Coal tit 0, Great tit 1
Anybody else get involved with the annual RSPB Garden Birdwatch? It's a whole lot of inexpensive fun, and they publicised it well this year. It involves making a note of all the bird species you see in a chosen hour over this designated weekend - if you see more than one of any species at any one time, you note that down too, creating a running total. (Clearly, you can't count each blue tit you see in an hour, as it could be the same one, but if you see two at a time, you put down two. It's tremendously exciting.) Then, when the hour's up - no cheating! - you fill in the boxes, submit your findings and the RSPB have an instant survey from all across the country and can draw up a new hit parade of birds, down which the sparrow will continue to mysteriously plummet. I was really hoping a recent but regular visitor to my bird feeders would make an appearance, and he did: the charming blackcap, who comes under "scarcer birds" in the RSPB form. That made me very proud.
I was telling Michael Ball all about Birdwatch when I went in to appear on his Radio 2 programme at brunchtime. He couldn't have been less interested. I still think they should give him a damehood.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 6:15 PM
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Linky Linky: http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/index.asp
;)
Thanks for participating, Andrew. I was one of the team sitting at RSPB HQ (yes, we have a HQ) watching the numbers tick up and pouring cold water on the servers to keep them cool. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the link, Adam - the only reason I didn't put one in is because it was dark when I posted that entry and Garden Birdwatch weekend was over - I should have plugged it before.
Nice to hear from someone on the bird frontline, Laurence. I've been doing the Birdwatch for a while now - it's great to award yourself a designated hour just to look out of the window at our feathered friends!
Blythe Hill, London SE6
Squirrels 3, Birds 0
:(
Do you have feeders?
Two feeders, one hanging from tree, one fixed to fence. Devoured happily by the aforementioned squirrels. As is the apple and bread I put out on the garden table...
Although, to be fair, we did get a robin in December!
I recently invested - and they are not cheap - in squirrel guards for my main seed feeders. (The squirrels can still use the peanut feeder.) This allows the smaller birds to feed, merrily, while bigger birds, such as pigeons, are dissuaded, and squirrels are totally locked out of the love-in.
You could even buy a simple box squirrel feeder for your small mammals, with a hinged lid so that only they can open it, which is a nice consolation prize for them. I love squirrels, as you know. I hope by doing this I am not arrogantly "managing" nature, as that would make me a hypocrite!
Try CJ Wildbird Foods for the "squirrel guardians", which fit onto your existing feeders. They are my favoured supplier, but others are available.
First attempt (Saturday):
- 3 cats
- 1 neighbouring children's birthday party
- 1 neighbour undertaking renovations
- 0 birds
Second attempt (Sunday):
- 2 wood pigeons
- 2 blackbirds
- 8 house sparrows
I hope double attempts are within the rules.
And nice to hear you on R2 on Sunday, Andrew - although an unfortunate clash with Just a Minute for the second half!
How can one both keep cats and encourage birds into the garden simultaneously? I'd love to do both, but the former seems to preclude the latter...
The Michael Ball R2 slot is on iPlayer, should you wish to hear me talking to the Dame. It's at 49 minutes in.
I wish I'd known about this; I would have done it. And I have a family (I think) of sparrows in my garden... Well at least I often see about 7 or 8 together. I could have helped raise the national average.
Cats do eat birds. It's their gig. The key is to mount your feeders in places cats can't easily get to. I know, cats will jump very high, and to a degree, I guess you have to hope they fail. We used to have two cats and when they were younger, they brought home plenty of bird corpses (and mouse corpses, and even frogs, although these usually turned out to be alive, just playing dead, and hopped off when the cats got bored of playing with them - anyone else ever heard a frog scream? it's blood-curdling). Birds will come into even the smallest of gardens without the lure of bird feeders, to pick up insects and worms, so there's no foolproof way of keeping cats and birds apart. The act of feeding birds, especially in winter, is so good for them, it's worth the added risk of a possible cat attack. Even if you don't have a cat, cats exist in other homes - you have to leave some things to nature. There was a tom cat living near a house I once lived in, and it attacked a pigeon and mortally wounded it, so it couldn't fly away. I thought it had gone, but it was actually hiding in a bush. I didn't intervene, and wish I had now. The cat eventually finished it off. Some say the responsible thing for cat-"owners" is to fit a bell to the collar, to scare the birds off.
It's easy to have both cats and birds if the cats are as domesticated/foolish as our neighbours'.
