RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

It's the RSPB Gardenwatch this weekend. Get involved! It's a one hour count of all the birds in your garden (or in my case my mum's garden in Surrey, England).

There's a feeding station in her small suburban garden so a few of the common garden birds can be seen. But there were a couple of surprises in the hour. Here's the maximum counts...

3 Blue tit
5 House sparrow
2 Dunnock
1 European robin
1 Lesser redpoll
1 Siskin
12 Woodpigeon
1 Starling
1 Goldfinch
2 Chaffinch
1 Black-headed gull (over)
1 Jackdaw

that brings the yard total to 15.

Foot it: Day 6

No footing needed today to see a lesser redpoll on the patio from the kitchen window. Winter movement in the cold weather obviously happening.

So that's 63 out of 67 which is 94% of the target.

1. Little grebe
2. Great crested grebe
3. Cormorant
4. Little egret
5. Grey heron
6. Mute swan
7. Canada goose
8. Greylag goose
9. Egyptian goose
10. Mallard
11. Teal
12. Pochard
13. Shoveler
14. Gadwall
15. Tufted duck
16. Wigeon
17. Buzzard
18. Kestrel
19. Pheasant
20. Moorhen
21. Coot
22. Lapwing
23. Snipe
24. Black-headed gull
25. Common gull
26. Lesser black-backed gull
27. Feral pigeon
28. Wood pigeon
29. Collared dove
30. Little owl
31. Short-eared owl
32. Kingfisher
33. Rose-ringed parakeet
34. Green woodpecker
35. Great-spotted woodpecker
36. Skylark
37. Pied wagtail
38. Meadow pipit
39. Wren
40. Dunnock
41. Robin
42. Song thrush
43. Mistle thrush
44. Redwing
45. Fieldfare
46. Blackbird
47. Chiffchaff
48. Goldcrest
49. Great tit
50. Coal tit
51. Blue tit
52. Long-tailed tit
53. Nuthatch
54. Treecreeper
55. Magpie
56. Jay
57. Jackdaw
58. Rook
59. Crow
60. Starling
61. House sparrow
62. Chaffinch
63. Goldfinch
64. Greenfinch
65. Siskin
66. Bullfinch
67. Reed bunting

Plus... lesser spotted woodpecker, red kite and lesser redpoll.

Foot it update

I've had a rethink of my Foot It Challenge list. I've added a few that I have seen but lack of knowledge of the local area led me to think I wouldn't see them, but they're relatively common. So the target list is finally 67 of which I've seen 59 plus 2 not on the list which is 91% of the target.

1. Little grebe
2. Great crested grebe
3. Cormorant
4. Little egret
5. Grey heron
6. Mute swan
7. Canada goose
8. Greylag goose
9. Egyptian goose
10. Mallard
11. Teal
12. Pochard
13. Shoveler
14. Gadwall
15. Tufted duck
16. Wigeon
17. Buzzard
18. Kestrel
19. Pheasant
20. Moorhen
21. Coot
22. Lapwing
23. Snipe
24. Black-headed gull
25. Common gull
26. Lesser black-backed gull
27. Feral pigeon
28. Wood pigeon
29. Collared dove
30. Little owl
31. Short-eared owl
32. Kingfisher
33. Rose-ringed parakeet
34. Green woodpecker
35. Great-spotted woodpecker
36. Skylark
37. Pied wagtail
38. Meadow pipit
39. Wren
40. Dunnock
41. Robin
42. Song thrush
43. Mistle thrush
44. Redwing
45. Fieldfare
46. Blackbird
47. Chiffchaff
48. Goldcrest
49. Great tit
50. Coal tit
51. Blue tit
52. Long-tailed tit
53. Nuthatch
54. Treecreeper
55. Magpie
56. Jay
57. Jackdaw
58. Rook
59. Crow
60. Starling
61. House sparrow
62. Chaffinch
63. Goldfinch
64. Greenfinch
65. Siskin
66. Bullfinch
67. Reed bunting

Plus... lesser spotted woodpecker and red kite.

Species a day

Three more species for my species a day challenge. That's 16 species in 19 days.

Greylag goose. Pyrford, Surrey, England. January 19.

Canada goose. Pyrford, Surrey, England. January 19.

Eurasian coot. Papercourt, Surrey, England. January 19.

Foot It: Day 5

Another day tramping the Surrey countryside to see as many species as possible for the Foot It Challenge.

Today I walked the snowy 12 mile round trip to Papercourt Sailing Club lake near Send primarily to find the recent male scaup on the stock pond, unfortunately that particular pond was iced over and devoid of any birds and the bird couldn't be located on the main lake.

But over the course of the day I did add 12 species to my Foot It list.

My first interesting siting was a mammal. A red fox seen on the opposite bank of the Wey Navigation canal.

My first new bird (for the year) on the main sailing lake at Papercourt was one of several great crested grebe. The duck flock in the centre of the lake held mainly tufted duck, with a few pochard and gadwall, a couple of teal and a single shoveler. The plentiful black-headed gulls were joined by several common gull roosting on the water.

