THE BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

This year, the garden was once again subject to an hour of bird counting, as the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey took place.

Last year the list of birds spotted and counted was as follows (starting with the most seen):

House sparrow – 9

Blackbird – 9

Great tit – 7

Blue tit – 6

Starling – 5

Robin – 4

Magpie – 4

Long tailed tit – 4

Dunnock – 4

Woodpigeon – 3

Goldfinch – 2

Tree sparrow – 2

This year the order changed slightly, and we didn’t see any tree sparrows or woodpigeons. The 2018 order was as follows:

Long tailed tit – 9

House sparrow – 7

Great tit – 4

Dunnock – 4

Goldfinch – 4

Blue tit – 2

Blackbird – 2

Magpie – 2

Wren – 2

Robin – 2

The weather on Saturday wasn’t the best and we did pick a time later in the day, so missed most of the action earlier in the day, hence the lower numbers.

The flock of long tailed tits didn’t disappoint again, and they even managed to outscore the house sparrow.

I’ve not noticed any real difference in the number and type of birds coming into the garden over the last few years, with sightings of tawny owls, sparrowhawks, crows and song thrush, among those who are seen perhaps a couple of times a year.

Among the flora in the garden, the snowdrops, winter rose and crocuses are already flowering, with others, including daffodils and tulips, starting to emerge as green shoots.

While it’s still January, and there’s likely to be more colder and stormy days to come in the next couple of months, the weekend did start to give us a feel of spring – temperatures reach about 14c on Sunday.

Which means it’s time to make sure the bird nest boxes are in good order and ready for any spring guests – particularly the camera nest boxes!

THE NESTBOX CAMERA IS BACK - WITH EXCITING NEWS

The cold weather looks like abating after this weekend, with milder conditions set to take hold.

It’s good news for the wildlife that has survived the cold snap, but I’m sure there’ll be a few more before winter it out.

Before I get on to the big news from my garden, the signs of spring are certainly showing with numerous bulbs showing.

I’ll use images to showcase the change in one area of the garden’s flowerbed, to see which bulbs come up first and how quickly they do so.

OK, the nestbox camera that was cut off just as the first nest was being built last year, IS BACK.

I fitted a new cable this week and already there has been some action. When I inspected the nestbox last week it had bird droppings in it, so I knew some roosting had been occurring.

When the camera went live a female house sparrow roosted in for the night and today, just two days after it went live again, it started nest building with a male house sparrow.

 

 

 

I also noticed that a pair of tree sparrows is now paying close attention to one of the three boxes in the sparrow nestbox, but nothing has gone into the one with the camera in it.

 

There appears to have been something occurring inside the nestbox during the winter, but I’m not confident that a nest will appear.

Perhaps we’ll have a nearly completed nest by next week, which will be much earlier than last year.

Finally, today I took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. Nothing too unusual although the female great spotted woodpecker did put in an appearance.