Here they come!

#BWKM0 ND&B garden challenge
DAY 16

The southerly airflow is here, the temperature is warming up, and an increasing number of our collective gardens are starting to record summer migrants. As we go deeper into April this migrant trickle will become a torrent. It is easy to assume that, as we are 'locked down' in our gardens, we will largely miss out on this, but that isn't strictly true. We might not get the numbers that coastal sites and inland hill tops might enjoy, but the humble back garden does and can act as a refuelling spot as well. Over the years I have seen a wide selection of warblers, chats and flycatchers utilising gardens and urban parks. If the weather conspires and rain pushes them down you can experience all sorts of weird and wonderful displaced species in the most unpromising of places. We also have a strong wader passage to come, one that does not neglect the inland birder - just a case of ears on stalks at night or 'eyes to the skies' during the day if the weather is right. Together with hirundines, swifts, wagtails and pipits making their way through the country (and over our gardens) it is not a month to be sitting indoors.

Today we have also surpassed the landmark total of 50 gardens. Good birding one and all!

OUR COMBINED TOTAL IS 127 SPECIES   We still seem to be missing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher and Firecrest. 

Today's additions are : Little Ringed Plover (Matt P), Black-tailed Godwit (Matt P), Red-legged Partridge (Benno W) and Wheatear (Dylan W)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

New entries

Jono L (Wanstead, London)
Garden list of 83.
Has so far recorded 52 species including - yes, you've guessed it - Common Scoter.

 Cheech A (Langley Vale, Surrey)
has so far recorded 34 species including Lapwing and Tawny Owl

Benno W (Goodnestone, Kent)
has so far recorded 29 species, including our first Red-legged Partridge!

Phil B (Ramsgate, Kent)
has so far recorded 25 species, and has a historical list of 54.

This brings our 'garden collective' up to 52.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Garden firsts

Isaiah R (New Malden, London) - Brent Goose, Coot
Richard P (Charmouth, Dorset) - Coot
Stephen R (Harrogate, Yorkshire) - Common Scoter
Josephine S (Leatherhead, Surrey) - Mallard, Rook
Ed S (Farncombe, Surrey) - Little Grebe
Arjun Dutta (Wallington, London) - Lapwing
Jono L (Wanstead, London) - Common Scoter
Mark N (Stutton, Suffolk) - Sand Martin, Peregrine

There have now been 82 garden firsts across the competition.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Garden focus
A Room With A View - starring Matt P - looking out across Pulborough Brooks
Gordon H, modelling the latest in viewing towers, Redhill, Surrey
Sean M's place of tranquility in Pinner, London
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How are we getting on?
Alphabetical order by first name. The first figure is the garden score as on March 20th. The second is since then (as up to date as I am aware).

