Birdwatching

This weekend was the RSPB's annual garden birdwatch event.

Essentially you make a cup of tea, sit at your cosiest window and watch the birds that come and use your garden. You write down how many birds of one type are in the garden at one time, then submit the highest figure.

Aspen and Alexa helped check my counting.

"Well, she's got a pterodactyl on here... that can't be right... can it?"

And Aspen did the uploading.

"Yep... click that one... No... over there..."

Here's my list from this year:

1 Long Tailed Tit
5 Blue Tits
1 Greenfinch
3 Great Tits
1 Fat (wood) Pigeon
1 Starling
2 Blackbirds
2 Robins
22 House Sparrows
3 Dunnocks
4 Chaffinches
1 Coal Tit
3 Stupid (Collared) Doves
1 Magpie
1 Song Thrush
3 Goldfinches
1 Bagpuss

 Not bad for an hour!

More birdies, hoorah

It was a great weekend for birdwatching last weekend. We had all the usual visitors but with a lovely snowy backdrop, a couple of ones who visit only rarely (long-tailed tits, goldfinch) and then I happened to look out my kitchen window and see six of these hopping around in the leaves along the side of the driveway.

I had no idea what they were at first, but their behaviour was a lot like a blackbird or thrush foraging for insects.

Happily, the BTO guide to garden birds is arranged for duffers like me to be able to find things quickly; I was being visited by six redwings, which are a rather rare type of thrush that visit this country in winter. The snow had driven them out of the fields and onto my driveway in search of food.

Our resident blackbird, who has been known to dive-bomb us when we get out of our cars in breeding season, saw them off fairly sharpish. I caught glimpses of them amongst the trees later in the day, but not anything as good as all six, rummaging in the leaves.

This weekend coming, I'll be setting an hour aside to take part in my 3rd Big Garden Birdwatch. Sign your garden up here!