Forum Topic

RSPB 'Big Garden Birdwatch' 29 & 30th Jan

This weekend 29th and 30th Jan, is the RSPB's annual 'Big Garden Birdwatch' where there is an open ivitation for people to spend one hour identifying birds and numbers  seen at any one hour in those 2 days in your garden or area near you. It is very informal and easy to do. You can get a recording form from their website www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch . It might be interesting to post our results for Brentford here and see what birds we have?

Duncan Walker ● 7392d16 Comments

'Where have all the sparrows gone?'  Liz, they seem to have come back to Chiswick!  Also three robins sitting on one bush.....Strange, because they are territorial birds, aren't they?  Nice fat, red breasted birds, so must have been all male......stranger and stranger.

Lois Westby ● 7386d

Duncan,Sparrows - they've all emigrated to Ireland!Seriously though, we are lucky around here in the multitude of birds...this year we have seen the arrival of the "wax wing" - like a large sparrow...think that's what it is called.  Then, since I live beside an estuary, I see curlews, sandpipers, Brent geese, thousands of gulls of one kind or another, and the usual garden visitors.However, unlike Sarah, I have never seen a woodpecker here (only ever saw them in the woods beside RAF Laarbruch, Germany).The world would be a sadder place without our feathered friends, that's for sure.

Ann S. Allridge ● 7387d

Thanks Duncan, I'll have a look at that. We also used to see loads of starlings with their lovely irredesant feathers - I suppose a lot of the birds are now replaced with the parakeets (although I do love seeing & hearing them!)

Liz Cudmore ● 7387d

Liz, the RSPB are also concerned about the fall in numbers of sparrows, they conducted a project to find out why, see http://www.rspb.org.uk/sparrowatch/index.asp . The study has found that the population in UK has reduced by 62% over the past 25 years and London is the worst hit. The webpage has some analysis and suggests why and what can be done to help.

Duncan Walker ● 7387d

I did print out the record sheet, but when I looked out (from the comfort of a nice warm house!) all I saw in about 10 mins was one lone Robin on my bird table. Where have all the sparrows gone? - when I was a child there used to be loads of them all along the fence and on the washing line. When I first moved to Brentford (from Chiswick)about 13 yrs ago there were loads of birds in my garden. I have planted lots of things I thought would encourage birds (eg teasles) but there are so few now. Such a shame.

Liz Cudmore ● 7387d

We have a large garden (we moved around the corner to this house because of the garden) and next door has the same so birds flying overhead tend to view it as a wide open space.  We were unable to do the bird watch, but on a normal day at this time of year we have 2 different types of wood peckers - a green who pecks at the ground, right up to the house, and a spotted.  The other birds are on our bird feeders  (www.gardenbird.com)    and they particularly like the shelled sunflower seeds (no husks on the ground).  I bought a thistle feeder from this company too, and we have large numbers of finches on this one all day.The magpies and crows are real characters. It is a shame that they kill the smaller birds. Have you seen them hiding food for later under leaves?  The visitor I don't care for is the sparrow hawk.  I read in a newspaper about how sparrow hawks don't take their food from the ground - well they do if it is a pigeon!  He appears partial to his pigeons.  We would nickname him Ken, but the Ken-airy is called that.  Talking about the canary.  Around a year ago I went into the kitchen and was watching Ken in his cage, against the patio doors.  There was a chair outside about 4 feet from the window, which was closed.  As I watched the sparrow hawk dived across the garden at his yellow dinner and feet first tried to take out the canary through the glass!  The canary (who is as dopey as they come; when a neighbours cat comes in, he just sits there) KNEW this was DANGER and went ballistic!  After a few tries, the sparrow hawk stopped and sat on the back of the chair to think about the situation.  After a few minutes he tried again, then repeated the whole process several times, before giving up and flying off for an easier dinner.  I had time to hunt a camera and although they aren't very clear, it is possible to see the sparrow hawk nonchalantly preening before his next attempt.Wouldn't it have been good to have put them on the list!The birds are dying out but that is not surprising with their habitat and the habitat of their food being cleared away.  The eaves in these houses are home to swifts every summer.  The same bird family come back year after year with their new generations and find that the newly developed houses have not made any allowances for them.  My neighbour says they arrive on the 8th May (a bit later in recent years but normally by the 15th) and stay until August.  This is one of those silly conversations I had with the environmental man - I think there should be an environmental report with every planning application.Wouldn't it be nice to see the bird population and the numbers on these surveys increasing each year.

