week into 30 days wild, I finally some quality time in our garden. As I was trimming back the foliage threatening to overwhelm our windows I loved hearing the bees buzzing and the church bells ringing.

Tree bumblebee on ceanothus.

Many of the bees were tree bumblebees. BWARS tells us that these bees were first recorded in Britain in 2001. Since them they have travelled throughout Britain.

Monday, June 8th

I found a nest and attentive woodpigeon well camouflaged by the shadows of our robinia tree.

A homely woodpigeon with its nest hidden amongst exotic robinia flowers.

Tuesday, June 9th

The river Uck runs alongside our little station. Just before I got on the train, I enjoyed a serene moment watching the ducks.  I had a chat with a fellow commuter who had just been watching a pair of grey wagtails working their way along a ledge near the edge of the platform. We discussed the lack of insects this year and how some exotic ducks have joined forces with our local mallards.

Ducks on the Uck.

Most of the time, I was busy reading documents on my laptop but I was able to glance out of the window and enjoy nature as I travelled. As we pulled into Buxted, I spotted a herd of fallow deer. A carpet of wild flowers was an unexpected treat at Milton Keynes.

Carpet of wild flowers seen from train window at Milton Keynes.

Later, when I looked out of the window of my Birmingham hotel room, I was astounded to see house martins darting around almost at eye level. These little birds will have travelled from Africa and are nesting under the eves of the hotel.

Wednesday, June 10th

On Wednesday morning I got up early and dropped my laptop off in the office and settled down by a nearby pond to watch this little slice of nature wake up.

Just a few steps but a world away from the office.

The first birds I saw were a moorhen and two chicks. Then a coot, dabbling under the surface for its waterweed breakfast.

Rushes provide perfect cover for coots and other birds.

As a female tufted duck ventured across the pond a furious coot appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it was defending a nest?  As I returned to the office, a rabbit lolloped into the bushes.

Thursday, June 11th

On the way out of the Arden, I spotted one of the house martins zoom into a nest made from a thousand beakfulls of mud. I stacked my baggage by the kerb and watched them for a while. As passenger jets roared into the air behind them, about half a dozen of these African visitors seemed to dance in the air by the hotel.

Arrivals.



Departures.

 

Friday, June 12th

Today's wildlife moment was sad but gave me a chance to get close to something lovely. A blackbird had hit one of our windows and died. I was able to examine his subtly coloured plumage and vivid yellow beak. There was a perfect graduation from the tiny soft feathers on his back to the long flight feathers on the tips of his wings.


Blackbird wing.

Of course, my drawing doesn't do the blackbird justice but spending time trying to copy the shapes of the feathers gave me time to appreciate just how lovely this fallen angel was and how perfectly birds have evolved for flying.

So the last few days have been about appreciating how good wild creatures are at travelling. They may be tiny compared to our trains and jets but they are never stopped by a signal failure or lost baggage.

Big Garden Birdwatch - 2014

It's that time of year again. Time to do the RSPB's big garden birdwatch. Otherwise known as big migrations of birds to somewhere that is not my garden. The idea is to count the birds that land in the garden during a one hour period.

It was very damp and misty and, at first, I thought I wasn't going to get anything at all. I had heard some bird song when I left the house to fetch the paper but no sign of any birds landing in the garden.

While I was doing my birdwatch, I was amused by the starlings that perched just outside the garden. I wasn't so happy about the magpies that frightened the little birds off.

So here are my numbers for this and a few previous birdwatches.  This year, during a spell of record breaking wet weather, we had fewer species than previously but we had greater numbers of individuals thanks to our starlings boucing back from last year's poor showing.

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

If you are reading this on the weekend I wrote it, you can still fit your hour in. Just spend an hour noting the birds that land in your garden or other patch of ground and submit your results using the RSPB website.

Lime Aid - A Great Stressbuster

You might think that, after a hard week at the keyboard, I wouldn't be rushing out to do more work on a Saturday morning. You would be wrong. It is a great stress buster and very satisfying.

Today is the first of a sequence of work mornings run by Lime Aid.  If you are interested in coming along we are doing another two on the 8th of February and the 8th of March.  This time about eight of us turned up and managed to trim away the growth from the bases of loads of trees.

My first tree - before and after.

