Friday morning I was ready to start my big garden bird watch count. I thought it would start my first day off on a positive. I had been SO excited all week leading up to it. Yet, the weather didn’t want to play ball. Rain, rain and more rain . A bit like the weather on winterwatch in wales. The poor Iolo Williams. I also spotted a female sparrowhawk in the woods that back onto my garden. Which may have explained the absence of my usual garden birds .
Later in the afternoon the weather cleared. And with it came a spectacular flurry of activity in my garden. There were Long tailed tits, goldcrest, redwings and more. Of course, I was then busy and couldn’t focus on the birds for an hour. How typical !
On Saturday morning the weather was still miserable. Yet the birds were still feeding up on the buffet I have out for them. In the hour I had a total of 7 species visit. There were: Blue tit, great tit, coal tit, robin, nuthatch, woodpigeon and redwing. Not bad considering the weather and still a fair representation .
Watching the birds is such a great way to start the day. But, just because the weekend is over it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to watch the birds for an hour. There is an app called ‘Birdtrack’. It allows you to submit your sightings data like you have done for our big garden birdwatch. It’s not only great data to collect but It is also so beneficial to our mental health to spend more time in nature. Especially during times like these. And you never know what you might see! The sparrowhawk was a new sighting for me from my garden, and I have lived here for 24 years! You never know what will show up .
Happy Birdwatching