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Garden Tick Rules (1 Viewer)

In other houses I have been in I have been meticulous about the garden borders but ultimately I found it to frustrating and limiting. To that end I have a more relaxed attitude to my garden list.

I think this cuts to the essence of garden listing. The way I see it; the list should serve the birding you like to do, rather than the birding you do serving the list, if that makes sense!

James
 
I'm with everybody else on this. In fact, I’ve even been known to put birds on my yard list that I could have seen from my yard but didn’t because I wasn’t actually in the yard at the time.

I thought of doing that the other day when a Gyr Falcon flew over my car about 100 metres from home - if I had been at home and had craned my neck I might have seen it from the driveway. But it's not on the list yet.
 
I think this cuts to the essence of garden listing. The way I see it; the list should serve the birding you like to do, rather than the birding you do serving the list, if that makes sense!

James

I think so James, its just about enjoying your garden and a bit of fun.....i dont need Lee Evans on my back telling me i didnt see a blackcap;););)
 
I can understand the reasons for adding dead birds to garden lists - just in the same way they could be added to other geographical lists. In one place that I used to live, a dead kittiwake appeared overnight during a storm so seemed reasonable to assume it was a wrecked bird. That garden list also has black redstart - seen and photographed by my parents. (Just as well they photographed it, eh ;)...)

So these birds are on the garden list, but not on my garden list, if that makes sense...

Geoff
 
New garden species this morning, landed on my fence, briefly then flew off into the trees before I could get my camera :(
24 - Bullfinch ( male )
 
25 - a Jay this morning, pinching buried acorns the squirrel had stashed away. I'm still only counting birds which have actually landed within my bounderies ( just the rear of my property as we live out the back of our house ) which is only approx 40 foot square.
 
Just saw a Jay fly up into the trees from my lawn where he was probably burying his acorn stash. I remembered this thread ( I haven't been on BF for quite sometime ). Shame I've already listed one, but I did have a Tawny Owl calling a few weeks back but as my list is a 'landed list' I haven't added it. :C:C:C

Still stuck on 25........... :cat::cat::cat: Lots of these yard lions around here which probably does't help me !!
 
Why not join in the annual Garden list thread next year? It's not a competition (well, friendly rivalry for some!) and always interesting to see how the seasons bring different species through or over people's gardens around the world.
 
Why not join in the annual Garden list thread next year? It's not a competition (well, friendly rivalry for some!) and always interesting to see how the seasons bring different species through or over people's gardens around the world.

We have another house, it has a very very small garden, about 6m long by 4m wide. The birds we get in there, is amazing for its size. Backing onto a stream very close to farmland it's alive with birds and hard to keep the feeders full. Typically, 1330 and the feeders are empty
 
We have another house, it has a very very small garden, about 6m long by 4m wide. The birds we get in there, is amazing for its size. Backing onto a stream very close to farmland it's alive with birds and hard to keep the feeders full. Typically, 1330 and the feeders are empty

Thought I'd revive this old thread. The purpose of starting it was I was laid up after an operation and wanted to occupy my hours alone in the house. My last thread stated we had another house, well about 7 weeks ago we moved in temporarily whilst waiting for another house to come up for sale in the area we want to live in. The garden is 6mx 4m ( 20ft x 12ft for the oldies and our American friends).

Its a bit unruly as we haven't been here for nearly 2 years, I filled the feeders up, Sunflower hearts, Peanuts and Niger seeds and within minutes we were counting birds. So far, since 10 January ( I've counted the most birds seen at any given time like the Big Garden Birdwatch )

1. Blackbird m&f
2. Robin x 2
3. Great Tit x 7
4. Blue Tit x 7
5. Coal Tit x 4
6. Long Tailed Tit x 12
7. Greenfinch 2m & 2f
8. Goldfinch x 5
9. Chaffinch 2m 7 2f
10. Bullfinch 2m & 2f
11. Wren x1.
12. Siskin 4m & 2f
13. Magpie x 2
14. Jay x1
15. Nuthatch x3
16. Great Spotted Woodpecker 1m & 1f
17. Collard Dove x2
18. Tawney Owl 1m & 1f ( heard calling in the night regularly )
19. Redpoll 1m & 1f
20. Redwing x4
21. Starling x2
22. House Sparrow x2
23. Dunnock x2
24.

Since my original post I now have 3 children under 5. The older two are up running about at the moment in front of our French doors with all lights blazing scaring off the birds every now and again.
 
Realise this is well old but since its resurfaced I have continued to apply "Fugl's Law" as regards things which could have been seen from the garden but weren't (only current difference is Osprey) - stops one "needing" to turn round and go back up the drive in a rush when something good flies over a car, the back of which is full of toddlers who do not wish to do that.

I've also instituted a rule that says escapes etc which wouldn't go on the big list can be counted; rationale being this is a list of avifauna using the garden and its airspace irrespective of their ongoing populations. This means I have both the feral red junglefowl which turned up to join our own chooks and, less obviously, red-legged partridge, both on the garden list but not on the Guernsey list
 
I've also instituted a rule that says escapes etc which wouldn't go on the big list can be counted; rationale being this is a list of avifauna using the garden and its airspace irrespective of their ongoing populations. This means I have both the feral red junglefowl which turned up to join our own chooks and, less obviously, red-legged partridge, both on the garden list but not on the Guernsey list

OK... so are the feral chickens on all the islands then? Michael Howard (something of the night about him still) covered them being a menace on Jersey on Radio 2 this lunchtime, and a load of rubbish was talked by all, as usual, from introducing foxes to setting up old chickens' homes. Is yours a migrant/vagrant from Jersey? :-O

Cheers

John
 
OK... so are the feral chickens on all the islands then? Michael Howard (something of the night about him still) covered them being a menace on Jersey on Radio 2 this lunchtime, and a load of rubbish was talked by all, as usual, from introducing foxes to setting up old chickens' homes. Is yours a migrant/vagrant from Jersey? :-O

Cheers

John

Well they're definitely not as prevalent as they were in BVI (where I like to think of them as an accidental rewilding substitute for de Booy's rail). We don't have so so many but there are a few little colonies that have appeared. Most of them are males (unsurprisingly) but a few hens around too. Our feral was a hen and she has successfully produced some rather fantastic looking chicks with one of our cockerels (we've taken them back into captivity). Perhaps more interesting to you is the alleged colony of feral guinea pigs I was talking to the visiting small mammal researchers about!
 
Well they're definitely not as prevalent as they were in BVI (where I like to think of them as an accidental rewilding substitute for de Booy's rail). We don't have so so many but there are a few little colonies that have appeared. Most of them are males (unsurprisingly) but a few hens around too. Our feral was a hen and she has successfully produced some rather fantastic looking chicks with one of our cockerels (we've taken them back into captivity). Perhaps more interesting to you is the alleged colony of feral guinea pigs I was talking to the visiting small mammal researchers about!

Thank you, interesting stuff. Our foxes go mad for chicken (roasted) but the halfwit contributing to the radio programme clearly had no idea about the history of introducing biological control agents to islands or indeed anywhere.... they might well eat the chickens but then they'd start on everything else.

I heard a rumour about feral guinea pigs on Tresco a few years ago as well. What is it about island life????!

John
 
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