The Birdwatch

This weekend has been the weekend of the annual Big Garden Birdwatch, when people throughout the country spend an hour just identifying & counting the birds in their garden/green space.

I took part. So, on Sunday I sat looking out of the kitchen door window, binoculars & bird book at hand, listening to “The Archers Omnibus”. It was a damp morning, like so many of late. We didn’t seem to have many visitors. Small birds darted across so fast I couldn’t identify them. (We had a peregrine falcon in the garden not long ago so they’re understandably nervous.)

The only birds we had any quantity of were starlings. At the far end of the garden, there is the huge skeleton of a tree. Starlings landed on every upright twig as well as on the TV aerial & roof of the nearby house. I reckoned on 23 but there could easily have been more. Unfortunately, despite me telling them to sit still while I counted, they kept moving around from twig to twig. Eventually two clouds of at least 10 each flew off. There well have been more, nearer 50.

I enjoy a bit of stare out of the window, watching the birds. The Birdwatch gives me an excuse to do just that, without feeling lazy.

My next job will be to report my findings.