BWKM0
With the country now in full lockdown and leaving the house allowed only for exercise once a day, the patch (which is a 15 minute drive away) is now well and truly off limits. To fill the bird watching shaped hole it's left, I have discovered the Birdwatching at 0km (#BWKM0) initiative led by Steve Gale to encourage people to make garden lists while in quarantine in their homes.
I have been amazed at the fantastic birds others have found in their gardens already just by watching them slightly more closely. I was skeptical at first; I have a suburban garden but am extremely lucky to have an area of scrubby trees directly behind the house which has meant my garden list currently stands at 54. Previous highlights have included such fantastic birds as Waxwing, Brambling (for several winters this was the most regular bird at the feeders!), Golden Plover (over) and Nuthatch. Bullfinch is also our most abundant garden visitor - we are lucky enough to have a resident group of at least 9 and you can expect to see these over than any other species when you look out of the window.
I would describe it as "well-watched" already. My entire family watch for birds in the garden and contribute to the monthly lists I keep. So I was pessimistic of the chances that increased watching would yield anything particularly exciting or new, especially since I don't have any views onto other habitats like fields, wetlands or, for those who are extremely lucky, the sea. Even so, it turns out I was wrong!
I started my BWKM0 list yesterday, and did an hour's watch, where I moved between various windows which I guess I treated (in my birding deprivation) as my different 'hides'. I decided as so many people had suggested on Twitter to look up as well as out.
After half an hour, this tactic paid off and the bird of the day appeared. Peregrine! Two birds came over the house high up and proceeded to circle with 3 Buzzards for about a minute. Needless to say this was new for my garden list!
This fantastic sighting gave me fresh enthusiasm for the potential of this list and it's something I will be continuing throughout my time at home. In the last 2 days, I've recorded 21 species without concerted effort (aside from the initial hour) and have
seen Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tit among the more common species.
As I've said before, I love to list, and I've found this garden list to be great fun - certainly enough to make do during these strange times. I will definitely be carrying on with this list and also plan to BirdTrack my sightings, in the hope that all these garden birds could be really helpful to their data. I couldn't recommend this enough to anyone, no matter how much like me they consider their garden to already be very well-watched - who knows what could turn up in someone's garden? And besides, we all need to get our bird watching fix somehow!
I have been amazed at the fantastic birds others have found in their gardens already just by watching them slightly more closely. I was skeptical at first; I have a suburban garden but am extremely lucky to have an area of scrubby trees directly behind the house which has meant my garden list currently stands at 54. Previous highlights have included such fantastic birds as Waxwing, Brambling (for several winters this was the most regular bird at the feeders!), Golden Plover (over) and Nuthatch. Bullfinch is also our most abundant garden visitor - we are lucky enough to have a resident group of at least 9 and you can expect to see these over than any other species when you look out of the window.
I would describe it as "well-watched" already. My entire family watch for birds in the garden and contribute to the monthly lists I keep. So I was pessimistic of the chances that increased watching would yield anything particularly exciting or new, especially since I don't have any views onto other habitats like fields, wetlands or, for those who are extremely lucky, the sea. Even so, it turns out I was wrong!
I started my BWKM0 list yesterday, and did an hour's watch, where I moved between various windows which I guess I treated (in my birding deprivation) as my different 'hides'. I decided as so many people had suggested on Twitter to look up as well as out.
After half an hour, this tactic paid off and the bird of the day appeared. Peregrine! Two birds came over the house high up and proceeded to circle with 3 Buzzards for about a minute. Needless to say this was new for my garden list!
This fantastic sighting gave me fresh enthusiasm for the potential of this list and it's something I will be continuing throughout my time at home. In the last 2 days, I've recorded 21 species without concerted effort (aside from the initial hour) and have
seen Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tit among the more common species.
As I've said before, I love to list, and I've found this garden list to be great fun - certainly enough to make do during these strange times. I will definitely be carrying on with this list and also plan to BirdTrack my sightings, in the hope that all these garden birds could be really helpful to their data. I couldn't recommend this enough to anyone, no matter how much like me they consider their garden to already be very well-watched - who knows what could turn up in someone's garden? And besides, we all need to get our bird watching fix somehow!
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