Beverley Lass

Hi all, along with about 400,000 other folks I took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch thingie again this year (Jan. 26th/27th) where everyone counts and logs their bird numbers / sightings over 1 hour. The RSPB have just e-mailed me the 2008 results .. http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/results/index.asp 1. House Sparrow 2. Starling 3. Blackbird 4. Blue Tit 5. Chaffinch 6. Woodpigeon 7.Collard Dove 8. Robin 9. Great Tit 10. Goldfinch Finches Flock To Gardens With an average of 3.60 seen per garden, the house sparrow retained its top spot with starlings coming in second and blackbirds completing the top three. Overall, the average number of birds seen in each garden has declined by a fifth since 2004, and house sparrows have decreased by almost two thirds since 1979, and starlings by three quarters over the same period. Despite this, however, four species of finch, which spend the winter in the UK, were seen in increased numbers. Good winter for finches Numbers of colourful finches visiting UK gardens over winter are at their highest levels for five years. For the first time in the survey's 29-year history, the striking siskin made it into the top 20, and the scarcer brambling moved from 57 to 36 in the rankings. This increase in bramblings and siskins (up by two thirds in the last five years), suggest that tree seed supplies have been poor this year and they've been forced into gardens to find food. Along with siskin and brambling increases, redpoll numbers skyrocketed, being seen in twice as many gardens this year as last. Again this is probably due to poor supply of food. Goldfinches on the up With a third more birds recorded than in 2004, the colourful goldfinch made it in to the top 10 for the first time. Goldfinch numbers swell because our milder winters encourage them to stay here instead of going to southern Europe. Our gardens can be very welcoming to finches, especially those with nyjer seed provided and thistles and teasels left to grow which also provide food. A big thanks to all who took part Over the weekend of 26 and 27 January 2008, almost 400,000 people counted more than six million birds across 228,000 gardens. And One letter of particular note ... The cruellest cut Every spring I despair because all around me I can hear the hedge cutters. I have tried a gentle hint that this is not a good time to cut hedges, but it all falls on deaf ears. I wouldn't mind if some effort to check the hedge for nesting birds was made, but no! I only cut my hedge once a year in autumn, but some folk do not have the sense to see that by cutting in the spring they will have to do it again in the autumn. Ho hum! Barbara Hunt. Editor's note: Barbara's quite right. It's an offence to intentionally (and in Scotland, intentionally or recklessly) damage or destroy an active birds' nest. Hedge-trimming is best left until after the breeding season. Find out more in our Advice pages. Cheers, BL.

Several of my neighbours have their own chickens and I do well for free range eggs. Here's a pic of one rather lovely white Cockerel who comes over to me about three times a day for a handout of seed. I'm told he's a 'Silky' variety. Little devil pecks at my flowers or even my shins if I don't treat him quickly enough ! Cheers, BL.

Bless you Andy, that's cheered and encouraged me He got a slice of bread afterwards for posing so nicely. BL

Hi all A couple of snowy Easter pics from me .. Cheers, BL.

Oh I thought I heard it come blustery again while deep into Eastenders, and peeped out to the lampost light to see it coming down hard with snow again and of course settling in these minus temps. A chilly start for the workers tomorrow. BL.

Hi all and Happy Easter Really enjoyed seeing all the snowy pics. We had just an inch here, but I nipped out before 8am to secure a few to show round. There should be a good few people entering the March photo' competition. Cheers, BL x

HAPPY EASTER FOLKS Well I woke up to a good inch of snow here. All very pretty. I was out by 8am to take a few pics before the melt. Blue sky and sunshine now. Here's a taster .. Cheers, BL.

Despite there not being a large number of entries, I found the choosing pretty tough. (and of course wouldn't pick my own NW ones, lol) Well done everyone. Here's my selection. Weather - GB 1 NS 3 LC 1 CD 2 ES 3 Non-Weather KA N3 SL N1 TD N1 RC N2 DR N2 Cheers, BL x

Phew, we coastal dwellers can sleep easy in our beds tonight then It was some storm wave though ! BL.

Oh wow, that would have been scary ! I wonder if that's very recent ? Maybe storm force winds ? Haven't heard of anything like an earthquake to have caused that. Btw, I watched that repeated BBC docu' last night on Tsunami's. Amazing facts. Cheers, BL

Same here, my little pond and my neighbours huge one, are heaving with frogs in the warm sunshine today. So sad to see scores squashed on the village roads one wet night a few days ago. Anyway, numbers seem good and there will soon be masses of spawn and little froglets. BL

http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/warnings.asp I'm surprised to see on this link that my E.Yorks and N. Lincs are in the Low Risk areas for Storm Kirsten ? Looking at the charts here on NW and the BBC forecasts I thought I was in for quite an innings early tomorrow ? (hope it's ok to post that link here guys) BL

Wow, that was great to see Debs, your lass is making a super skater ! Love the squeals too http://nwstatic.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif Brrr, don't fancy a dip in that ocean just yet. Take care, Cheers, BL xxx

At 8 am here, Raining heavily, but only ¼ " so far. Just 5 º C Max. gust (nearby Leconfield 40mph) Pressure 969 mb (falling steadily) See what the rest of the morning/few days brings ! BL

As many have said around the site today, truly the calm before the storm. At present there's scarcely a cloud in the sky. I kid you not, there are folks out in their T-shirts. Hardly a breeze. Temp. 8º C 999 mb pressure BL

Oh I see my location is now well inside the 40% risk zone. I wonder just how bad it will be close to the coast here. Eeek. BL.

An 'ancient' trusty little Sony Cybershot, X 3 zoom and recently and after much online research a Panasonic DMC-FZ18 with X 18 stabilized optical zoom. I just didn't want to get back into carrying all those extras. Have to say tho' that for 'standard' landscape pics, I'm thinking the little Sony still has the edge ! I've yet to fully master all my new camera can do methinks. BL.

I see there's even a page (318) at the mo' about this coming storm on ITV Teletext .. 'Major storm to batter UK with gales' That's well in advance too. BL

That sounds smashing. Some attractive birds there B) I used to see Bullfinches when I lived in the Midlands, but never a one here in nearly 20 yrs. I'd willingly sacrifice some of my apple buds for a few, lol. PS. My robins are nesting today .. but not in the box provided *tut. Cheers, BL x

Really lovely. Whetted my appetite for my June hols there Not expecting the snowy tops by then tho ! Cheers, BL

Aye, shame that Sorry for all the disappointment .. lol BL x

I've just had a reply from a very nice man from the RSPB .. He suggests a group of Siskins and sent their link to a picture. Well, again, maybe, but my sightings were of birds with such strong black markings on the head, including thru' the eye region. Sadly, they haven't returned and no neighbours have seen them. Cheers, BL

Congrats Ross & Phil, two super photos. And well done to all the finalists. BL

The merest quick shower of snow grains here a few mins ago. Otherwise v. sunny with a cold stiff wind. BL.

[quote (A wild night with gusts up to 57 mph recorded at nearby Leconfield and a poor soul near me rescued from a fallen tree squashed car and now in hospital. Lots of earthquake loosened chimney pots going over too I read) BL.