NEW FOREST RSPB LOCAL GROUP
GARDEN BIRD SURVEY
July - September 2013
Firstly my apologies for the mix up with the dates on the last recording form; every few years we have to have a fourteen week quarter in order to adjust the dates and this adjustment slipped through the system. Most of you spotted the error and added in the missing week at the end of September on one or other of the forms. Thanks.
Going back to the birds; for the summer quarter many of us commented that bird numbers seem to down on the usual and this is reflected in the data when compared to the corresponding period in 2012. There were only a few changes in the order but the percentage figures were considerably lower for many species in both lists. The commoner birds at the top of our lists showed the smallest falls with those in mid-table showing wider variations. Goldfinch, greenfinch, nuthatch, great spotted woodpecker, carrion crow, coal tit, long-tailed tit and wren were all seen about 20 to 25 percent less often. Coal tit sightings were down by almost a half. There were some exceptions with chaffinch, song thrush and jackdaws all being seen more regularly. Chiffchaff made it into the gardens list for the first time being seen in a quarter of our gardens but only for one or two weeks. Collared doves appeared in less gardens but remained very regular in those gardens they still visited.
Possible explanations for the decrease in sightings include the abundance of natural food in the wild and the fact that some people put out less feed in the summer or stop feeding altogether. Going on holiday is another factor: while we are away and our feeders are empty the birds get used to finding their food elsewhere and when we return home and fill our feeders again the birds take a little while to re-establish a feeding pattern which includes our gardens.
Birds regularly reported flying over included the usual swallows, swifts and house martins but these were seen in very few gardens. Buzzards and ravens were also seen overhead quite often with peregrine, red kite, kestrel, meadow pipit, heron and Mediterranean gull also seen occasionally. A possible honey buzzard was also reported.
Other birds seen, (again no surprises) were: black-headed gull and jay (8 gardens); siskin and herring gull (7); pied wagtail, rook, stock dove and feral pigeon (5); marsh tit and tawny owl (4); grey heron (3); goldcrest, swallow, willow warbler; kestrel, mallard, tree creeper, pheasantand grey wagtail (2); blackcap, swift, moorhen, hawfinch, great black-backed gull and lesser black-backed gull (1 garden).
Table 1: Percent/BirdweeksTable 2: Percent/Birdgardens
1 / Blackbird / 97.4 / 12 / Wood pigeon / 94.7 / 2
3 / Robin / 92.5 / 4
4 / Blue tit / 88.4 / 3
5 / Dunnock / 82.8 / 5
6 / Great tit / 72.3 / 6
7 / Collared dove / 67.5 / 7
8 / House sparrow / 61.1 / 9
9 / Chaffinch / 56.8 / 12
10 / Goldfinch / 56.0 / 10
11 / Magpie / 54.6 / 11
12 / Greenfinch / 52.5 / 8
13 / Starling / 51.4 / 14
14 / Nuthatch / 33.8 / 13
15 / Great spotted woodpecker / 30.4 / 15
16 / Carrion crow / 29.2 / 17
17 / Jackdaw / 27.7 / 18
18 / Song thrush / 22.7 / 19
19 / Coal tit / 22.5 / 16
20 / Wren / 18.8 / 20
21 / Black-headed gull / 13.8 / -
22 / Green woodpecker / 13.6 / 23
23 / Long-tailed tit / 10.9 / 21
24 / Bullfinch / 9.8 / -
25 / Siskin / 8.9 / 24
1 / Blackbird / 100 / 1
1 / Wood pigeon / 100 / 3
1 / Robin / 100 / 3
1 / Blue tit / 100 / 1
5 / Dunnock / 97 / 3
6 / Great tit / 94 / 3
7 / Chaffinch / 91 / 10
7 / Greenfinch / 91 / 3
9 / Magpie / 84 / 9
10 / Goldfinch / 79 / 11
10 / House sparrow / 79 / 13
10 / Starling / 79 / 14
13 / Song thrush / 74 / 17
14 / Collared dove / 68 / 18
15 / Nuthatch / 62 / 14
16 / Coal tit / 59 / 11
17 / Wren / 56 / 16
18 / Great spotted woodpecker / 53 / 17
18 / Carrion crow / 53 / 19
20 / Jackdaw / 44 / 24
21 / Long-tailed tit / 41 / 20
22 / Green woodpecker / 38 / 23
22 / Sparrowhawk / 38 / 21
24 / Bullfinch / 29 / 25
25 / Chiffchaff / 26 / -
The percentage figure in Table 1 is calculated by adding the percentage of weeks that each observer records any species and dividing by the number of observers. If an observer records a species for 9 weeks in a 12 week period this is 75% for that observer. If the total of all the percentages for 50 observers is 3000 this gives a percent/birdweeks figure of 60. If half of the observers each record a species for half of the weeks we would get 25% for the percent/birdweeks figure.
The percent/birdgardens figure is simply the number of gardens in which a species has been recorded divided by the number of recorders and multiplied by 100.
The last column in each table gives the corresponding rank position for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
DR 041213