Saturday 29th January - Big Garden Birdwatch

The official one and a good thing so should be well supported - given today was centred around having to pick Hannah up from a school exam thing near Petersfield around midday I decided to do the hour (ish) garden birdwatch this morning- Which I did from 8.30 - 9.30am (give or take).   Still a very grey day and only 3c.

Results as follows using the rules of maximum counts of any one species at one time - last year's results are in brackets.

Pheasant                                 2                        (not recorded)
Buzzard                                  2 flew over         (not recorded)
Kestrel                                   1 in garden          (not recorded)
Sparrowhawk                        1 in garden          (not recorded)
Woodpigeon                          3                         (3)
Stock Dove                           2 flew over          (not recorded)
Great Spotted Woodpecker   2                         (4)
Nuthatch                                1                         (2)
Blackbird                               6                         (5)
Song Thrush                           1                         (2)
Robin                                     2                         (3)
Dunnock                                1                         (2)
Wren                                     1                         (not recorded)
Blue Tit                                  21                       (7)
Great Tit                                6                         (4)
Coal Tit                                 2                         (1)
Marsh Tit                              1                          (2)
Chaffinch                               27                       (12)
Greenfinch                             15                       (2)
Goldfinch                               9                         (not recorded)
Siskin                                    1                          (not recorded)
House Sparrow                     24                        (3)
Magpie                                 2 flew over           (not recorded)
Carrion Crow                       1 flew over           (not recorded)
Jackdaw                               4 flew over           (not recorded)
Total Species                      25

Mistle Thrush                       (not recorded)         (1)
Redwing                              (not recorded)         (3)
Bullfinch                               (not recorded)        (1)
Yellowhammer                     (not recorded)        (1)

So in summary, no real surprises, but good numbers of common birds, particularly the finches which have been building in numbers over the last week, but unlike last year where Yellowhammer and Bullfinch were recorded only the Siskin was uncommon. Chaffinch numbers were particularly high  (which I'm sure I understated but counting them was difficult). The large number of House Sparrows was due to a group which pretty much sat in a bush without really feeding. The Siskin  took to ground feeding rather than the feeders. ( I don't think I recorded flyovers last year). At the peak I probably had nearly 100 birds at one time feeding in the garden, which is great but does feel a little like stuffing the feeders with five pound notes as the food disappears too quickly.

.. and then we went to a party until midnight ......

Smart looking male Siskin was probably highlight of the RSPB garden birdwatch.