Ah got you The other question is that I have only recently started putting food out on a birdtable. I used to just have a robin and two pair of blackbirds in my garden with the odd wood pigeon and various passing birds but since I have put out a birdtable with food on over the last month I have had regular visits from Great Tits - Blue tits - Chaffinch - Bullfinch - a singular ground feeding Dunnock . Strangely these birds only arrive around 10.30am and leave by 1pm so I am thinking they are obviously nesting elsewhere and perhaps even feeding elsewhere before they get to me. I have put up 3 nestboxes to try to attract birds to become sited in my garden.
It would seem then that assuming wherever they are nesting the homeowners will count them too they will be again counted twice or is this an accepted anomoly and that it is not actually an attempt to get accurate numbers but an overview of the sort of average visitations people are experiencing in their gardens and that the whole totals will be averaged by the number of respondents?
Harrogate B. I'm pretty sure the statisticians employed by the RSPB have mathematical ways to take this into account. It's more about the common-ness of species as exact numbers can never be counted. Lucky you having a bullfinch, I haven't seen one for 20 years here!
When you've been doing the count for a few years you notice trends yourself. I never had goldfinches until about 10 years ago. Always had starlings, now never see any. Never had house sparrows until about three years ago. And I expect you can guess my favourite garden bird
I've noticed a lot of changes here. Over 20 years goldfinches have gone from seeing one now and agin to 25+ around the feeders. reed buntings are now much inevidence though it may be that I hadn't identified them previously. Fieldfares that used to pass through and strip the hawthorn berries are now staying around for more food.
The Bullfinches are remarkably shy despite the male having a much greater size than either the Blue tit or Great tit they tend to just perch and watch everyone else feeding. Super colour though. I am just going to cut and paste in here from my website blog regarding my birding experiences...
From my blog
Today I thought I would reflect on feeding wild birds on one of my companies birdtables with a few thoughts thrown in.
As a boy I lived on a fairly leafy street which gave birds the opportunity to nest locally with impunity. Indeed there were masses of Sparrows in flocks around where I lived. One particular irksome result was that blob of poo on the newly washed car I had laboured over to earn pocket money from my mum or dad. seagulls , Robins , Blackbirds Pigeons Song thrushes and so forth were the birds generally more local to by suburban environment. Birds were everywhere and Plentiful. Birds weren't fed except in harsh winters of which there were many when bread crusts and bacon rinds and orange peels would make the winter fayre for the feathered neighbours.
I moved to a more rural setting in a village and now birds were just as plentiful but a little more ornate. A neighbour kept Guinea Fowl as an extra attraction but Collared Doves, Turtle Doves, Wood Pigeons and many small birds such as Siskins,Blue Tits ,Goldfinches,Chaffinches and more kept my garden busy and colourful. There was no feeding the birds as the garden with its various plants and climbers kept them happy enough to nest and live in my garden without encouragement.
A final move saw me back in a suburban elnvironment and once again there was a change in the avian population. Initially there were Wood pigeons , Thrushes , Blackbirds , Robins , Wrens and to a smaller extent Sparrows. The last couple of years saw all but the Blackbirds disappear from my Garden. I guess I should not be surprised as I had never attempted to feed them assuming nature would manage quite nicely without me. It was however a bit of a worry as I enjoyed the visits by the colourful and lively birds that we all know and love.
Then the moment of realisation came. Bird feeding had become popular , hedgerows in the countryside had reduced leaving less opportunities for our native seed eating birds to thrive but urban feeding had increased to take up some of the slack.
So I went to my workshop and put out two birdtables in my garden and duly added some rather swanky food to them. (Spoiled? I think so).
Within a matter of a few days I suddenly discovered that Great Tits were within my tables grasp, as were Blue Tits , Chaffinches , Bullfinches and as usual my Blackbirds.
So I have had a pleasant time observing birdlife suddenly spring to life in my garden. . . . and so i aim to keep it.
One thing I did notice. Harwood was an early adopter of the RedKite release programme. I keep getting a couple of Kites over my house like some War of the Worlds Martian ships looking for fodder. The birdtables empty pretty quick till they have passed over.
Does anyone have a view on whether the Red Kite release program has affected small bird numbers?
I live in West Cornwall and we only had one very slight dusting of snow the temps were up to 8c . My question is , has anyone from the Truro area seen Waxwings? All the cold weather east must of pushed birds further down southwest . We have seen a lot more Blackbirds and thrush family birds but I wonder how far southwest Waxwings have been seen, or have all the berries gone by now ?
F.T., Waxwings have certainly been seen in Cornwall this winter. They are never seen as frequently as further north.
Harrogate, the British Trust for Ornithology do much more accurate surveys of bird numbers and trends; visit their website to get a flavour of it. But enjoy the Garden Birdwatch and don't worry too much about the science!
Thanks Joe, I was hoping someone from Truro area may say "There's 200 in Tescos carpark" and I could of dashed down there. I'll look up the BTO website and see if there are any sites in Cornwall or any local bloggers. Here's hoping.
Have just been dog walking on local playing fields (East Dorset) and saw a large number of birds - est. 70 to 100 - on the ground that were a little too far off to identify with certainty. I think it was thrushes as they were the right size and general colouring and the nearer ones had that quite upright stance that thrushes often display. Some were foraging in the way that blackbirds and thrushes do when worm hunting. I'm guessing redwings or a mixed thrush flock but they were too far away to see the colouring. There was a noticeable paler underwing on the ones that took off. I have never seen that many thrushes in one go so I'm wondering if it could be anything else.
