I was so dissapointed with the turnout for todays big count. Really bad timing i think as we had a BIG thaw overnight and above freezing temperatures all day with some rain showers. With the snow over the past couple of weeks theres been a constant flutter of activity all day long and i've had to top up the food several times as day with 16 chafinches, 9 blackbirds, 12 starlings, 6 sparrows, 2 doves, 5 pigeons, 2 robins, blue tits and great tit a jackdaw and a crow all feeding at my tiny table. Today they havent even finished breakfast and all I saw in my hour was 16 chafinches, 4 sparrows,1 starling, 1 pigeon, 1 blackbird and 1 robin that only just made it in time!
Its always a disappointing day - we did not see any of our Goldfinches at all (usually regular visitors) and our friend the Woodpecker stayed away! Aaargh!
Normally we have quite a few sparrows and different tits as well as robins and collared doves, but due to the very strong winds yesterday we didn't have any of our usual visitors in the hour and were completely deserted too. We were so looking forward to logging all the different birds this year too but it wasn't to be this year.
I had most of my regulars in for the count on Saturday. I was totally gobsmaked to see a female goldcrest though only 5minutes after starting. That was the first time I've seen one in the garden so was well made up :)
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ~Author Unknown
Same here - A week ago here in south Cornwall, when the temperature was around zero, there were twice as many birds. This weekend, during the official bird watch, when the temperature was 9 deg C and calm, half our favourites disappeared. We think they explored further afield this weekend for natural food on the soft ground, whereas when it was colder, they had to eat our food.
Like you I was so disappointed with the turnout yesterday. Over the past couple of weeks we have had to replenish the feeders at least twice a day. All I saw yesterday was 3 blackbirds, 2 bluetits, 2 chaffinch, 1 collared dove, 1 dunnock, 1 goldfinch, 8 greenfinch, 4 house sparrows, 2 starlings, 2 woodpidgeon. On the plus side I saw a Skylark! We usually see at least 10 chaffinch, 4 collared doves, 4 goldfinchs, 10-15 starlings, 2 nuthatch, 6 bluetits, 2 robins, 4 coaltits even on occasion a great spotted woodpecker. I guess the weather had a big impact yesterday but really frustrating!
I was deserted too! When the snow was here I was inundated with birds, including 10 chaffinches and 7 blackbirds, 4 robins, 25 sparrows. Yesterday the snow had cleared and I sat down to do the count and I had 14 birds in total. I feel quite used!!
Mel x
I can so sympathise with that as we had the same thing happen. Then, to cap it all, around 40 minutes into the watch the Sparrowhawk landed in our plum tree and that saw the back of the few visitors we had.
I think I can count myself as lucky - I chose to count on Saturday, when our weather was decent, but I still only clocked 29 birds (12 species) in the hour. It would have been less had I not counted until Sunday, the weather would have been worse, and the local bird killer would have got in the way - a white cat that we have nicknamed "cooking fat" - it's about the right colour for lard, but try transposing the "f" and the "c" ;-). Needless to say, I chased it away. I spotted it with one of "our" great tits a while back - it is quite determined. Other cats ( and there are quite a few about) don't worry us, as they don't seem to be bothered about birds.
Today, a greenfinch has turned up, and a few days ago, we had a pied wagtail - why couldn't they have turned up on Saturday?!
Great name for the Cat Jenny :O)
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Today is a good day!
It seems like your Big Garden birdwatch mirrored mine. The thaw coming too early as i think it enabled our garden birds to find more natural food. Which is a good thing. But it meant many of us were just twiddling our thumbs for the hour we did our count.