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Garden List 2011 (1 Viewer)

130. GREAT GREY SHRIKE (164 total)
Sadly not for me as I'm in a portakabin in Oxfordshire, but Sue did some nifty scoping across the river this morning!

Rob
 
Great grey shrike now on my garden list too. Better views than I was expecting. Probably the best passerine on the garden list, though water pipit is rarer in a Scottish context.

Rob
 
edenwatcher said:
Great grey shrike now on my garden list too. Better views than I was expecting. Probably the best passerine on the garden list, though water pipit is rarer in a Scottish context.

Rob
Click to expand...

What does that put your ''In garden list'' on now Rob? (to include boundary hedges and house roof etc.

:t:
 
A very interesting thread.

Whilst not wishing to compete with any other subscriber's Garden List, I offer the following sightings from my "plot"out of interest: Wryneck, Black WP, Black Kite, Pallas's Wblr, Crested Tit, GGS, Gt White Egret, Hobby, Honey Buzzard, Goshawk and Osprey. RBS missed by only 50 mtrs (view obscured by trees), and twice yearly overhead passage of up to 10,000 Common Cranes on migration.

Regular nesting birds on my plot include Whitethroat, Gdn Wblr, Blackcap, Willow Wblr, Chiff-Chaff, Alba Wag, MSWP, Black Redstart and ST Treecreeper.

Having relocated here only a few short years ago, and accutely aware of the extent to which the area is "underwatched", I am still wondering what will turn up next - a great buzz with each new season. Good luck to all garden listers.
 
I'm almost certainly finished now (73..and no House Sparrow at all this year!)...however my current ''in out split'' total (not for the year, but all time... is exactly 50:50.

cheers
 
SAARLAND BIRDER said:
A very interesting thread.

Whilst not wishing to compete with any other subscriber's Garden List, I offer the following sightings from my "plot"out of interest: Wryneck, Black WP, Black Kite, Pallas's Wblr, Crested Tit, GGS, Gt White Egret, Hobby, Honey Buzzard, Goshawk and Osprey. RBS missed by only 50 mtrs (view obscured by trees), and twice yearly overhead passage of up to 10,000 Common Cranes on migration.

Regular nesting birds on my plot include Whitethroat, Gdn Wblr, Blackcap, Willow Wblr, Chiff-Chaff, Alba Wag, MSWP, Black Redstart and ST Treecreeper.

Having relocated here only a few short years ago, and accutely aware of the extent to which the area is "underwatched", I am still wondering what will turn up next - a great buzz with each new season. Good luck to all garden listers.
Click to expand...

Some cracking birds there. What is MSWP?

CB
 
Jonny721 said:
Middle spotted woodpecker maybe?
Click to expand...

You got it, Jonny721. Apologies for excessive use of TLAs; force of habit I'm afraid. I posted before Andy Hurley's TLA thread got underway.....

Middle Spotted WP is far from common here, and I was really upbeat when I noted the efforts of a pair to locate their yearly brood site in an old oak at the bottom of my patch. The tree in question was hosting a large bracket type fungi some twenty-plus feet up the trunk and they went in from the side of this (presumably the wood was easier to work). I was concerned to leave them relatively undisturbed, and limited my visits to once weekly. The last I saw of them was three or more young coming up to the entrance as one or other of the parents returned with offerings. They only occupied the site once, three years ago now, and have not been back. This suggests that they excavate new each year. However, I regularly hear their distinct call each year, early in the season.

Other regular annual sightings here include Swallowtail butterfly. Nobody sprays crops or gardens in this area. Perhaps that has something to do with the abundance of wildlife to be seen.

Latest of interest here: Six Red Kites, slow and purposeful flight W in loose formation.
 
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Glad to see this is still going. Only been out in the garden once or twice since returning from Thailand in the hope of a new species, but no go. A couple of Ravens flew low over the other day, though, which was nice.

Have three non-work days left - so there's still hope!
 
Cheshire Birder said:
Some cracking birds there. What is MSWP?

CB
Click to expand...

Hi Cheshire Birder. Swings and roundabouts I'm afraid. I've not seen a rook within 10 miles of this village since arriving in 2005, and this area is 60% farmland. Nor have I seen a single Water Rail in Saarland County in that time.

However, when the Common Cranes and raptors pass over on migration each year these are forgotten. And who knows what the next surprise may be.
 
SAARLAND BIRDER said:
Hi Larry. Well spotted, and my apologies to Andy Hurley. The thread I was referring to is "TLAs, good or bad?" (previous page).

I'm out now to see what might have been blown in on the reservoir.
Click to expand...

Thanks, SAARLAND BIRDER, I now see where you were coming from!

Looks like I am going to have a pretty short list for our garden list this year. I think my last bird was # 46.

Maybe 2012 will be a little higher. Hope so, anyway!
 
With possibly the last day of the year for my garden birding I failed to add another species today, despite good (20+) numbers of Linnets made flighty by an imm. male Sparrowhawk.

The Peregrine put in another appearance, too.

Am on nights now & probably in London until the New Year.
 
It's fun to meet others who keep count of the species who visit their gardens! I had 62 species spotted from my garden this year - highlights for me were the nesting pairs of downy woodpeckers and mallards, a couple of wild turkeys, the kestral who kept it's cache under the blue spruce tree last spring, the Eastern towhee (a lifer), and the Harris' sparrow who visited our feeders daily all last winter.
 
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