RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023

Quite Beautiful

Watching the antics of garden birds is always fun, a good way to spend time on a cold winter day. Great then that this humble pastime can be used for positive gain and become part of a nationwide citizen science project. The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is just that, perhaps the most popular and well known such activity in the country. I always take part, and this year managed to record 42 individuals of 16 species.

I thought I would compare the results of this 2023 survey with that of 2005 (the earliest record I have).

                                    2005 List                                2023 List

Blackbird                    5 (3 males 2 females)              5 (3 males, 2 females)

Blue Tit                       3                                              2

Chaffinch                    2                                              1

Coal Tit                       1                                               0

Collared Dove            2                                              3

Dunnock                     2                                              3

Great Tit                      2                                             2

Greenfinch                  5                                             8

Goldfinch                    0                                             4

House Sparrow          15                                            0

Long-tailed Tit            2                                             0

Magpie                         1                                             2

Robin                           1                                              1

Starling                        8                                             1

Woodpigeon               2                                             4

Redwing                      2                                             0

Wren                            1                                             1

Song Thrush               1                                             0

Blackcap                     0                                             2

Carrion Crow             0                                             1

Jackdaw                      0                                             2

Totals                         55/17                                       42/16

So what conclusions can we draw from this? In overall terms the picture is quite stable, look at Blackbirds for example. However, I've highlighted in red the most obvious absences or notable decreases (the others are simple day by day anomalies). No real surprises, rather an affirmation of declines already well documented. House Sparrows are now totally absent and have been for well over a decade. There was a regular flock of up to 20 chirping away in the garden hedge until we were forced to cut back an invading guelder rose. The sparrows disappeared and have never returned. Similarly Starlings, a once common visitor, are now just the opposite, although breeding numbers appear stable. So sad that the Song Thrush, again a once regular feature, has now evaporated entirely with none being seen in the garden for well over a decade.

It's not all bad news though. I've highlighted in green those species that seem to have profited from the conditions pertaining in 2023. Goldfinches are the most obvious addition, and we regularly have a small flock around the feeders or in the alder tree. Their tinkling notes are a pleasant, ever present background noise. Corvids are doing well (but interestingly don't seem to be having much effect on the populations of the other birds), with Magpies, Carrion Crows and Jackdaws always around. Jays were once present, but they seem to have disappeared recently - local hiccup or something more systemic? And then those Blackcaps which appear now every winter. These are birds from Northern Europe that choose to overwinter here in the UK instead of flying south to Africa. They prosper because we feed them, enabling them to return earlier to their breeding grounds, select prime territories and raise more young. These offspring are genetically programmed to follow in the adult footsteps and so spend their winters here as well. And so it goes on. Lovely to see them, and long may they find a safe haven amongst our shrubs.

Greenfinches Are Good Value in Photographic Terms

The Male Blackcap is Quite Aggressive 

 Water Pipits

On a cold, dank January day with the expectation of rain in the chill air, an excursion to RSPB Minsmere was greatly enlivened by watching Water Pipits from the Island Mere hide. These small winter visitors were taking advantage of the spoil left over from dredging work along the adjacent channels. The detritus from this essential maintenance activity had been piled up on the edges of the open water where these birds could probe around looking for snails and small insects, themselves now deprived of deep cover.

There was at least 2 birds stalking around the shallows, using their long slim beaks to prise morsels from the roots of reeds and other water plants. They strutted around coming quite close to the hide before generally being seen off by an aggressive female Pied Wagtail. 

It is not very often one gets the opportunity to have a prolonged look at a Water Pipit, thus many photographs were snapped and scrutiny made of the key features: overall pale look, white outer tail feathers, broad white supercilium, quite dark brown/orange legs, white throat bordered by spots that fade away as they reach the flanks, pale wing bars and so on. As with just about all small birds, there is quite a bit of variety in plumage, and the photographic images also show how a single pose can easily mislead. Even a series of images of a single bird can show, in each split second, a surprising change of features. From head on, the prominent supercilium is obvious, yet from an oblique profile shot it almost disappears. In some photographs the bird seems quite brown in overall tone, yet in others much paler. Just goes to show that reliance on a single image for identification can be very confusing and misleading. A video is a much better medium for conveying the totality of appearance.

Other birds on show today from this sparsely populated vantage point were a pair of delightful Whooper Swans that eventually came quite close, an elusive Water rail that would scurry out of cover, walk across the ice probing for titbits before swiftly disappearing into thick reed, and a Bittern that flew into the edge of the reed bed where it completely disappeared from view. A couple of Bearded Tits pinged, a Song Thrush briefly tried its luck on the strand line and a perky little Goldcrest zipped around amongst the tangle of fallen branches on the edge of the wood. In overall terms not a vast quantity of birds, but the quality was pleasingly high.