On the lakes edge I disturbed several common snipe whilst trying to photograph the waterbirds and a great-spotted woodpecker was heard drumming in a nearby oak tree accompanied by a singing chiffchaff which I couldn't locate.

Eurasian coot.

I took another route home from Papercourt along the lanes that cut across the water meadows into Pyrford past Newark Abbey. This is where I found the bird of the day. After watching a kestrel hunting over the meadow a large raptor glided into view, a wonderful red kite. An increasingly common bird in counties such as Buckinghamshire but still relatively unusual in Surrey.

Further off in the snow covered meadows geese were calling.

Canada goose, Egyptian goose and greylag goose were all present by the frozen river with a rather unattractive greylag x canada hybrid amongst them.

Greylag x Canada goose hybrid among Canada geese.

Overhead several wigeon took flight together with a couple of cormorant and up to a dozen common snipe were disturbed from the frozen grasses.

The weedy fields and willows by the brook held plenty of interesting birds. Goldfinch and reed bunting were feeding on the remaining teasel seeds. Blue tit and long-tailed tit were foraging among the trees together with a green woodpecker while a flock of meadow pipit fed in the snow.

I scanned the fields and picked out six lapwing huddled by the ice and overhead a flock of forty fieldfare flew noisily into a nearby alder.

The final addition of the day was a brown rat that scuttled down its bankside hole by the local canal.

Species a day

The snow's starting to fall and it looks a long way off before I'll get any invertebrates to photograph. So here's some more birds. That's 13 species in 18 days, 72% of my target.

Feral pigeon. New Haw, Surrey, England. 18 January.

European starling. New haw, Surrey, England. 18 January.

Tufted duck. Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Species a day

Still on the trail of 365 species in a year... here's another five. That's 10 species in 17 days, 59% of target.

Eurasian nuthatch. Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

European rabbit. New Haw, Surrey, England. 16 January.

European robin. Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Roe deer. New Haw, Surrey, England 16 January. 

Eurasian siskin. Wisley, Surrey England. 14 January.

Species a day

One thing I'm going to do this year is to photograph and identify a species per day. That's 365 species this year, vertibrates and invertibrates.

Here's the first batch. 5 Species in 17 days = 29% of target.

Common chaffinch. Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Fieldfare. New Haw, Surrey, England. 15 January.

Blue Tit, Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Blue Tit, Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Mallard, Wisley, Surrey, England. 14 January.

Foot It: Day 4

Today, a gentle (but very muddy) 3 mile stroll over a local farm that I've never actually birded before. It's owned by DEFRA but can be walked along fenced pathways.

The first birds that caught my eye were in a grassed stable area just off the road, 2 mistle thrush, 12 fieldfare and 3 redwing. Boom! 3 Foot It ticks straight away.

Fieldfare

Then after watching some rabbit a lovely roe deer wandered out into a field (bringing my Foot It mammal list to a paltry three!).

Roe deer

The usual farmalnd birds were in abundance, rook, woodpigeon, magpie, carrion crow and over a hundred jackdaw. The streamside alders held another Foot It tick, three goldfinch and on the way back the a couple of greenfinch brought my Foot It total to 48, which is 83% of the birds I thought I would be likely to see in January on foot. Not bad and two weeks to go.

Here's a map of the route I've taken on my walks so far totalling 26 miles.

And here's a marked up list of the birds I've seen so far.

1. Little grebe
2. Great crested grebe
3. Cormorant
4. Little egret
5. Grey heron
6. Mute swan
7. Canada goose
8. Mallard
9. Teal
10. Pochard
11. Tufted duck
12. Buzzard
13. Kestrel
14. Pheasant
15. Moorhen
16. Coot
17. Lapwing
18. Snipe
19. Black-headed gull
20. Lesser black-backed gull
21. Feral pigeon
22. Wood pigeon
23. Collared dove
24. Little owl
25. Short-eared owl
26. Kingfisher
27. Rose-ringed parakeet
28. Green woodpecker
29. Great-spotted woodpecker
30. Skylark
31. Pied wagtail
32. Wren
33. Dunnock
34. Robin
35. Song thrush
36. Mistle thrush
37. Redwing
38. Blackbird
39. Chiffchaff
40. Goldcrest
41. Great tit
42. Coal tit
43. Blue tit
44. Long-tailed tit
45. Nuthatch
46. Treecreeper
47. Magpie
48. Jay
49. Jackdaw
50. Rook
51. Crow
52. Starling
53. House sparrow
54. Chaffinch
55. Goldfinch
56. Greenfinch
57. Siskin
58. Bullfinch

Plus... egyptian goose, tufted duck, lesser-spotted woodpecker and stonechat.

Foot It: Day 3

A twelve mile yomp to the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley today. Hopefully to add a few more woodland birds to my Foot IT Challenge list which stood at 35.

