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Posted by: Vicki on 08/02/2011

Where Bill takes part in the annual RSPB count of garden birds.

We have noticed lots of birds by our little cottage near Stroud. In our first week at the house we saw a young buzzard in the valley below us and at night we can hear owls.

This encouraged me to take part in last weekend’s Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual event organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to look at the health of the nation’s bird populations. For one hour over last weekend eager birdwatchers – mostly amateurs like myself – kept a tally of the birds that visited their gardens. To make sure people don’t count the same bird over and over again, the RSPB simply asks for the highest number of each species seen at one time. The society had sent out a booklet with the most common birds to help identify them. It proved invaluable on the day.

So late Sunday afternoon in glorious sunshine we took up our positions in the garden with a pair of binoculars and cup of tea each. For the first 10 minutes we could hear at least two blackbirds singing, but try as we might, we couldn’t locate them. Then we saw a flash of brown as a small bird flew across the garden to a tree next door. She had gone by too fast for me to identify, so I had to get out the RSPB identifier and try to catch her on the way back. She turned out to be a beautiful little wren. Over the course of the hour we saw many single birds of the same species, so they would obviously only count as one as we couldn’t be sure if they were different birds, but it turns out we have a neighbourhood that is teeming with birdlife.

 

The tally was as follows:

 

1 x male blackbird (but we heard more)

2 x feral pigeons

1 x jackdaw

3 x magpies

1 x woodpigeon

1 x robin

1 x coal tit

1 x great tit

 

We’ve been inspired to spend more time in the garden watching the birds and have even set up a direct debit of only £3 a month to help fund the good work the RSPB is doing.

In our garden in Bristol we had a walled garden covered in ivy and had blackbirds and pigeons nesting. Last year was a great year for the blackbirds with one pair raising three broods (top two photos above show one of the babies). There was also a beautiful little blue tit that raised a massive family in a crack in the wall (above). We’re just getting our garden ready for planting and will get our hedges trimmed back before the new breeding season starts. It would be lovely to have birds thriving in our new garden. I’ll post any photos if they do.

 

Please note: the results of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 2011 should be available at the end of March.

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