BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Survey 26 March - 1 April

The blue sky of Wednesday didn't last long - it was closely followed by rain, rain, rain and more rain - but it did, however, provide Birdman with the opportunity to give the back lawn it's first cut of the year!

I've weeded the bottom border again this weekend as the dreaded couch grass makes a return; the damn stuff is all over the place. I need a solution - I don't want to spend the entire summer pulling up couch grass (yawn!).

We need to finish the edges of the lawn, too; they need shaping properly and I want to make some of the borders wider, and join a couple of them up, too. We need the lawn to dry out a bit first though - it's like walking on a sponge at the moment so we can't spend too much time on it.

Back to the birds:

Even though the garden is still busy, there is a certain calm to the normally hectic feeding stations; we have seen a massive drop in Chaffinch numbers - I presume a large number of the Chaffs were winter visitors who have now migrated back. Also, as our solitary Brambling, who first turned up on 19th January, hasn't been recorded this week, I guess it too has migrated back for the summer (Scandinavia/Siberia bound, along with the Chaffinch!). Some of our Greenfinch may have travelled down south for the summer.

The drop in Chaffinch and Greenfinch numbers seems to have made way for more Goldfinch and Siskin - we've had record numbers of both species this week. Also, I noted that a Coal Tit was making regular trips every day to the mixed seed. Although he is a regular to the garden, he's been around a lot more this week.

I am yet to record the familiar song of the Chiffchaff from the back garden; a regular sound last summer.

Here's the list for the past week. As always, the figure in brackets shows the highest number recorded together:

(Our complete garden list can be seen here)

1. Woodpigeon (5)
2. Goldfinch (14 - new record)
3. Chaffinch (15)
4. Greenfinch (25 - 25 recorded Saturday, 12 rest of week)
5. Siskin (9 - new record)
6. Starling (4)
7. House Sparrow (2)
8. Coal Tit (1)
9. Blue Tit (2)
10. Sparrowhawk (1)
11. Robin (1)
12. Blackbird (2)
13. Pheasant (1)
14. Pied Wagtail (1)
15. Great Tit (1)

AWOL this week: Brambling, Yellowhammer, Wren, Dunnock, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, BHG.

Would like to see return: Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow and Goldcrest!

Wish list: Long-tailed Tit, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

Garden Life List: 29 (garden will be one-year old in May this year)

Garden Year List: 26