The last weekend in January 2024 was the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch.
This was the 44th year of this event. Households on Arran not only took part in this survey of garden birds, but some shared their results with me. This year there were 31 sets of Arran results sent to me, compared to 28 last year, 26 in 2022, 35 in 2021 and 22 in 2020.
This year the weekend was dominated by blustery wind and rain. There had recently been two named storms. Last year the weather was more benign.
The range of species seen in each garden ranged from 19 to one with 21 of the gardens recording 10 or more species. (Last year it was similar with 20 gardens recording 10 or more species). One garden recorded more than 180 birds in their allocated hour. In total, 30 species were reported which is three more than last year. The following species were recorded this year but not last: bullfinch, mistle thrush, raven, song thrush, treecreeper and yellowhammer. The following species were not recorded this year but were recorded last year: buzzard, great spotted woodpecker and pied wagtail. Comparing species that were seen in both years, greenfinch went from being recorded in 11 per cent of gardens in 2022 to 25 per cent last year to 42 per cent this year and similarly great tit went from being recorded in 68 per cent of gardens last year to 90 per cent this year. On the other hand, goldfinch decreased from 54 per cent last year to 32 per cent this year.
Chaffinch was recorded in all except one of the gardens and blue tit, great tit and robin were recorded in all except three gardens. Chaffinch had the largest total of birds, namely 359. House sparrow had the second largest total, 165 and coal tit the third largest total, 101.
From the collation from all the gardens, the top 10 birds this year in terms of the number of gardens in which they were seen are: chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, robin, coal tit, blackbird, house sparrow, dunnock, greenfinch and woodpigeon. This is the same top eight as last year, greenfinch and woodpigeon replacing goldfinch and collared dove in the top 10. The order is different with some species moving up and others moving down. For example, great tit moved up from eighth last year to second this year while blackbird moved down from second last year to sixth this year.
For a collation of all the Arran data from the Big Garden Birdwatch for the last five years visit www.arranbirding.co.uk/files/Arran-RSPB-Garden-BirdWatch-2024.pdf
While this information is interesting, too much should not be read into these small samples. It is a fun survey to do but it only covers one weekend in the year. If you enjoy your garden birds, there is a survey that you can join that encourages people to record their garden bird sightings every week of the year. It is called the British Trust for Ornithology Garden BirdWatch. To find out more about it you can visit www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw
Enjoy your birding.
Please send any bird notes with “what, when, where” to me at Kilpatrick Kennels, Kilpatrick, Blackwaterfoot, KA27 8EY, or e mail me at jim@arranbirding.co.uk I look forward to hearing from you. For more information on birding on Arran purchase the annual bird report. The “Arran Bird Report 2023” should be in outlets round Arran in time for Easter. Look out for it. Last year was sold out. Plus visit the website www.arranbirding.co.uk/index.html
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