We had a lovely time watching the birds in our garden when we took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. The kids and I set up our birdwatching station in front of the french windows, where we had a great view of the garden. We had comfy cushions, binoculars and bird books, as well as the checklist from our Big Garden Birdwatch pack. I was amazed and delighted with how patient the kids were while we waited and watched, and how excited they were whenever a new bird came into the garden.
We didn’t see a great many different birds. In fact, for whatever reason, I’d say we saw fewer birds than I usually see in the garden. We tried it on Saturday morning, when the weather was dry and fairly clear, and Sunday lunchtime, during light rain. We saw great tits, blue tits and long-tailed tits, goldfinches, woodpigeons and collared doves, magpies, blackbirds, starlings, a dunnock, and a gull or two. No jays, greenfinches or chaffinches came into the garden while we were doing the watch, although they are fairly common visitors to our garden.
It was lots of fun, so I hope you found time to take part too. I’m off to submit our numbers now. According to the RSPB website this evening, nearly 16,000 people have taken part so far this year, and over 3 million birds were spotted! It’s a completely brilliant way to record a snapshot of bird populations across the UK. I’m looking forward to reading the results.
