Big Churchyard Birdwatch

On a bright sunny morning in January, we walked down to the Piddlehinton churchyard for the RSPBs Big Garden Birdwatch. This is the second time we have surveyed here since the start of the Piddlehinton Living Churchyard project so we were excited to see whether there would be any difference.

As we entered the churchyard we were greeted with carpets of snowdrops and a couple of crocus heads peeping out. Once settled with our backs to the dazzling sun we started to record. The RSPB rules state that you watch for one hour and only record birds that land in your area at any one time. For example if 2 sparrows land, fly away and then 4 sparrows land, you can only count 4 sparrows.

Our results over the hour were:

Goldfinch x 3

Blackbird x 1

Robin x 4

Blue tit x 4

Collared dove x 1

House sparrow x 3

Jackdaw x 5

Great spotted woodpecker x 1

Great tit x 1

Wren x 1

Pigeon x 3

Greenfinch x 1

This was a big improvement on last year when with similar weather, we recorded 5 or 6 species, mainly jackdaws and sparrows. No surprise to the locals!

As we left the churchyard, we realised that the sunshine had brought out a fabulous show of crocuses.

Update:

A further survey was carried out the following day with the results below:

Jackdaw x 2

Blackbird x 2

Rook x 25

Robin x 2

Great tit x 2

Great spotted woodpecker x 1

House sparrow x 4

Goldfinch x 5

Blue tit x 2

Crow x 2

Fieldfare x 2

Coaltit x 1

Woodpigeon x 1

Collared doves x 2

Dunnock x 2