I was lucky enough to add 8 more, starting with a eurasian coot on the small golf course pond that previously held a pair of tufted duck and a grey heron on the nearby river bank. A flock of black-headed gulls in a ploughed field also contained a lesser black-backed gull. Next new addition was a eurasian treecreeper on an oak outside the gardens.

The gardens themselves are a bit bare at this time of year but there is a bird hide overlooking a bend in the River Wey from where a common kingfisher put in a brief appearance while a party of eurasian siskin fed in the alders above.

The feeders were busy with eurasian nuthatch and a single coal tit.

25 Miles walking and 43 species in total. Now I need to find a large lake!

Eurasian nuthatch

Eurasian siskin

Great tit

European robin

Foot It: Day 2

Today's walk took me somewhat further afield, about a 12 mile round trip to the riverside pastures of Papercourt near Send to look for the short-eared owls that often overwinter there.

The Wey Navigation canal winds its way across meadows and past Newark Abbey on its journey from West Byfleet to Papercourt. The best bird found on the way was a stunning lesser-spotted woodpecker, the first I've ever seen in Surrey. Tufted duck was always going to be tricky because of a lack of local lakes so a pair on a small golf course pond was a good find as was a pair of egyptian goose waddling across a riverside field which also held three green woodpecker foraging for insects.

Papercourt meadows held no owls but three stonechat was an unexpected addition to my Foot It list which now stands at 35, or 60% of my target.

1. Cormorant
2. Grey heron
3. Mute swan
4. Mallard
5. Tufted duck
6. Kestrel
7. Pheasant
8. Moorhen
9. Black-headed gull
10. Feral pigeon
11. Wood pigeon
12. Rose-ringed parakeet
13. Green woodpecker
14. Pied wagtail
15. Wren
16. Robin
17. Song thrush
18. Blackbird
19. Great tit
20. Blue tit
21. Long-tailed tit
22. Nuthatch
23. Magpie
24. Jay
25. Jackdaw
26. Rook
27. Crow
28. Starling
29. House sparrow
30. Chaffinch
31. Siskin

Plus: Egyptian goose, lesser-spotted woodpecker and stonechat.

Foot It: Day 1

I'm back in England for a while so time to kickstart January's Foot It challenge. To see as many species of birds on foot from home.

The Basingstoke canal runs across the end of my road near in north Surrey so it's an ideal place to start with a walk into the nearby village of West Byfleet.

The canal has been restored in recent years and although not navagable at this point it provides plenty of woodland habitat for birds along the tow path.

First birds of the challenge were some feral pigeon roosting under the bridge and several mallard on the canal below it. A family of mute swan were dabbling in the shallows and several moorhen ran across the bath to the safety of the water.

High in the old oaks were jackdaw and woodpigeon sat silently amongst the ivy. The first decent birds were two nuthatch foraging along an old oak branch and a great-spotted woodpecker in an adjacent dead oak. But the most unusual bird which I don't ever remember seeing in the area was a goldcrest, Britains smallest bird.

Easily picked out by their calls were a couple of rose-ringed parakeet, a now common intyroduced bird in the south-east counties.

So, 23 species of birds in a 15 minute walk and 40% of my target list seen in the first day.

1. Mute swan
2. Mallard
3. Moorhen
4. Black-headed gull
5. Feral pigeon
6. Wood pigeon
7. Collared dove
8. Rose-ringed parakeet
9. Great-spotted woodpecker
10. Robin
11. Song thrush
12. Blackbird
13. Great tit
14. Blue tit
15. Long-tailed tit
16. Nuthatch
17. Magpie
18. Jackdaw
19. Crow
20. Starling
21. House sparrow
22. Chaffinch
23. Goldcrest

Foot It

The object is to see as many birds (as a % of those likely to be seen) on foot from home during January.

Foot It

As I'm likely to be going back to the UK this week for a few weeks here's my likely list from my mum's house in Surrey... I'll see how I get on...

1. Little grebe
2. Great crested grebe
3. Cormorant
4. Little egret
5. Grey heron
6. Mute swan
7. Canada goose
8. Mallard
9. Teal
10. Pochard
11. Tufted duck
12. Buzzard
13. Kestrel
14. Pheasant
15. Moorhen
16. Coot
17. Lapwing
18. Snipe
19. Black-headed gull
20. Lesser black-backed gull
21. Feral pigeon
22. Wood pigeon
23. Collared dove
24. Little owl
25. Short-eared owl
26. Kingfisher
27. Rose-ringed parakeet
28. Green woodpecker
29. Great-spotted woodpecker
30. Skylark
31. Pied wagtail
32. Wren
33. Dunnock
34. Robin
35. Song thrush
36. Mistle thrush
37. Redwing
38. Blackbird
39. Chiffchaff
40. Great tit
41. Coal tit
42. Blue tit
43. Long-tailed tit
44. Nuthatch
45. Treecreeper
46. Magpie
47. Jay
48. Jackdaw
49. Rook
50. Crow
51. Starling
52. House sparrow
53. Chaffinch
54. Goldfinch
55. Greenfinch
56. Siskin
57. Bullfinch