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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Well it's my first time doing the Birdwatch and after weeks of seeing the usual suspects a few decided to stay away! I suppose now I've submitted my results the Song Thrush, Buzzard and Kestrel will make an appearance. Nevermind,had great fun spotting and will certainly join in next year.
Why is it that whenever the Garden Birdwatch comes along, all those 'special/unusual' sightings disappear?!? Thursday we had a sparrowhawk in the garden for ages (nothing much else for a good 2 hrs afterwards though!) - today, just the usual mix of starlings, robins, blue tits etc! Lovely of course, but doesn't give the same excitement, does it?
Gill
Lol, I long to see buzzards and sparrowhawks. I have just come back from overseas and I missed my garden wildlife. The last few weeks I have had quite a few birds but today I think they have stayed in bed!!
Could it be because its the weekend, more people, children and dog walkers about??
Never mind about your grammar, Tom! I just wish I could see red kites, though I have spotted 2 buzzards hovering over the nearby shopping precinct - must be rats about! I also had a female sparrowhawk touch down briefly on my fence last week.
*there 'are'