I feared that rain would
spoil my birdwatching count for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. Thankfully the Saturday turned out sunny
albeit cold. As soon I pulled the curtains in the morning I spotted
the collared dove on the suet block and a robin on a search for a
tasty morning treat.
Sparrows are the most
frequent visitors to my garden. Most of the time they seem quite
happy to share a fatball feeder. They perch on some nearby bushes
together before deciding it's safe to fly over.
The blue tit is a recent
visitor to the garden. I've seen it checking out a nest box on the
side of the garage. There only seems to be one about so it needs to
find a mate to make use of that nest box!
I'm always pleased to see a
wren. The cold weather can do major damage to their numbers. This one
has been hopping about on the ground picking up scraps from fallen
food. I also saw on the ground for the first this year a dunnock but
it proved rather camera shy! As before I took all these photographs
through my patio and kitchen window. It's far too cold at the moment
to leave the door open for an hour!
So this is what I saw in my
hour:
4 Sparrows (2 males, 2
females)
4 Blackbirds (2 males 2
females)
1 Blue tit
1 Collared dove
1 Robin
1 Wren
1 Dunnock
Since I also had two cats on
the prowl during this hour I don't think that's a bad tally.
Did you take part in the
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch?
Bearing in mind you have cats I'd say that's a good tally. I love your wren and you are right - apparently in the hard winter of 1963 numbers were massively reduced. Perhaps temperatures need to fall much lower to adversely affect populations.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for joining in with #AnimalTales (of a feathered type).
We also took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch and had our regular robin, blackbird, blue tits, great tits, doves, magpies and a pheasant who comes every day to peck on the ground underneath. One unexpected visitor who we started whistling back and forth with was a cockatiel!
ReplyDeleteI find it's the dogs that scare off the birds far more then the cats do. What a lovely array of little twitterers you have visit your yard.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of your feathered visitors.
ReplyDeleteThis year's birdwatch was dominated by goldfinches. We counted 18 of them for sure but there were probably more - they just won't stay still and allow for sedate counting. That's the largest number of a single species we've ever seen in a RSPB birdwatch.
ReplyDeleteGrace says - What a great post and you were so lucky to see all these birds. I love Robins as they're so cheeky :) #animaltales
ReplyDeleteWow you've captured lots of birds. We have put out food but do not seem to attract them. I may be because there are a few cats and dogs around x #AnimalTales
ReplyDelete