Sarah Felstead ● 7387d

Think of the health benefits though, all that fresh air and the rest you had while sitting down, relaxing. Sounds like an ideal way to contemplate, life and the universe to me, I envy you in many ways.

Gareth Evans ● 7388d

Duncan,Sunday's bird watch here was a waste of time, as I've already posted to Jim.I chose an hour in the morning - it was dull, cold and very windy;  I sat on a garden seat wrapped up like Eskimo Nell and now realise that a couple of hundred of my regular bird visitors were peeping out from trees and hedgerows, wondering what on earth I was up to, while they were warm and cosy and well out of the chill!Suffice to say the RSPB can get along very well without me and my garden.

Ann S. Allridge ● 7388d

Duncan,Will do, but don't think I can compare with your recording of birds by the Thames.  I plan my one hour for tomorrow, Sunday.As I have a large pond in the garden, I was frequently bothered by herons - nice by a river, but not nice when you have fish in a garden pond!  Had a low wall built around the pond, problem solved, so herons will not be on my list tomorrow.

Ann S. Allridge ● 7391d

Duncan: obviously there must be rich pickings to be had in Brentford ...... !!Seriously, thats an impressive line up ..of birds seen from the Dock overlooking Father Thames..and will have been a delight.Thankfully my gardener popped in at 11am for coffee and was able to identify visitors at that hour to my garden.Seagull..flew overRobin..he's around most days..Cole tit ..a couple of those..and thats it today.We think that the magpies have scared most of the regulars away..and my gardener says that they have been clearing the gutters of baby birds. Blackbirds and magpies have been absent today.Every year the heron and tries to pinch some of the 80 frogs in the pond..and fish..but my favourite time is when a pair of ducks arrive every year..sometimesfollowed the next day by another male..then the trouble starts!Well done on raising this topic.

Jim Lawes ● 7391d

What about all our far flung members, what can you see in 1 hour's watching?- Neil, Michael, in Australia- Ann Ireland- Jim, your Vyborg mates- Gerry, are there any birds in Ealing?

Duncan Walker ● 7391d

Ann why don't you record here what you see in one hour and we can savour the different birds you have.Here's the result of the 1 hour bird watch I did with my daughter between 9.00am - 10.00am, from Brentford Dock overlooking the River Thames.Heron - 1Canadian Geese - 10Wood Pigeon - 9Parakeet - 5Cormorant - 4Great Crested Grebe - 1Blue Tit - 5Blackheaded Gull - over 100Common Gull -1Mallard - 6Crow - 1Magpie - 1Blackbird - 1Come on Jim, your turn and no planes!

Duncan Walker ● 7391d

AnnPersonally I would rather be in your garden, being surrounded by the birds than being in a garden under the 747's. Happy bird watching.

Gareth Evans ● 7392d

Happy weekend Ann:  and it sounds as if you'll beat us easily on the bird count.Birds seem scarce these days for some reason.

Jim Lawes ● 7392d

Duncan & Jim,I know I am outside your area, but the RSPB includes ireland in its surveys, so i've printed out the form and will be sitting out in the cold on Sunday.I am expecting a visit from my fieldfare who usually puts in an appearance late Jan/early Feb, also have a resident wren (I only ever see one at a time and this over a period of twenty years), and I know he will appear, plus the robins, blackbirds, great tits, blue tits, sparrows, all the finch family....sounds like I am bragging, but I live in the country, and these birds are always here (apart from the fieldfare).  No 747s, traffic, or noise to chase them away.Plus some of them come for the food!Then there is a rookery 20 yards from my house...noise and 'splatters' but I love them - and they dispose of the cooked kitchen waste.Happy bird-watching this weekend to all who take part.

Ann S. Allridge ● 7392d

Duncan: I must try a do that.. little Robin in the garden yesterday...looking for food in the patio paving slab sandy edges.

Jim Lawes ● 7392d