Like the last few years, I’m pretty much stuck at home. Thankfully the Edinburgh Garden is getting better and better for watching birds, as I plant more and more wildlife friendly plants and gardening organically the soil has started to come to life after 40+ years of the previous owner using weedkillers and pesticides. As the garden gets more wildlife friendly, many birds are visiting, which now include a flock of Yellowhammers almost daily and Lesser Redpolls being at least weekly on top of the 50+ house sparrows that live in the garden.
01/01/2023 – Today has been one of the best starts of the year to the garden bird watch with 20 species. I did miss a few Gulls that were Fly Overs (FO) hopefully spot them in the near future.
2023 Garden bird watch for Edinburgh, Scotland, list:
- Blackbird – Jan 1st
- Blackcap – Jan 1st
- Blue Tit – Jan 1st
- Bullfinch – Feb 24th
- Carrion Crow – Jan 1st
- Chaffinch – Jan 1st
- Chiffchaff – March 26th
- Coal Tit – Jan 1st
- Collared Dove – Jan 1st
- Common Buzzard – Jan 2nd – FO
- Dunnock – Jan 1st
- Feral Pigeon – I prefer Street Pigeon – Jan 1st
- Fieldfare – Jan 16th – snow on ground, flock of 50+
- Great Tit – Jan 1st
- Greenfinch – August 6th
- Goldcrest – March 26th
- Goldfinch – April 30th – the Goldfinch love the Dandelion seeds as do the sparrows. More on plants for Birds, Bees and Butterflies on here: Plants for attracting wildlife.
- Herring Gull – Jan 5th
- House Sparrow – Jan 1st – First Bird of the Year.
- Jackdaw – Jan 1st
- Kestrel – Feb 9th
- Lesser Redpolls – Jan 1st
- Long-tailed Tit – Jan 2nd
- Magpie – Jan 1st
- Mute Swan – Oct 14th – FO
- Robin – Jan 1st
- Song Thrush – Nov 25th
- Sparrowhawk – Jan 11th
- Starling – Jan 1st
- Stock Dove – Jan 1st
- Swift – July 7th
- Tawny Owl – Feb 11th
- Woodpigeon – Jan 1st
- Wren – Jan 1st
- Yellowhammer – Jan 1st – left end of January and started coming back 26/11/2023.
2023 Garden Bird Watch Year Total:
- 20 Species as of January 1st.
- 22 Species as of January 2nd.
- 23 Species as of January 5th.
- 24 Species as of January 11th.
- 25 Species as of January 16th.
- 26 Species as of February 9th.
- 27 Species as of February 11th.
- 28 Species as of February 24th.
- 30 Species as of March 26th.
- 31 Species as of April 30th.
- 32 Species as of July 7th.
- 33 Species as of August 6th.
- 34 Species as of October 14th.
- 35 Species as of November 25th.
Yellowhammer in Edinburgh Garden:
Since mid December 2022 the Yellowhammers have been a daily visitor, what’s the bet they don’t show during the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch? They started out with 5 on the 18/12/22 and now have spotted as many as 8 Yellowhammers at one time. One of the better photos I’ve managed to capture so far:
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023:
As with every year I look forward to doing the big garden birdwatch. This year it runs from 27th to 29th of January, find out more on: Big Garden Birdwatch | The RSPB.
See the 2022 list here: 2022 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 results:
Between the hours of 11.30 and 13.00 on Saturday 28th of January 2023, the reason the count is listed over a period of 90 minutes: I did 30 minutes out the kitchen window, then went and sat at the back of the garden for 30 minutes to let the birds settle and then started counting again for another 30 minutes to total 1 hour of counting time.
- Blackbird – 5
- Blackcap – 1
- Blue Tit – 2
- Carrion Crow – 5
- Coal Tit – 2
- Collared Dove – 1
- Dunnock – 1
- Feral Pigeon – 2
- Great Tit – 1
- Herring Gull – 1
- House Sparrow – 50+ (couldn’t get an accurate count)
- Jackdaw – 5
- Magpie – 7
- Robin – 3
- Stock Dove – 4
- Woodpigeon – 3
- Wren – 1
- Yellowhammer – 30
What a day! Total of 18 species and 120 birds, the most Yellowhammers I’ve seen in the garden, often getting 20+ most days now.
