GARDEN BIRD SURVEY
The Garden Bird survey last winter took place between November 1999 and March 2000. A total of 22 completed forms has been received, which is an increase of 4 on last year which in turn was an increase of 3 on the previous year. Please continue this excellent support of our survey which over the long term helps us to monitor changes in the populations and species of birds using our gardens over the winter period.
The distribution of gardens was as follows:-
|
Urban |
Suburban |
Rural |
|
1 |
13 |
8 |
|
Small |
Medium |
Large |
|
4 |
14 |
4 |
Amazingly, for the third successive year, exactly the same total number of species has been recorded i.e. 46, but again not exactly the same species. Gardens in Coppull and Whittle recorded the highest number (30), and the typical count was between 20 & 22.
The top twenty has been produced as previously by weighting the scores according to frequency of visit, i.e. 3 points for daily visitors, two for frequent visitors and one for occasional visitors. Therefore, although three species were recorded in all 22 gardens, this methodology enables us to establish a more accurate table, and gives a better indication of the species most likely to be seen at any given time. What the table doesn't show is abundance, and as last year, the most abundant species are still House Sparrow and Starling, although they only occupy positions 7 and 12 respectively. Again as last year, one garden managed to stay House Sparrow free all winter and two didn't see a Starling.
A new entry to the top twenty is Woodpigeon - displacing Siskin - whilst Song Thrush continues to fall, and may yet lose its position in the twenty.
Species which didn't make it were as follows:-
Siskin (14 gardens), Goldcrest (11), Pied Wagtail (7), Blackcap & Carrion Crow (6), Nuthatch & Black-headed Gull (5), Bullfinch & Jackdaw (4), Pheasant, Grey Wagtail, Treecreeper & Mistle Thrush (3), Rook, Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Willow Tit & Tawny Owl (2), and Redwing, Tree Sparrow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Grey Heron, Mallard, Peregrine & Brambling (1).
|
POSITION |
SPECIES |
WEIGHTED SCORE |
GARDENS VISITED |
|
1 (2=) 2 (1) 3 (5) 4 (9) 5 (4) 6 (2=) 7 (8) 8 (7) 9 (6) 10 (12) 11 (10) 12 (11) 13 (13) 14 (15) 15 (14) 16 (17=) 17 (16) 18 (20) 19 ( - ) 20 (17=) |
Blackbird Blue Tit Robin Chaffinch Collared Dove Great tit House Sparrow Dunnock Magpie Coal Tit Greenfinch Starling Wren Jay Goldfinch Sparrowhawk Long-tailed Tit Great Spotted Woodpecker Woodpigeon Song Thrush |
62 59 57 57 56 54 52 52 50 44 43 42 33 31 28 25 25 23 23 21 |
22 22 22 21 21 21 21 20 21 20 20 20 20 15 14 16 14 12 11 14 |
N.B. Last year's positions in brackets.