The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch

[Wagstaff]

Originally Posted by glsammy

We've also had such a mild winter so far. No need for many of them to look too far for food.

I'm glad I did the count yesterday - haven't seen one bird today.
Still can't understand how this exercise helps the RSPB - it seems to be such a hit or miss operation, especially if you choose the wrong hour.

[RobinP]

I tend to do it 10 minutes at a time - fortunately my usual 8 Bullfinch turned up on cue.

Nothing else to write home about.

Robin

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Wagstaff

Still can't understand how this exercise helps the RSPB - it seems to be such a hit or miss operation, especially if you choose the wrong hour.

It's the sheer numbers of people doing it. Last year 600,000 people took part and counted over ten million birds. Every year, a certain proportion of those people will pick the "wrong" time and count fewer birds than they would have if they'd picked a different hour. But that proportion will remain reasonably constant year on year and won't invalidate the data.

Similarly, the lower numbers of birds that many people are seeing this year, possibly due to the milder weather, won't have a major impact either. We might see headlines when the results are published proclaiming a fall in populations compared to last year, but that's just the press doing what it does best and sensationalising everything without bothering to understand it first. The real value in this data is not in comparing one garden with another nor in comparing this year with last; it's in establishing trends in populations across the whole country and over decades. So provided that people don't actually cheat and claim birds that they didn't see or ones that landed in next door's garden, then every datapoint is valuable. Even if you saw no birds at all.

And the more people that take part, the less these things will matter.

Dave P.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by pressld2

So provided that people don't actually cheat and claim birds that they didn't see .

As if anyone would do that

My list

3 blue tits
2 house sparrows
1 bull finch
1 nuthatch
2 gt northern divers
1 wren
1 blackbird
1 great auk
1 thrush
2 kakapos
1 greater spoted wood pecker
and a dodo

[actionfinch]

I walked through the door , didnt have time to change when i see
1 jay
2 coll doves
2 LTT
1 blue tit
2 great tit
7 house sparrows
1 coal tit
1 blackbird
2 robins..


i see 2 redwings in the wood next to the house , i tried to urge them in but to no avail..
no woody or nuthatch , which i was also hoping to see.

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by eeyore

3 blue tits
2 house sparrows
1 bull finch
1 nuthatch
2 gt northern divers
1 wren
1 blackbird
1 great auk
1 thrush
2 kakapos
1 greater spoted wood pecker
and a dodo

Right. Then I'm updating my list to include the flock of passenger pigeons and the pair of emperor penguins!

Dave P.

[pammosley]

Hi, I did mine yesterday

2 Blue Tit
1 Great Tit
2 Robin
2 Goldfinch
1 Wood Pigeon

That`s a good representation really. I did see others but only these were tempted to put down

[thewoose]

When I first did it, in 1986, you had to do it between 8am and 9am on the Sunday morning (!!!! - very difficult as an 11 year old), and it was the total number of birds seen, not most-at-once. This difference in recording would surely negate comparison?

Anyway - my list this year:

4 Blue Tit
3 Woodpigeon
2 Blackbird
1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker
4 Jackdaw
2 Carrion Crow
11 Starling
2 Collared Dove
1 Chaffinch
1 Magpie
1 Great tit
1 Grey Heron (landed on my neighbour's roof!)

[Shrike]

no sign of starlings this afternoon and not seen house sparrow for a few days so my garden between 1-2pm was
5 goldfinch
2 collared dove

is there a prize for last place ?

[RaptorMan101]

Decided on a last minute weekend trip to Norfolk for the weekend with my dad so I didn't get to take part... However my two excellent sisters managed to take part on my behalf, and they can Identify all the regulars to the garden

Anyway they had:

House sparrow 35 (more but they couldnt be sure)
Blue tit 4
Coal tit 1
Blackcap 1
Robin 1
Blackbird 2
Starling 15
Dunnock 5

Enjoyed my first birding visit to Norfolk, got great views of the Western sandpiper aswell as loads of other birds!

Jim