Well due to a sleepless night I missed the early rush on the feeders. It was looking like a poor day all round with thick fog making the birds very nervous. No show from many of the regulars but a few surprises turned up.
House sparrow 30+
Dunnock 3
Chaffinch 6
Blackbird 3
Goldfinch 15 (most I've seen in a long time)
Wood pigeon 1
Jackdaw 1
Robin 1 (I can hear more singing though)
Starling 2
Blue tit 2
Bullfinch 2
No sign of the crows, redpolls or great tits even though they've been here every day for weeks and only about half of the usual blackbirds.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Just submitted my results - tried a few times yesterday, but the website kept crashing. Seemed to work this morning though.
It was the usual suspects for me this year - highlight being 8 long tail tits on the fat ball feeder in one go 😀. Low light being absence of Mr woodpecker .....but I saw him last week, so I know he was only being contrary 🙈
I had a quick count today before the rain drove the birds to cover. More species but less birds. 5 redpolls turned up and extra bullfinches which are good birds to log but no starlings and only a few goldfinches. Still no sign of the coal tits either. I wonder where they've gone There seems to be some kind of sparrow riot going on this morning too so I suspect a rival flock have turned up for some food. Probably this year's babies coming back for a visit.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Not many to report, 3 wood pigeons and 2 magpies Dry at the start of the hour but raining quite heavily by the end. Sent the report in, now waiting for all the smaller birds to reappear. I'd put money on it !
My neighbour's cat Ginny is normally welcome in my garden, but not when I'm 25 minutes into my bird count and she shoots out from under a bush and grabs a pigeon, scattering all the other birds to a more than safe distance. And not just any old pigeon but the pretty white one. I chased her off, and picked up the pigeon which was still moving, but minus a few mouthfuls of feather. I thought I'd take it indoors where it could either recover or die peacefully. To my surprise it leapt out of my hands and flew up to the roof. I decided to stop the clock, and start it again the next time a bird appeared, but the sky became very overcast, so there were very few more birds to be counted.
Despite Ginny's intervention, I recorded: 10 feral pigeons, five starlings, two jackdaws, two house sparrows, a herring gull, a robin and a blue tit.
Posts
house sparrow 2
robin 2
crow 2
blue tit 2
wood pigeon
great tit
blackbird
I hope Leicester score more!
Would you believe looked out about 4pm and what is hopping around, the Wren not seen it for months.🙄
It was the usual suspects for me this year - highlight being 8 long tail tits on the fat ball feeder in one go 😀. Low light being absence of Mr woodpecker .....but I saw him last week, so I know he was only being contrary 🙈
Dry at the start of the hour but raining quite heavily by the end. Sent the report in, now waiting for all the smaller birds to reappear. I'd put money on it !
6 House sparrows
1 Dunnock
1 Robin
2 Magpies
2 Blackbirds
Despite Ginny's intervention, I recorded: 10 feral pigeons, five starlings, two jackdaws, two house sparrows, a herring gull, a robin and a blue tit.