This weekend saw the RSPB birdwatch take place. A small but brave group of determined souls battled their way through the lashing rain to DKH Wood and Open Space and attempted to count birds. Not surprisingly there was a disappointing turnout of our avian friends as the rain drove them to find shelter.
Despite this, in the half hour that we faced the weather (from 11 – 11:30am) we did see:
- 2 blackbirds
- 2 great tits
- 1 wood pigeon
- 3 feral pigeons
- 2 carrion crows
Not quite the turnout of previous years (2012 results and 2011 results… we didn’t do one in 2013).
Results from earlier in the day (9:30 – 10:30) in a garden next to the wood were more promising, undoubtedly due to the lack of rain:
- 2 blackbirds
- 2 blue tits
- 1 collared dove
- 2 great tits
- 5 house sparrows
- 2 long-tailed tits
- 1 robin
- 1 starling
- 1 wood pigeon
- 2 feral pigeons
- (2 grey squirrels)
It would be interesting to know how useful the results are for the RSPB when the weather hasn’t been great. Are they able to predict / guess real numbers from these low ones?