BTO Garden Birdwatch- A rare visitor for David

When one watches a certain bird place frequently, like your own garden, you get to be familiar with all the regular species that visit.  So when something different flies in, you spot it immediately.  For me the excitement came last week, when I saw a chaffinch that looked different.

The gizz said –“not chaffinch”.  First sight was part hidden in the branches and then it disappeared.  This gave me opportunity to dive for my bird book so I could confirm that it was indeed – a Brambling.  A few moments later, it returned allowing me to be secure in my identification and record it in Garden Birdwatch (GBW). This is only the second recording for my garden in 17 years; the first was November 2010, so I am well pleased.

Can I endorse Laura’s encouragement for you to join GBW?  The best bit is that the birds in your garden can join those in the 6,500 other gardens spread across Britain and you don’t need to be an expert.  You record what you can identify each week and you build up your expertise as you go along.

Data can be entered on paper or online.  This is a continuous data base, unlike the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which is once a year.

Costs £17 per year and well worth it for the quarterly magazine, the BirdTable. Full of facts and figures, bird profiles, Q’s and As, letters etc.  Have a look at the web site.

http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw

David  Holland