Sunday 25 January 2009 - RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - 25/01/2009

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

A few TV celebrities like Stephen Fry, Rory McGrath and Alan Carr have been in the press this week promoting this weekend's Big Garden Birdwatch.  If you haven't heard it's a nationwide bird recording event that has been organised by the RSPB since 1979.  I think my first was 1980 when I was a freckled, little 8 year-old with a mullet and also a proud member of the Young Ornithologists Club.  I remember putting down my Star Wars figures for a hour or two and watching the huge numbers of House Sparrows and Starlings in the garden of our council house.  Back in those days it was just a few scraps of bread and an old school style red, plastic bag of peanuts.  There was no such thing as de-husked sunflower seeds and dried mealworms when I were a lad.  Anyway it was while counting the aforementioned garden visitors that I had one of my first ever aviform based thrills, a handsome male Reed Bunting was spotted perched up in the only tree in our garden, a magnificent silver birch.  I showed everyone in the family that bird through my Boots 8x30 binoculars, they all seemed pretty impressed.

Eurasian Siskin and European Goldfinch - just two of the species spotted this morning during the 2009 Big Garden Birdwatch (notice the deformed toe on the 'Goldie', Veloceraptor style)

I did attempt to get my 7 year-old daughter India involved but she was more interested in watching Camp Rock for the 18th time this year!  I therefore started counting alone.  The full list is as follows:

1)  Common Pheasant - 4 birds (all females)

2)  Common Wood Pigeon - 2 birds

3)  Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2 birds (male & female)

4)  Dunnock - 4 birds

5)  Common Blackbird - 5 birds (2 males & 3 females)

6)  European Robin - 3 birds

7)  Long-tailed Tit - 8 birds

8)  Coal Tit - 2 birds

9)  Great Tit - 5 birds

10) Blue Tit - 8 birds

11) Eurasian Magpie - 1 bird

12) Chaffinch - 8 birds

13) European Greenfinch - 10 birds

14) Eurasian Siskin - 3 birds (1 male & 2 females)

15) European Goldfinch - 4 birds

16) Common Bullfinch - 4 birds (3 males & 1 female)

Tuesday 27 January 2009 - Up Yours Arch!