Bird watch & Bird box

For the past two years I have taken part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, and I have also run the Big Schools' Birdwatch at my school. You can see the species that we saw this year here as I recorded them in my nature diary.


















I was super excited this year, as I had 22 students from years 7 - 9 take part, and more who came to see me a little too late. I made sure that I had established bird feeders just before the summer holiday to provide a variety of food for the birds to try to ensure that there was more to see this year than last year. We were lucky, instead of miserable drizzle and the few birds that we spotted last year, we had a beautiful clear day, and good views of lots of different birds. Although, I'm sure that there was a robin that waited until we had all turned our backs to come and have a nibble.

I was also lucky enough before the summer to purchase a bird box with integrated webcam, and it was attached to my lab, with a permanent video feed, in the last week of January. Only a week later, and I'm happy to report that we have already had some visitors! Two blue tits, presumably a pair, have been regularly checking out the box (every day this week), much to the delight of the classes I was teaching at the time. My tutor group and I decided that we should keep a diary of when they visited the box to see if there was a pattern; so far it's been anywhere between 8 am and 11 am. I just hope they decide to make it their home for the spring!

One of the blue tits that visited during the Big Garden Birdwatch, 26th January 2014