After the relentless rain of the last couple of weeks the morning's sun was a delight. It was noticeable how advanced the leaves of all the wild flowers were. I wasn't really looking very hard but saw foliage of Cow parsley, angelica, wild arum and primroses. 

My third tree - before and after.

It was also lovely to hear the birds chattering and twittering. I saw a few blue tits perched on the hedge between the avenue and the school.  I believe the ones I heard were blackbirds and robins but I didn't see any this time.

Last year I found a geocache. This year there was nothing so exciting but plenty of litter including, would you believe, discarded nappies.

A funny place to find a nest

In an earlier post, I mentioned the blue tits and blackbirds nesting in our garden. We know that the blue tits nest in the box at the back of the house but have never tracked down a black bird nest, even though we regularly see babies around the garden and get considerable abuse when working in certain parts of the garden.

Young blackbird sunbathing on wall, 2011

When pruning the pyracantha that wraps around the front of the house I found a nest.  From the information in How to Identify Garden Bird Nests, I decided that it was most likely a blackbird nest.  It was about 1.5 m off the ground and the cup was 10cm across.

Nest built between branches and down pipe.

Neatly woven grass

I don't know if the nest was actually used. It is in a crazy position, between the wall of my bedroom and the front path. I would have thought that someone would have noticed birds there. That said, there have been loads of blackbirds around the front garden this year, so maybe they have used that nest.

Springwatch - Who's nesting?

BBC Springwatch - 3 weeks of programmes tracking the progress of birds and animals through the spring - started today.  I thought that I would do a mini-springwatch of my own and see which birds were nesting and fledging nearby.

First out of the nest are - the starlings! The young birds have only been out of the nest for a day or two but they have already given me a terrific laugh.  This morning, a parent starling was clinging to a coconut hanging from the bird table pecking at the fat inside. Instead of the usual precise extraction of food, there was all sorts of flailing around, loss of balance and so on. Why? Because baby starling insisted on clinging to the adult's back. Kids!

Blue tit leaving box - taken in 1998.

Next up - still in the nest but I can hear the babies if I sit on the bench nearby - blue tits. These are really late this year. I had nearly given up expecting them. A pair did seem to start moving in at the beginning of April but the last cold snap sent them off again and we saw no real signs of birds going to the box until about the 12 of May.

Not quite sure but, I'm hoping, blackbirds. Or there had better be, the amount of abuse I get when I go to a certain part of the garden!

Big Garden Birdwatch - where are my sparrows?

At the end of January I took part in the RSPB's Big Garden bird watch. I wrote an account of my experiences in my Big Garden Birdwatch post. Now the RSPB have collated the results from over half a million people. The table below shows the top ten birds in East Sussex.

Rank in East Sussex	Species	Average per East Sussex garden	In my garden
1	House Sparrow	3.4	None
2	Blue tit	3.3	2
3	Starling	2.6	2
4	Blackbird	2.6	3
5	Woodpigeon	2	1
6	Great tit	1.4	None
7	Chaffinch	1.4	None
8	Robin	1.3	1
9	Collared Dove	1.2	1
10	Magpie	1.1	2

We also got 1 goldfinch (19th in East Sussex), 1 pied wagtail (30th), 1 song thrush (22nd). Our scores for the top 10 birds are a little less than average, which is surprising since we have a big garden with plenty of trees. That said, the trees and bushes allow the birds to stay out of sight and I didn't include any that I couldn't positively identify from a tantalising glimpse of a shape or a tail.

We do have one gaping gap right at the top of the table - no house sparrows. On previous years we've had a few but this year - none. For me, this is a particularly sad omission. I grew up in the London area and the cheeky sparrow was very much a bird of my childhood. Every time we threw crumbs out in the garden - no posh RSPB food then - dozens of squabbling sparrows would descend to enjoy our scraps. I didn't really notice them going. I had moved around, gone to university in Sheffield and then moved to Sussex. Now seeing or hearing this lively little bird has become a special treat rather than a part of every day life.

If it was only our garden that is missing sparrows, it wouldn't matter, but - although house sparrows are the most common bird in our counts - the RSPB say "Numbers of house sparrows, also on the red-list, dropped by 17 per cent in gardens compared to 2012 ..."

On their Red, amber and green explained page the RSPB tell us that "Red is the highest conservation priority, with species needing urgent action."

