
I will be joining The Big Garden Birdwatch - will you?
The Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this year on the 24th to 26th of January. If you can spare an hour of your time to watch the birds that land in your garden, park or on your balcony you can contribute to this important citizen survey as to how our garden birds are faring in the UK.
Birds are important in our gardens as they are predators to some of our most challenging pests - aphids and slugs and snails, leatherjackets etc. They also contribute to the quality of our gardens and parklife and give an indication as to how are ecosystem is changing.
To register then follow this link to the information page at The Big Garden Birdwatch. There you will find a range of information to download to get you started.
I have been feeding birds for a while and was first encouraged to find out more as I’d seen a strange bird with red and yellow markings pecking at the spider webs round our window. My mother-in-law is a keen birdwatcher so I described it to her. I found I had seen my first goldfinch. These days I regularly see goldfinches as they are very partial to sunflower seeds as are many of the local birds.
A few weeks ago I noticed some occasional visitors to our garden birdfeeders. A greater spotted woodpecker, a female blackcap and a lone chaffinch and a lone greenfinch. They have become more regular visitors in the cold weather.
Whether they will visit in our birdwatch hour is anyone's guess. What you see may depend on the weather and the time of day they visit. Look out for our most common garden birds and hopefully you will see robins, tits, blackbirds and maybe a greenfinch, woodpecker or more.
Tips to distinguish some of the easily mixed up species:
Sparrows are usually seen in extended families and have distinct striped markings. The females tend to be lighter than the males. A noisy bunch that both ground feed and use the seed feeders.
Dunnocks tend to be seen on the ground and in the lower branches of bushes. They are more speckled brown and grey than a sparrow.
Blackbirds and Thrushes
Blackbirds also tend to be ground feeders. Are quite territorial and at this time of year may be in pairs. Medium size of our garden birds. The female is dark brown rather than black. The young may have a speckled front.
Thrushes are quite rare in the UK. They are a similar size to a blackbird with a brown back and speckled front.
Blue tits, Great tits, Coal tits and Long Tailed Tits
Blue tits - small, neat birds in blue, black and yellow. Enjoy sunflowers from the bird feeders, fat blocks and can also be seen eating aphids and other insects from branches and leaves.
Great tits - are slightly larger than blue tits and have a distinct ‘black tie’ down their front.
Coal tits - slightly smaller than a blue tit with a black and white stripe on their heads. We have dubbed them ‘badger tits' because of this, or ‘gone tits’ as they often land on the bird feeder, grab a seed and are off again.
Long tailed tits will often be seen in small family groups or 2-4. Distinguished by a long tail and a creamy pink body with black markings on the back and tail.
Woodpigeons and Collared Doves
Wood pigeons are large grey birds with creamy fronts and an untidy white collar at the neck
Collared doves are smaller and more uniformly ‘dove grey’ with a delicate dark line round the neck.
Other differences
Male and female may look slightly different for example blackbirds and black caps where the males are much darker and the females brown. Young are also often different to the adult before they get their adult plumage.
If you enjoy watching birds then it is also fascinating to see how they fly and who they associate with, when and how they like to feed as well as trying to identify their songs.
So get your eye in before the big day - register and get yourself set up for the challenge of the Big Garden Birdwatch. This weekend!