As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 3 October 2014

Will Britain's garden birds stay for winter?

news/robinRobins are among the birds largely absent from Britain's gardens last winter
Last winter Britain’s gardens were unusually quiet, with their usual visiting birds largely absent. Blackbirds, robins, song thrushes and chaffinches were among the birds that chose to spent their time foraging in the countryside instead of in gardens due to the abundance of food available there.
But a quiet winter was followed by a busier spring and summer, as the warmer weather enjoyed by the UK in 2014 meant that bird numbers were able to pick up quickly, according to findings from the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTOGarden BirdWatch.
Now the BTO are keen to find out whether the birds will stay for the colder months, or whether they will once again prefer to spend autumn and winter in the countryside rather than in gardens.
The Trust rely on recordings taken down by their Garden BirdWatch volunteers, who over the past year have provided valuable data that revealed average robin numbers have been higher this year than in the previous two years. BTO say that this could be due to a mild winter and a good breeding season.
Numbers of great tit were also seen to have rapidly increased in May, reaching their highest average numbers in September than in the past seven years. Other birds that were seen to do well in gardens over the summer months included dunnocks, blue tits, and great spotted woodpeckers.

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