Hellish Weather for BGBW

I’ve seen worse over the the decades since the Big Garden Birdwatch first started. The weather has varied from deep snow, heavy rain, fine dry sunny weather, storm force gales like today and in some years dense thick fog and very difficult to see any birds in my garden from my window. It is January, don’t forget. At one time in my youth in the 1960’s and the 1950’s as young child as I was born in 1952, although the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch which was still many many years before such an event was ever thought off within the RSPB, we regularly had deep snow for at at least a few weeks every winter and of course deep snow happened in January regularly. And for anyone like myself who remembers the 1962-1963 winter where half the UK’s bird population didn’t survive that winter, this winter is tropical. Deep snow is quite rare in the UK for obvious reasons now. Though occasionally like 2010-2011 winter you can get deep snow for a prolonged period. But not very often now as in my youth!.

Eastern Scotland has an amber warning for wind at the moment. It's horrendous here too. The only birds I see are also a few goldfinches and greenfinches valiantly hanging onto branches.

Met Office says tomorrow is mostly OK during the day although cold, but there is a yellow warning for wind tomorrow night.

It's just such a disappointment Ian when been so much looking forward to BGBW!

Whole of Lanarkshire has yellow warning in place till Monday :-(

We do our Island count next weekend so I fully expect to have your weather by then - It seems that either the feeders are horizontal and the birds are clinging on for all they are worth and/or they need scuba gear or there are no birds at all. Today has been a feeding and chasing frenzy so am expecting foul weather in about 48 hours

Good luck for next week Cin...the birds have still managed to land and hoover up all the scattered seeds most of what I have missed cos I had to go out...hopefully tomorrow shall be better ;-)

Fingers crossed for you tomorrow Linda and that everything calms down a bit

I am glad I did mine on Friday

We are glad Chris did a count yesterday, I was going to do one today in a little reserve a few hundred yards away but this strong wind makes it hard to breath so hoping to do one tomorrow with 12 year old grandson.