Big Garden Bird Watch 2021

Hi

I guess there will be more of us doing it  this  time?

S

  • I'm not sure where I am going to do the bird watch. I can either stay in my garden, walk 1/2 a mile to the Kennet & Avon canal, or drive 5 minutes to the river Thames or River Loddon. I am quite spoilt for choice.
  • Unknown said:
    I'm not sure where I am going to do the bird watch. I can either stay in my garden, walk 1/2 a mile to the Kennet & Avon canal, or drive 5 minutes to the river Thames or River Loddon. I am quite spoilt for choice.

    I'm really lucky.  I've got a small woodland just beyond my back gate and everything I see in it gets counted along with our garden birds.

  • I have to comment on the latest RSPB email "Get creative with your Big Garden Birdwatch / Silly ways to big garden bird watch!" which is just ridiculous, whoever thought that one up should apply for a job with CBBC Blue Peter.

    Some silly suggestions include carrying out the exercise upside down, speaking backwards, dressing up as your favourite bird, wearing an additional item of clothing for every different bird you see, eating themed food

    IMO it demeans the whole exercise by attempting to turn it into some sort of Nursery game. I just don't know why everything has to be dumbed down, it makes me cringe to read such juvenile tripe. Ok call me a grumpy old git, I will try to join in with such frivolous drivel by erecting a notice in the feeding area requesting the following:

    1. Yellow Hammers should only sing the following: eseehc on dna daerb fo tib elttiL
    2. Sparrow Hawks should dress up like their favourite birds ... blackbirds
    3. Bats should stand upright
    4. Blue Tits should only feed downside up on fat balls
    5. Woodpeckers should only feed horizontally
    6. Ducks should keep their heads upright and still
    7. Bearded Tits should shave
    8. Grouse should be merry
    9. Black Caps should not wear their caps until they see another bird and add an additional cap for every bird thereafter
    10. Collared Doves should do likewise but with collars
    11. Hooded Crows should do likewise with their hoods
    12. Rooks should dress up as castles
    13. Crossbills should eat straight
    14. Wagtails should refrain from wagging
    15. Herring Gulls should not wear jewellery in their ears
    16. Hobbies should act professionally
    17. Knots should unravel
    18. Coal Tits should stick with the theme and only eat coal
    19. Common Gulls should act dignified
    20. Larks should be serious
    21. Storks and Herons should stand on both feet
    22. Swallows should chew their food first
    23. Buzzards can only eat themed food which is Magpie and Sandwich Terns
    24. Merlins should refrain from sorcery
    25. Terns should all feed together at once
    26. Starlings and House Sparrows should maintain 2 metre distance when feeding

    Hopefully the person responsible for "Silly ways to big garden bird watch" will have moved on to a job with CBBC by 2022

    David

  • Blue-7 said:
    Ok call me a grumpy old git

    You're a grumpy old git,  David Grin And so must I be as I agree wholeheartedly with what you said ( although I do see the benefit of the lighter side, potentially, for younger participants to keep their interest)

    And I giggled like a loon at your list! Joy

  • I haven't received this infamous email yet. Like many other organisations (eg the BBC) they are dumbing down to attract a younger audience.
    I'll bet you feel better after getting that off your chest - from one grumpy old git to another.
  • Just had the mail order Grey Heron I ordered for the BGBW next Sunday arrive in a pine tree at the bottom of the garden TODAY!!

    S
  • I have just had a visitor taking up his front row perch for Big Garden Birdwatch

  • Well he arrived on time and we are now one blackbird less in our count

  • Hi, Recently all our goldfinches seem to have disappeared, haven’t seen a Siskin in ages and fewer chaffinches. I’m in the NE of Scotland. Never had such a minimal BGBW. Is this likely to be a virus. Thanks for any thoughts J
  • Hi Perchard, we are in Kemnay. We have around 8 goldfinches, similar number of chaffinches and a couple of siskins, we usually get more siskins later in the year. Numbers are down on previous years but I don't really know why. I do see cases of fluffed out finches having difficulty eating which I think must be Trichomonosis so I try to keep feeders and feeding areas as clean as possible. We have lived here for over 40 years and in that time bird numbers have fluctuated considerably, it probably has a lot to do with food availability in the breeding season. We don't see so many greenfinches these days but we did see a Hawfinch earlier this year and now have a resident red legged partridge, never seen either of these birds before.

    David