Example:
Cat on shed roof curiously watches a robin at our ground feeder. After the robin leaves, cat comes over and attempts to try the birdseed mix for herself. Well, if the robin likes it...
South Oxfordshire
Red Kites 2 All other birds and small animals while we're at it 0
There's a Red Kite sanctuary just down the road that has done an amazing job of breeding them back into everyday life. The skies over the towns here are now literally full of them as they seek out rats and mice in people's back gardens. Nothing else stands a chance.
Oh Andrew, please do not put cat "owners" in inverted commas. It makes you look like a middle aged spinster.
Oh I would have liked to do this. Chaffinches and sparrows have become almost completely absent from my garden in North East Wales over the past few years but just recently we have a family of long tailed tits feeding. The maximum seen at one time is 13 on our 3 feeders. They are so cute. Saw a bird of prey the other day in one of our trees and it spread its wings showing pure white underneath. Don't know for sure which bird it was, probably a buzzard. Our feeders are in front of the lounge window so the squirrels are too afraid of us to get that close.
Some cats aren't very interested in catching birds; some aren't very good at it either. Some are just plain lazy!
Bells work well and do not seem to stop my killer cat from catching rats, which I don't care about nearly as much as birds. But actually most birds are pretty hard to catch and respond 'flightily' to movement as well as sound.
Yes I have heard a frog scream in protest at being pawed by a cat. I couldn't believe the volume it put out either.
1 blackbird
1 pied wagtail
None of the other usual suspects (collared dove, feral pigeon, blue tit, sparrow, great tit, mistle thrush) deigned to turn up. My occasional rarity is the grey wagtail (a lovely bird)but on this occasion even the seagulls refused to land.
At least squirrels don't really trouble us round here (the north east).
JohnnyW, Jenny E and all - if you happen to have made a note of how many birds you saw over an hour on either saturday or sunday (long shot, I know), you can still provide your results online. We'll be keeping the web forms open for quite a while yet.
Here's the link, for those who missed it: http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/index.asp
Tom, thank you for caring about how I come across, but this is what I say to the kind of people who would think "middle-aged spinster" when I put cat-"owner" in inverted commas: fuck you with your kneejerk social assumptions! (They're probably the same kind of people who think having a cat is in some way different to having a dog - that having a dog is more manly or something.)
Let's break that assumption down. Is it a crime to be a middle-aged woman who is not married? It wasn't last time I looked. The very phrase "middle-aged spinster" is sexist, as it implies that being a middle-aged woman is in some way worse than being a middle-aged man. It's also ageist, as it implies that being middle-aged is in some way less valid than being younger or older than middle-aged.
It's only an insulting assumption if you accept that being young, male and married - or old, male and married - is intrinsically better than being middle-aged, female and unmarried.
Also, anyone who "owns" a cat knows full well that you merely provide it a place to sleep and some food, you do not own it. This is not whimsy or pretense or evidence of mental incapacity specific to a middle-aged, unmarried woman, which seems to be the implication of your comment, Tom.
I am more than happy to "look like" a middle-aged spinster. Middle-aged spinsters of the world unite. You have nothing to fear but shallow, presumptive idiots.
Shame my folks didn’t come back from their first holiday of the year until late on Sunday. They could have totted up a heck of a count.
One of the best parts of the Christmas break was standing at the kitchen window, looking out past the bare plum trees to the bird table, three feeders hung up and the fat ball nets, identifying all the birds that came calling. I’m surprised they can actually fly away afterwards.
My dad discovered, much to his dismay, that if he wants any leftovers from the fridge he has to get in there quick otherwise they’re chopped up and out on the lawn for the seagulls who calling every morning at six or seven o’clock. Even a pheasant turns up in the summer months.
The squirrel problem is usually solved by putting food out on the ground for them. Though we did see one squirrel stretched between two feeders, his back paws grasping the wire frame of one while his front paws grasped the feeder he was snacking from. In that instance he deserved getting a meal.
A few local cats very occasionally make an appearance, but even at their most stuffed the birds are too quick for the moggies.
I hope I'm not the only one reading this who sniggers every time someone says "tit".
If I am then it really is a sad state of affairs.
Completely missed the date for this but in any case we've recently had a bird of prey (a Kestrel I think, but he's usually too quick to get a good look at) who over-flies and has scared off everything but our solitary little Robin which skits his way from the cover of the bushes to the feeders and back again.
