The Birdwatch

While I was on-line yesterday, I put in my bird observations for the RSPB Garden Birdwatch.

On Monday, at the Pub, Al, our gardener, had commented that he'd done the birdwatch. He sat for an hour & in that time all he could see in his garden was 3 house sparrows. He'd found it frustrating as he could hear tits, even a woodpecker, nearby but no sighting. His garden is adorned with feeders. The problem is that he also has a cat who sits hungrily watching the said feeders. The birds are too scared to visit.

By way of contrast we had no fewer than 16 starlings, 4 magpies, 4 blackbirds, a blue tit, a great tit, a house sparrow & a collared dove. The number of coloured doves in particular has gone down this year. I have noticed a pile of pale grey feathers on the edge of the flower bed. I suspect that's the last of that dove. There is no sign of a body but I suspect it was the falcon that sometimes visits. The other great loss is in the number of house sparrows. We used to regularly have double figures, but no more it would seem. Is that the consequence of last year's vicious winder? Indeed it is mainly the smaller birds that have reduced in number. Or is it that the increased number of bigger birds is intimidating the little one? I wonder.