Kate Vincent completed a PhD Investigating the causes of the decline of the house sparrow in Britain and the associated web site has some information on What you can do. Her suggestions include:

• provide seed all the year round - especially sunflower hearts
• provide mealworms in summer, to help the fledglings
• provide a good mixture of shrubs in the garden
• leave some grass long
• provide a well topped-up bird bath all the year round.

Listening to an Uckfield morning - Late March

A month ago I wrote Listening to an Uckfield morning, a post about the sounds I heard as I walked from my Manor Park home to the station. It's a regular walk for me. Now, at 6 a.m,.it is light but still bitterly cold. In fact, I think it is is colder than when I took the same walk towards the end of February.

Last time it was all robins and blackbirds. This time, it is mostly pigeons. As I left home, I could hear the coo-coo coo-coo of woodpigeons. Some still roosting in tall trees, others are already on the wing. As I pass a hedge of conifer by Tesco Express, there is the cheeky chatter of house sparrows.

Woodpigeon - captured by Bushnell 3rd March 2013

One good thing about the lousy weather is it gives early risers common cause. Instead of the usual nod or wave, we speak. “Freezing, isn’t it?” then there's a cheery hello from a walker who has braved the cold to exercise her dog.

While winding round Downsview Crescent, I hear some rather raucous crowing and see a small group of rooks overhead. Are they heading off to their feeding grounds? I see a large black bird perched on a TV aerial – it has a black beak, which makes it a crow.

As I head into Southview Close the sound of traffic starts to dominate. The sulky morning light lets me see as well as hear what is about. Two collared doves perch in the robinia tree near Streatfield House and seagulls are wheeling overhead. I wonder if we are due more snow? The gulls often herald a storm of some sort. A blackbird clinging to the edge of the building sings a rather mournful song. It is the only one I hear on my journey. Did the others sing earlier in the day? Or did they not bother on this dreary apology for a morning?

As I turn into the town the cooing of the woodpigeons is replaced by a more bubbling, purring noise. I am hearing the feral pigeons who find perches all over the facades and roofs of Uckfield’s higgledy piggeldy shops.

As I approach the station, I hear the hiss of a hydraulic brake. My heart sinks as I see two buses pulled up next to the pub. This is never a good sign. They are replacing trains that can't run due to an electrical fault. Over the sound of grumbling commuters is the pip pip pip of a blue tit.

Briefly in the warm to get my ticket then about 20 minutes tooing and froing then onto a bus. Looking out of the window as we trundle along the road to Haywards Heath, I see lambs. The first I’ve seen this spring.

Listening to an Uckfield morning

I got the idea of really listening to my town as I walked to the station when I read Ian Mortimer's description of sounds in Medieval England ...

"It is very quiet.
Out on the open road, you can hear nothing but the wind in the trees, the streams trickling, occasional calls of voices, and birdsong"

6am I leave the house and hear the angry sounding pipping of a blackbird. Maybe the security light woke it.  Somewhere nearby is the sweet sound of a robin.  There is a swish as a car passes by and the occasional hum from the main road.

I pass through several robin territories as I walk through Manor Park

As I walk through the estate, I will pass through several robin territories. I hear a robin singing when I reach the top of the path that has brought me to Browns Lane. I hear another, then another as I turn into Downsview Crescent by Tesco Express. More sweet song as I pass by Woodland close, and then again at the little green near Tower View. There is more pipping from the blackbirds and a deeper, melodious song drifting behind it. An early blackbird? Maybe a thrush?

There is a pause in the birdsong as a dog walker appears. Greetings are exchanged, the dog pants slightly and wags its tail. Then past the big old lime tree at Lamach Close. Unlike the ones in Lime Tree Avenue, the growths around its base have not been trimmed back, and it has formed its own mini jungle. As I walk past two more robins come into focus one just after the other.  As I move into Southview Close the hum from the main road becomes more insistent.  Another robin as I walked past Streatfield House. There are definitely blackbirds singing now. Is it the brighter lights in the high street that has started them off? Their melodies follow me as I pass the shops at the top of the town.

The song tails off and is replaced by growling cars, stopping and starting at the lights. I hail another dogwalker but she can hardly hear me. As I approach the station a sudden burst of song. The blackbirds are singing loudly in this lighted, busy place.

6.25 am I am buying my ticket and hearing conversations. The birds will sing on without me.

