I settled down just before 9 am today to start my Big Garden Birdwatch count. It was raining lightly with poor light so I had my binoculars handy as I knew I would have to check every silhouette in the trees to verify identification. My garden usually boasts about 11 or 12 regular species, though over the past few weeks this has peaked at 18.
I had already filled my feeders and put out some additional scraps so I wasn't surprised to find a couple of crows turning up almost immediately. They hung around on the lawn for several minutes before flying off. In the next few minutes there was a flurry of activity, with a variety of species including goldfinch, dunnock, blue tit and great tit, and a blackbird. I also noticed three wood pigeons in tree and another pecking at apples in the orchard part of the garden.
The rain got a bit heavier and the wind picked up a bit and there was a lull in activity for a bit.
Then a flock of four goldfinches flew into the tops of the trees behind the feeders and I noticed a house sparrow sheltering in the bush. A coal tit also made a fleeting appearance at the sunflower heart feeder whilst a couple of robins pecked about around the base.
The rain was still falling and all became quiet once more, although the pigeon was still feasting on apples.
Over the rest of the hour there were intermittent visits from the various species above in varying numbers. Half way through my count ,a neighbour's cat decided to settle itself down under the bushes behind the feeders so as it wasn't going to assist in my count, I''m afraid I sent it packing!
As my hour drew to a close, a flock of 20 house sparrows flew across the garden in small groups, a magpie visited the willow tree and in the final minute my regular fieldfare made a short appearance in the orchard.
Over the hour I had a total of 12 species and 43 birds shown below for your interest:
crows 2
blackbird 2
dunnock 2
goldfinch 4
blue tit 3
great tit 1
coal tit 1
wood pigeon 4
house sparrow 20
magpie 1
fieldfare 1
robin 2
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