@Richard. In late 2007, I was at a training course in South Oxfordshire and over lunch break a group of us went to watch the Red kites circling over the fields opposite the hotel. We counted 12 or more in the air at one time and it was quite a sight. In fact, so engrossed were we that I very nearly got knocked down by a passing car - a genuine narrow escape.
Thanks Laurence. I'm tempted to give it a bit of a guess, based on what I've seen in the garden previously (and because I really would like to help with this fantastic idea), but I know it's not at all accurate and not what you want or need.
About 3 weeks ago we had 15 (I counted on this occasion) wood pigeons all trying to sit in a rather small tree at the bottom of our garden. Quite a sight (and I don't care how sad that sounds).
I'm the same as JohnnyW, I'll have to make sure I don't miss it next time.
Andrew
Unfortunately I was away from home for the weekend, but I deputised my wife Annie to do the BGBW, and she duly obliged with a good list (although we seem to be missing some quite common species this year - perhaps due to natural fluctuations in numbers). We too have a couple of cats, but they don't seem to put off the birds that visit our feeders. One theory is that the more birds you attract into your garden, the less likely they are to fall victim to cats, because they warn each other more effectively (you may have noticed that many birds of different species have similar warning calls, even though their songs and other calls may be quite distinctive). Bells seem to work quite well to protect small mammals - less so for birds.
I'm quite envious of your male blackcap - our most unusual species in winter are lesser redpolls and siskins, but neither deigned to make an appearance during their big weekend!
I was interested to read that you'd seen a black cap - we've had one visiting our garden (in Hampshire) this month, the first time we've ever seen one. I didn't realise the RSPB thing was happening yesterday but I was busy blogging at the time about the birds we'd seen in our garden in the last couple of weeks (including a picture of the black cap). Will definitely look at those squirrel guard things, as we have at least three living in the tree at the end of our garden, and have lots of jackdaws, rooks and collared doves which are monopolising the bird feeders. Actually the most territorial bird in our garden is a robin, which tries to see off any other birds, including those four times its size.
I am a middle aged spinster with a cat.
And we are people too.
My cat has bought in a couple of live birds and I've had to turn her upside down and shake her like Granny does to Sylvester when he swallows Tweetypie.
Our two new cats do have bells (though in truth we put them on because we like to hear 'em coming, not 'cos of the bird thing), so if that's all it takes I shall be birdfeedering up our back (and front) garden this weekend. Hooray! I've been wanting to do this for ages.
The cats have only just been given the run of the garden and have, predictably, climbed up to the highest parts of the fences, shed and trees. So I'm not sure quite where the feeders will go, but I'll find somewhere.
Andrew, slight change of subject, I did chuckle when Richard Bacon referred to you as the "Presenter's friend". I wasn't sure what he meant but it did sound rather derogatory.
Also didn't you find it ironic that RH piece on swearing was dropped but you yourself (out of the blue it seems) was suddenly asked on a show to talk about it.
I didn't hear the piece as it was a bit late in the evening and had an early start, although I found that Bacon's arguments, or form of tepid-interviewing technique slightly irritating. I thought that the two guests they had on had some interesting points but it seemed to me that Bacon had already made his mind up at least as I heard it.
As far as birds go, all we get down here are seagulls. But there are some Peregrine Falcons in Hove, where it's nicer.
PS, thanks for your defence of middle-aged women. Can we also stop using 'menopausal' as a sneery term? Ta.
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It's interesting how many derogatory terms are rooted in hatred of - or at least fear of - women. Slag, bimbo, tart, crone, bunny-boiler, witch, bag, spinster, battleaxe, ball-buster and as you say, menopausal. Many of these casual terms of abuse don't even have a literal male counterpart. (The previous comment, which I originally posted to expose the misogyny of its author, I have since decided to remove. Why fan the flames of hate?)
I was hoping for a blogpost about Generation Kill - instead I get something about chaffinches. Always a nice surprise on this blog!
I was thinking of waiting until I've seen Episode Two before I write about Generation Kill, although I loved Episode One.
Did someone say 'tits'?
Andrew, I wasn't fanning the flames of hate (it's your blog you can censor as you see fit).
My point, which you completely missed and just made an assumption that I was a misogynist - which I see in no way the response could have been taken at all by the way - was that some asked if we could stop using the term 'menopausal' as a derogatory comment. That is fine, as long as we know when this isn;t used as a derogatory comment.
Just in the same way that you yourself cite Slag, Bimbo etc. Tell me this, using your own example when is Slag, Bimbo etc NOT used as a derogatory comment?
