This weekend is the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch, where thousands of people across the UK spend an hour counting the wildlife in their garden and then submit their results. If you want to take part in the UK’s biggest wildlife survey, you’ll find all the information you need here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/?gclid=CN7zsM_nosMCFQj4wgodxUYAQQ
In preparation for the Big Garden Bird Watch we ran an event last weekend to help people get ready for the survey this weekend. On Saturday we braved the wintery roads to spend the day at the Speyside Heather Centre where they have a year round feeding station.
As well as giving out advice and survey forms, we also made bird feeders using pine cones and recycled yoghurt pots. The pine cones were smeared in peanut butter and then rolled in bird seed. We also encouraged kids to come up with their own bird food recipe to fill yoghurt pots with. Choosing from a selection of tasty bird treats, from mealworms to chopped apple, the kids mixed this together with suet, flower, water and bird seed and then spooned it into a yoghurt pot. The kids took them home to hang in their garden to encourage the birds into the garden for the Bird Watch next weekend.
Then on the Sunday we spent a (very cold!) morning in the Osprey Centre car park doing the same thing, where the flocks of coal tits were delighted to see us turn up with tubs of bird food. The below freezing temperatures had obviously made their tummies much hungrier than usual as our marquee was a frenzy of coal and crested tits zipping in and out, pinching food from not only our table but also from our hands.
Two visitors from Lincolnshire, Steve and Zoe, were thrilled to have coal tits feeding from their hands. Steve even managed to get a cracking photo of a crested tit.
Photo by Steve Smith
Despite the cold, it was a beautiful day. The frozen loch had a fresh dusting of snow and looked spectacular in the sunshine.
Photo by John Ingham
One bird that certainly won’t be on our Big Garden Bird Watch survey results is an osprey. They are still soaking up the sun in Africa, and two ospreys in particular are taking in the winter sun of Senegal and Mauritania. Both Breagha and Millicent are still sticking close to their chosen local patches, with no new changes in their movements since the last report.