Posts
You count the maximum number of any species that you can see at one time. So if you see 1, then you see another later, it counts as 1.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Ah got you The other question is that I have only recently started putting food out on a birdtable. I used to just have a robin and two pair of blackbirds in my garden with the odd wood pigeon and various passing birds but since I have put out a birdtable with food on over the last month I have had regular visits from Great Tits - Blue tits - Chaffinch - Bullfinch - a singular ground feeding Dunnock . Strangely these birds only arrive around 10.30am and leave by 1pm so I am thinking they are obviously nesting elsewhere and perhaps even feeding elsewhere before they get to me. I have put up 3 nestboxes to try to attract birds to become sited in my garden.
It would seem then that assuming wherever they are nesting the homeowners will count them too they will be again counted twice or is this an accepted anomoly and that it is not actually an attempt to get accurate numbers but an overview of the sort of average visitations people are experiencing in their gardens and that the whole totals will be averaged by the number of respondents?
Sorry for the long winded response.
The birds will be doing a round of all the best feeding stations in the area.
The BBW can never be an accurate count but RSPB will get an overall picture of whats where and whether some are increasing/decreasing.
Shouldn't think there's much nesting going on at the moment, though there were a few signs before the weather moved in.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Harrogate B. I'm pretty sure the statisticians employed by the RSPB have mathematical ways to take this into account. It's more about the common-ness of species as exact numbers can never be counted. Lucky you having a bullfinch, I haven't seen one for 20 years here!
When you've been doing the count for a few years you notice trends yourself. I never had goldfinches until about 10 years ago. Always had starlings, now never see any. Never had house sparrows until about three years ago. And I expect you can guess my favourite garden bird
I've noticed a lot of changes here. Over 20 years goldfinches have gone from seeing one now and agin to 25+ around the feeders. reed buntings are now much inevidence though it may be that I hadn't identified them previously. Fieldfares that used to pass through and strip the hawthorn berries are now staying around for more food.
In the sticks near Peterborough
The Bullfinches are remarkably shy despite the male having a much greater size than either the Blue tit or Great tit they tend to just perch and watch everyone else feeding. Super colour though. I am just going to cut and paste in here from my website blog regarding my birding experiences...
From my blog
Today I thought I would reflect on feeding wild birds on one of my companies birdtables with a few thoughts thrown in.
As a boy I lived on a fairly leafy street which gave birds the opportunity to nest locally with impunity. Indeed there were masses of Sparrows in flocks around where I lived. One particular irksome result was that blob of poo on the newly washed car I had laboured over to earn pocket money from my mum or dad. seagulls , Robins , Blackbirds Pigeons Song thrushes and so forth were the birds generally more local to by suburban environment. Birds were everywhere and Plentiful. Birds weren't fed except in harsh winters of which there were many when bread crusts and bacon rinds and orange peels would make the winter fayre for the feathered neighbours.
I moved to a more rural setting in a village and now birds were just as plentiful but a little more ornate. A neighbour kept Guinea Fowl as an extra attraction but Collared Doves, Turtle Doves, Wood Pigeons and many small birds such as Siskins,Blue Tits ,Goldfinches,Chaffinches and more kept my garden busy and colourful. There was no feeding the birds as the garden with its various plants and climbers kept them happy enough to nest and live in my garden without encouragement.
A final move saw me back in a suburban elnvironment and once again there was a change in the avian population. Initially there were Wood pigeons , Thrushes , Blackbirds , Robins , Wrens and to a smaller extent Sparrows. The last couple of years saw all but the Blackbirds disappear from my Garden. I guess I should not be surprised as I had never attempted to feed them assuming nature would manage quite nicely without me. It was however a bit of a worry as I enjoyed the visits by the colourful and lively birds that we all know and love.
Then the moment of realisation came. Bird feeding had become popular , hedgerows in the countryside had reduced leaving less opportunities for our native seed eating birds to thrive but urban feeding had increased to take up some of the slack.
So I went to my workshop and put out two birdtables in my garden and duly added some rather swanky food to them. (Spoiled? I think so).
Within a matter of a few days I suddenly discovered that Great Tits were within my tables grasp, as were Blue Tits , Chaffinches , Bullfinches and as usual my Blackbirds.
So I have had a pleasant time observing birdlife suddenly spring to life in my garden. . . . and so i aim to keep it.
One thing I did notice. Harwood was an early adopter of the RedKite release programme. I keep getting a couple of Kites over my house like some War of the Worlds Martian ships looking for fodder. The birdtables empty pretty quick till they have passed over.
Does anyone have a view on whether the Red Kite release program has affected small bird numbers?
I live in West Cornwall and we only had one very slight dusting of snow the temps were up to 8c . My question is , has anyone from the Truro area seen Waxwings? All the cold weather east must of pushed birds further down southwest . We have seen a lot more Blackbirds and thrush family birds but I wonder how far southwest Waxwings have been seen, or have all the berries gone by now ?
F.T., Waxwings have certainly been seen in Cornwall this winter. They are never seen as frequently as further north.
Harrogate, the British Trust for Ornithology do much more accurate surveys of bird numbers and trends; visit their website to get a flavour of it. But enjoy the Garden Birdwatch and don't worry too much about the science!
Joe
Thanks Joe, I was hoping someone from Truro area may say "There's 200 in Tescos carpark" and I could of dashed down there. I'll look up the BTO website and see if there are any sites in Cornwall or any local bloggers. Here's hoping.
Have just been dog walking on local playing fields (East Dorset) and saw a large number of birds - est. 70 to 100 - on the ground that were a little too far off to identify with certainty. I think it was thrushes as they were the right size and general colouring and the nearer ones had that quite upright stance that thrushes often display. Some were foraging in the way that blackbirds and thrushes do when worm hunting. I'm guessing redwings or a mixed thrush flock but they were too far away to see the colouring. There was a noticeable paler underwing on the ones that took off. I have never seen that many thrushes in one go so I'm wondering if it could be anything else.