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Science/nature/environment

Biggardenbirdwatch..

(8 Posts)
farview Sun 20-Jan-19 15:50:54

Anyone else doing this next weekend?

merlotgran Sun 20-Jan-19 16:18:32

Yes. We always do it. I hope it's as lovely a day as today. Our usual suspects were all out there enjoying the feeders.

Cherrytree59 Sun 20-Jan-19 16:24:54

Yes we will be farview
We will sit in conservatory with a cup of coffee and our tally sheets
We have regular visitors to bird feeders.
DH counted 10
goldfinches on the various feeders last week.
But not sure how many different varieties we will see if last year is anything to go by, the birds on that weekend were down in number compared to other days.
We could only surmise that all our neighbours were feeding for the count and the birds were wee bit full & obviously not loyal customers grin
I think the count was extended to the Monday and that we submitted our totals for that day.

Good luck with your count?

MiniMoon Sun 20-Jan-19 18:02:38

I do it every year. This time I can report a new daily visitor to our bird feeders. He's a very handsome greater spotted woodpecker. He has a feed of peanuts every morning before flying back to the woods.
We are great bird watchers and have passed it on to our DGD who has recently taken up kayaking.
Last Sunday she had her first paddle on the river and spotted 17 herons and 2 kingfishers, on the 3 hour journey.

farview Mon 21-Jan-19 09:05:01

Spending a lot of time at the moment chasing a sparrowhawk away..I know it's nature but I hate seeing him on my lawn ripping up a bird that I've enticed into my garden with feeders!! Looking forward to the 'count' and also hoping for a nice day

Greyduster Mon 21-Jan-19 19:25:13

It would be a complete waste of time sitting in my conservatory doing a count. “One sparrow. Another sparrow. Ooh look! (Gets excited!) Three sparrows!” We may occasionally get a robin. On my walk to the supermarket this morning, I saw thrushes, field fares and redwings feeding (I wonder if I would be allowed to backdate?). This is bad news as they usually herald a spell of bad weather!

Septimia Mon 21-Jan-19 19:35:22

I wish they'd let us record the maximum number of each species we see over the whole weekend. So many of the birds that we see come at different times and not during the hour we choose to watch, no matter how carefully we pick the time. So we might record half a dozen bluetits, some goldfinches and blackbirds then, when the hour is up, the long-tailed tits, sparrows and nuthatches arrive....

farview Wed 23-Jan-19 16:43:28

Septimia...even a full day would be good...I agree ..our birds definitely come at different times...