This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Friday 11 January 2013

Bird Watch 2013


Above: my resident robin.
For the past two years I’ve participated in the annual bird watch promoted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). This year the event takes place in the UK on the 26-27 January 2013. Many bloggers have taken superb photos of the birds that visit their garden and I’ll be trying to do this once again. 

Bird watch is one of the world's largest wildlife survey events and the RSPB have a bird identification chart and counting sheet available from their website (link located above).


The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place in the USA  on 15-18 February and information is available from http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/  (I’m not sure when other regions hold their events.)

Good luck taking photos if you’re taking part – I find photographing birds very challenging but so much fun too!


Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

6 comments:

  1. Which basically for us means the birds take a weekend break!

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  2. Hi Kelli, glad to get the info on U.S backyard bird count days. I want to do that this year, as my property is a place birds love! (I suppose most of Florida is like that this time of year). Hope you see many birds in your garden and get lots of great photos!

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  3. We are consummate birders here. We put up lots of feeders hoping to attract what I call exotic song birds--meaning anything other sparrows and ring necked doves. So we will be counting too for the Great American Bird Count. Thanks for reminding us. I hope you get good pictures and share them.

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  4. I'm hoping to take part. My feeders are always full so I just need to set aside some time to count the birds.

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  5. Good on you Kelli, I find birds extremely difficult to photograph also but they are the soul of the garden and deserve more support from all of us. I hope you succeed in your mission. In New Zealand we are developing sanctuaries for our rare and endangered birds, including offsore islands where they can breed without danger from ferrets, rats, possums and cats. It is an uphill struggle but there are some notable successes.

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  6. I'm with Sue on this one - when the great birdwatch comes around all the birds disappear. But I'll still be keeping an eye out and making notes.

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