Birdwatching for beginners

Earlier this year my daughter and I took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch. Over a 2 day period the Great British Public were asked to count the largest number of each species of (garden) bird that they saw over the period of an hour. We went for the warmer option of the living room window, besides we seemed to be keeping them at bay when we ventured out!
We had joined in the count in 2007, along with 400,000 others. The RSPB see the annual count as a real indicator to help them prioritise conservation work, and of course it engages people like me to get a little more involved in the lives of the feathered friends we share our gardens with.
Armed with the RSPB’s count sheet and a book on ‘British Birds’ we started enthusiastically, but an hour certainly seemed too long for my daughter and she soon took on a more advisory role when something actually appeared.
27th January was a bit of a dull day weather-wise and our garden birds definitely seemed to have a little stage fright. Our results were:

Blackbird 2
Blue Tit 3
Chaffinch 1
Dunnock 5
Jackdaw 2

The RSPB have just released the survey results. Around 6 million birds were ‘spotted’ in 228,000 gardens. This year’s success story was the finch family whose numbers are on the increase, despite the overall downward trend. Interestingly finches tend to winter in this country and may owe their survival to this fact.

There’s been some recent debate in the media about feeding garden birds. Some experts are saying that it is having an effect on migration patterns. Many birds are choosing to winter in the UK, eating the ‘fast food’ we are providing and gaining an advantage on those who fly hundreds of miles each year, returning a little leaner. It seems that mankind is having yet another effect on wildlife, even with the best on intentions. However, with habitat destruction and the predation of our huge cat population, it does seem that many of us want to tip the balance a little more in the birds favour. It seems that it is a way that we can all come into contact with nature, even in the heart of a city, and easily make a contribution to animal welfare.

Bill Oddie was recently talking about the increasing numbers of cormorants coming to fish inland in ponds and rivers. Just a few days ago we actually spotted one on the Severn in Shrewsbury, almost as inland as you can get. Wouldn’t the RSPB have been impressed if I’d included that in my bird watch!

Want know more? http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/about/
Or try their new Homes for Wildlife site www.rspb.org.uk/hfwl/ which gives some really useful advice for creating a wildlife haven in your garden or balcony, as well as more surveys taking place this year.