Only 8 birds visited during 1 hour bird watch. I duly filled up bird bath,dotted food about the garden as normal and settled down to watch. I have one male blackbird who seems to chase all other birds out. He doesn't feed afterwards just chases them out, he even chases out the female of the species......I watched 12midday until 1pm, maybe should have sat earlier in day!!!
Don't worry try again tomorrow. My Garden was not frequented by the usual birds today.
I did it at about the same time with similar results, i think many people choose mid morning and saw a bit more activity, needing to top up energy quickly after the long and cold nights. Also, many species seem to turn up for a feed mid afternoon, getting a feed in before settling down to roost.
Birds defending winter territories often make it difficult for other species to venture in for long, during my count it was a bit of 'battle of the Titans' between a fieldfare, male blackbird and a robin, all of which are feisty during the winter.
Thanks for taking part!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Hi All,
Saw ONE black bird and one thrush in my hour of "Birdwatching" yesterday is it worth sending the form back with so little Bird numbers to report???
Will post the form when I walk the dog later . Thanks .
Alan is spot on, please send the survey form back even if you saw very few birds or none at all, this will help us get a more accurate impression of garden bird activity over the weekend.
Sunday was very windy and the snow had thawed in many places meaning birds were less active on the whole and may have moved away from gardens, we'll certainly be taking this into consideration when it comes to looking at the results.