In the shack

My radio shack overlooks the back garden. 

Last weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the RSPB in the UK. 

The aim is to watch your "patch" (in my case the back garden) for an hour and record the highest number of bird types seen. 

It is done annually by millions and gives a good snapshot of birdlife in the UK. 

It was interesting how few small birds were seen. 

This is my worst year and I have been doing this for many years.

Swallows and house martins - NOT amateur radio

Whilst away in Newscastle and Durham I saw 1 swallow and 5 house martins. One swallow was seen down here before we went away.  

It was great to see 5 house martins on the wing simultaneously over the River Wear in Durham. Swifts usually appear later.  I shall keep my ears and eyes open as one often hears swifts screaming first.

These are all migrant birds back from Africa.

See House Martin Bird Facts | Delichon Urbica

In the shack counting birds! - NOT amateur radio

This was me earlier this week counting birds from the shack window. 

The weather was mixed and windy and there were fewer birds than normal.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2025 - NOT amateur radio

This was organised by the RSPB over this weekend. Lots of UK individuals and schools took part. The idea is to record the maximum number of each species in an hour. Over the years some patterns emerge.

It was quite noticeable how bigger birds now dominate. In my hour I saw not one small bird!! The smallest was a blackbird.

See Big Garden Birdwatch. 

Bird roosters - NOT amateur radio

We get fewer small birds in the garden than we did some years ago. In the hope of helping more small birds to survive the winter I have bought some raffia roosters to sleep in overnight.

I hope they get used to these and use them.  These are mainly placed in the tree nearest the bird feeders.

Return of the migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

When I see the first migrant birds returning from Africa, my heart jumps for joy.  In this troubled world it is good to know that cycles that have gone on for thousands, possibly millions, of years carry on despite us. 

Yesterday I saw my first housemartin, although I have yet to see a swallow. 

In 4-6 weeks we will hear the screaming swifts feeding on the wing. We'll look up and there they will be and my heart will lose another beat.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/swift .

Migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

As we move into British Summer Time (BST) I look forward to the arrival of migrant birds from Africa. Sand Martins are already in Devon. 

Chiffchaff

I have yet to hear a chiffchaff. Some chiffchaffs winter here and some migrate.  

Swallows are usually seen here in early April, but there are far fewer of these birds these days. Swifts are still common locally, but these are normally seen mid May.

Rape

Although many don't like the smell, when the rape comes out fields are carpeted in yellow and spring is truly here along with the blossom on trees and bushes.

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/chiffchaff .

Having a chat? - NOT amateur radio

It looks like these two are having a good old chat about something. Seen in St James' Park, London on Wednesday.

Birds - NOT amateur radio

This photo of a stonechat (if it was on before, blame me!) was taken a couple of weeks ago on the Dee estuary near Liverpool. I spotted a swift yesterday, but I suspect the adults have started their migration southwards.

UPDATE 1630z:  5 swifts seen this morning. Young?

African migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

Swift

About now, I start to watch and listen for the returning migrant birds from Africa. Already swallows have been seen in Devon and even in East Anglia, although I have seen none. Last year I saw very few indeed. 

Locally swift numbers did not seem down on normal. Swifts usually arrive here in numbers mid May. Often they are heard screaming in the sky before they are seen. "They are back", goes out the cry and all is still well with the world. Not yet...

See https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swift/.

Young birds - NOT amateur radio

This is the season for nests and young birds. Yet again, we have some house sparrows nesting in our roof (they were there last year too) and we have dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, pigeons, collared doves and goldfinches nesting in our hedges or very nearby. There are probably others as well. This young thrush (I think) was being fed on our back lawn.

The birds - NOT amateur radio

Starlings gather on the sails on the windmill next door. 

They do not roost here, but seem to gather here then fly off to their roost. 

They remind me of Hitchcock's film "The Birds".

Bluetit on fatballs - NOT amateur radio

 

It was very hard to take a good photo of this bird as it kept moving! It is a bluetit eating our fatballs. Often jackdaws try to eat them too - they are as big as the feeder!

There were lots of long tail tits flitting about too. These were too fast for me.

Magpies - NOT amateur radio

These magpies (see photo) were at Anglesey Abbey recently. A few years ago magpies were rare in this part of the UK. In nearly 40 years of travelling 12 miles into Cambridge for work I saw not a single magpie. These days I see them almost daily. At one time, buzzards were rare up here . Now we regularly see them. Red kites were limited to Wales. Now we see them often near major roads. Since the  1980s little egrets have become common in the UK.

Big Garden Birdwatch - NOT amateur radio

Every year about now, the RSPB carries out an annual survey to find the health of our bird populations in our gardens. I have done this now for many years. You are asked to record the maximum number of each species seen at one time. I chose to do 1530z -1630z thinking I might catch birds coming in to feed before dark. What a disappointment! In all just 6 species seen , mostly larger birds. The bird table was well stocked. Quite a few common birds were absent.

• Starling 9
• Woodpigeon 2
• Crow 9
• Robin 1
• Blackbird 1
• Collared Dove 1

You do not have to be an RSPB member and the survey runs until Monday.

Summer migrant birds - NOT amateur radio

At the end of September we visited our son near Canterbury. There were plenty of young swallows overhead getting ready to migrate south. Already most of the summer migrants have flown south. By now most have gone. It will be March or April next year before we see them again.

House martin nests - NOT amateur radio

There were several nests over the bakers where we stayed in Brittany.  I am pretty sure these are house martins judging by the tail of the adult.

Windmill starlings - NOT amateur radio

Apparently starlings are in decline in the UK. Well, not here! The photo shows the starlings gathering on "our" windmill next door last night. They roost elsewhere, but gather on the windmill sails before flying off.

The photo was taken from our front garden.

Nest building time - NOT amateur radio

We get lots of pigeons these days. Earlier, I noticed a pair busy building a nest in our garden. This one is gathering twigs.

Returning summer migrants - NOT amateur radio

Slowly, the summer bird migrants are returning. Already in Devon there are wheatears, sand martins and swallows. At first just the odd one, whereas by mid April, many will be commonplace once again.