Corona Wildlife Diary: Day Eighty-two

Day Eighty-two

Well, I can't believe we've been running the Back Garden Bird Race for ten weeks. I still get excited every Sunday at 10am. I scored 25 again this week and I fear my hopes of getting to 30 are fading.

And it wasn't helped this week by the lack of a Robin. There's almost always a Robin about somewhere. There seems to be plenty of pairs with territories in the cul-de-sac, so for one not to fly through the garden in any given hour is quite a feat. Anyway, I was so annoyed with them that I'm going them the subject of a stern blog tomorrow. 

It wasn't just me with a Robin-less bird race total. Margaret commented “Where was the Robin? Not seen or heard!" and Tom said "Mine too were conspicuous by their absence until I heard a single peep out of one with just two minutes left. I'd definitely start penning that blog!". 

Other people were also suitably miffed that, after ten Bird Races, there were common birds that were 'no shows' today. Chris in Brighton remarked that it was his "First race to not get Dunnock", while Jill reported "Not a single Blue Tit today. Last week my garden was full of fluffbundles and harassed parents!"

(Photos from this morning by Andrew Chandler-Grevatt)

Ten year old bird photographer Reuben Port sent in the best photograph of a Woodpigeon I have ever seen:

Here's some Bird Race photos of Nuthatches visiting Pearl Carter (left) and Tony Cook's bird feeders. 

...at least I hope that's Tony's bird feeder and he's not caging birds so he can count them during 10-11 on Sundays. 

Elsewhere others were noting on the appearance of of one of our most attractive garden birds - the Bullfinch. Ryan said he was "Happy that my choice to hold back on mowing and preserving the buttercups is being rewarded with some fabulous Bullfinch encounters!"

Martin said his highlight today in Cuckfield was  "Two male Bullfinches feeding on Herb Robert seeds". Bullfinches were also the highlight of Mike's Bird Race in Herstmonceux - "They were calling the whole hour of the bird-race - a male singing briefly, a pair contact calling a couple of times and a juvenile calling continuously throughout".  Sally, was also watching these beautiful finches and recommended that you "Plant Amelanchier lamarckii for Bullfinch who love the little red berries right now"

(Bullfinch eating the buttercups, Photo by Ryan Graves)

Thank you to everyone who took part in this week's Back Garden Bird Race. Congratulations to everybody who achieved a new Personal Best score. Here are the results from this week. Apologies as always for any errors or omissions.

Andy has been providing us with various charts and Venn diagrams to represent his Bird Race results - these week we have a Red Kite shaped wordcloud

Key: Orange = seen & heard, Green = seen, Purple = heard, Black = expected  (recorded in past bird races but not today)

(Photos from Sue Walton, Reuben Port, Sarah Bonnot-Tijhaar)

This list shows all the birds reported from Sussex gardens this week, from most frequent (in red) to least frequent (in green) with a total count of 67 species.

Thank you to Lois Mayhew of Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre for her help with today's data.

So, as I mentioned last week my plan is that I'm going to write this daily diary until Day 100 (25 June).

We'll hold two more weekly Bird Races on 14 June and 21 June. After that we'll run the Bird Races once a month.

It's been lovely to know that these weekly events have been so popular and that so many people have appreciated them as something more than just an hour's distraction. Helen sent in this lovely comment with her sightings today.

"This brings me so much pleasure. It really is a high point of my week and both an anchor and a reassurance during these difficult times. It never fails to be uplifting and a blessing, to observe the comings and goings. Watching the numerous fledglings, especially the Starlings which are the most numerous, is delightful and they are so entertaining. There are brave sparrows who contest with them on the feeders. Blue Tits darting in and out, to quickly take a peanut or suet pellet, when the other birds aren't looking and a constant, changing scene as the birds swoop down and sweep across the lawn, or land on the feeders, squabbling and darting here and there, sometimes seeming propelled by the wind. They come and go and come and go, again. Sometimes spooked by the tiniest movements, or things unknown.  The Woodpigeon who seems to enjoy swinging up and fro on the largest hanging feeder, before settling to eat. Then other pigeons vying for solitary possession of the tray feeders and there's a Starling who does the same. I've been impressed by the hovering abilities of several species too (the smaller ones as I cannot quite picture the pigeons managing it as successfully).  These are pleasures I enjoy on as many days as I can but the Sunday morning Back Garden Bird Race elevates them to another level. Thank you so much for this".