Well, turns out that the perfect respite from a hectic family weekend is to spend an hour sitting still and gazing out of the window. We enjoyed the Birdwatch so much that we did it three times!
We did an hour on Saturday morning, then another one that afternoon because my teenage stepdaughter popped round and was disappointed to have missed out.
Then we did a third hour-long session on Monday, when things were quieter and one child was home sick from school - but the weather was poor and there wasn’t much activity.
The first count turned out to be the best in terms of both number and species, so that’s the one we submitted the results for, thus becoming part of the UK’s biggest citizen science project and contributing our data towards the RSPB’s vital UK-wide conservation work.
It was very easy. We refilled the feeders and birdbath, then went inside, made a pot of tea and settled by the kitchen window, occasionally sprinting through to the dining room to view from a different angle.
Our two children, aged 5 and 7, hogged both pairs of binoculars very enthusiastically, training them on the feeder stand and the russet apple tree behind it where further treats dangled. We helped the kids to spell and tally the names of the birds we saw.
The kids train their binoculars on the garden.
Our five-year-old daughter admittedly handed us her bins and wandered off after about 20 minutes to draw some pictures, but our son stayed put, eager to learn more about the birds that were showing up. His favourites were the blue tits.
“Look! What’s that massive black one?” he cried when a rook swept in, scattering songbirds in its wake. “It’s scared all the others away!” We showed him how to spot the difference between the four types of corvid we see here.
“Can we open the window to listen?”… and, when two starlings descended on the mealworm feeder: “They’re eating those worms! Euw!”
One of our rooks, the only visitor big enough to snap at a distance.
Success with 16 species
We recorded a pair each of robins, starlings, chaffinches and two very imposing rooks.
We counted our dunnock, plenty of blue tits, great tits, coal tits, blackbirds, jackdaws, magpies, collared doves and woodpigeons, and - during the last minute (at last!) - two long-tailed tits.
Unfortunately, there was no sign (during any of our three counts) of longed-for sparrows, or the goldfinches we often see. But we were blessed with a perfectly timed new arrival: a song thrush, the first we’d ever seen here - moving about in the apple tree for quite some time and allowing us plenty of viewing enjoyment. What a serendipitous moment for a new bird to show up!
The first song thrush ever seen in our garden turned up during our BGBW. (Chris Gomershall, rspb-images.com)
Where eagles dare
When our daughter came home from school on Monday, I asked her if she had told her teachers or classmates about our birdwatch.
“I did, mummy,” she replied. “I told them I saw blackbirds, and blue birds… and an eagle.”
“An eagle…?” I replied dubiously. “Really? I didn’t spot that one…”
“Well, it came when you were making a cup of tea,” she told me firmly.
Hmmm. Well, just goes to show, you never know what might turn up - but blink and you’ll miss it!