Bird Count ~ 2013 and 2014

I was very impressed with fellow-blogger, Juliet Wilson's bird list total for 2013. Do take a look here.

I began logging ...

• the birds in my garden 
• the wildlife at RSPB Minsmere 
• the wildlife on our Scottish holiday

... but I failed to keep a total. So no prizes for guessing the nature of one of my New Year Resolutions! 

A beautiful Great Spotted Woodpecker graced our feeder for the first time on 23 December. I failed to get a picture then, but will post an old photo for those of you who may not know these birds. I have not seen it since, but we keep hoping it will come back for more coconut. And if it does, it will be added to the 2014 list!

My aim is to keep things simple in the hope that my goals remain relatively easy to achieve. I plan to keep an ongoing alphabetical list, which I will re-post every so often once it has been updated. I hope to log dates and locations ...

My bird list for 2014 looks like this:

1. Black-headed Gull (about 25, 3 January, Woodbridge)
2. Blue tit (two birds, 2 January, home patch) 
3. Great tit (2 birds, 4 January, home patch)
4. Herring Gull (1 bird, 3 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
5. Lapwing (9 birds, 4 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
6. Long-tailed tit (3 birds, 2 January, home patch)
7. Magpie (2 birds, 2 January, home patch) 
8. Mute Swan (2 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge) 
9. Robin (1 bird, 1 January, home patch) 
10. Turnstone (15 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge)
11. Wood Pigeon (11 birds, 4 January, home patch)

First Turnstones of 2013 ...

... in Woodbridge, near the Tide Mill

First Lapwing of 2013

First Mute Swan of 2013 ...

... more Turnstones.

And don't forget the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place on 25 and 26 January!