RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023. 🐦

It was the 44th year of the Big Garden Birdwatch at the weekend. It’s an hour long survey run by the RSPB, helping them to get an accurate idea of how our UK Birdlife is faring.

On Saturday I did the birdwatch from my kitchen, camera and pencil poised, ready to record my feathered visitors. I have had quite a variety of birds show up in my back yard recently, so was very pleased when a few arrived in the hour.

8 Sparrows.

2 Bluetits.

2 Jackdaw.

2 Long Tailed Tits.

1 Blackbird.

1 Wren.

A few of my visitors.

Both my total tally and varieties of birds are up on last year and in fact are up on the last few years too. Positive news for my corner of Lancashire. 🙂

On Sunday I joined my Sister and Niece for their bird count, lemon drizzle cake baked for the occasion. Walt the cat didn’t fancy joining us this time, but plenty of birds did appear at the feeders. My sister lives in the countryside , so it was especially nice to see Nuthatch and a Pheasant put in an appearance. That pheasant looks well fed!

Some of my sister’s visitors.

Did you join in with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch?

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RSPB BIg Garden Birdwatch 2022. 🦉

Hi fellow Bird Nerds. 😋 Did anyone join in with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch at the weekend? This year I had my most successful bird count in my little back yard, though sadly no pictures to prove it. My home tally was ~

House Sparrow 3

Long Tailed Tit 3

Blue Tit 1

I was really pleased that I actually had 3 Long Tailed Tits visit this year. They do appear occasionally but have never showed up on such an auspicious occasion as the Big Garden Birdwatch.

The following day ( Sunday) I joined my sister and family for their Birdwatch. As they live in a rural area adjoining fields and woodland , they do get a variety of birds ( and mammals) to the feeders.

Nuthatch.

Grey Squirrel.

Unfortunately my laptop is really playing up at the moment and I wasnt able to upload all the photos I took. 😦 So only a small selection of what we saw is included here.

Great Tit.

Robin.

Armed with brews, biscuits and binoculars , my sister, niece and I spent a happy hour jotting down our feathered friends feasting outside. They were joined by a pair of Grey Squirrels. We were joined by a feline companion.

Biscuits sustain us for the hour. 🙂

Chief Birdwatcher.

There was a flurry of activity on the fatballs. We counted 12 Long Tailed Tits all at once! Other diners as follows. Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch & Wood Pigeon. A Pheasant, Song Thrush, a Hare and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were spied in the adjoining croft.

Blackbird.

Nuthatch.

What visits your Garden in the Winter Months?

Januarying.

I am treating January as I usually do. It’s my month of keeping snug and cosy inside, with a healthy dose of fresh air and exercise. I also like to plan holidays and weekends away at this time of year, so have been researching our little holiday in North Norfolk during May and weekend walks in the Eden Valley, for when we can get back up to the caravan.

• 

Winter Window Sill.

Continuing Winter cheer with my window display. The Robins mimic my real life robin visitor. The hyacinth plant I found in Sainsbury’s for a bargain 65p is now flowering and giving off a delicious scent, resembling woods of bluebells.

Winter Walks.

I’ve been looking for more walks from home. Although I thought we had been just about everywhere on our doorstep, I was proved wrong last weekend, when we discovered new to us footpaths. I’m sure there are more to explore!

There will be another place to wander when Clitheroe’s new Nature Reserve opens. It is very local indeed. I have nosed over the fence a couple of times and I spied several Teal on the water. 🙂 Can’t wait for a proper look.

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is all set for the last weekend of January. I have signed up as usual and am looking forward to seeing which feathered visitors turn up in the hour.

Primrose Nature Reserve. 🦉🦉 Photo from their Facebook page.

Bridgerton. It’s a bodice ripper.

Incase you are looking for some on screen escapism, here is a list of what I’ve enjoyed watching recently. Most are series and there’s one film. But let me say this, my list is one of mostly guilty pleasures. 😄

• Bridgerton. Netflix. Regency romance with lots of drama, comedy, gossip & scandal.
• Derry Girls. All 4 / Netflix. Coming of age comedy set during ‘ the troubles’ in nineties Northern Ireland.
• Ghosts. BBC I Player. Spirited comedy about the ghostly inhabitants of a haunted house, from the creators of Horrible Histories
• Winter Walks. BBC I Player. Join well known faces as they film their favourite walks in Yorkshire. I miss Yorkshire. ❤️
• Eurovision Song Contest : The Story Of Fire Saga. Netflix. Very cheesy but enjoyable musical comedy film set in Iceland and Edinburgh.
• The Masked Singer. ITV/ ITV Hub. Addictive crazy singing competition.
• Home For Christmas. Netflix. Norwegian rom com series.
• Sneaky Pete. Amazon Prime. Crime drama about a con man who assumes the identity of his cellmate to escape from a vengeful mobster.
• The Queen’s Gambit. Netflix. An orphans rise against the odds to become the Worlds number one chess player.
• All Creatures Great And Small. My 5. Heart warming 1940s comedy drama about a young vet who accepts a job in a Yorkshire Dales Vetinary practice. This is a remake of the original series, and just as good. ❤️

Winter Reading.

