The venue was again the bird hide in St Ives (next to Coppice Pond). We choose the same spot each year so we can easily compare each year's results. At around 10:45 we started our hour of counting the birds visiting the feeders. The Airedale Otters leaders had placed extra food out for the birds before the event to ensure we would attract as many species as possible.
Robin, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016
We saw species of birds this year than last (eleven instead of eight), but this year we had fewer individual birds. The birds were:
- Coal Tit
- Blue Tit
- Great Tit
- Blackbird
- Wood Pigeon
- Magpie
- Carrion Crow
- Dunnock
- Robin
- Nuthatch
- Treecreeper
Blackbird, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016 (photo Chris Chandler)
Blue Tit, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016 (photo Chris Chandler)
Great Tit, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016 (photo Chris Chandler)
Wood Pigeon, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016 (photo Chris Chandler)
It wasn't only birds! Grey Squirrel, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016
It was great to see the young birdwatchers using their notepads to make notes and draw the birds they saw - a great way to improve your bird identification skills.
Some of the lists and drawings by young Airedale Otters at this year's Big Garden Birdwatch
One of the highlights (as well as the hot chocolate and biscuits!) was a Treecreeper which flew on to a tree behind the hide and allowed us to get a close look. These small mouse-like birds forage for insects on tree trucks. They always climb up trees, never down - they fly down to the base on the next tree. Check out the RSPB website for more information on Treecreepers.
Treecreeper, St Ives, Bingley - 31st January 2016
The Treecreeper looked straight at us!
We will send the result of our survey off to the RSPB so they can add it to many others that will have been done up and down the country. You can see our results from the last three years here: 2015, 2014 and 2013. The RSPB's results for last year's survey can be found here.
Thank you to everyone who came and help out with this year's count.
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