Garden Trailcam ... and RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch Results

Not exactly 'wildlife', but we had fun uploading the Trailcam pictures today ... and finding these rather shifty bright eyes. We have actually seen the cat, which is grey and white, in the daylight now, but have no idea where it lives. 

 

It features again in the next photograph from the day before. 

This looks like one of the males, but 'Star', the female Blackbird with a white (leucistic?) mark, has also been strutting about. She seems to like the grassy path we made for my daily exercise during the first lockdown, when we stopped mowing what was then a lawn.

 

The photo above shows something at the tip of the arrow. I know because the next photograph, taken a couple of minutes later, shows a space here. Could it a be a rather round Blue tit? I know it's hard to tell, especially in terms of scale, though the planter is about 30cm high.

Speaking of Blue tits, the RSPB have released this year's figures for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. These are the the Top Ten 2021 species from the records that were submitted ...

Back at the start of February I recorded my survey results for our garden, which you can see here. It seems to me that the general picture (above), with the notable exception of House Sparrows, corresponds pretty closely with our own findings. We recorded the following nine species, all of which feature on the RSPB list. Birds were counted according to the maximum number of a given species seen in the garden at the same time, rather than sequentially over the hour.

 

1. Blue tit (2nd on national list)

2. Starling (3rd on national list)

3. Long-tailed tit (10th on national list)

4. Goldfinch (8th on national list)

5. Woodpigeon (also 5th on national list)

6. Blackbird (4th on national list)

7. Great tit (also 7th on national list)

8. Magpie (also 9th on national list)

9. Robin (6th on national list)

 

Happily, we are now having regular garden sightings of House Sparrows. I just hope the feline visitor gives them a chance.