It’s nice to find a nice cosy read and I did in Winter Holiday from the Swallows and Amazon’s children’s book series by Arthur Ransome. I am immersed in a world of frozen lakes, snowy igloos and secret signals. Thanks to the What is it about books ? blog for the recommendation. ❤️

So this is my first foray into using the new WordPress editor. I hope it turns out okay.

Do leave me your own thoughts on how you are spending January?

Birds, Cats & Squirrels ~ RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2020. 🦆🐦🐿️

This is my third year of noting down the birds in my back yard for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. I don’t know how, but I somehow ended up doing it a day early on Friday. In reality you were supposed to join in on Saturday or Sunday or even tomorrow, so there’s still time if you want to record the wildlife in your garden. You can submit your results online here. Anyway I don’t suppose it matters , me being an early bird. 🙂

All ready with my mug of Bird & Wild Coffee. I somehow totally forgot to use my new RSPB mug!

Male House Sparrow.

House Sparrows.

Unfortunately I did not get the variety of species that I have had in previous years. The birds are definitely still around but chose not to appear in the hour. I ended up recording 9 House sparrows ( at least I can depend on them! ) and erm, 1 Mouse. Oh and I had to shew a neighbors cat away. My own cat Slinky was happily snoozing on the bed.

Just like last year I joined my sister, niece and nephew for their Big Garden Birdwatch, which we did this afternoon. We counted 4 Bluetits, 2 Coaltits, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Robins, 1 Great Tit, 2 Nuthatches, 1 Grey Squirrel and 2 Pheasants. Similar to 2019 except no Dunnock or Long Tailed Tits. A flurry of Long Tailed Tits typically showed up after the hour , but we of course couldnt include the latecomers.

Female Chaffinch.

Bluetits and Coal Tit.

My Sister’s families new addition. ❤️

Birdwatching. 🐦

Acrobatic Nuthatch.

Grey Squirrel.

Still tucking in.

Little Walt the new kitten joined us for the birdwatch. I have a feeling he might want to do more than birdwatch next year though. But isn’t he adorable! Maybe we can ask him to scare off the naughty squirrel who hogged the bird table…..

Are you going to do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch?

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch 2019.

Over the weekend I joined in with the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch , a wildlife survey which is in its 40th year. Us Brits first started counting our garden birds for an hour in January back in 1979 , when the RSPB joined forces with good old Blue Peter. The survey proved popular and is still going strong, with over half a million people joining in every year.

This was my second year participating , so here’s what I saw on Saturday in my little back yard.

1 Starling, 3 House Sparrows, 2 Bluetits and 1 Blackbird.

Although this seems a small tally, I’m quite happy with the results. Last year I had a dunnock visiting in the hour instead of a starling. Since then I have seen quite a few starlings fighting over the fat balls as well as visiting Long-tailed tits, Great tits, Coal tits, a Robin, Dunnocks, a Wren, a Mistle thrush and even a Jackdaw. You just never know who will turn up in the hour.

On Sunday I went to my sisters to see who would turn up to her Big Garden Birdwatch. We were all very cosy sat by the window with our brews and biscuits. She put on quite a spread! As Yvonne and her family live in the countryside, we hoped a good variety of wildlife would visit.

All set for the birdwatch.

Bluetits.

Robin.

Despite it being quite windy outside , the hour was pretty eventful, mostly because two mischievous Grey Squirrels came a calling. This prompted my sister and nephew to resort to trumpeting party blowers at them in order to scare the rascals away. They kept returning though. 😉

Cheeky visitors.

Coal Tit.

Nuthatch.

Chaffinch.

Here’s what we saw in the hour on Sunday.

5 Bluetits, 3 Chaffinch, 3 Coal tits, 2 Great tits, 5 long-tailed tits, 2 Robins, 1 Wood pigeon, 1 Nuthatch & 2 Grey Squirrels.

Chloe the cat. Avid Bird Fan.

Bluetit & Long-tailed Tits.

Great Tit.

Straight after the hour two blackbirds and a pheasant arrived! But we didn’t include these late arrivals in the results.

Female Blackbird.

Pheasant.

Did you participate this year?

What is your favourite garden visitor?