Lesley, I'd never seen a green woodpecker before I came to live here but they're quite numerous and breeding, we have groups of juveniles most years. They spend a lot of their time in the meadow poking around for ants.
The weather forecast for here currently says snow for Saturday, though with temps above freezing it's not likely to stay long. Might just bring the birds down though!. My green wood peckers have never been to the feeders though I have seen them through binocs and occasionally heard them. The greater spotted ones are regulars though.
My question concerns birds of prey. We often have kestrels and buzzards overhead, and earlier this week what can only have been the sparrowhawk flew right past the birdfeeders, though too fast for a sight ID. But as none of them usually land they can't be counted, so does this mean they are under represented ?
B'cup - I think you've highlighted the real problem with the birdwatch. I reckon they should get keen feeders/watchers to do a different survey - perhaps over a whole weekend or even longer. Two or three half hours over the weekend or something. I think you can log other animals/visitors you've seen in the garden, but I can't remember if you can add occasional bird visitors.
There are loads of woodpeckers in this area, as we have woodland nearby, but they don't always visit gardens on a regular basis. That means it could look as if there are none. Lots of goldcrests (lots of conifers) but you don't always see regularly them either
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm pretty sure that they don't have to actually land, you just have to see them in your garden area - and how high that goes isn't specified... I've just looked through the instructions again and it just says 'record the birds you see', nothing about landing. Obviously they would have to be seen within your selected hour though!
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
Fairygirl, I think the point of the birdwatch is its breadth - making it smple and only for an hour means they'll get a much broader snapshot than would be possible in any other way. I think they've done a great job of making it something that is known about by so many people, schools join in, it's accessible and easy. And they can compare data from year to year. I'm sure there's much more in depth research and surveys going on all the time too, which will be more accurate in many ways, but they will be necessarily limited by participant numbers and location etc.
If you want to contribute to some of that, it's worth checking out the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) - I signed up for the Nestbox Challenge a few years ago but lapsed, but I think there's all kinds of stuff you can contribute to. I seem to remember an ongoing 'fill it in when you see it' type survey, more involved than the birdwatch. Sorry for being so vague, I can't remember all the details but it's worth investigating if you're interested.f
No, it definitely says 'record those that land in your garden...... not those flying over'. We also have goldcrests, there is a large area of coniferous forest only a field away and they sometimes come spider hunting round the window frames - still quite hard to see though, they move so fast.
I find it hard to count total numbers too, as I have to look through a window, with quite a narrow range of vision, with binocs too. Often there are several birds perching in the trees waiting for a turn on the feeders, and of course they don't stay still until I've finished counting. I know there are at least 4 blackbirds as I have seen 2 males at once, and 2 females, but there could be more as I don't recognise individuals. I saw 10 chaffinches all on the ground during the cold snap (only one female though) but the greenfinches come in a gang and squabble round the feeder, flying off and coming back, so I have no idea how many there are!
Oh - where does it say that? I must admit I had thought that too, so must have read it somewhere, but then couldn't find anything about landing in my downloaded pack. You'll have to tell the BTO about the sparrowhawk instead!
Yes, counting is difficult for me, for the same reasons as you - not the best vantage point (can't sit down and see out properly, for a start, so spent the hour last year kneeling at the window in my daughter's bedroom - my knees!). I can sit to see the birdfeeders but not much of the rest of the garden, I'm lousy at using binoculars (by the time I get them in the right place the bird is usually gone) and not brilliant at identification. Though I don't get anything wildly unusual in my garden, and my brother is pretty good at ID by description. It's all good fun though .
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
Posts
I know LG, it makes sense - except to the birds
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'll be joining in ....its not often I pull up a chair and spend a full hour looking out the window......really looking forward to it
Lesley, I'd never seen a green woodpecker before I came to live here but they're quite numerous and breeding, we have groups of juveniles most years. They spend a lot of their time in the meadow poking around for ants.
In the sticks near Peterborough
We have them here too ....and they really do "yaffle"
The weather forecast for here currently says snow for Saturday, though with temps above freezing it's not likely to stay long. Might just bring the birds down though!. My green wood peckers have never been to the feeders though I have seen them through binocs and occasionally heard them. The greater spotted ones are regulars though.
My question concerns birds of prey. We often have kestrels and buzzards overhead, and earlier this week what can only have been the sparrowhawk flew right past the birdfeeders, though too fast for a sight ID. But as none of them usually land they can't be counted, so does this mean they are under represented ?
B'cup - I think you've highlighted the real problem with the birdwatch. I reckon they should get keen feeders/watchers to do a different survey - perhaps over a whole weekend or even longer. Two or three half hours over the weekend or something. I think you can log other animals/visitors you've seen in the garden, but I can't remember if you can add occasional bird visitors.
There are loads of woodpeckers in this area, as we have woodland nearby, but they don't always visit gardens on a regular basis. That means it could look as if there are none. Lots of goldcrests (lots of conifers) but you don't always see regularly them either
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm pretty sure that they don't have to actually land, you just have to see them in your garden area - and how high that goes isn't specified... I've just looked through the instructions again and it just says 'record the birds you see', nothing about landing. Obviously they would have to be seen within your selected hour though!
Fairygirl, I think the point of the birdwatch is its breadth - making it smple and only for an hour means they'll get a much broader snapshot than would be possible in any other way. I think they've done a great job of making it something that is known about by so many people, schools join in, it's accessible and easy. And they can compare data from year to year. I'm sure there's much more in depth research and surveys going on all the time too, which will be more accurate in many ways, but they will be necessarily limited by participant numbers and location etc.
If you want to contribute to some of that, it's worth checking out the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) - I signed up for the Nestbox Challenge a few years ago but lapsed, but I think there's all kinds of stuff you can contribute to. I seem to remember an ongoing 'fill it in when you see it' type survey, more involved than the birdwatch. Sorry for being so vague, I can't remember all the details but it's worth investigating if you're interested.f
Edited to add the website: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/about
Edited again (!) to add another: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nbc/about
No, it definitely says 'record those that land in your garden...... not those flying over'. We also have goldcrests, there is a large area of coniferous forest only a field away and they sometimes come spider hunting round the window frames - still quite hard to see though, they move so fast
.
I find it hard to count total numbers too, as I have to look through a window, with quite a narrow range of vision, with binocs too. Often there are several birds perching in the trees waiting for a turn on the feeders, and of course they don't stay still until I've finished counting
. I know there are at least 4 blackbirds as I have seen 2 males at once, and 2 females, but there could be more as I don't recognise individuals. I saw 10 chaffinches all on the ground during the cold snap (only one female though
) but the greenfinches come in a gang and squabble round the feeder, flying off and coming back, so I have no idea how many there are!
Oh - where does it say that? I must admit I had thought that too, so must have read it somewhere, but then couldn't find anything about landing in my downloaded pack. You'll have to tell the BTO about the sparrowhawk instead!
Yes, counting is difficult for me, for the same reasons as you - not the best vantage point (can't sit down and see out properly, for a start, so spent the hour last year kneeling at the window in my daughter's bedroom - my knees!). I can sit to see the birdfeeders but not much of the rest of the garden, I'm lousy at using binoculars (by the time I get them in the right place the bird is usually gone) and not brilliant at identification. Though I don't get anything wildly unusual in my garden, and my brother is pretty good at ID by description. It's all good fun though
.