Saturday 27 January 2024

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2024

 

Female Blackcap, quite a regular visitor

 

David and I spent an hour doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this afternoon. We felt our results were disappointing, but that may be more to do with the fact that we did our count in the afternoon this year (when many birds are less active) rather than in the morning. We often see Great tits, House sparrows, Magpies and Blackbirds. We sometimes see a Great spotted woodpecker, a Song thrush and a Wren. None of these put in an appearance today. 

You can see our results in the list below.

 


 

I wonder how you fared, or perhaps you will do a count tomorrow (28th). The full results will be released by the RSPB on 12 April 2024. 

Back in 2010 when we were still living in Swansea, we counted these birds. Last year (2023), from the same suburban Suffolk home as this year, we submitted this list

I don't know whether our local bird numbers have decreased or whether the new time of day had more to do with our result than other factors. Yesterday when we were on a very local walk, we counted a slightly different mix of species (Greenfinch, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Redwing and Starling), either from observation or from sound via the Merlin Bird ID app. It's good to know that we still have Greenfinches in our area as we rarely see these birds.

 

2 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

It's always interesting to see how counts vary from year to year. We did the Birdwatch yesterday in the grounds of Edinburgh's Lauriston Castle. I've blogged about what we saw!

Ragged Robin said...

The Blackcap is a great sighting. I often find the regulars can be missing from the count only to be seen as soon as it finishes! I did mine earlier - Actually saw more species this year than has been the case in recent years but for once my son watched the garden with me. I'll do a post next week. Hope you are keeping well Caroline.