RSPB Bird Count this weekend - NOT amateur radio

A reminder to those in the UK that the annual RSPB bird count is this weekend (Jan 28-30th). The idea is very simple: you simply choose any hour Jan 28, 29 or 30th and count the highest number of unique species seen in your chosen spot in that hour. For example: 6 wood pigeons, 2 robins, 4 blackbirds. You can do it in your garden, school, a local park or wherever. I have done this for many years. You just go to the RSPB website and upload your results. RSPB membership is not required. You may be surprised.

Long-tail Tits - NOT amateur radio

There are fewer small birds around these days in our garden and generally, but some have become more common in recent years. Great tits seem more plentiful and here in East Anglia the long-tail tit is the most common tit to see and hear. Only just a few moments ago when I was sweeping up leaves there was a flock of long-tail tits on the lilac in the garden next door.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/l/longtailedtit/ .

Among the larger birds there are more magpies locally. Going to work, I saw not one in nearly 40 years, although now they are plentiful. Little egrets can be seen all over the place but they were rare before the late 1980s. Buzzards are now widespread in East Anglia whereas they were once a sign we'd reached Devon. Since their reintroduction, red kites can be widely seen again.

There is no doubt that we see different birds these days.

RSPB Garden Bird Count - NOT amateur radio

The annual UK RSPB bird count is any hour in the last weekend of January. I have been doing this for years. You just choose a spot and count the maximum number of each species seen in the hour. It can be surprising. When done, I submit results to the RSPB online. It is always a great pleasure and you do not need to be an expert birder to do this. Each year, the RSPB get a great deal of data.  Some years I see very little. Some years I have seen up to 11 different species.

Most times you will see quite common birds, but occasionally you may see something unusual. It is the number of the ordinary birds seen that tells the real story.  If you can, grab a coffee and sit down, look out the window, and count the birds in your garden or park.  I am sure, like me, you will enjoy it.

See https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdwatch .

Swifts - NOT amateur radio

This evening, in a further attempt to beat my giddiness, I went for a decent (for me!) walk. One of the joys of an English summer evening is seeing swifts on the wing high in the sky and hearing their calls - a high pitched scream. To me, this is the sound of summer. Their wings are scythe like and they spend most of their lives on the wing.

They arrive late (around the end of April) and go before summer is done. It an ephemeral sound that they make. When you hear it, it is truly late spring or summer. Soon the summer migrants will head south to warmer skies and we will be joined by migrants from the north such as whooper and bewick swans from the high Arctic and Russia as well thrushes like redwings and fieldfares from Scandinavia. To them we represent warmth and mildness!

For now I am content to hear those swifts, although they will soon be on their way. Hopefully, I'll still be around for their return in the spring. Seeing the first swifts in late April brings joy to my heart. The cycle of life that has happened for thousands of years goes on. No doubt this cycle went on when we still lived in caves and when Roman soldiers walked these lands and this cycle will still be going on long after I am dust again.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/swift/ .

Jackdaws - NOT amateur radio

Jackdaw

At the QTH we moved to a couple of years back, just before I was taken seriously ill, we see far fewer smaller birds. They are around but don't seem to be attracted to the bird table or nut feeders. We get a reasonable number of small birds in the garden and nearby such as dunnocks (hedge sparrows), great tits and blue tits, robins etc. Maybe they visit other bird tables or find food naturally very locally?

Our nut feeders seem to attract larger birds in the main like pigeons and collared doves. We have lots of trees and other cover. Every morning at much the same time we get jackdaws on the bird table. We have red legged partridges in the road most days and we have even had mallard ducks in the garden.

See http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/j/jackdaw/ .

Not amateur radio.

This weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch. People in the UK were asked to observe a garden, park etc. for 1 hour and record the highest number of each species seen, then submit results online to the RSPB. It has become an annual event now. I did a record yesterday in our back garden and, just for fun, I did another 1 hour today at the same time but overlooking the local museum and windmill at the front of our bungalow.

More species were seen yesterday but far more starlings were seen today as they roost on the sails of our windmill next door.

I am still active on 630m and 10m, but will be going QRT on 10m quite shortly.