In preparation for the Big RSPB Garden Bird Watch at the weekend, I moved all my bird feeders - I have several so that I can watch the birds from nearly every side of the house - to a spot in front of my kitchen window. I topped up the feeders on Sunday morning and then settled down with a cup of tea - as advised by the RSPB Bird Watch website - and began to count the birds as they came in to feed. I had just got going when a sparrowhawk came swooping in and they all scattered!
I had to wait 20 minutes and then start the whole thing off again. Of the birds the RSPB wanted us to lookout for, I saw: nine blackbirds; five blue tits; five chaffinches; two collared doves; five dunnocks; five great tits; seven green finches; two robins; six starlings and two wrens.
I also saw 70 tree sparrows, a sparrowhawk, a pheasant, a great spotted woodpecker and, best of all, four bullfinches. These birds aren't on the Big Garden Bird Watch list, but I was pleased to find them in the garden nevertheless.
If you haven't registered your count yet, you can still do so. Just follow this link.
