Well today is the day that the RSPB do the Big Garden Birdwatch. Basically you pick an area, be it park, garden or wherever and watch and count all the birds that land in the area in a one hour period.
I have a number of 'feed-trees' in the garden so would normally expect a decent showing but the previous weeks wind coupled with a 10 degree drop in temperature had led to not much being seen in the garden over the last few days. Still we gave it a go between 10:00 and 11:00.
To be fair we were well rewarded with 8 x Great Tit showing
4 x House Sparrows
Some Chaffinch, a whole flock of Feral Pigeons, a Collared Dove
My two favourite Wood Pigeons, the usual pair of Starlings and half a dozen Blackbirds and I am glad to say the 2 x Siskin which seemed to have come back
Almost exactly on the hour they all disappeared, as if they had only put in a guest appearance to allow me to have something to record on the RSPB website.
Ten minutes later the reason for the disappearance became clear when my daughter called me to the window to see our first ever garden Sparrowhawk sitting on the back fence
Picture is a bit colourless as I had to take it through the bedroom window so as not to spook the raptor. Does explain, however why the 'meal ticket' birds all shot off.
That's it for now, other than to wish my good friend and fellow birder Bagsy a Bon Voyage as he sets off for South Korea and various other countries in that neck of the woods. His progress can be followed on his blog which can be found here, and is a superb read.
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