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| Long-tailed tits with Blue tit in the wings, 29 January 2022 |
The results of our 2022 Big Garden Birdwatch are in, and sadly we are a little disappointed at this year's numbers. We are not particularly surprised as (a) we have had a couple of very recent visits from a female Sparrowhawk and (b) conditions were far from ideal with Storm Malik blowing the bushes about. Incidentally, all my photos in this post were taken during the hour of the survey (through double-glazing).
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| Blue tits and Great tit |
We put out four coconut fatballs, one container of peanuts and a small canister of Niger/Nyjer seeds. The Goldfinches (when they visit) are never interested in our Niger seeds, which is a shame.
We had a total of 10 species:
- Blackbird (three at once)
- Blue tit (six at once)
- Great tit (two at once)
- House Sparrow (one)
- Long-tailed tit (two at once)
- Magpie (one)
- Starling (two at once)
- Carrion Crow (one)
- Feral Pigeon (two)
- Blackcap (presumably are 'regular' female)
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| Female Blackcap |
The 'regulars' who were noticeable by their absence on this occasion were the Robin, the Dunnocks, the Goldfinches, the Woodpigeons, the Great spotted Woodpecker and the Wren. We occasionally spot a Coal tit and rarely see Chaffinches, and Collared Doves. Very occasionally we notice a Song Thrush. There are often various gull species about, but few come in to land.
I wonder what you have been seeing. Here are some of the visiting Blue tits ...
And finally, here are the RSPB charts pertaining to the data we submitted. It will be interesting to see the nationwide results in due course.
There is always the Climate Crisis to consider, but I wonder how much the pandemic will be responsible for variations from normal trends. We have a hunch that the many Woodpigeons in our neck of the woods moved to other areas when a local entertainment venue was forced to limit its hours of operation, and there were consequently less pickings to be had.
4 comments:
Lovely to see your garden birds with quite a lot of varieties . Always disappointing when you don’t see regulars. We had a black cap visit a while back but not seen since. All the tits were absent today sadly. We often get coal, blue and Long tailed. Nyjer seeds seemed to work well for gold finches last year. Haven’t seen one this year and I’ve had to throw out the nyjer seeds as they’d started to grow mould. B x
Too bad you had a disappointing turnout for your bird count. But that's the way birding goes - sometimes you've got loads and sometimes you've nothing.
I really enjoy seeing all your photos of birds. A lot of the birds are new to me. We have very few birds in our neighborhood. We need some more mature trees.
Some good sightings there with the Blackcap and Long Tailed Tits:) Lovely photos too. I did mine today - 10 species seen - most of the regular species appeared but none of the less regular visitors!!
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