I'm not going to lie - the Birdwatch can be a worrying time.What biscuits will I have with my cup of tea? Can I sit in my favourite chair and still see the garden? Will the birds know I'm watching them and not turn up?Ok, so I'm being silly about the first two, but every year we get people telling us that during their hour Birdwatch their usually bustling 'bird-opolis' of a garden is strangly empty.Now some of this is just bad timing. Not many people have the luxury to be able to stare out the window all day and see that actually there are quite a lot of periods of bird inactivity in their green space. This is perfectly normal - most birds wander over a wide area in search of food.However, some of it might be due to slightly less obvious reasons.Just as the cold weather of previous surveys brought a surge of birds flocking into gardens, so the incredibly mild weather of late could have the opposite affect. With the countryside not covered by frost and snow there have been plenty of berries and insects still available for our birds to eat.
It'll certainly be interesting to see what kinds of birds people are seeing this weekend, and in what numbers.Which is why no matter if you saw 20+ or no birds at all, we still really want your results. Happy Birdwatch everyone. And in case you're wondering, I'm rather partial to custard creams. Although ginger biscuits are always tasty. No, hang on, make that bourbons....
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My birdwatch was stopped every now and again by a feral moggie that kept coming into the garden, keeping our feathered friends away. Most annoying I understand moggies taste like rabbit.
Reginald
The usuals did a bunk. We usually have a squadron of blue tits, great tits and long tailed tits at this time of year, ranging from 10 to 20 in one go. The resident robin has a problem as he usually chases them off if they come in ones and twos. It does seem to be dependent on wind direction, if the wind is from the north they all seem to go elswhere.
I'm not sure if the birds bunk off or I just time it wrong. I work all day Saturday, so Sunday is my only day to do the birdwatch. Saturday night I indulged with a couple of sherberts so it was after mid-day til I did my hour. I know that normally early morning I can get 20 or so starlings but not later on. Maybe we should submit the time we did the birdwatch?
I know what you mean about birds bunking off!!! We have a regular pair of Collared Doves, and a pair of WoodPigeons who are obviously having a lie in today !! Although, unbeleivably a month ago we had a Kingfisher land on our fence, couldnt beleive my eyes and sadly didnt get the camera out in time before he flew off, but what a sight !!!
First time and what an amazing day decided to add different foods last week hopeing it would bring in different birds and Wow what a difference .ist blackcap I have ever seen and a couple I couldnt identify but after submitting results now have! I watch daily and have seen more and more surely due to A la Carte menu what do you think?.A week ago I put out,mixed seed, suet balls with flies, suet balls with berries , sunflower hearts, hemp seed , meal worms , how it was worth it !