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| Cilla the Grey Wagtail with suet pellet prize for turning up for the Big Garden Birdwatch 2019 in Wickersley, South Yorkshire, UK |
The RSPB ( the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) organises a “Big Garden Birdwatch” on the last weekend of January every year. You count the maximum number of each species that visits your chosen patch within the space of an hour of your choice. It’s a way of inspiring young and old to grab their binoculars and point their spotting scopes at their wonderful avian neighbours. It’s also a rough indication of which species are thriving or struggling on these islands.
I made my second attempt at completing the survey this morning. It usually takes me a couple of tries, so the full hour of birding is sometimes cobbled together from ten minutes here and half an hour there, as strength and health permit. This year I’ve been fortunate to be well enough over the weekend to do the whole sitting in one go. Or rather in two goes - one yesterday afternoon and then a repeat this morning, which is pretty good going, by my low standards. As today’s session was the first feed of the day, the birds were more eager than last time, which was just after dinner.
One of the resident Magpies turned up to represent the
corvids, as the Crows simply couldn’t be bothered. Neither could the other
Magpies. The flock of local Wood Pigeons made a late entrance, minus my secret
favourite, Drooper the Woody with the Wonky Wing or his mate Rolly, a female
with a damaged leg which gives her an unmistakable rolling gait. The other
pigeons who decided to participate spent most of their time attempting to mate,
thrusting their wings petulantly at one another or flying off to sit in surrounding
trees, meaning I needed to adjudicate whether or not they actually counted as
being on my patch at all.
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| Drooper the Woody with the Wonky Wing |
Yesterday, none of the tit family arrived during the allotted hour.
Today, a trio of Blue Tits, a pair of Great Tits and a solitary Coal Tit got
their attendance marks, unlike the little clan of Long-Tailed Tits I’d heard twittering
away every day last week. No doubt the ‘Lollipops’ had been checking their diaries
so as to co-ordinate their efforts not to get caught on the census. All the
better for staying under the radar uncounted, getting up to any merry mischief
they might choose, without human knowledge. The same goes for the resident
Wren, who is heard but not seen most of the time, and was certainly not going
to make it easy for me during the BGBW.
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| Great Tit (Parus major) |
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| Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) |
The House Sparrows were here in force. Fifteen of them shuttling
between hedgerow and feeders, chirping the odds, swapping places, noisily
networking. Numbers of males and females seemed roughly equal. I know we’re so
very lucky to have a such a thriving colony of House Sparrows in residence. In many
parts of the UK they are becoming a rarity.
Standing out from the crowd is the one I’ve named Lucy, from
the fact she’s a leucistic bird. Leucism is a condition where a bird is born
with a partial lack of pigment in its feathers. There may be patches of white
where other colours are ‘normal’ for the breed. Consequently, Lucy looks, from
a distance, like some sort of pale finch or bunting. Closer examination reveals
her to be a female House Sparrow with beautiful snowy sections on her wings.
She flutters in like a ray of light, integrated with her tribe but always
distinctive in our eyes. Lovely to have some joyful diversity at the bird table.
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| Lucy the leucistic House Sparrow |
Of the pair of resident Robins, only one graced us with its
presence, plumped out and very pleased with itself to be representing its
redbreast posse. Maybe it thinks it is the most photogenic and coveted tick on
the list, as it has recently been voted Britain’s favourite bird and always
popular for its iconic place at the heart of the winter season. Two pairs of Dunnocks were omnipresent, as usual, not attracting
attention to themselves, unassuming and modest little wind-up toys, ticking
along under the hedge or on the lawn, dancing jerkily under their own momentum.
The unexpected highlight for me, of this or indeed any recent BGBW,
came just five minutes before the end of the appointed hour. Onto the patio
bounced the Grey Wagtail, nicknamed ‘Cilla’ after its Latin name (Motacilla cinerea). She first appeared a
couple of days ago for the very first time. Before that I had never seen a Grey
Wagtail in the garden. I certainly wasn’t expecting her to put in an appearance
for the hallowed hour. But she didn’t let me down. I even got a photo of her
with a suet pellet in her beak (see above). Had to add her manually onto the
BGBW results page online, as she wasn’t included among the
species most likely to be seen.
A reminder, just when we might really be needing one, that you
never know what is around the corner. You sometimes approach a project with
cynicism, only to be delighted by unlooked for miracles, finding your glass not
just half full, but overflowing. The birds in my garden remind me of that every
single day.
[Full result: 1 Robin, 15 House Sparrows, 7 Blackbirds, 6 Wood
Pigeons, 4 Dunnocks, 1 Magpie, 3 Blue Tits, 2 Great Tits, 1 Coal Tit and 1 Grey
Wagtail.]
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| Robin (Erithacus rubecula) Britain's favourite national sweetheart |
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