Big Garden Birdwatch 2024

 

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is an annual survey held on the same weekend each year to count the number of birds across the UK. This year marked its 45th year and my 11th year taking part.

If it wasn't clear by now, birds are a huge part of my life and their protection is of high importance to me. I spend an unfathomable amount of my life doing something to do with birds, be it watching, feeding, photographing, reading about them and so on. Since first taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch I've moved house over 5 times to places with varying amounts of wildlife. Considering that we currently live technically in an urban environment, 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. That doesn't mean anything for my results though, because as always the birds seem to know when the RSPB survey is on and don't turn up on those days!

Below are the photos taken during our Big Garden Birdwatch 2024!

See posts from previous years here:
Big Garden Birdwatch 2023
Big Garden Birdwatch 2022

2024 Big Garden Birdwatch Results
Blackbird - 1
Bluetit - 4
Dunnock - 1
House Sparrow - 4
Magpie - 5
Robin - 1
Rock Dove - 17
Starling - 4
Woodpigeon - 1


As mentioned above, and in last year's post, despite having counted 38 birds over one hour on Friday 26th of January that is nothing compared to usual. 
As it's part of my everyday routine to feed the birds, top up feeders, clean and fill bird baths etc I'm quite clued in to who my regular visitors are. It's not unusual to see up to 70 Rock Doves though my usual crowd sits between 24-40, there are 7 Magpies who tend to visit in a group of 3 and a group of 4 or all together and a certain Robin and a male Blackbird who are practically permanent residents. The biggest disappointment for the count was with the House Sparrows who love to visit the feeding station we have set up in our elder bush. Some days there is a queue for the multiple feeders with at least 10 birds but during the survey, a mere 4 showed up.
This year the weather was dry and sunny with a temperature of around 7°C.
Today as I'm typing this, it's dull and rainy and about 6°C and we've had way more birds than on the 26th - typical!

It's always fun to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and I love that it coincidentally overlapped with my reading of  'Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds'. If you are interested in birds, the history of the RSPB and feel that birding on a whole seems very male-dominated, give this book a read!

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 be dried up or frozen over.

For more information on the RSPB, Big Garden Birdwatch and the protection of birds, click here.