To be honest, I know how it went for some RSPB members and Nature's Home readers because some of your results forms, as well as letters, photographs and emails about your Birdwatch have been keeping me entertained during the week. We'll be using a selection in the April issue. As ever, there have been some surprising visitors and plenty of great stories.
It was great to see several of you picking up on my mention of my house sparrow flock in my Editor's welcome in Nature's Home January 2016. Good to know that so many readers also have flocks a ta time when this bird is not doing so well.
I have to confess that I was a bit late in getting the full compliment of birdfood out for the Birdwatch (I always put a few special extras out for the big day!), so I was a bit worried the sparrows wouldn't come. They kept us waiting. It wasn't until the second half of the hour until suddenly starting to pour in to the feeders. We had a final count of 14 which was pretty good considering the mild winter we're having.
Just one starling arrived and in typical fashion, the day after the count they built to three!
Starling by Eleanor Bentall (rspb-images.com) - was it on your list?
The biggest surprise though was a female reed bunting that made a brief appearance - the first of the winter. It's amazing how that concentrated one hour of watching reveals so much action and surprises. I was also very pleased to have a song thrush singing, which is still on territory this morning. He was perched in one of our trees so was a nice addition to the list as well.
There's plenty of time to submit your results, so please do so if you haven't had a chance yet.