Arjun D (Wallington, Surrey) - 74/48; Benno W (Goodnestone, Kent) xx/29;
Bernard B (Ruckinge, Kent) 107/47; Bob S (Worcester Park, Surrey) 86/21;
Callum M (Hemel Hempstead, Herts) 64/xx; Cheech A (Langley Vale, Surrey) xx/34;
Chris P (Romney Marsh, Kent) - 176/62; Dave B (Chatham Islands, Pacific Ocean) 30/18;
Dave P (Shoreham, West Sussex) - 55/36; David S (West Raynham, Norfolk) - 87/45;
Debbie S (Portland, Dorset) 155/33;  Dylan W (Thanet, Kent) 111/41;
Ed S (Farncombe, Surrey) - 79/71; Gavin H (Bridport, Dorset) xx/33;
Geoff B (Chessington, Surrey) 69/xx; Gill H, Tenterden, Kent) 60/24;
Gordon H (Redhill, Surrey) 80/39; Ian K (Leigh, Surrey) 62/29; Ian S (Sidcup, Kent) - 113/43;
Ian W (Merton Park, London) 86/33; Isaiah R (New Malden, London) 76/42;
John P (Banstead, Surrey) xx/xx; Jono L (Wanstead, London) 83/52;
Josephine S (Leatherhead, Surrey) 40/27; Justin T (Charmouth, Dorset) 59/xx;
Mark D (Dorking, Surrey) 59/49; Mark N (Stutton, Suffolk) - 77/55;
Martin C (Lydd, Kent) 140/65; Mathew B (Wrotham, Kent) - 33/39; 
Matt P (Pulborough, West Sussex) 126/76; Michael D (Craster, Northumberland) 106/48;
Mike R (Battle, East Sussex) 97/41; Oscar D (Chiswick, London) - 67/48;
Paul D (London) 84/35; Pete B (Shadoxhurst, Kent) 101/40;
Phil B (Ramsgate, Kent) 54/25; Reuben B (Tufnell Park, London) - 45/38;
Richard F (Pinner, London) 63/35; Richard P (Charmouth, Dorset) - 101/54; 
Robin S (Cranleigh, Surrey) - 101/46; Sam B (Enniskeane, Cork) - 67/52;
Seamus E (Thornton Cleveleys, Lancs) - 67/27; Sean M (Pinner, London) - 50/35;
Seth G (Uig, Skye) 64/39; Stephen R (Harrogate, Yorks) 66/35;
Steve C (Guildford, Surrey) 66/35; Steve G (Banstead, Surrey) - 92/60;
Steve T (Ewell, Surrey) 59/xx; Stewart S (Howick, Northumberland) 113/46;
Sy W (Aston Clinton, Bucks) - xx/22; Tony B (Woodford, London) 69/42;
Wes A (Capel, Surrey) - 94/66
Sparrowhawk, over Banstead today

Comments

Wild Stutton said…
Up to 60 now Steve.
10 April 2020 at 19:41
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goldfinches and Lavender

Image
We have three medium-sized Lavender bushes in our back garden. Throughout the summer the flowers (which last for several months) are a magnet for insects and give off a most restful aroma. As tempting as it is to cut the dead stems in the autumn, we always leave them, as we know that during the late winter we will get visitors to feed on the seed heads... This video was taken from the kitchen window this morning. We will normally see one or two birds over a few days, but have had up to 14 at once. We never tire of watching them. Lavender is a wonderful plant to have in the garden, with year round natural history benefits. So what are you waiting for? They are readily available at a garden centre close to you right now! There is an historic association with Lavender in this part of northern Surrey and south London. Lavender fields have been harvested for many years, with one particular field close to Woodmansterne being very popular with day trippers. A significant proportion o...
Read more

Welcome back!

Image
In November 2005 I purchased a pair of Swarovski 10x42 EL binoculars from The London Camera Exchange shop in Guildford, for the then princely sum of £899. These bins have served me well, with almost daily use in all types of weather, testing their durability to the maximum - salt water spray, deluges of rain, 38C temperatures, dust, dirt, slight knocks... and apart from the armour coating that had started to bubble and come away from the body, nothing to be alarmed about. Then, in the summer of 2022, I noticed that I had a problem when close focusing - the outer focusing wheel would lose grip and it would take me an age to regain a middle-ground distance of focus - plus, over the next few weeks this outer focusing wheel became loose. I resorted to the use of tape to keep it all in place, but realised that I had to do something about it in the long run. For a while I did consider buying a new pair - after all, they were then 17-years old - but they were still optically superb. It seemed...
Read more

A special day

In birding, timing can mean the difference between an average day in the field and that of a spectacular one. Good timing can be helped by reading the weather conditions correctly, or understanding local conditions but it is more often down to pure luck. In this case, I just got lucky... I had not visited Dungeness since March 2022, quite a gap for me. It was high time that I once more trod the shingle and my timing of a visit was down to several factors, mostly a personal liking for mid-late autumn but also because I needed to be at home until September 20th and could not make the journey south until then. I also chose to stay at the bird observatory for a few days rather than make it a day trip. All this conveniently found me stepping outside the observatory's back door in the breaking dawn of Sunday 22nd September, quickly making my way to the fishing boats, an area I prefer to stand to best appreciate any visible bird migration, an aspect of birding that I find exhilarating.  A...
Read more