Big Garden StithiansWatch

... or something like that.

Our garden in town isn't really our own, and with 9+ cats in the immediate vicinity and no bird feeding going on (if we did it should then probably be called 'cat feeding' instead) we headed up to the Stithians feeding station for an hour's vigil this Saturday morning.

Our* timed hour (10:40 - 11:40) resulted in the following species totals. (ie the maximum number recorded occurring together at once) -

Water Rail 1

Moorhen 1

Woodpigeon 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2

Blackbird 2

Robin 4

Dunnock 4

Wren 1

Long-tailed Tit 9

Great Tit 4

Blue Tit 2

House Sparrow 2

Goldfinch 6

Greenfinch 2

Chaffinch 16

Reed Bunting 3

Magpie 2

(All on, or in the immediate vicinity of the feeders themselves)

Lots of lotties (Long-tailed Tits)

Worth a closer look? ... Awww ...

There were also c.14 Teal, 1 Grey Heron and 4 Snipe on the Southern Cut-off (but we didn't really count them, as they aren't really 'garden birds' and they weren't that close by) and after the hour was up, 12 or so Redwing also flew into the trees behind the feeders.

Great Spotted Woodpecker playing coy.

The Magpie. Innocence personified ...

A brief look at the main reservoir also revealed the following -

102 Canada Goose
62 Wigeon
19 Teal
17 Mallard
6 Tufted Duck
2 Goldeneye
7 Little Grebe
1 Slavonian Grebe
2 Grey Heron
1 Little Egret

(Didn't carry out the counts ourselves, we almost certainly saw mostly the same birds though; numbers from the notebook immediately prior to our arrival as reported by D Eva (nice to meet you again btw!))


Other notable sightings from the week past include -

17/01/15 - 150 Herring Gull, 50 Black-headed Gull, 2 Common Gull, 1 Mediterrnaean Gull (J and F Rice)

24/01/15 - 70 Lapwing from the SH hide (Simon Van Hear)

Thanks also to Simon for the bird seed contribution.

Slavonian Grebe. (Full zoom, then cropped some .. )

(* 'We' being myself and girlfriend Suzi, and S Perfect, also currently of Falmouth)