Big Garden Birdwatch – bumper bird day

V and I have been doing the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch for about four years now.

Unfortunately the birdwatch is usually a rather depressing activity as our garden doesn’t get that many feathered visitors. We’ve always thought this was probably due to the fact that the garden was very empty when we bought the house. There were no trees or shrubs and therefore very little cover for the birds.

Over the last four years we’ve been planting more trees, shrubs and also our native hedge. We’ve also been regularly feeding the birds putting up nest boxes and generally trying to encourage them in.

This year we’ve seen the first indications that our activities might be working. During the hour of the birdwatch we saw:

• A male blackbird – feeding on the lawn
• A female robin – looking for insects by the hazel tree and then by the pond
• A female sparrow – feeding on the bird feeder
• A wren – eating cotoneaster berries

Given that we’ve seen nothing in previous years this has been a significant improvement.