That was fun – and surprisingly rich in birds.
Final tally:
- Reed Bunting 2
- Blackbird 3
- Chaffinch 3
- Great Tit 1
- House Sparrow 7
- Greenfinch 10
- Starling 10
- Woodpigeon 1
- Dunnock 2
- Goldfinch 3
- Blue Tit 2
- Robin 1
- Collared Dove 2
I’ve just checked last year’s results – amazingly similar! Last year the species list was the same except a couple of Wrens turned up too. And this year there were more individual birds. And it’s fairly similar to 2014 too. Loads better than 2013 though! And different from 2012.
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12 species, the highlight being a Goldcrest. Fewer than last year (15) but more than 2014 (8). Two species I’d expect to have seen this year (Goldfinch and Robin) stubbornly refused to make an appearance. That’s sampling for you.
16spp this year. Total birds 51. BTO GBW submitted for last week was 24spp. A few bankers failed to show up. Good fun though.
Good fun here too in fenland garden. Jealous of anyone with greenfinch, but goldcrest in bird bath and 40 house sparrows made up for it. We did another hour later just to compare and had more species. Poor finch performance overall, tits did better.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdwatch/why.aspx
Here’s a short history of the world’s biggest wildlife survey. It looks like it all kicked off in 1979 with a bunch of kids. The result is a scheme that engenders national pride through its growing scientific importance while at the same time being highly inclusive and stimulating. As is so often the case, it’s the simplest of ideas that are the best.
Murray Marr – what a great idea it was in 2001 to open the thing up to adults (and put it online)! I wonder who thought of that?
Is that a rhetorical question Mark…..? 🙂
If you measure the amount of bird song along a regular transect the results follow the BGBW and CBC trends for some species but not for others, e.g. Starling, Sparrow and Greenfinch, yes; Collared Dove, no. And then there are a number of other anomalies out there in the countryside. But data generated by one person is always going to produce dodgy conclusions.
The great thing about BGBW is that involves a lot of common people doing common observations that are producing extraordinary results and consequences: Citizen Science – we are an example to the rest of the world.
Well Mark, if you did that, brilliant.
No linnets Mark? You must be disappointed … 🙂