I put out a lot of seed and suet berry pellets just before starting the count today.I had a job watching and counting them and had to concentrate on one species at the time.I think I was almost right with my count.Maybe under rather than over .There were so many at the time. I thought there was supposed to be a shortage of Sparrows,not in our garden. They came in droves as soon as they spotted the food.We have two nest boxes up for Blue tits.Last year only one was used.It was lovely to watch the parents coming and feeding the babies. There are so many of them here now.I hope they use the other box as well this year.We know that neighbours also have boxes in their gardens.We have a lovely big woodland behind our houses. This must make a big difference to the ammount of birds we see.I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
nature lover
Too late for this year, but why not do as I did, take digital photographs when there are lots of birds milling about. You can then analyse them at your leisure afterwards, and it helps with identification as well. Ideally a medium telephoto lens setting which just takes in the feeding area. The quality does not have to be great, they are not for publication.