I don't have a garden so I set up feeders in an old run down area where I do some "city birding" most days. 7 Redpolls have been turning up and it's always a delight to see them.
There is a healthy group of Goldfinches, usually about 30/35 turn up sqawbling and warring for the nyger seed feeder :)
Lots of Blue Tits, Great Tits, and Chaffinches, Dunnocks, even 5 Robins appear with just a little fighting and chasing but nothing too serious.
I have only seen one Wren, once. What is happening with them this year?
All was going well and even getting to see a fox walk by all the time. He's usually in the distance before I know he was walking by. I sit in a pop up hide so my view is blinkered.
But the dreaded Sparrowhawk has discovered the feeders as well. He's a flippin' nuisance LOL
Long Tailed tits are turning up as well but for ruined ground which attracts alkies and young neds to the area, the birds are doing well.The Blackbirds and Wood Pigeons are very timid.
Being next to the river I see a few water birds coming and going fishing. Cormorants, Grey Heron, Kingfisher, gulls, Goldeneye, Mallards, a few Redhanks, Little Grebes, Wagtails, Oyster Catchers, Goosanders and loads more from time to time.
Point is, even though you don't have a garden, or live in the heart of a city, doesn't mean you can't take part in the Birdwatch. Just find a spot where you can get relative peace and set up a few feeders. The birds will turn up. Amazing how it is always Blue Tits who turn up first :)
And now and again, you can get a few surprises. I am also working so I always pop down to my wee spot after work to top up feeders and as i finish early due to starting very early, I can get to see the birds for an hour or two before it starts to get dark.
And due to the current financial climate, I can't travel to reserves or other places as often as I used to as the cost is just too much wether it be petrol for the car or public transport.
Guess the birds in my area are winning as money usually spent on travel costs is going to them on feed :)
Glad I had a good day today with the birdwatch. Last year it was hopeless. Hardly anything turned up.
I forgot to add that I have set up a feeder station next to the buildings car park where I live and it's only a bit of grass with an overgrown bit of shrubbery but amazingly the birds have grown to enjoy a wee snack every day and the Sparrowhawk also discovered this. I will shoot him one day. Only joking but he does annoy me at times. I feed the small birds and he eats them. :(
That's nature.
He came today just as I was about to start the count so he was ruining the day for me. So I went down to my second location by the river. Is this ok? So long as I only count the birds from one place I guess it is?
Happy birding
I guess it would be expecting too much to allow us to upload as many as we like but can you imagine the bandwidth that would be needed for that Doggie LOL
Maria
Nikon D90 with a 70-300mm. I forgot to take the tripod out of the car today before heading down to my wee spot. Quite annoyed when I do that :)
Too busy organising the feed to take down along with the other stuff I take. Getting old and forgetfull these days :)
They are great pictures, better than I could do.
Anne
Cheers Doggie. I didn't realise that.
I always thought it was just one at a time and I have to say I used to try and upload origional photo size which was probably taking a long time.
But learned to resize the pics all at the same time when I moved to BT which restricted my upload. I couldn't upload one origional photo. I was with AOL before and they allowed me to upload anything, no matter the file size no restriction on how many how many I could upload at one time.
I'll be going back to aol when BT contract is up.