The Magpie's Hoard

Birdsong

At this time of year, I find myself looking for any small sign that winter is loosening its grip - the slightest hint that spring is on its way.

As darkness fell around 5 o'clock this afternoon, a blackbird was singing hesitantly from the birch tree in our back garden. I paused to listen and also picked up the distant sound of a song thrush in full flow.

It won't be long now...

Wren

Today I took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch survey.

Thankfully, the weather was much better than it was last year. I managed to get a few shots of the birds through the kitchen window too!

More Bigby Results

Earlier in the week I received an email from my friend John, who also took part in the public transport Bigby:

"I had a great year... it pushed me to get out more and try new places and investigate new train and bus routes. I was rather pleased with my total of 187, although at one point I had hopes of reaching 200. King Eider, Glossy Ibis, Red-footed Falcon, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Yellow-browed Warbler were my highlights."

As far as I know, John's Bigby species tally is the highest achieved by a UK-based birder.

Branching out

The UK Natural History Bloggers webring is now open to Irish bloggers.

See uknhb.blogspot.com

Bigby Final Results

Today I submitted my final results for the Bigby Greenbirding challenge.

Just filling in the results spreadsheet turned out to be a challenge in its own right. I find the "international" bird names very confusing. For instance, it took me a while to work out whether the British species of magpie (Pica pica) is known internationally as the black-billed magpie or the Eurasian magpie (it's the latter, I think).

Despite a few taxonomic blunders, I eventually arrived at a total of 154 species. This is one species less than my original total. For some reason, I had added crested tit to the list - as I didn't venture north of Edinburgh in 2008, that was definitely wishful thinking!