My results from the 2017 Big Garden Bird Watch weren’t a patch on last year’s:
Blackbird x 2
Blue tit x 1
Chaffinch x 1
Dunnock x 2
Goldfinch x 8
Great tit x 1
Magpie x 2
Robin x 2
Starling x 2
Wood pigeon x 2
Bullfinch x 1
Crow x 2
Now if the count had been today I could have added the below birds to the list too:
Long tailed tit x 4
Blackcap x 1
Sparrowhawk x 1
Reed bunting x 1
Green finch x 3
Redpoll x 4
Collard dove x 1
Song thrush x 1
House sparrow x 1
Redpoll and blackcap have only made an appearance this last week, but in general the numbers have shot up these last few days, with nearly a full feeder (sunflower hearts) going in a single day.
Although the numbers were down in my official count, it’s the first time I’ve counted crows. They don’t venture in very often, and the only reason they do is because they watch up to eight magpies coming in daily for their feed of mealworms, and want in on the action.
I bought some apples especially for the blackcap but as yet, nothing has touched them, not even the blackbirds, ungrateful beggars.
The RSPB are still crunching the numbers from this year’s count, but I’ll be interested to see whether my low count is reflected elsewhere … hopefully not.
