How gazing out of the window could help our garden birds
Post categories: The Curious Owl
| 11:21 UK time, Friday, 28 January 2011
I had a great chat on just last week about greenfinches. Some correspondents were seeing far fewer, some much more and some hadn't noticed any difference whatsoever. (Straw poll in the Springwatch office was that in the Bristol area numbers were dropping.)
But until we have a proper scientific study that's all it is... just chat.
Likewise, a very concerned Barbarapotter1 asked on the blog why she hadn't seen any goldfinches, chaffinches, blue tits etc. "Is it the weather?" she asked. It could well be, or it could be that a neighbour's just bought three cats, or that other neighbours have stopped leaving food out for the birds. There could be any number of other reasons.
The point is that it's nigh on impossible to draw any conclusions about one garden. Multiply that one garden by hundreds of thousands across the country, however, and you're in business. You've enough data to let science extrapolate meaningful statistics. Which is why the , the biggest survey of its kind, is .
So if you want to know how the coldest December on record has affected our birds, or whether greenfinches are doing well, make a brew, pick up a pen and a scrap of paper and spend an hour in your garden this weekend - or, if you can, just peer out of your window. (If you never done it before, have a read of the '' first.)
There's no excuse for novices. If you can't tell your blue tits from your great tits or your house sparrows from your starlings, there's more than enough info on the web to help. For starters, try the excellent for help IDing species or this collection of garden bird clips from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã archive.
If you're still not convinced, have a read of Bill Oddie's charming blog post about the eccentricities of his garden and why he'll be taking part.
Comment number 1.
At 29th Jan 2011, don francis wrote:there more goldfinch 20 is the i have seen in one go,we also get alot of long tail tits 10 to 14 in one go we all so have a pair of robins ithink they have paired up already 2 pair blue tits 2 dunnocks ,2 wrens 2 black birds ,pair of great tit , 2 green finch visit us pair of chaffinch 2 pair of collared dove ihaveseen 1 coal tit aweek ago 2 day running not many sparrow about 8 to ten in one daythen we get 10 to 12 star lings
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Comment number 2.
At 30th Jan 2011, Lizzy wrote:What a beautiful day for the Big Garden Watch. Its cold but sunny and the birds are happily hopping about the garden looking for food.
I am chairman of STOP HS2 and I have actively encouraged all our supporters to get involved this weekend so I really hope you get more results this year. Please do read an article I wrote about it here . I'm off to watch my buzzards now - I love watching them play in the wind. Lizzy
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Jan 2011, bobbysgirl wrote:spotted a flock of 70 - 80 waxwings in the renfrewshire area this morning around midday,eating berries from our back garden,this was the first time we had seen them and what a wonderful sight, beautiful colours.
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Comment number 4.
At 4th Feb 2011, johnytrout wrote:I have noticed a Goldcrest feeding on my bird feeding station.
I think it's a female because it lacks any red on its head.
Is it usual to see these birds eating the fat blocks ?
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Comment number 5.
At 6th Feb 2011, GARYATQUAYSIDE wrote:Over the last 2 weeks we have been watching the progress of some newly fledged Chaffinches. There were 4 to start with but we've only seen 2 recently. I have never known them breed this early, even in Torquay. There have been a lot of adult birds around for a couple of months now, up to 8 females and 3 males at any one time.
Has anyone else seen them this early in the year?
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Comment number 6.
At 14th Feb 2011, Debbie H wrote:We live in Ashford in Kent and in the last few weeks we have seen some young Goldfinches already. We seem to get about 12 in our garden every day(adults). Also we were round our cousins on Sunday just 1 mile away from where we live and for the last week they have been getting Siskins in their garden at least four of them. It was truly delightful to see them as none of us had seen them before. We are avid watchers and it is wonderful when you get a rare sighting.
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