RSPB Birdwatch weekend

Am pleased I went Saturday as Sunday was rainy and miserable, as is usual birdwatch weekend weather. I can't understand why it can't be organised for a bit later in the year, Spring/Summer (though I know there's still no guarantee of sunshine then) it's not easy or much fun spotting anything flapping around in the pouring rain. Had the usual tally of pigeons, robins, blackbirds, blue tits, starlings, thrushes - there's always a couple of Red Kits flying overhead but because they don't land, they don't count:-(

Gave up doing the winter bird count as our birds don't seem to approve of it and avoid us. Only a few resident sparrows out there today. Not even a pigeon or blackbird. They'll be back tomorrow.

DH and I have just completed our survey. We saw nothing other than the usual house sparrows and starlings etc.

Why is it that after 25 yrs of living here, for the first time ever DH and I saw a spotted woodpecker at the peanuts hanging from the bird table.

Last Thursday

I haven't got my own garden any more. I sat for an hour in a corner of the local park dedicated to wildlife, where they let nettles and weeds grow. There is a special place for insects to overwinter; it's called Buglins. I saw blackbirds, robins and bluetits. One robin was hopping around close to my feet.

Magpies seem to have deserted my garden and the surrounding trees. It will be interesting to see if they come back to their nest in a big birch tree in the spring. There are big flocks of jackdaws around here, often to be heard quarrelling among themselves, especially first thing in the morning.

I'm doing the birdcount , I sit in the French Doorway at the table , so I'm able to type and watch at the same time , I've been here 15 mins and not a bird in sight so far... typical, while we ate breakfast there was a whole host of Robins, Magpies , Doves and more.... I suppose its cheating to start my hour from when I see the first bird?

Come on birds , where are you?

I have some cheeky magpies who like to leave large pieces of bread in my garden, having brought them from elsewhere. A few weeks ago, there was a mince pie on the bird table - I didn't put it there!

So far today, I've seen a thrush, blackbird, robin, dunnock, wren, great, long-tailed, blue and coal tits, wood pigeon, collared dove, magpies, jays, and there's a couple of tawny owls that I'll see tonight.

I heard quite a few birds singing in the wood at dawn today, too. Can't wait for spring.

Birds here seem to enjoy the muesli I put out for them but at the moment they are ignoring the fat balls.

Tegan porridge oats [uncooked] are liked by our Scottish birds. We have a huge family of resident great, coal and blue tits in the garden. The finch have also maintained healthy numbers. Male and female blackbirds. Robin, a lone dunnock, wren, thrush and from time to time - waxwings, fieldfare, treecreeper and long-tailed tit and sparrowhawk. The Scottish crows have their own stone, on which we place cubes of stale bread, which they then hide on the beach!

We also have a cat named Rory, who takes no interest whatsoever in any of the above.

They look so primevil don't they?

Not part of the bird count (wish I was), but yesterday afternoon disturbed 4 herons hanging about on a ploughed field, who flapped languidly away.

Apart from the fieldfare the other day it's just the usual suspects on my bird table thus far [constantly having to bang on the window to scare the pigeons away]. Have ran out of bird seed, though so what else can I give them? I've put some bread out with fat on and some left over peas from yesterday. Can they eat porridge? That's something I've got loads of in the cupboard. I've got some lard that I'll put out. Goose; if they're rare I won't know what they are . I'm the worlds most useless twitcher.

We had intended to do Birdwatch tomorrow but think we should move it forward to this afternoon while the weather is so bright. Long tailed tits were a rarity here until this year but now a flock of them appear every other day. I do hope they put in an appearance during the alloted hour - otherwise I will be severely tempted to add them to the chart anyway!
(Note to self: Must behave, this is a serious scientific study )