Twig listing!

Guest Blogger - Andy Mason

Here's a handy method to identify some common garden birds - just keep your eye on a single twig!

Every birder lists. Any birder that tells you he/she doesn't keep any list at all is being economical with the truth. I know all manner of birders...some with world lists of over 7 000 species, a lot with world lists of 4 000 - 5 000 and even more with world lists around 1 - 2 000 (Which is where I am). I know walkers who like to bird when they are walking and some of them claim not to keep any lists at all. So what is it you are writing in that little notebook as we are walking then? I know a bloke who keeps a TV list - all the birds he has seen on the TV; a bloke who keeps a bog list - not the marshy kind but birds he has seen whilst sitting on his loo! The most common are year lists, patch lists, county lists and country lists - any country that the birder has visited. Some dedicated birders keep day lists and where they get the time from for this they only know.
Because the BTO and the RSPB publicise garden bird-watching (The BTO all year; the RSPB during a single weekend) nearly everyone has a garden list.
I have taken this a stage further and thought I'd start a TWIG list! Pick a single twig and see what lands on it. This narrows your birding right down!
This year I have seen 17 species on this single twig. It's kind of interesting and rigidly boring at the same time....I need to get out more.
I have managed to get some photos of a number of species to prove that I am looking at the same twig. So Long-tailed Tit:

Long-tailed Tit - On a twig

And Goldfinch in this week's snow.

Goldfinch - On THE twig

 And Great Tit before the snow - much the most frequent denizen of that twig.

Great Tit - On THE twig

 Greenfinch in the snow - the second most frequent bird.

Greenfinch - Same twig

 Blackbird - obviously! No other thrushes though 'cus there aren't any.

Blackbird - Same twig

Blue Tit. Not as frequent as I would have thought. Probably too wary of the local Sparrowhawk and so these pop out and soon shoot back into the cover of the bushes behind.

Blue Tit - Same, it is!

 And Chaffinch which doesn't seem to be much bothered by anything, including our cat.

Chaffinch - On THE twig

Siskin, Tree Sparrow and Dunnock have been on and off as though they were electrocuted. Wren, Robin and Coal Tit are much more frequent but I have not had the camera handy. Starling, Collared Dove, House Sparrow and Song Thrush have been Twigged but only once.
Now you just know you want to find your own twig!

Follow Andy Mason at http://cockoftherock.blogspot.co.uk/

On My Doorstep




Pheasant pecks up dropped grain

 

I picked up a plate for 75p in a charity shop.  A wooden plate through which Andy bashed a nail to attach it to the fence at the front of the house.  We added a few piles of grain and a couple of fat balls and waited for the blue tits to arrive.  That didn’t take long ... they were joined by the great tits; the long tailed tits; the house sparrows and the dunnocks.  Within a few days a family of pheasants found us but they had to fight off the marauding magpies while the collared doves hung around in the hedge waiting for their turn.  Our best visitor this week was a young sparrow hawk who flew in looking for his dinner!

Today brought us a brave blackbird.  It sat in a muddy puddle and refused to move when a car drove down the lane.  The driver slowed right down but the bird stood its ground.   The car went right over it and the bird continued to sit in the puddle!  A few minutes later it flew off and banged into a house wall  ....  obviously it wasn’t brave, it was blind!




Long-tailed Tit comes to eat the fat balls

 

My 75p was very well spent.  It will help to keep a few birds fed this winter, it is giving us excellent views of the wildlife and it has delighted one neighbour who is too ill to leave home but has taken up bird watching!




Great Spotted Woodpecker

 

                                                           

We have already recorded 17 different species visiting the garden on a regular basis.  I will be taking part in:

·         The RSPB Big Garden Bird-watch on 28^th to 29^th January 2012.  It only takes an hour to count a few garden visitors.

·         The BTO Garden Bird-watch which runs all year.

I’ll let you know how I get on.





Goldfinches eat sunflower hearts

  

        

                                                                         

                 Birds in our garden.
Photographs copyright of Andy Mason