I'm sorry if that wasn't obvious, I would have thought someone who is quick to take people up on such things, didn;t need this pointing out. I.e wasnt the comment referring to Menopausal not being derogatory kind of an oxymoron like my example of moron not being used for anything else but derogatory.
Indeed, some words are created for that purpose only. Whether you like them or not, I have re-read your own thread on the last couple of blog entries and I see you said 'fuck you' to someone, and 'bollox to you' on another recent post.
So I see you feel it is ok for you to insult others (unfairly and rather reactionary it seems from these two example) but not to let others ask the blindingly obvious questions about 'lazy' thinking which I thought the last post was.
You Sir are a Hypocrite.
My eight year old son and his school friend did the Birdwatch with great enthusiasm, which made me very proud.
It seems that goldfinches were the star of the show. We regularly get gangs of them on our feeders. These little birds are so gorgeously coloured and exotic that visitors to our house are often amazed at the sight of them. The collective noun is very appropriate - a charm.
If you want to attract them to your garden, they love nyjer seed. Tiny black seeds that are very rich in energy. You need a special feeder for it but it's worth the investment. If there are any in the area, and with a bit of luck you will have them visiting within a couple of weeks of putting up the feeder.
If they become regular visitors, they will very likely bring their children along once they have reared them - a great privilege. The family group often continues to visit and can stay together until about December.
They like to nest in fruit trees - the exquisite nest being impossible to spot in the fork of a branch.
I love them!
I've never been one for birds, but this month I've become hooked on watching the pecking order (sorry) from my kitchen window during various washing up expeditions.
Four or five collared doves congregate on the branches of a sparse tree, they'll distance themselves when the two magpies come to town. Then when Mr Crow arrives, perched menacingly on a nearby chimney - it's a Ghost Town.
I swear I've seen a green parrot hanging around as well. That's diversity for you, Slough.
John Goat, I apologise if I misread your original post. In response to Ishouldbeworking's comment "Can we also stop using 'menopausal' as a sneery term? Ta", you asked if "menopausal" can ever be used in a non-derogatory way. I took this as a facetious rhetorical dig - because "menopausal" is a medical term used to describe someone who is going through the menopause. (Menopause being "the period marked by the natural and permanent cessation of menstruation, occurring usually between the ages of 45 and 55" - note: "natural".) Thus, the word "menopausal" is first and foremost a term that is neither derogatory nor complimentary.
To address your other points, John - my use of the words "fuck you" was in polite response to someone who warned me not to put speech marks around the word "owner" in cat-"owner" as it might make people think of a middle-aged spinster. I wrote: "Tom, thank you for caring about how I come across, but this is what I say to the kind of people who would think "middle-aged spinster" when I put cat-"owner" in inverted commas: fuck you with your kneejerk social assumptions!" My "fuck you" wasn't aimed at Tom, but at a hypothetical person.
And I wrote "Bollocks to you" in response to someone, a regular contributor, who reacted to my upbeat report about the stars attending the Radio Times party by claiming they were "hardly A-list", even though I hadn't described them as such. Harsh use of "bollocks" maybe, but I was a bit miffed at what I considered to be a rather cynical attitude to a non-cynical blog entry.
I gave "slag, bimbo" as examples of derogatory comments against women because they are very different from "menopausal", which is a medical term, and not slang.
I'm not sure you merit such a long response, but if you're going to call me a hypocrite, that's a charge I take seriously.
Sorry if this seems pedantic, John, but you did call me a hypocrite. I may have misunderstood your comment, for which I have already apologised, but it seems you are still clinging to the notion that "menopausal" is by its nature a derogatory remark, like "moron", as you wrote in your original comment. If this isn't meant to be insulting to women, it certainly comes across that way. The floor is yours, if you still want it.
I'd personally rather go back to talking about garden birds now.
It's a blog. Let's not get excited or upset, Mr Goat.
Now - where're these tits? Can someone provide a link? I've often heard there're tits on the internets, but I've never managed to find them.
PS - Andrew, can you post about music soon please? I need a constructive argument.
There's one just above this one, Swines. Everybody's talking about White Lies. Except me, because I haven't heard it yet.
Whimsical musing on the birds in our gardens; pugnacious quarrelling over semantics; back stories on disputes in other threads - what a blog!
@fourstar
Our bird feeder is now situated inthe middle of our washing line. It means no squirrel can get to it but the birds do well. I don't know exactly why they can't but perhaps the squirrels in our garden don't drink carling black label. I have seen them standing at the end of the line unable to attempt it.
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