My RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2020

Every day is a Big Garden Birdwatch in my garden, as I have a network of cameras and I monitor all the feeders constantly! I could have predicted the species that I would record today as I intimately know the species that visit! The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is an annual event and, for four decades, the Big Garden Birdwatch  has recorded the visitors to our British gardens, thanks to increasing numbers of individuals who take part each year. It has highlighted the winners and losers in the garden bird world and is one of the biggest citizen science project!

Today, I used my network of cameras to record some of the visitors that make up my species count.  Some of the cameras are wired IP cameras, that are connected to my PC and run through a piece of software called iCatcher Console. This records 24-7 and I can play it back and lift the footage.


I also lifted footage from the Birdsy camera. I have written about this project throughout last year, as I am working with the team who are producing this amazing bit of software and hardware.  Basically the little Birdsy camera, along with a clever piece of software, records all the visitors to a feeding station, saves a video and used AI to ID the species!

The quality on this cam is fantastic and I have captured some lovely clips today! I have two set ups, each with a Birdsy cam monitoring. This first one is using a box I designed for my trail camera. It works well as the camera is inside, with a clear roof to allow light inside and a caged front, to prevent the squirrels and larger species from taking over.

This second set up is using two CJ Wildlife feeders. The cage is designed for a fat ball feeder, but I used it to house one of their other feeders which I like as it has a clear roof and the food is kept dry. Once again, the cage prevents squirrels and larger species from dominating.

It was a grey, rainy kind of day and not the best for birdwatch, but I chose the hour in the day that best represented the visitors in my garden. Missing were the buzzard, jay, carrion crow, song thrush and sparrowhawk, all of which make regular visits to my garden.

My final count of species that I have submitted is:

It is not as high a count as I have had some years, regarding numbers of different species, but a good selection of species!

pole feeders 1
Bullfinch
LTT_2
Mixed tits Back
Birdsy_Short_V3
Greenfinch1580049424578
1080p
Blue tit Robin 1580036921029
Black cap Great tit1580033715924


from www.wildlifekate.co.uk https://wildlifekate.wordpress.com/2020/01/26/my-rspb-big-garden-birdwatch-2020/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 off to a reasonable start

Image
Overcast, 5°, light NNW. A Little Egret seen today on the way out to Lollingdon and appeared to drop down near Amwell Spring. The hill hosted around 100 Fieldfare and a flock of c50 Meadow Pipit for a time before moving off over the top. Several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer around the hill and a single Corn Bunting . A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail feeding out with the Sheep. A few more Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around the Lollingdon area, a Goldcrest , Grey Heron , Kestrel , a couple of Jay , 2 Bullfinch and several Starling amongst other species. A Brambling in a private garden. Per Alan Dawson. 2 Blackcap in TW’s garden and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW. The flock of c60 Golden Plover still around Cholsey Hill. Brambling (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-off-to-reasonable-start.html
Read more

A Butterfly day

Image
Another sunny day, 24°, light E. A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass. Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere. Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing. Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view. Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route. Other species noted were: Small Skipper , Large Skipper , Large White , Small White , Green-veined White , Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2). Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady , Small Tort and Marbled White . Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawke
Read more

A Great Start to 2020 at Yew View – Tawny Owls & Interesting Feeding Station Meetings!

Image
We had a great year at Yew View last year, with lots of great wildlife and some amazing insights into the lives of our local wildlife, especially our lovely Tawny Owl pair who raised  their beautiful owlets to fledge into the garden. We built an otter holt, with cameras and encouraged as much wildlife as we could into this 7 acre site. We have lots of exciting ideas and projects for 2020, of course. Hopefully, after months of high river levels, we will get our otter holt up and running with its two cameras. It has spent more time under water than above water so far and the cameras are sitting up in the office, waiting for the river to be stable enough for me to feel confident about reinstalling them! We are also going to upgrade some of the cameras we have, as well as creating some new feeding stations. We have a new piece of land that is also going to be developed for wildlife this year….. a large pool and boggy area for dragonflies and damselflies, wild flower meadow, tree planting
Read more