Big Garden Birdwatch 2023

I did this year's Big Garden Birdwatch from 8:20 to 9:20 am. The weather was cold (about 1-2 C) and dull.  The big difference this year is that I've been using feeders much more.  Previously we had one feeder for fatballs, a bird table and scattered some food on the paving or grass.  However due to increasing numbers of Pigeons monopolizing the supplies, I've more-or-less stopped using the bird table and ground and now have a total of four feeders:

• The original, with fat balls, in the Magnolia
• Mealworms in the Lilac at the front
• Sunflower hearts in the Crab Apple at the back
• Suet pellets in the Cornus Mass.

I imagined that this would encourage more birds into the garden and make them easier to spot.  However, during the count, I observed that most species come and go to the feeders quite quickly whereas before they would spend more time looking for morsels in our unruly garden.  

During the count, I recorded a total of 31 individuals from 11 species.

My Big Garden Bird Count scores.

Some results stood out. For example, the were two Goldfinches and one Coal tit.  Although these species have occasionally graced my count, their visits have be very irregular and fleeting, with the Goldfinches usually flying high above the garden and not landing (which means I can't include them in the count). Over the last few weeks these have become reliable visitors, coming to our feeders every day. 

Big Garden Bird Watch - How counts have changed since 2011

I did get more individuals than the last couple of years. It doesn't necessarily mean much because numbers have gone up and down so much over since I started doing the count.  However, the main boost was a group 12 of House Sparrows that spent a little time squabbling over the sunflower hearts and suet. 

Hopefully as we enter the hungry period when the birds have eaten most of the naturally occurring berries and seeds, the feeders will help keep our feathered friends going until Spring. 

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.