Tuesday 31 January 2012

I walked home from work today in rain/sleet, which had been falling all morning, and after getting home and having something to eat, it was still utterly miserable out, so I stayed in! Yes, I stayed indoors, despite it being the last day of the month, I dont think there was much going on out there in those conditions.

I pinned my hopes on maybe seeing a Brambling drop in at my garden feeders, or something different flying over the house, but neither happened, in fact the only birds seen flyover were JACKDAWS. I did have quite a few garden visitors though, with 19 species turning out in the 2 and a half hours I spent at the window.

The highlights of the garden watch were the GOLDCREST and the SONGTHRUSH, the latter a very scarce bird in my garden now. The down side of the watch ( apart from two attacks from the Sprawk) was the absence of a House Sparrow, and it is now confirmed that this month is the first in 121 months of recording in the garden, that a House Sparrow has not been seen  :-(

Here's what turned up, and the peak number seen :-

GREENFICH...................................................15
GOLDFINCH................................................. 4
CHAFFINCH..................................................6
GREAT TIT......................................................4
BLUE TIT........................................................13
DUNNOCK....................................................1
ROBIN............................................................2
STARLING......................................................2
COLLARED DOVE........................................6
BLACKBIRD..................................................3
WOODPIGEON.............................................2
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER.............3
NUTHATCH...................................................2
MAGPIE.........................................................1
COAL TIT.......................................................1
WREN............................................................1
GOLDCREST..................................................1
SONGTHRUSH..............................................1
SPARROWHAWK..........................................1

The total species to visit the garden this January is 22, two below the record set in both January 2009 and 2010, the mean number of species to visit over the eleven Januarys' is believe it or not 22 :-)

The patch stats for the end of this month, are as follows:-
This January I recorded 62 species, the joint fourth best total with 2008, this is 6 below the record Januarys' of 2009 and 2011, the 11 year mean for January is 60.5 species, so i just scraped past that mark! Its interesting to see the combined January list for the eleven years is now 82, I added Barnacle Goose and the good old COOT to that list this year, unbelievable that this month I had my first Coot for any January, with 3 turning up, which is a peak count for my patch!!   :-)

8 comments:

Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

If that garden count was on patch 1 I'd be trying to get the place designated as a local nature reserve!!! shame about the little spuggies though - where've they gone?
Cheers

Davo

Warren Baker said...

Davo,
The nearest House Sparrows are about 150m up the Lane from me, I think they fear the Sprawk more than the rest of the species do !

ShySongbird said...

It's been dull, dreary and cold all day here, I wouldn't mind the cold if only the sun would shine!

Greenfinches seem to be the bird most prominent at my feeders at the moment in fact I think their rather stroppy behaviour is putting off the Goldfinches a bit as I used to get more Goldfinches than anything else. I am seeing a few more House Sparrows again thankfully but not in the numbers they used to be.

I've never had a Goldcrest in the garden although the tree where one would be most likely is shielded from the window by an apple tree so maybe there has been and I have just not seen it.

Warren Baker said...

Songbird,
At times this afternoon I could hardly see to the end of the Garden ( only 15 meters away!)

Might get some sum tomorrow - apparently :-)

Chris said...

Wow pretty interesting that you got coot for the firs time in January... I guess you also got a bad winter. It is now raining over here and the owls are gone!!!
Well done on the 62 species in January... I still have hard time to reach 35 but I don't go out that much...

Anonymous said...

I just can`t seem to pull the Greenfinches into feed, Warren. There`s a couple kicking about, but they`re keeping their distance.

Rohrerbot said...

I like your records on all of this. It also has me looking forward to the different seasons of birds here in the desert and I can't wait to see how it all turns out. As for the drizzle outside, bummer:(

Alan Pavey said...

Pretty good list Warren, let's hope Feb brings some birds to the garden and patch :-)