Lime Aid and a Geocache

I spent most of today in the company of 100 magnificent limes.  These wonderful trees form Lime Tree Avenue in Uckfield and I was one of a group of volunteers who were giving them some TLC. We trimmed back epicormic growth, or suckers, from the bottom of each tree. Trimming the unwanted growth not only keeps the trees tidy but prevents energy that is needed to keep the whole trunk healthy from being diverted into unwanted growth. 

Lime tree, before and after epicormic growth (suckers) removed.

It is rather wonderful to get up close and personal with trees that are so old and so big. It allows me to appreciate the craggy old bark, the smooth, olive coloured twigs and buds that look as if they could start bursting any day.

Fresh green leaves of cow parsley, wild arum (cuckoo pint) and ivy seem to swirl round these old giants. The cuckoo pint flowers will be first to appear, then the white froth of cow parsley and finally ivy flowers provide a late summer nectar bar.

All day birds flitted and chattered round us while we worked. Male blackbirds seemed to be chasing each other from perch to perch while a blue tit gave us shrill abuse for daring to step into its territory. A robin paused on a nearby fence post and inspected work in progress. 

As we wound down, there was one last surprise. I found a plastic box. At first I thought it was some litter, or maybe a child's lunchbox hidden by a less than friendly school mate. When I opened it I found a charming little collection of gifts and a notebook. It seems that someone had left a geocache. I wrote my name in the book and put it back.

Geocache, which I found hidden at the foot of a lime tree.

The Lime Aid group, led by Martyn Stenning, does this twice a year, in October and February. So if you fancy having a go, look out for notices in the local press, social media and in Lime Tree Avenue itself.

Bird song

I usually work at home 3 days a week. However, for the last month I've been working at home all the time. I haven't missed the mega commute, crawling out of bed at 5:30 am, or the transport version of Russian roulette known as the Uckfield line. One thing I do regret is not hearing the early morning birds. At this time of year, at about 6:00 am, I can expect to hear a number of robins as I walk through Manor Park. each seems to come into focus as I walk into and then through its territory.

That said, as the days lengthen, I've been hearing more birds, albeit at a more civilized hour. At 7:30 this morning, I scurried out to grab a picture of the sky just before the sun rose.  The scene was like something out of of a Hitchcock movie. Birds were flitting almost furtively about. The rather sinister silhouettes of starlings were all around me on wires and branches.

Starlings are perched in the tree as well as on the wire.

Then there was the noise. More of a dawn shout up than a dawn chorus. Fortunately we have more melodious visitors. One of my favourites right now is a coal tit, which sits about half way up the birch tree and sings it's see-saw sing. It seems unbelievable that such a small bird can sing so loudly. I'm not an expert on bird song but I've been able to match our garden birds to the sounds they make by watching them while they sing or looking them up in the RSPB's Bird Guide, which has a short recording for each species.

Big Garden Birdwatch

The last weekend of January I take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. Would I see the special visitors that we have been enjoying since the cold weather started? We had a fieldfare on Thursday and a bullfinch on Friday.  I shouldn't ask silly questions. The birds seen to know when the nation is scrutinising their every visit to the garden and stay away, or land tantalisingly in a neighbour's patch, or fly overhead. In short they do anything rather than land in the garden and be counted.

A rook that perched precariously on the telephone wire just outside our garden and a female blackbird that sat sunning itself in our oak for most of the hour.

I did my birdwatch from 9.07 to 10.07 Saturday morning. At the end of my hour the scores on the doors were:

• Blackbird: 3
• Blue tit: 2
• Collared dove: 1
• Goldfinch: 1
• Magpie : 2
• Pied Wagtail: 1
• Robin: 1
• Song thrush: 1
• Starling: 2
• Woodpigeon: 1

We often see birds in the garden but devoting a whole hour to watching them is different. I found I was noting behaviour that I never usually see: the amusing antics of a rook trying to balance on a thin telephone wire; a female blackbird sunning itself in a tree and a cheeky wagtail stealing food from under the beaks of squabbling starlings. The two magpies were plucking twigs from our oak tree. It seems strange that they take the trouble to do this when there are so many lying on the ground.

Our bird count was lower this year: no sparrows, only two starlings, no great or coal tits. On the up side, we got a song thrush and a goldfinch.

If you are reading this on the day I wrote it, you can still fit your hour in. Just spend an hour noting the birds that land in your garden or other patch of ground and submit your results using the link at the top of this post.