It’s that time of year again when we can sign up to support the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. ‘This is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring.’ (RSPB.org.uk)
It is so easy to take part. You can get a free guide with instructions as to how to encourage birds to your garden and then all you have to do is spend an hour watching the birds in your patch, between the 24 and 26 January and record the birds that land. You then submit your results either online or by post recording what you saw.
Last year the most spotted birds were:
Sadly, song thrush numbers are down by a shocking 85% since the survey began and possibly even worse is the knowledge that we’ve lost 38million birds from UK skies in the last 60 years. (Reasons why this is happening is the subject for further Eco Comment.)
Membership of the RSPB is not a necessity, but no doubt they would like to encourage new members and the benefits are considerable. Locally, you could get free entry to St Aiden’s nature reserve. This is a former open cast coal mine which has been reclaimed for nature and wildlife. It has been transformed to include a variety of habitats including reedbeds, wetlands, meadows and woodland. A great place for a picnic in the summer and/or a bracing winter walk. Whilst binoculars are not necessary, they might help more readily identify some of the different birds spotted there including Bitterns, Black-necked Grebes, Little Owls, Kestrals, Black-headed Gulls and Lapwings.
Fairburn Ings offers some of the same birdlife but also, if you’re lucky, Bearded Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Little Egret and Spoonbill. You could also go that bit further south and visit Dearne Valley; Wombwell Ings and/or Dearne Valley Gypsy Marsh both have their own particular bird visitors. A favourite spot of my mum’s was Blacktoft Sands near South Cave. Although not particularly knowledgeable, she kept a pair of binoculars and a bird spotters’ book in the car which offered an extra dimension to visits to the countryside or the coast.
If, like me. you might be able to recognise a few birds but are easily confused with lesser spotted or long-tailed varieties, there are books and charts readily available and these days there are, of course, apps. The one that I’d like to refer to is iNaturalist. I do have to say that I was at first wary of it and it’s set-up, but I was reassured by my ‘zoologist’ brother and other more local wildlife people. This app helps you identify and track the wildlife that you see. I found it quite an eye opener.
If you were willing to download the app to help you do the Big Garden Birdwatch, you might also be able to help us discover what birdlife and wildlife we have around the cathedral. We in the Eco Group – along with Just Transition Wakefield – are hoping to discover what currently resides/visits us in the vicinity of the cathedral before the proposed Bread Street/Cathedral Square development gets under way. To date, thanks to data submitted to iNaturalist we know that there have been 36 observations recorded identifying 27 species. These 27 species range from lichens, mosses, plants, insects and invertebrates and of course, birds, one of which is the peregrine falcon.
If you think that you or anyone else that you know could help us, please get in touch with any member of the Eco Group, or contact the office. This would be a great project for people of any age or experience with an interest in birds/wildlife who has some time to spare.
So, if when you’ve spotted the birds in your garden later this month you’d like to continue looking, we’d welcome your contribution to our project.
Susan Morgan
Eco Group
Wakefield Cathedral’s Eco Group brings together members of the congregation, volunteers and staff to work towards making the cathedral a greener place to work and worship.
The Eco Group achieves its goals through a variety of activities, including partnerships with local community groups.
We invite anyone and everyone to reach out if they are interested in joining the eco group, or simply finding out more about what we do.
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