Big Garden Birdwatch 2023

 

The very first RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch was held in 1979 making 2023 its 44th year. 

It was my 10th year taking part this year which I thought was a pretty big achievement but seems to pale in comparison when you see it next to the number 44!
For those who don't know, it's an annual survey held on the same weekend to count the number of birds across the UK. Last year almost 700,000 people took part.

Of course, birds are a huge part of my life and their protection is of high importance to me. I spend much of my days not only watching the birds but feeding and photographing them too so I always look forward to the Big Garden Birdwatch. Over the past 10 years, I've lived in at least 5 different places with varying amounts of wildlife, and considering that we currently live suburban-ly, around 5 miles away from farmland and a mile away from a river this is probably the biggest range of birds and wildlife we've ever had as regular visitors.

Below are the photos taken during our Big Garden Birdwatch 2023!

As usual, just like every other year, our usual daily visitors seem to know it's the weekend that I count them and far fewer than normal stopped by.

2023 Big Garden Birdwatch Results
Pigeon - 14
House Sparrow - 3
Starling - 5
Robin - 1
Great Tit - 2
Blue Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 1
Blackbird - 3
Magpie - 2
Herring Gull - 6
Jackdaw - 1
Wood Pigeon - 1

That might seem like a good amount of birds to some people but compared to normal it really isn't. I've known there to be up to 40 Pigeons in my garden at once, at least 10 Sparrows playing in the bushes and other birds like Dunnocks and Collared Doves stopping by too. 
The turnout was so poor on the day I originally set out to count that I had to wait until the next day to try again so I'm glad that I was able to welcome those I did. 

Oh, I also wanted to mention that the photo of the Magpies is on my neighbour's garden wall. I have no idea what was put out. They occasionally put bits out on their wall but don't get many takers though obviously on this day two Magpies did pop by to have a nose about. 
Our birds are only fed seed mixes, suet pellets, suet blocks and balls, and nuts. I have a mix of different feeders in lots of different locations to appeal to as many species as possible.

If you can, I encourage you to feed your local birds. Please also put out fresh clean water for them at all times of the year but especially in the hot summers and super cold winters when natural sources may by dried up or frozen over. 

Check out last year's post and see how different my results were here > RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2022



Read more about the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch here.