RSPB Garden Birdwatch 2013

The RSPB Garden Birdwatch weekend 26-27 January is now done and dusted. As always there are some positives and negatives when analysing the results. The finch and sparrow bar chart above shows a major decline in Greenfinches over recent years, but Goldfinch numbers are holding up and House Sparrows reached a record high this year despite all the doom and gloom nationwide.

The chart above shows a worrying trend in the fall in numbers of Starlings (only 1 seen during the birdwatch). This does reflect the general decline nationwide.
The highlight this year for me was the apperance of a female Blackcap, and it does seem that these are becoming more common visitors to garden feeders during the winter. My daughter Jen had both a male and a female Blackcap visit her garden during the birdwatch. These birds are not our usual summer visitors, as they have long gone to warmer climes in the South Med or North Africa. They are actually winter visitors that migrate here from Central Europe and can only survive due to us feeding them tempting morsels. Come spring, they can nip back quickly to their breeding grounds before birds using more traditional migration routes and quickly set up the best territories for raising young.
The year by year tally showing number of birds and species is shown below:

          SPECIES TOTAL BIRDS

2001       12                  34
2002       11                  46
2003       6                    19
2004       13                  50
2005       13                  35
2006       10                  56
2007       10                  37
2008       7                    44
2009       11                  45
2010       18                  48
2011       13                  39
2012       10                  42
2013       9                    23

From the above, it can be seen that this year was the 2nd worst since I have started recording. This possibly could be due to the poor breeding season that our birds had last spring. On a more local note, another factor could be the number of trees that have been removed from the nearby gardens in the hope that they receive more sunshine. Birds no longer feel protected from predators as they did before. It will be very interesting to see the national trend and I'm already looking forward to 2014.
See twitter #bgbw

Garden Moth Review 2012

This rather beautiful Moth was found in my garden moth trap on 28/05/12. This new species for the garden is Maiden's Blush Cyclophora punctaria and is quite localised in it's distribution. The larval foodplants are the Oaks and hence the habitat is Oak woodland, from open scrubby growth to densely standing mature oaks. Flight season consists of two generations, early May-early July and mid July-late September.
In total, I recorded 18 new species for the garden, giving me a garden life list of 202.The year by year breakdown starting in 2005 is as follows:
2005 Life list = 51
2006 Life list = 81   New species = 30
2007 Life list = 104 New species = 23
2008 Life list = 125 New species = 21
2009 Life list = 152 New species = 27
2010 Life list = 164 New species = 12
2011 Life list = 184 New species = 20
2012 Life list = 202 New species = 18

The total number of species seen in 2012 was 79 and the number of individuals was 233. The year by year breakdown is as follows:
2005 Species = 51  Individuals = 99
2006 Species = 50  Individuals = 142
2007 Species = 53  Individuals = 161
2008 Species = 68  Individuals = 178
2009 Species = 79  Individuals = 229
2010 Species = 75  Individuals = 322
2011 Species = 78  Individuals = 288
2012 Species = 79  Individuals = 233

Since 2010, I have been trapping using a purpose built 125W Robinson moth trap. Previous to this I used a home made 125W Skinner trap. I usually try to trap at least once a month, but in 2012 I only managed 11 sessions due to the appalling weather. Year by year since having the Robinson type trap is as follows:
2010 Trapping sessions = 16
2011 Trapping sessions = 13
2012 Trapping sessions = 11

The most abundant moth seen in the garden is the Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana. This moth was probably accidentally introduced to Cornwall in the 1930's and is a native to Australia. The Top 10 Species is as follows:
1.  Light Brown Apple Moth = 142
2.  Heart and Dart = 113
3.  Small Quaker  = 88
4.  Large Yellow Underwing = 78
5.  Common Quaker = 76
6.  Shuttle-shaped Dart = 68
7.  Dark Arches = 62
8.  Lunar Underwing = 51
9.  Lesser Yellow Underwing =35
9.  Setaceous Hebrew Character = 35

One Moth not in the above list is Treble Lines.This was the 2nd most abundant species in 2012 with 17 individuals.

Leaving the garden for a moment, my life list now stands at 286.