OK – Scarlett and I did the hour-long birdwatch while enjoying a late breakfast. The idea is record the maximum number of each species seen (to avoid counting the same bird twice).
I’ve submitted the results to the RSPB website. The final score was:
- Goldfinch 4
- Blue Tit 5
- Collared Dove 2
- Blackbird 4
- Sparrow 4
- Starling 1
- Robin 1
- Great Tit 1
- Dunnock 1
Disappointingly, the Greenfinches and Chaffinches we regularly get in the garden didn’t make an appearance, nor the more unusual species such as Woodpeckers and Jays that occasionally pop in. But that’s how it goes with any sampling technique – the data all evens out if enough people do it.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
I am disappointed every year when it comes round to the Big Garden Birdwatch. I think, in our minds, we expect every bird we ever see in our garden to all be there at the same time! Jackdaws and Magpies never go a day without coming to our garden – we have a jackdaw roosting site nearby – but they didn’t put in an appearance when we were counting today. However, the long tailed tits which have visited every day for a month now (before which time we never saw them at all) put in an appearance and so – wait for it – did a grey heron! I have never seen a grey heron in our gareden in the five years that we have lived here!!!!!
Hi Rebecca
I’m glad it isn’t just me then! I think the birds new they were being watched, as shortly after my hour finished they all swarmed in! Nothing as dramatic as a heron though (it must have been waiting for its moment), or the long-tailed tits. I’ve only ever seen them in the garden once, although they’re fairly common in the hedges and oak trees just up the road.
But you’re right, I did feel slightly let down by our birds this morning. Maybe I am competitive after all…
All the best
BWM