News

Monday, 1 January 2007

Garden Bird Feeding Survey January 2007

The first three weeks of January were wet, windy but very mild, continuing the mild spell of weather at the end of last year. From the 21st however the wind changed to the north and we had a much colder spell with some snow. There were 41 species seen this year which is three less than last year. Sixty-two people took part in the survey compared with 71 last year. Thanks to all of you who submitted records.

As you can see from the full list below there are several changes in the prevalence of species. This reflects the trends reported nationally, that finches, blackbirds and winter migrants are not visiting gardens to feed this year in the numbers as in past years. There is some good news. A welcome return of the house sparrow into the top ten at number 9, however the blackbird has dropped to number 4 from top position.

In the full list the percentage of birds/days is shown for the top ten species. The 2006 positions appear in brackets. Birds seen last year but not this year were siskin, redpoll, stock dove and grey heron.

One new bird seen this year was lesser black backed gull.


1 (2) Blue Tit 79.0 (79.7)
2 (3) Robin 66.6 (78.6)
3 (4) Wood Pigeon 65.8 (73.8)
4 (1) Blackbird 61.7 (88.0)
5 (5) Great Tit 51.6 (59.5)
6 (6) Dunnock 51.0 (54.6)
7 (8) Magpie 40.2 (34.3)
8 (7) Collard Dove 37.4 (40.7)
9(12) House Sparrow 34.8 (28.6)
10(10) Starling 32.7 (33.3)

11 (11) Chaffinch
12( 9) Greenfinch
13 (14) Carrion Crow
14 (13) Coal Tit
15 (20) Feral Pigeon
16 (17) Jay
17 (16) Ring Necked Parakeet
18 (18) Great Spot Woodpecker
19 (21) Goldfinch
20 (15) Long Tailed Tit
21 (22) Wren
22 (19) Song Thrush
23 (25) Redwing
24 (24) Nuthatch
25 (27) Pied Wagtail
26 (28) Green Woodpecker
27 (23) Blackcap
28 (30) Goldcrest
29 (34) Jackdaw
30 (29) Mistle Thrush
31 (31) Grey Wagtail
32 (38) Black Headed Gull