This year I am keeping a list of birds seen in or from my garden.
I didn’t add any species for the year in May – which is a bit surprising. Although, I was in eastern Europe for a couple of weeks so this was really a half-month!
However, it is a sad sign of the times that I have not recorded a House Martin from the garden at all this year – not in late April which would have been normal in just about all of the previous 30 years, and not in the first half of May (when I would have expected to see them most days just in the few short steps from the front door to the car), and not, so far, in the first days of June. A bird that was an everyday sight at this time of year is now more-or-less absent from my neighbourhood.
The Birdtrack records suggest that this year is later/lower for House Martins than recent years. I wonder what it would look like if the red line (historical average) were to be split into its individual years? I guess it would show a trend for the lines to start a bit later, end a bit earlier and reach lower mid-summer plateaus as time went on.
But here, for the record, is my garden list for the year so far – just the same as it was in April:
- Robin
- House Sparrow
- Jackdaw
- Blackbird
- Woodpigeon
- Starling
- Black-headed Gull
- Great Tit
- Red Kite
- Carrion Crow
- Chaffinch
- Goldfinch
- Rook
- Collared Dove
- Dunnock
- Wren
- Long-tailed Tit
- Blue Tit
- Common Gull
- Redwing
- Fieldfare
- Reed Bunting
- Greenfinch
- Blackcap
- Song Thrush
- Herring Gull
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Buzzard
- Pied Wagtail
- Stock Dove
- Magpie
- Green Woodpecker
- Mallard
- Sparrowhawk
- Coal Tit
- Swallow
- Cormorant
- Yellowhammer
Here in rural Powys I have recorded 48 species from the garden, that is seen and heard, however 12 of the species on Mark’s list have not been recorded here. House Martin used to breed on the end of the house but this is the second year ( so far) this has not happened and although I’ve seen them very close they are not on the list nor is Swallow another species that used to breed here or Swift. All three can be seen daily with the Sand Martins over the R. Severn within a few hundred yards but its not quite the same. On the up side Pied flycatchers occupy five nest boxes and Redstarts one.